Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of the Russian major, a student will have demonstrated that they are able to:
- execute a systematic and sustained research project;
- choose and define a complex topic from the major field;
- develop and pursue a critical method appropriate to the research topic;
- independently investigate that topic with the support of an advisor;
- analyze works of literature, film, and other media, including through close reading;
- use appropriate secondary sources as part of that analysis;
- produce an original and well-informed scholarly work in the form of a senior thesis;
- achieve advanced competence in written and oral Russian, sufficient to carry out such research project;
- be able to analyze and interpret a range of Russian or Russophone literary and cultural texts;
- write a clear and coherent document that is substantially longer than a traditional term paper or project;
- present, discuss and defend their work orally.
The primary assessment tool for learning in the major at Reed and the level of student achievement in the major area is the senior thesis; the junior qualifying examination, which assesses a student's readiness for thesis, provides a second assessment tool. For more information on the thesis, the Junior Qualifying Exam and the Russian academic program in general, see Russian Home and The Major and the Minor.