"The Rationale is a short (five to eight pages) paper that provides a foundation and scaffolding for the conversation the student will have at their Colloquium. The Rationale focuses on ideas, questions, and lines of inquiry that have emerged from the pursuit of the student’s concentration, and which they find particularly compelling.

These ideas should be discussed in reflection with several works drawn from all areas of the List of Works. This should be interdisciplinary (connecting different fields and methods) and historically aware (connecting different times and places). The Colloquium is a discussion between the student and their faculty committee about the student’s List of Works, of the relation of these works to the student’s concentration, and of issues and concepts that have arisen in the student’s studies."
See https://gallatin.nyu.edu/academics/undergraduate/colloquium/booklistrationale.html