Completing
a HACU Division I
A
Division I in the Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies is designed
to introduce you to the fields, methodologies, central texts and ideas
that shape the various disciplines in the school. Passing a Division
I in four areas, including Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies, either
through coursework or a longer independent project will qualify you
to move on to the Division II and your chosen concentration. While there
are some rules and criteria for completing the Division I, this first
stage in your Hampshire College studies also allows you to develop your
creative and intellectual interests within the parameters of a course
or clearly defined area of your choosing. This page includes the general
guidelines set by the School of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies
for passing a Division I Exam, and some additional pointers for those
students who would like to complete an independent Division I project
with me.
HACU
DIVISION I: OFFICIAL GOALS AND POLICY
The Division
I Exam in the School of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies is designed
to enable an entering student:
- To acquire
skills in critical analysis, reading and writing;
- To learn
to speak comfortably and effectively in group settings;
- To begin
to develop historical and multiple cultural perspectives;
- To begin
self-initiated intellectual or artistic work;
- To gain
exposure to a range of styles, forms and types of texts (literary,
philosophical, visual, musical, etc.);
- To learn
to express ideas in a range of modes and media;
- To acquire
analytic vocabularies in more than one of the disciplines encompassed
by the school (e.g. literary criticism, cultural theory, musical discourse,
film and media analysis).
HACU presents
two different types of courses specifically designed to help
satisfy these goals. Each semester, the school offers one or more team-taught,
multidisciplinary courses (numbered 120-129). In these courses,
the emphasis is not on the acquisition of production techniques, but
on understanding how to think about questions and work with materials
in the fields involved. The school also offers a number of first-year
seminars (numbered 130-139). These courses enable you to pursue
fundamental questions and problems in small-group settings that allow
close contact with instructors.
You will
choose one of the following TWO OPTIONS for completing
a Division I in HACU:
Model
#1: Two-Course Option: Successful completion of two 100-level courses
(or, in some circumstances, one 100-level course and one 200-level course)
in HACU. (You may not use two 200-level courses for this option!) In
keeping with the multidisciplinary expectations of the HACU Division
I, students are strongly encouraged to choose courses from different
disciplines within the school (e.g. philosophy and video, literature
and music, history and cultural studies, etc.) HACU's team-taught, multidisciplinary
courses, when followed by another 100- or 200-level course, offer a
good way to satisfy the mutlidisciplinary expectation and to complete
a Division I in the school.
Model
#2: Project Exam: If you opt for the project exam, your work will
normally emerge out of coursework done in the school for a particular
course and will involve substantial additional work. If you propose
a Division I project independent of coursework done in the school, you
must offer convincing evidence of your preparation to pursue and complete
the project and must find a faculty member who agrees to direct it.
If
you would like to complete a DIVISION I PROJECT with me,
here are a few things you need to know:
Most of
my students who are interested in the project-based version of the HACU
Div I complete a paper based on work begun in one of my 100-level courses,
for example HACU 180 "Introduction to Cultural Studies" or
HACU 197 "Cross-Cultural Readings of the Short Story." If
you keep up with the work in the course throughout the semester, then
by the end of the term you should have a good solid paper that demonstrates
that you have fulfilled at least some of the criteria for passing a
Division I exam as outlined above.
I will
give you extensive editorial suggestions and proposals for expansion
on the final paper you turn in for class or another essay/project that
you choose to develop into a Division I project. That paper will serve
as the first draft of a Division I paper that you will revise, expand
and improve over the course of the following months.
Criteria
for Evaluation:
Specifically I will help you develop and will ultimately evaluate
the following:
- your
ability to conduct independent research and use the library and other
resource material effectively;
- your
ability to place your own creative work (writing, videomaking etc.)
in a larger critical and historical framework--if your Div I project
includes a creative writing or production component;
- your
development of composition, writing and analytic skills (including
compilation of critical bibliographies, proper citation and clear,
persuasive prose style);
- your
ability to formulate a cogent, interesting thesis or argument or to
pose a challenging analytic question or problem;
- your
competence in employing a particular critical or theoretical approach
to analyze a text.
Length:
Generally I expect a 10-12 page essay for a term paper in my 100-level
classes. The expanded and revised Division I paper should run around
15-25 pages. This is a general guideline and can be negotiated depending
the nature and complexity of your project. However, as a rule, the Division
I project should go substantially beyond your initial analysis or ideas
and reflect your additional research and further thinking on your chosen
topic.
Timeline:
You should plan to work on your revisions to the paper/project
as consistently as possible after the end of the course and to regularly
meet with me to go over drafts and discuss any problems as well as exciting
discoveries. You should plan to have your project completed by April
1 (if you started course work in fall) or November 1 (if
you began the project in a spring term course). After that date, it
becomes difficult to devote the necessary energy and focus to the project:
I will be busy with Division II and III exams and you will be preoccupied
with finishing your final work for the semester. It is possible to carry
over the project into a third term but I advise you strongly to finish
the paper within two semesters and to set yourself specific deadlines.
Setting up a working schedule and keeping up with revisions will ensure
that you will indeed finish the project within the official time limits
and that you will have a sense of accomplishment.
Committee:
Your Division I project committee consists of two members, myself
the chair and a second faculty member or a student who has already passed
his or her Division I in HACU and is qualified to evaluate your work.
During the final meeting all three of us discuss the process and experience
of completing the Division I work and evaluate the final version of
your project.
Resources:
There are many other resources at your disposal to aid you in conceptualizing
and completing the project:
- The Writing Program
- The Quantitative Resource Center
- Research Librarians at the Johnson Library
- The Advising Office
- S.T.A.R. (Student to Student Advising Center)
- Division II and III students who have already passed their Division
I exams and can reassure you that the Division I process may be daunting
at first but is absolutely manageable--and can even be fun!
