Comprehensive Requirement

Students will fulfill the Group Language comprehensive requirement in one of two ways:

(1) A student may choose to submit a 20-page paper on a senior research project on comparative literature or linguistics combining both halves of the major. To prepare for this comparative paper written in English, the student should enroll in two two-unit Independent Studies (with separate faculty advisors for the corresponding halves of the major) in the fall of the senior year. If one or both of the languages for the major is French, German, or Spanish, the student must also submit a complete version of the paper in one of these languages. In the spring semester of the senior year, the student will also give an oral presentation, conducted in both languages of the major, on the comparative paper.

(2) Students choosing not to write a comparative paper may conduct two separate research projects and do the following for each half of the Group Language major:

Chinese

A student will fulfill the Chinese portion of the comprehensives through: (1) a two-unit Independent Study in the fall of the senior year, in which the student will produce a 10-page paper in English on Chinese literature or linguistics which include texts written in Chinese; followed by (2) an oral presentation in Chinese about the research project in the spring semester.

French

A student will fulfill the French portion of the comprehensive EITHER (1) by completing the Major Seminar FREN 490 which includes an oral presentation on a seminar theme; OR (2) by completing a two-unit Independent Study in the fall semester of the senior year, which includes writing a 10-page paper in French on a topic in francophone literature and making an oral presentation in French on the paper's topic.

German

A student will fulfill the German portion of the comprehensive EITHER (1) by enrolling in a GERM 370 seminar during the senior year and writing a separate 10-page-paper on a topic in German Studies (literature, culture, history) and making an oral presentation, in German, on the topic OR (2) by taking a three hour written examination focusing on two-selected topics in German Studies, followed by an oral examination on the topics, in either the fall or spring semester. The completion of an additional two-unit Independent Study in the fall or spring semester of the senior year, which focuses on background research for the Comps topic, is recommended.

Japanese

A student will fulfill the Japanese portion of the comprehensives through: (1) a two-unit Independent Study in the fall of the senior year, in which the student will produce a 10-page paper in English on Japanese literature or linguistics which include texts written in Japanese; followed by (2) an oral presentation in Japanese about the research project in the spring semester.

Linguistics

A student will fulfill the Linguistics portion of the comprehensives through: (1) a two-unit Independent Study in the fall of the senior year, in which the student will produce a 10-page paper in English on a topic in linguistics; followed by (2) an oral presentation in English about the research project in the spring semester.

Russian

A student will fulfill the Russian portion of the comprehensives through: (1) a two-unit Independent Study in the fall of the senior year, in which the student will produce a 10-page paper in English on Russian literature or linguistics which include texts written in Russian; followed by (2) an oral presentation in Russian about the research project in the spring semester.

Spanish

A student will fulfill the Spanish portion of the comprehensives EITHER through:

the Spanish Senior Seminar in the fall semester of the senior year, followed by an oral presentation in Spanish of the seminar paper in the spring semester; OR
a two-unit Independent Study in the fall of the senior year, in which the student will produce a 10-page paper in Spanish on a topic in Hispanic literature or linguistics, followed by an oral presentation in Spanish of the paper in the spring semester.