Senior Project

Senior Project Requirements

  1. All students will write one senior paper project in a 4xxx-level or 5xxx-level communication studies course.
  2. Students must also register for Comm 3995W, a one-credit course designed to support completion of the senior paper, during the semester in which the senior paper is written.
  3. The paper must relate to the subject matter of the course in which it is written. Purely creative projects such as videos and audio tapes are not acceptable. The senior project is intended to demonstrate competency in writing.
  4. Papers must have some clearly-identified conceptual or theoretical basis related to the subject matter of the course. The instructor will set the criteria for standards of quality and conceptual/theoretical content.
  5. Students may combine a series of shorter papers written in a course to develop the longer senior project paper. The shorter papers, however, cannot be stapled together or simply combined. The senior project paper must reflect a coherent synthesis of the shorter papers. The shorter papers may, however, comprise separate sections of the senior project paper (i.e., purpose, theory, methods, results).
  6. Papers must be typed, double-spaced, and 10 to 20 pages in length.
  7. All papers must make use of appropriate bibliographic citations. Library-based papers must have at least 10-15 citations from the kinds of sources specified by the instructor. Papers that are based on observation or data-gathering must have at least 5 library-based citations, in addition to presentation of data or statistics (often, these citations will be references to prior research, theory, or methods that inform the data-gathering project). Papers comprised solely of data or observations without analysis or conceptual organization are not acceptable (e.g., journals or logs).
  8. The paper must use an appropriate scholarly footnoting and bibliographic style (either APA or MLA).
  9. The paper must demonstrate competency in writing skills. These skills include appropriate limitation of topic for length of paper, clear statement of purpose, clear organization of ideas, proper spelling, grammar, sentence construction, and a writing style appropriate to the subject matter.
  10. Students who have written substantial papers meeting these guidelines in other communication-related courses for study abroad, University of Minnesota internships (including approved OSLO communication-related internships), University of Minnesota communication-related independent study, or in communication courses that have transferred to the University, may submit their senior papers to the Director of Undergraduate Studies for consideration as a senior project paper. Decisions are made on a case-by-case basis. Such papers must be centrally focused on human communication.
  11. If a student paper fails to meet these guidelines, the student must re-take 3995 in the maymester that most directly follows the failed paper. At the discretion of the instructor, a student may sign up for 3995 in the following regular semester and complete the senior paper. In either case, however, the student must re-take 3995. Of course, a student may re-start the senior paper in another 4000/5000 course in any semester following the failed paper.

For any questions or concerns about the senior paper, first attempt to contact your advisor. If you are having difficulty reaching her or him, please contact a member of the undergraduate advising staff.

Undergraduate Advising Office
278 Ford Hall
(612) 624-7036
SpchAdv@umn.edu