The Senior Project is the culmination of your academic work at Bard - Before scrolling down for the timeline, get inspired by browsing through a list of past senior projects.
The first major challenge in doing the project is selecting a topic. This will typically take place during the first month of your work in your senior year, although you may know what you want to do when you begin. In selecting a topic, you should attempt to work in an area or problem in which you have already had some preparation in a previous course or upper-college seminar. This will make your task much easier, as you will have some context for your work. Also, you should select a problem in your adviser’s general area of competence and knowledge. This will allow your adviser to provide you with more informed guidance. There are a few instances in which the student can change advisers after the first period of work, especially when there is a better fit between the project topic and the new adviser’s area of expertise.
The German program typically accepts various types of projects:
- Literary Analysis
- Translation
- Combined musical and literary analysis
- Creative Project
- ….
Your work on the senior project will be accompanied by weekly meetings with your project adviser. They will be the core component of the advising process.
In addition, a collaborative workshop meeting in December will offer you a chance to share your work with, and get feedback from fellow students as well as from faculty of various programs. For the
Midway Workshop, you will submit a strong ca. 15 pages section of your project to your advisor as well as to fellow presenters who will prepare thoughtful and productive peer reviews. This draft should introduce the topic of your project, its guiding question(s), and your main sources and materials. You’re asked to share your excitement about your project with the readers, and offer your findings, insights, and prospective steps of your analysis for discussion. Following this workshop, you will
debrief with your adviser about the feedback you received; you will also prepare a specific work plan for the winter intercession and the spring semester.
All drafts of chapters should be submitted to the advisor two weeks prior to the actual project due date, so that there is adequate time for feedback and revision.
The
final project must be submitted to the members of the board on or before the general project due date, which is set by college-wide policy and is generally three weeks before the end of the semester. By college rule, late projects are subject to a mandatory and substantial grade penalty. On the project due date, you must also submit three library copies as well. For general information on senior projects at Bard, see the most recent version of the
Bard College Student Handbook. You should receive
A Brief Guide to the Preparation and Presentation of the Senior Project from the Dean’s office during your second semester of work on your project.
General Guidelines for the Format of Senior Projects are posted on the library’s website for students and the Student section of the Office of the Dean of the College.
| Timeline | Guideline |
| September | Select a topic in coordination with advisor
Present topic and guiding questions to fellow senior project students |
| End of September | Submit a brief writing report of your research topic |
| Early December: Midway Workshop | Present a strong first chapter draft |
| Last three weeks of the fall semester | De-briefing of midway workshop with advisor
Develop work plan for second semester |
| January break | Make headway on further reading, writing, or researching |
| Two weeks prior to project due date | Submit all drafts to your advisor |
| Project due date (end of April) | Submit project to board and three copies to library |
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