SENIOR PROJECT 2009–10

Your philosophy career at Pomona culminates with a year-long senior project. With your project you will enjoy latitude that you may not have had in your previous coursework: to decide upon a philosophical question that you deem worth answering and to take the time to answer that question in depth. This can be a question that you have encountered in previous coursework. It can also be a topic that has compelled you over the last three years but that you have not had the chance to investigate in your coursework. In past years students have taken advantage of this latitude to write on a wide range of issues, such as: “Defending Computationalism from John Searle’s Universal Realizability and Other Worries,” “Mediation and Injustice: Searching for Procedural Fairness,” “Making Sense of the Takings Clause: Cleaning Up the Supreme Court’s Mess,” “Desiring Simulation: Jean Baudrillard, the Matrix Trilogy, and Postmodern Politics,” “A Reading of the Theraputic Metaphysics of Plato’s Symposium.”

The process of defining a question for yourself and undertaking a year-long investigation of the answer is fascinating and enriching, one that we want you to both enjoy and find rewarding.

Download a printable verison of these guidelines (requires Adobe Reader).

Apr 2009

summer
2009

Sep 9

thru Sep

Oct 5

-1/6

Nov 2

-1/6

Dec 14

-1/3

2010
Feb 15

-1/3

Apr 5

-1/3

April 12-16

May 1

-1/3

Project Format

Your project may take one of two general forms:

Thesis         an extended argument on a particular issue,
Portfolio     a set of independent essays addressing some topic (for example, “Essays on Causation”).

Excellent projects can vary widely in length; most are around 40–50 pages long, though this will vary with subject matter. (History projects tend to be longer, logic projects shorter.) Your project should demonstrate mastery of your topic, including engagement with the relevant secondary literature.

Readers

You will work under the supervision of two faculty members, at least one of whom must be in the Pomona Philosophy Department. Readers from outside Pomona must be approved by the department. The Department may assign different readers to better match topic with faculty specialty.

Prospectus/Bibliography

After talking to faculty members, a brief prospectus of the project is due in early October. The prospectus includes:

• The format of the project, either thesis or portfolio. This choice is not binding.
• A one- to two-page description of the topic or area you'd like to investigate in the thesis, and how you expect to approach your topic.
• A bibliography of readings, compiled in consultation with the readers, that you intend to use in devising and carrying through your project. The bibliography should include both works that have been read, as well as those that will be read in the future. It is expected that the bibliography with list a minimum of roughly ten to twelve resources (fifteen to twenty for historical topics).

The prospectus should be signed by both readers.

Proposal/Outline

After reading the literature on your topic and discussing it with your readers, you will submit a project proposal and outline in the middle of the fall semester. The proposal and outline is the blueprint for your project, and it is expected that it will require a significant amount of work to produce. The proposal/outline should include:

• An overview of the proposed project.
• A breakdown of the components of the project. This will be a detailed description each of the chapters of your thesis or each of the papers in your portfolio. The chapter/essay descriptions should describe:
• The description of the issue or issues examined in the chapter/essay.
• A sketch of arguments or positions from the literature that will be discussed.
• A sketch of your analysis of the issue, or your conclusions regarding the arguments on the issue. (At this point, these may be quite speculative.)
• For thesis only: a description of how you foresee the various chapters contributing to an overarching argument.

The prospectus should be signed by both readers.

1st Installment

The first installment, due in early December, is completed portfolio essay or a completed chapter of the thesis. This paper or chapter will be the primary basis for your grade in the fall; it is expected to be complete and polished work (it should be comparable in quality to a final class term paper).

• Grading :
  Separate grades will be assigned for fall and spring semesters, determined by the quality of the work produced in that term. A poor grade in the fall, for example, will remain in force even if the finished product earns an 'A'. Progress during the fall semester grade will determine whether the student is eligible for honors (see below).
  1. The final grade for the thesis will take into account both fall and spring grades. In exceptional cases, students may petition to raise their fall grade if their work improves significantly in the spring ; these petitions will be considered by the department as a whole.
  2. Because the registrar does not allow "in progress" grades, all you will see on your officially record is 'IP' ("in progress"). The department will record fall grades internally.

The 1st installment should be signed by both readers.

2nd Installment

The second installment, due at the end of February, is second completed portfolio essay or a second completed chapter of the thesis. Again, it is expected to be completed and polished work.

The 2nd installment should be signed by both readers.

Complete Draft & Presentation

This draft should represent your best effort to produce a finished project, including polished drafts of all chapters or essays, introductory and concluding chapters (if any), and bibliography. The complete draft should be signed by both readers. You will give a brief presentation of your completed project to the faculty and your fellow seniors, and then take questions.

Final Draft

Please submit:

1. A bound copy of your thesis to Vicki.
2. An electronic copy of your thesis (either PDF or Word) to Vicki.
3. Copies to your readers, in their preferred format.

You are done!

Honors

Outstanding theses will be considered for departmental honors. To be eligible for honors, the student must be progressing at the A level during the fall, although the final determination in the spring will be made on the basis of the project as a whole. An honors project can be either a portfolio or thesis.