The Capstone Project: TXTDS 405
What is a Capstone in the TXTDS Minor?
The Capstone wraps up the Minor in Textual Studies and Digital Humanities and is designed as a sustained project or experience relevant to the learning goals of the minor. In the past, students have completed projects like digital editions, worked in UW Special Collections, assisted faculty with research projects, and have even taken on internships with local entities, such as serving as an intern at Partners in Print, a local letterpress printing nonprofit.
The Capstone is a requirement of the Minor in Textual Studies and Digital Humanities, during which you'll register for a 5-credit course, taken as TXTDS 405. The Capstone can be taken in any quarter, including the summer.
What can I do for my Capstone?
Students have undertaken a variety of different projects and experiences as their Capstone. You can take a look at our blog to see overviews of past projects. You can do anything for your Capstone as long as it meets the requirements, workload, and overall goals of the Capstone, but some of the traditional Capstone categories include:
- A traditional research paper.
- A digital project, such as the creation of a digital exhibit or a digital edition potentially with materials held in the UW Libraries (say, in Special Collections) or in another collection.
- A digital humanities or humanities data science project (creating and/or working with large text-related databases or catalogue data).
- A portfolio project.
- Undertaking research for a faculty project or an internship with an organization (a library or archive; a bookstore; a publishing house; a printing press).
The Capstone is completed under the guidance of a faculty member, a librarian, or a supervisor. There are many possibilities for the Capstone and you can feel free to be creative with what you dream up for your project. You can check out current Capstone opportunities below.
Before starting your Capstone, you'll need to reach out to Textual Studies to discuss and define your Capstone project. You should reach out as soon as you can, at the latest, by the beginning of the quarter prior to when you plan to complete your capstone (e.g. if you plan to take TXTDS 405 in Spring, reach out at the beginning of Winter quarter).
You should reach out to Kathryn Medill and the faculty member or librarian you'd like to work with if you know this already. You can also reach UW Textual Studies by writing to text@uw.edu.
Current Opportunities
UW Libraries and Museums
Students can work with librarians and curators in various capacities in UW Libraries, from Special Collections to the Tateuchi East Asian Library to the Open Scholarship Commons, and in UW museums, such as the Burke Museum.
Study resource needs of the UW Department of English, other Washington State English departments, and English departments in the Big 10 academic alliance and beyond. Generate a list of 50–100 print books/ebooks to buy, consulting resources like the UW Libraries catalog, the MLA International Bibliography database, Choice Reviews Online, WorldCat, and others. Reflection paper and presentation. Work with UW Libraries English Studies Librarian.
Next offered Winter 2027.
Project Director: Elliott Stevens
In the UW Libraries, library workers use a product called "LibGuides" to construct Research Guides for most majors and minors. In this capstone, you'd help the English Studies Librarian, Elliott Stevens, to review, update, and revise Guides like the English Guide, the American Literature Guide, the British Literature Guide, and the Medieval/Renaissance Guide. This work will include doing an environmental scan of the UW English Department, English departments in the region, and departments in the Big 10 Academic Alliance. You will come up with lists of new resources to add to Guides, will learn about LibGuides (a classic platform to know for anyone interested in the field of librarianship), and will learn about principles of digital accessibility for people with disabilities.
Next offered Spring 2027.
Project Director: Elliott Stevens
The Tateuchi East Asia Library (TEAL) invites Textual Studies capstone students to engage in meaningful, hands-on projects that center on the library's rare, historical, and unique materials in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages. These projects may include research, design, and development of physical or digital exhibits, display installations, or interpretive content that brings greater visibility and access to TEAL's special collections. TEAL especially welcomes projects that support the library's service mission and advance library priorities in areas such as accessibility, digital humanities, and community engagement. Depending on your interests and experiences, possible projects include…
- Research and Curate Thematic Exhibits — Using TEAL's rare books, manuscripts, and archival holdings, students can work with a librarian to research, source, and curate thematic exhibitions.
- Plan and Install Physical Displays — Help TEAL librarians plan, design, and install physical displays that feature the library's unique collections.
- Design Digital Scholarship Projects — Research, design, and build digital scholarship projects, such as online exhibits or projects using storytelling platforms, that highlight key collections housed in TEAL.
- Collaborate on TEAL-led Projects — Collaborate with librarians on TEAL-led projects that improve access, discovery, and understanding of East Asian materials.
- Assist with Digital Initiatives — Assist with TEAL's ongoing digital initiatives that intersect with the library's research services and community outreach.
One Capstone offered each academic year. One student at a time.
Project Director: Hyokyoung Yi
Work with the Burke Museum Ichthyology Collections Manager, Katherine Maslenikov, to organize and inventory the historic library of books relating to fish biology, fisheries, zoology, and more. The library has grown over many decades from the collections of Curators and donations from retiring faculty in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. There are many rare and valuable books and series, but the library is largely unused due to the lack of an inventory or searchable database. Early attempts at an organizational system have fallen into disrepair. A recent salvage operation from a local library's closure has us bursting at the seams and hoping for a student with an eye for organization, some knowledge of modern library databasing systems, and who doesn't mind hanging out in a basement full of dead fish in jars.
Opportunity available any quarter.
Project Director: Katherine Maslenikov
Faculty Research
Students can work with Textual Studies affiliated faculty on research, editorial, and archival projects.
Join Professor Selim Kuru, Director of the Turkish and Ottoman Studies Program, in expanding the web catalogue Middle East and North Africa Illustrated, an open-access project dedicated to documenting and analyzing graphic novels, comics, and visual storytelling in English on the Middle East and North Africa. The project explores how artists and writers translate regional histories, identities, and politics into powerful visual narratives, and how these stories circulate globally. Students will research and update titles and creators, enrich existing entries with new bibliographic and visual information, and develop digital features to make the site more dynamic and user-friendly. Depending on interest and skills, participants may also design visualizations, enhance search or tagging systems, or help curate online exhibits that connect the database to broader questions in world literature and media studies. This capstone is ideal for students interested in world literature, visual culture, and digital humanities and book culture.
Project Director: Selim Kuru
Work with Professor Kat Medill, of the Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures Department, transcribing and archiving a family collection of handwritten letters from doctors, officials, and missionaries of the late 1800s serving in the Ottoman Empire. Students will learn to use Transkribus. Students should be detail-oriented and should have some ability to read English cursive.
Multiple students welcome. Not available in summer quarters.
Project Director: Kathryn Medill
Work with Professor Beatrice Arduini, of the French & Italian Studies Department, providing research assistance on a project exploring historical translations of Dante. You'll assess and compare translations of Dante, from the early modern period to today. You'll read and summarize translator notes and prefaces; undertake research; and determine which previous editions, copies, and translations of Dante were prioritized.
Prerequisites: Students should have read the Divine Comedy and/or worked with Dr. Arduini previously.
Project Director: Beatrice Arduini
Humanities Data Science Summer Institute
This annual summer program is hosted by the Humanities Data Lab and the Minor in Data Science. Work with a team of undergraduates and graduate students on a project conceived by a faculty member.
Work with a team of undergraduates and graduate students on a faculty-led project employing data science techniques. Each project explores humanistic, literary, and/or cultural questions. You will find more information about how to apply at the Humanities Data Lab website.
External Internships
We encourage students to apply relevant internship experiences towards capstone credits. If you have uncovered other internship possibilities that involve pertinent experience, please let us know.
Partners in Print is a Seattle non-profit promoting letterpress printing. Learn letterpress printing; help facilitate printing workshops; acquire experience working with a culturally-focused non-profit, helping with outreach and fundraising; develop a printing project of your own.
Offered any quarter including summer.
Work with Seattle book artist and printer, Bonnie Thompson Norman, proprietor of Windowpane Press, on one of several possible projects.
- Create an annotated archive of the artist's work — Bonnie Thompson Norman has produced an extensive body of work consisting of printed work, ephemera, and artist's books.
- Catalogue a collection of artist's books and fine press books — Catalogue Bonnie Thompson Norman's collection from local and nationally renowned book artists and printers. The collection includes examples of palm leaf books, leaf books with incunable leaves, fine press books and artist's books.
- Assist in the Words of Courage project — The Words of Courage project (https://partnersinprint.org/programs/words-of-courage/) involves designing, setting type and illustrating a broadside. Help print a poem written by a patient at Children's Hospital who worked with poets in residence from the Writer's in the Schools program. The edition of approximately 100 broadsides will be included in a portfolio. Note that this project takes place from mid-March to mid-May.
The capstone will take place in Bonnie Thompson Norman's studio, which is a few miles north of campus, easily accessible by bus and car.
Offered any quarter including summer.
Examples of Recent Capstones
Students in the Minor in Textual Studies and Digital Humanities and the Graduate Certificate in Textual and Digital Studies have taken on a variety of projects for their Capstones. From internships at local letterpress studios, to digitizing materials in UW Special Collections, to building digital projects, databases, and analyzing accessibility in online collections, the possibilities are vast.
Cassidy Vierling — Interned at Partners in Print, a non-profit promoting letterpress printing, and wrote a paper about the history of typeface. Read more
Ayla Tanurhan — Collaborated with UW Special Collections to bring accessible and inclusive design to their online exhibitions. Read more
Sayako Mitchell — Created a digital gallery exhibition centering accessible design for patrons with dementia, specifically catering to Seattle's Japanese and Japanese American community. View project
Piper Thomas — Worked on digitizing the library's William Morris collections in UW Special Collections, for the project Whitespace in Illustrations and Book Arts. Read more
Ray Molinar — Digitized graphic novels from UW Special Collections for the project The Medium is The Message. Read more
Bonnie Ha — Digitized historical anatomy books in UW Special Collections. Read more
Alex Seo — Built a database of nineteenth-century publishers' bindings for UW Special Collections. Read more
Lauren Zarlingo — Built a database of metadata on the historical coverage of The Nutcracker by the New York Times, using data analysis to explore its content. Read more
Molly Porter — Built a digital humanities project on the poetry of the Puget Sound. Read more
Marisa Oishi — Created a digital edition of selections from Clarence Arai's papers held in UW Library's Special Collections. View project
Malika Brown — Created the History of Girl's Fiction, a digital project tracking the generic and printed evolution of children's books from the 18th century to the present day. View project
Aries Chen — Built Citation in Early Modern France, a digital exploration of citation practices in early modern French texts. View project
Jessica Nero — Produced a TEI transcription of The Slave's Friend, a nineteenth-century abolitionist periodical. View project
Evanora Pearce — Produced a research paper exploring classical themes across modern and contemporary English translations of Dante's Inferno. Read more
Laurel Rovetta — Created a website, "Translation and Audience: An Analysis of English Translations of the Divine Comedy." Read more
