JACKSON, Tenn. — Dec. 7, 2012 — Eight 51社区 English majors presented their senior theses in the Penick Academic Complex Nov. 27-29.
Amanda Bennett, Whitney Williams, Rebecca Evans, Jonathan Boyd and Mary Laarz presented literary criticism research papers, while Josh Garcia, Heather Franks and Michael O鈥橫alley read selected creative writing stories, said John Netland, professor of English and chairman of the department. Each presentation lasted about 20 minutes.
With the guidance of a thesis director, most students decided on their projects, received mentoring and formed their work into presentations this semester. Williams, however, began thesis research her junior year as part of the discipline-specific honors program.
鈥淭hey get to work independently and take their writing to a level they haven鈥檛 experienced previously,鈥� Netland said. 鈥淭he task of revising and refinishing is an important part of the maturation of their writing.鈥�
Bennett said her thesis developed from a paper she wrote as a freshman.
鈥淚 picked that paper knowing I would cut out everything except one paragraph,鈥� Bennett said.
The one paragraph she salvaged centered on her topic of interest: Trojan prophetess Cassandra.
Bennett explained that the god Apollo cursed Cassandra, who could foretell the future, with the inability to be believed. Bennett based her research on Euripides鈥� play 鈥淭he Trojan Women鈥� and Aeschylus鈥� play 鈥淎gamemnon,鈥� but she said she borrowed more than 20 books through the Emma Waters Summar Library鈥檚 interlibrary loans to conduct additional research.
鈥淐assandra has always fascinated me as figure, as someone who can understand the world but not affect it,鈥� Bennett said. 鈥淧eople don鈥檛 listen to her but are weirdly fascinated by her.鈥�
Jason Crawford, assistant professor of English and thesis director for Bennett, said he and Bennett met about every 10 days to discuss her progress.
Through mentoring Bennett in her research and writing, Crawford said he was able to better know Bennett鈥檚 mind 鈥� a chance professors may not get in a typical class setting.
鈥淥ne of the challenges of thesis advising, for faculty, is that the topics are often things we don鈥檛 know well, and that鈥檚 much of the fun, too,鈥� Crawford said. 鈥淭he student gets to become the teacher, in a way, and I get to read things she鈥檚 interested in, think about the ideas she鈥檚 interested in and learn from her.鈥�
Garcia used three stories he wrote 鈥� 鈥淭he Smell,鈥� 鈥淐icada鈥� and 鈥淎merica鈥� 鈥� as his thesis presentation.
Working with thesis director Christine Bailey, director of composition support, Garcia said he began gathering ideas for his thesis this past summer. He said some challenges he faced included deciding which stories to use and separating himself from his writing as he edited. But he added that working with Bailey and learning how to defend his work helped him become more intentional in his writing.
Like Garcia experienced working with Bailey, Crawford said students benefit from the intellectual exchange with faculty and grow from the conversations that happen at the thesis defenses themselves.
鈥淚鈥檓 often impressed at how poised and gifted our students are as presenters of their work,鈥� Crawford said. 鈥淭he defenses are a good way of demonstrating how much they鈥檝e accomplished, as much a celebration as an examination.鈥�