Every DePauw University senior must take a senior seminar that will help them write a thesis, create a project, or pass a test that incapsulates their four years of learning. Each seminar looks different depending on what your major is so I thought it would be fun to interview my roommates, who each have a different major, and see how all of them differ. This is part one, so check back in to see interviews with my other two roommates and an article from me about being in an English writing seminar.
HerCampus: Hi Mallory, thanks for meeting with me today.
Mallory: Yeah, of course.
HC: Can you tell me about your major?
M: Yeah, so I am a sociology major. Sociology really covers everything. Basically, we study structures and human society primarily within the US. We learn about systems, power, and social inequalities within society.
HC: What made you want to be a sociology major.
MP: I just loved all the sociology courses I took. I learn so much in the Sociology courses I take, and they teach me how to critically engage with the world.
HC: Can you tell me a little bit about your seminar?
MP: I have my seminar twice a week and the general theme is social control. At the beginning of the semester, we did facilitations on different articles. It was different than normal facilitations because we focused on the structure of the articles to make us think about how we will structure our papers. Then we recently did presentations over how we plan to do data collection for our own projects and just share our basic ideas with the class. Really soon we are going to start transitioning to having less class and more independent time to work on our projects, which will be fun.
HC: What are you planning to do for your project?
MP: I am looking at queer representation in television. My research so far has been about how queer people have been represented in television through tropes, character arches, and whether the impact is positive or negative. I am going to be doing a critical discourse analysis over the show Schitt’s Creek, because it’s gotten a lot of positive feedback about how it portrays its queer characters. Dan Levy, who is the creator, writer, and also the actor who plays David, wanted to create a world where homophobia doesn’t exist, which makes the show unique in a sense. Also, the character David and Patrick are the main relationship in the show, and their relationship is really joyful and doesn’t end in tragedy. I don’t want to just lift up the show though, I also want to critique it and point out any potential flaws it has.
HC: What is one thing you wish you would have known before going into your seminar?
MP: Honestly, nothing. I feel really prepared. Sociology majors take a research methods class before seminar. I took that last semester and that is where I learned about all of the methods I would be using for this project and I also picked my topic and began my research last semester which has helped.
I guess I was a little surprised that we still had readings assignments to do in the beginning of seminar, but I am not upset because they are super interesting. For example, one article taught us about how humor is a form of social control.
If I wouldn’t have taken my methods class I would have been really overwhelmed but with the way, it worked out everything is really fresh in my mind.
HC: Glad you feel prepared, and I can’t wait to hear how your project turns out.
MP: Me too!