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Master of Liberal Arts  

Capstone Project

MLA students are required to complete a Capstone project through MLA 670: Scholarly Inquiry Seminar and MLA 680: Project Seminar. These courses, each three credit-hours, must be taken sequentially and require a prerequisite of 21 completed credit hours in the MLA Program. It is recommended that students plan for their Capstone project throughout their progress in the MLA Program and enter MLA 670 with a project topic in mind.

Karpen Hall

MLA 670 and MLA 680 are both graded Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (S/U). MLA 670 is offered each Spring semester and MLA 680 is offered each Fall, allowing the summer break for the development of a full draft of the project. Students have two options for their project: the traditional research thesis or the creative project. Guidelines for each are below. 

Complete Capstone Projects are available to the public through UNC Asheville's Ramsey Library Special Collections.  Though the projects are not available online, the Special Collections Web page allows for browsing completed projects by year of completion, title and author.

View list of Fall 2010 completed Capstone Projects.

Traditional Research Thesis Project Guidelines

The traditional research thesis is in the range of 50 pages of text. It is grounded in the scholarly literature that is connected to the topic, and for the MLA should bring together work in at least two disciplines. Project evaluators will be looking for evidence of at least the following:

  • That the student has demonstrated the ability to plan and conduct research appropriate to the project.
  • That the student has reviewed, understood and synthesized the current and/or relevant literature appropriate to the project.
  • That the student has adopted a critical, perceptive and constructive approach to her/his work and the work of others.
  • That the student has honed her/his skills in academic writing and has produced a work that is at least potentially publishable in some appropriate format.
  • That the work is driven by a clearly formulated thesis and supported by relevant data, evidence and/or analysis.
  • That the work expresses clear conclusions and that these follow clearly from the thesis and support offered in the work.
  • That the work is professionally prepared in accordance with the established conventions accepted by the program (the Turabian or Chicago style manual), and is free of errors.
Non-traditional and/or Creative Project Guidelines

The non-traditional master’s project should be designed with the student’s strengths in mind as well as their interests. Examples of projects successfully completed in the past include video documentary, sculpture installation and creative writing. Students who choose this option will need to provide a written statement of intention which clearly lays out the research question/s of the project and shows how the methods used successfully respond to those questions (usually 10-20 pages of text). Students must have the appropriate academic and/or other background to ensure that they are capable of producing quality work: those who do not have appropriate skill levels will either need to take the time to procure the skills, or re-design their project. Project evaluators will be looking for evidence of at least the following:

  • That the student demonstrates a professional level of familiarity with and understanding of contemporary work in the field.
  • That the student demonstrates a sufficiently comprehensive investigation of the creative form and content.
  • That the methods and techniques used in the work are appropriate to the subject matter and are aesthetically effective.
  • That the student demonstrates a sufficiently high standard of quality in her/his chosen methods and techniques.
  • That the student has clearly identified a research question/program in the work and has articulated that clearly in the accompanying statement.
  • That there is an appropriate and substantiated interface between the work and the accompanying statement.
  • That the work is presented in a sufficiently professional and appropriate manner.

Sample Title Page

Sample Signature Page

Last edited by jdolfi@unca.edu on June 21, 2011