English Students
English majors engage in a range of classroom learning experiences that advance their analytical and writing skills. The following samples show the variety of recent student research projects.
LIT 203: British Literature I: Crown, Sword, and Empire
As part of the ALBUS Project on underrepresented persons in British literary history, students created short films to contribute to the development of a digital archive. This student film introduces the life and work of medieval mystic Julian of Norwich, whose feminist views sparked controversy.
The ALBUS Project
ALBUS (Archive of Literary Britain Underrepresented in Scholarship) offers students a unique opportunity to develop the analytical, communication, and technological skills valued by employers, as they investigate British literature produced by members of marginalized communities. Hands-on involvement in the development of a public internet resource helps students connect traditional literary scholarship with the Digital Humanities, an invaluable experience for digital thesis and professional projects later on.
Sponsored by a Think Tank grant, student Project Coordinators traveled to London to gather research materials and photos for the archive.
LIT 232: Shakespeare Onstage
First-year students in this Learning Community (paired with THA 232) presented a Shakespeare Banquet as part of Academic Festival. Students researched and planned a three-course Renaissance menu and performed scenes from Hamlet, including a short film of Ophelia in madness and this puppet version of The Mousetrap
LIT 443: Senior Capstone
Seniors presented their capstone projects, researched essays of 20 pages, at Academic Festival. This year’s topics covered a range of issues engaging literature, cultural studies, and technology—Maya Angelou’s autobiographical poetry, Social Media Activism and Gentrification,Bapsi Sidhwa’s Cracking India, Marketing Images in Social Media, and Female Fan Shame in the series Supernatural.