These dates are for fall 2025; exact deadlines will vary from year to year but these are provided here as a rough guide.

• Tuesday, September 2  - Mandatory Meeting #1 (9:25-11:15)
• August 27 – September 14 - Choose and meet with your designated advisor by September 16.  Be sure to fill-out a Statement of Intent form. The advisor has a page to complete, too - their portion of the form is here.
• Tuesday, September 16 - Mandatory Meeting #2 (9:25-11:15),Statement of Intent DUE to the DUS.
• Tuesday, September 23 - Mandatory Library Research Colloquium (9:25-11:15), with Suzanne Estelle-Holmer, the Yale Librarian for Religious Studies.
• Tuesday, September 23 to October 7 - Schedule an individual research meeting with a reference librarian. Complete the Library Research Colloquium Form 
• Tuesday, October 7 - Mandatory Meeting #3 (9:25-11:15), Library Research Colloquium form DUE to the DUS.
• Tuesday, October 14 - Prospectus due to your advisor and DUS.
• Tuesday, October 21 - Mandatory Meeting #4 (9:25-11:15)
• Tuesday, November 4 - Annotated Bibliography DUE to your advisor and DUS.
• Tuesday, November 11 - Mandatory Meeting #5 (9:25-11:15)
• Tuesday, December 2 -1 0-page Draft or Detailed Outline DUE to your advisor and DUS.

By now you should have distilled your thoughts and questions about your topic into a thesis statement.  

On the top of the 3-page prospectus, write a one-sentence description of your topic. 

Your three-page prospectus should open with a short description of the topic and present your thesis statement.  Your thesis statement is the argument you hope to make based on your source materials. It is, in effect, the “message” you want to leave with your readers, the conclusion that will indicate the significance of what you have written.  At this point in your work your thesis may be tentative, and it may change as you continue your research.  That is fine.  But providing at least a provisional thesis statement is an important part of the process of moving forward on your essay. The three-page prospectus should offer a brief background on the topic and explain how your research will make a unique contribution to it.  This part will quite likely become the introduction to your senior essay.  Then discuss the major secondary literature that exists on the topic and describe the primary sources you will use to contribute an original addition to that literature. Later, this can become the core of your bibliographical essay.  

The DUS assigns first semester grades based on:

1. Timely submission of all required assignments in consultation with your advisor.  You must have completed the assigned tasks on or before the deadlines listed in the senior essay calendar to receive a grade of SAT.  Two or more late submissions will lead to a grade of NSAT.  These requirements are not negotiable.  Your advisor does not have the authority to override these requirements.
    
2. Participation in ALL mandatory meetings as outlined in the timetable.  If you must miss two or more meetings without excuse, the DUS will not grant a SAT.

Extensions can only be granted by the DUS.  To be eligible for an extension, a third of a grade will lower your final grade for the entire course. You need a Dean’s excuse outlining the reason you cannot meet the deadline.

If you pass RLST 4910 satisfactorily, your grade will be replaced at the end of the academic year by the grade of the essay.  However, should you receive a grade of NSAT for RLST 4910, then your final grade for the entire course will be lowered by a third of a grade.  For example, if you received a grade of NSAT for RLST 4910 and a grade of A-minus for your senior essay, the resulting grade for RLST 4910/RLST 4920 will be a B+.

During the spring term, a grade of NSAT in 4910 will be changed only if the grade was recorded in error.  There are no make-up assignments.

Students who receive an NSAT in RLST 4910 should still complete RLST 4920.

These dates are for spring 2026; exact deadlines will vary from year to year but these are provided here as a rough guide.

• Tuesday, January 13 to February 10 - Students will give presentations on their senior essay topics to the DUS and their classmates during the Senior Essay meeting time (Tuesdays 9:25-11:15). Describe your project, identify the methods employed in your research to-date, and summarize your preliminary results and conclusions. Schedule of presentations to be arranged at the start of term.
• Tuesday, February 17 - One Chapter of Essay DUE to your advisor and DUS.
• Friday, March 27 - First Draft of Essay DUE to your advisor and DUS.
• Monday, April 13 - FINAL DEADLINE for submission of completed SENIOR ESSAY.  Three copies must be submitted by 5pm on this date: one to each of your advisors and one to the DUS (it is your responsibility distribute the three copies of the essay to each of these readers.)

To begin writing sooner rather than later, you are required to hand in to the DUS and to your advisor ONE CHAPTER of your essay on the due date in early FEBRUARY as specified in the senior essay calendar.

Failure to submit this chapter on time will lower your final grade for RLST 4920 by a third of the grade.  For example, if your first chapter was late and your essay received an A-minus, the resulting grade for RLST 4910/4920 will be a B+.  If you receive a grade of NSAT for RLST 4910 and your chapter is submitted late, a grade of A-minus on the essay will be converted to a grade of B for the entire course.  The final grade for RLST 4910 cannot be changed – except in the case of an administrative error.

The grade for the senior essay will be determined through a combination of an evaluation of the written essay and the results of a ~30 minute oral defense. The oral defense will be jointly conducted by the thesis director and the DUS.  The DUS will henceforth serve as the “second reader” for all RLST senior theses and will, with the primary supervisor, determine the final grade.
It is suggested that 25% of the final grade be based on the oral defense.
 

The advisor or the DUS (upon receiving the readers’ reports) can also nominate your essay for prizes.