Senior Seminar Capstone Paper

Beacon's explanation of Liberal Arts: The Liberal Studies major provides a broad-based liberal arts education for students seeking intellectual growth and personal change. In Liberal Studies courses, students learn communication and critical thinking skills, as well as interpretation of the human experience through studies of aesthetic, historical, ethical, and cultural foundations.

From my syllabus: Students will compose a research paper reflecting on their experiences at Beacon college, or a research paper examining a problem or issue and possible directions or solutions for that issue or problem within the student's field, or a research paper examining a subject within three fields and a social component of that subject. There will be an oral presentation for each paper. All papers must display a multi-disciplinary perspective.

This means there are three options:

1) a research paper reflecting on your experiences at Beacon college.

2) a research paper examining a problem or issue and possible directions or solutions for that issue or problem within the student's field.

3) or a research paper examining a subject within three fields and a social component of that subject.

We want to type at least fifteen pages, double-spaced, in Times New Roman with one-inch margins surrounding the paper.

Everyone does an oral presentation, which will be a reading of the typed summary (around two pages) of your capstone paper. This summary could include parts of your paper. However, we want a summary, not just the first two pages of your paper.


If you pick option one, a research paper reflecting on, connecting, and tying together your experiences at Beacon college:

You will need a copy of your transcripts or a list of all the classes you have taken here at Beacon college. Any copies of notes, final projects, or syllabi may help to refresh your memory also. You might try writing approximately one paragraph about each class you have taken here. You will need some method of organization within the paper. You can discuss the classes chronologically, semester by semester starting off with the first semester and its classes and ending with your final semester. You could arrange the paper by discipline and discuss all of the math classes you took, then all of the English classes you took, and so forth. These are just ideas; you are not limited to this list. You will probably write this from the "I" point of view.

In the paper, you will want to give a description of each class and talk about what you got from each class both intellectually and personally. Along the way, you might talk about how you decided upon your major, how you changed as a student and as a person in the years that you have been here, specific challenges you faced or victories that you achieved, and your future plans once you graduate. Thus, the research involves digging back into your own academic past. Be sure the paper reads as one continuous paper with transitions and connections among subject matter and paragraphs, not a collection of repetitive sentences and interchangeable paragraphs that do not connect with one another.

Possible disadvantages: Talking about every class you have ever taken here, especially the ones you disliked, could become tiresome to write about. Making this read as more than summary and making it read as a single sustained narrative instead of "blocks" may be a challenge. Be careful you don't get too far away from Beacon and write, for example, two pages about a romantic relationship.

Possible advantages: You don't need a particular thesis and most of the information you need to write the paper you already have since it is based on personal experience and reflection. Once you get started, it's mostly going to be just you and the page. There is also an opportunity to talk about Beacon from an academic and personal perspective.


If you pick option two: a research paper examining a problem or issue and possible directions or solutions for that issue or problem within the student's field. Essentially, this means writing a research paper with a specific thesis and using multiple research sources (probably at least a dozen) to support that thesis. This paper must display original thinking. It is a research paper, not a report. You should not, for example, simply give us the life story of a famous person in your field. Instead you might discuss why that person is important, interpret a work by that person, look at problems or contradictions in that person's work, or take a particular work or idea of that person's and discuss its implications or importance.

I encourage you to contact a teacher you have had here who is a specialist in the field your research paper covers. Have him or her talk with and guide you via e-mail or in person about developing a thesis. If you are thinking about going to graduate school, this is the sort of thing you might, depending upon the discipline, submit as a writing sample. This paper requires that you use and cite research throughout your paper. You will also include a separate works cited page listing all of the works that you quoted/paraphrased from. You will not use "I" in this paper or in any way reference yourself.

Possible disadvantages: Researching and documentation is always tedious work. You will need to spend a lot of time finding and sifting through research to do this paper You probably need to be hardcore about your subject and thesis to sustain the energy needed to do this. These is a delicate balance, but no clear guideline, between using research and your own ideas.

Possible advantages: Finding research and reading the thoughts of others can often spark our own ideas. If you are really into what you are writing about, this is a great opportunity to dig in. There is a lot of room for creativity here. For example, if you are into art, you could include scans of your work (we still need fifteen pages of text without the scans). If you focus on computers, you could make this a link off of your webpage.


If you pick option three: a research paper examining a subject within three fields and a social component of that subject: a research paper examining a problem or issue and possible directions or solutions for that issue or problem within three fields and include a social component. By social component, I mean, a discussion of how the issue, subject, problem, or solution, has a real world application. How has it actually changed or affected average people, people outside of the academic world? Essentially, this paper entails writing a research paper with a specific thesis and using multiple research sources (probably at least a dozen) to support that thesis. This paper must display original thinking. It is a research paper, not a report.

You will need to do some thinking in terms of organization. You could cover the issue in one field, then discuss it in a second, and then finish it in a third. You could flip between and among fields within a single paragraph. You could rotate through fields with each change occurring with a paragraph change. However you choose to do it, you need to connect and weave together your consideration of these three fields. The social component could be something the paper addresses towards the end or it could be an idea that the paper continually touches on. I encourage you to contact a teacher you have had here who is a specialist in the field your research paper covers. Have him or her talk with and guide you via e-mail or in person about developing a thesis. This paper requires that you use and cite research throughout your paper. You will also include a separate works cited page listing all of the works that you quoted/paraphrased from. You will not use "I" in this paper or in any way reference yourself.

Here is an example: Let's say you wanted to write about Jim Morrison, singer for 60s band The Doors.
Here three fields you could cover:
1) History: What was important about the 1960s?
2) Music: He sang for a band.
3) Literature: He wrote most of the lyrics and also wrote poetry
Social Component:

Here are two ideas I could pick from:

1) Morrison set the blueprint for the self-destructive rock star with his frequent brushes with the law, substance abuse, and premature death at the age of 27. How has his life and death both increased our acceptance of substance use and drawn our attention to substance abuse?
2) Morrison faced an obscenity trial for his behavior in Miami. How did this trial and this artist anticipate or predate later, similar cases? Was Morrison a sacrificial lamb that opened up self-expression or, as a result, did certain agencies become less tolerant of free speech?
3) Was what Morrison did in Miami, in specific, an expression of free speech or was it obscene conduct?
Possible disadvantages: This requires research among multiple fields. You will really have to stretch your thinking as you must talk about your subject from three different perspectives plus the social component. Juggling and balancing this research in your paper will take some effort.

Possible advantages: By dividing this paper into three or four chunks you can isolate each section and work on it separately. Just be sure that all the sections connect together. When you get tired of talking about one field, you can move onto another section for awhile. Although you have to have research for three fields, it will be easier to find adequate research for three fields instead of one since you don't have to focus on only one field. If you like making connections among things, you could enjoy this. The relational thinking this option requires may be challenging, but this is perhaps the option that most exemplifies Beacon's philosophy and the point of senior seminar.