All Asian Studies majors are required to do a senior capstone experience in the spring semester of the senior year that consists of two components--

 

(1) a one credit Senior Seminar in Asian Studies, AS375:  The course will normally be taught by the Director of Asian Studies and the topic will vary.  In the senior seminar a range of issues will be discussed, and there will be opportunity to discuss the senior research being done in the next component.

 

(2) a three or four credit course that consists of a research paper on a topic in Asian Studies chosen by the student in consultation with a faculty mentor and approved by the Director of Asian Studies.  Normally this course will be AS372 and the faculty mentor will be a person in Asian Studies.  However, with approval of the Director of Asian Studies, a capstone course in another department or program may substitute for AS372 and a faculty person outside of Asian Studies may serve as the mentor.  This research paper will be graded by the faculty mentor, not by the Director of Asian Studies.  Opportunity to discuss the research paper will be provided in AS 375.

 

It is important that before registering for AS372 for spring semester that the student identify a topic and obtain agreement from a faculty member to mentor AS372.  Approval for AS372 is also needed from the Director of Asian Studies.

 

 

A grade of A or A- is required on an approved senior thesis to be eligible for Honors in Asian Studies, in addition to a 3.5 GPA or better in Asian Studies courses and a 3.0 GPA or better in all courses taken at Skidmore.  With the approval of the student's advisor and the Director of Asian Studies, a student may write a senior thesis, which is a year long project during the senior year.  Research must occur in the fall semester and be completed during the spring semester.  Normally the student will enroll in AS371 in the fall semester, although another advanced course in another department or program may be substituted if approved by the student's advisor and the Director of Asian Studies.  With the approval of the student's advisor and the Director of Asian Studies, the student may submit the research paper completed in AS372 mentioned in (2) above as the senior thesis, as long as prior research has been done on the topic in the fall semester and the research paper attains the level of a senior thesis (which will be determined by the faculty mentor in consultation with the Director of Asian Studies).  The senior thesis will be graded by the faculty mentor of the thesis in consultation with a second reader approved by the Director of Asian Studies.

 

It is important that before registering for AS371 for the fall semester and for AS372 for the spring semester that the student identify a topic and obtain agreement from a faculty member to mentor AS371 and AS372 (or their equivalents).  Approval for both AS371 and AS372 is also needed from the Director of Asian Studies