Spanish 307 is a prerequisite for enrollment in any 300+ literature course; on all papers required for literature courses all faculty insist on the MLA (Modern Language Association) Style Sheet; 300-level literature courses should be taken before enrolling in 500-level classes.

 

Graduation Check: This is a meeting with your advisor that should take place one year before your desired date of graduation. Together you will fill out a pink form that documents completed requirements and those left to finish the program. Bring your DARS. The Spanish Section needs to track the progress of majors (and minors), so this step is very important for our Department records and for data that we must report to several administrative levels of the University. If circumstances do not permit you to meet with your assigned advisor, ask another Spanish professor.

 

Portfolio: As part of the exit and self-reflection process of our program, you are required to maintain a file, usually in the form of a big, fat binder, of all essays, exams, and papers that you wrote in all 300+, 400, and 500 classes that you have taken in Spanish. You must submit this portfolio during the last half of the semester that you complete our program. Some suggestions:

• Keep a separate notebook, file folder, binder, whatever you like best, for each class that you take.
• Don’t throw anything away. Keep all drafts of required essays/papers with professor’s comments. Usually, 304, 306, and 307 classes require many drafts so that you will be prepared for upper-level courses. We want to see your evolution and you will want to reflect on your own learning process. It is important.
• Faculty understand that your Senior Thesis/capstone paper may not be finished when you submit the portfolio, but you can add it before the exit interview.
• Depending on how far along you are in the program, you may want to use vacations to organize the portfolio.

 

Capstone class: Whether you are on the Literature or Language and Culture track, you are required to submit a 20-25 page research paper (senior thesis) in a 500-level literature class of your choosing. This paper will represent the culmination of what you have learned throughout the program: research tools, MLA format, approaches to literary analysis, rhetorical modes, language proficiency skills, and understanding of cultures. Since all majors are required to take at least two 500-level classes, the selection of the 500-level class requires careful consideration for the following reasons:

• Your advisor knows ahead of time which courses will be offered two semesters beyond the present one and may be able to tell you if the up-coming classes will be about: Spanish Poetry, Golden Age Literature, Latin American Novel, or Novel of the Mexican Revolution, etc.
• As soon as you choose the class in which you want to write the senior thesis, tell the professor who will teach it. This teacher will mentor and direct you through the process. Recognize that other classmates may not have chosen the class you did, so that you reconcile doing more work than they do in this class.

 

Exit Interview: During the very last weeks of the semester in which you intend to graduate, you will arrange an appointment to meet with Spanish faculty in the conference room. This is not a test; no grades can be given at this stage since you have already been graded many times by many of us throughout the program. All we want to know is:

• Your opinion/view on what you have learned in our program. This is nothing more than an oral self-reflection commentary based on your portfolio and research paper.
• Don’t hesitate to critique us and tell us what we can improve for future students.
• Do you feel prepared to pursue your future career (credential, M.A., other goals)?

 

Exit Survey: This anonymous questionnaire is important for the collection of hard data required by the Provost that will enable faculty to implement changes in curriculum, teaching methodologies, learning tools, etc. Please be candid. Faculty also need to self-reflect on our advisement, teaching, and curriculum.

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