Senior Seminar

Hannah examined the siege of Constantinople in 1453 for her senior seminar class on Reconstructing Historical Landscapes. She showed how medieval warfare, especially military strategy, was dictated in terms of landscape. "I had never thought of looking at history through landscape. Having a senior seminar that focused on that angle alone was a huge revelation."

For the senior seminar class on historical landscapes, Alexandra, a native of Titusville, Florida, which is near the Windover Archeological Site, decided to investigate how these early Archaic people of America lived, and how they interacted with their environment.

Jeff Lubinski's passion has been maritime history for as long as he can remember. For his senior seminar paper, he chose to research the Ottoman attempt to rebuild their navy between 1900 and 1914. This topic was adjacent to his Honors in the Major work on the relationship between Great Britain, America, and the Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranean in the first half of the 19th century.

In his senior seminar paper, Justin researched the early history of American botanical gardens, primarily starting in the mid-18th century. In addition to sources written at the time, he was also able analyze drawing and sketches of the layouts of some of the early gardens.

Hunter Ballenger decided to work on zoological gardens and exhibition culture in imperial Japan, leisure spaces open to the public. He investigated how these were used to project imperial authority and show that Japan had modernized to a western equivalency.

In her senior seminar paper, Nina investigated educational and military reform in Meiji Japan. As an Anthropology-History double major, she applied Durkheim's concept of collective conscience to her historical research.

In her senior seminar class on architectural history, Delaney researched how FSU was given the stewardship of the Ringling Museum in Sarasota in 2000.

Hear from FSU History graduate Kieran Stenson about researching Florida history for his senior seminar. The class introduced him to the field of historic preservation; it opened up a new area of history for Kieran and new career opportunities.

History major Vinnie Whibbs turned his passion for surfing into his senior seminar topic. His research focuses on the connection between surf tourism and coastal development in El Salvador from 1992 to the present.

In this article, Alejandro shares his experiences writing a senior seminar paper: from crafting the initial research question to presenting his findings as a polished paper. His advice: start your research as early as possible and choose a topic you are passionate about.