Honors in English
The English Department encourages students to pursue Honors in English. Students must have achieved a 3.5 average in English and a 3.5 average overall in order to apply for Honors and receive an award of Honors. Honors students must satisfy all the requirements for a regular English major (prerequisites plus eight courses at the 300 level or higher) and they are required to take a two-semester, five-credit sequence (3 units in fall and 2 units in spring), the Senior Research Seminar (L14 399 01), which supports their research and their writing in the senior year.There are two available tracks for completing the Honors program; by thesis or by coursework. To apply for Honors candidacy in either case, students must submit writing samples from two previous courses, letters of recommendation from two English professors in home-based ELit courses and the completed application form. (Faculty members can submit recommendations directly to the Academic Coordinator by email.) The application deadline is the last business day of April, junior year (a precise date is announced early each spring). All materials should be submitted to the Academic Coordinator. Following the posting of grades for the spring semester, these materials, together with the student’s official record, will be reviewed by the Undergraduate Committee and the Director of Honors. Students will be notified by mid-June about the results of the review.
In addition, the following requirements apply to the individual Honors tracks:
Honors by Thesis
In early April of their junior year, students wishing to undertake a sustained research project develop a thesis proposal (one to two pages) in which they describe the nature of the project. The proposal is submitted for review and signature by the thesis director and the major advisor before the final application is complete. The signed proposal should then be submitted with the application form and letters of recommendation mentioned above to the Academic Coordinator. If accepted, candidates for Honors by thesis should begin their reading and research over the summer. They will enroll during each semester of their senior year for three units of ELit 5001, the Thesis Tutorial, in which they will develop with the thesis director a sustained work of 50-70 pages. [Please note: students must include the appropriate section number for the thesis advisor.] If, in the judgment of the thesis advisor, the candidate’s progress does not promise satisfactory completion of the thesis in the spring semester, the project can be terminated at the end of the first semester with the award of three units. A completed draft of the thesis is to be submitted to the thesis director in mid-January; the completed thesis should go to the Academic Coordinator on the last business day of February. An oral examination based mainly on the thesis will be administered in March, with an examining committee of three faculty members of the candidate’s choosing, including the thesis advisor.Honors by Coursework
Candidates for honors by course work must complete two courses at the 400-level in addition to the two 400-level courses required for all majors. Of the two pre-1700 courses required of all majors, at least one must be at the 400-level. Coursework students are required to take the Senior Research Seminar, a two-semester sequence that will accompany their research and writing. Students interested in this track should submit an application in April of their junior year, as described above. Following a review of these materials and of their spring semester grades by the Undergraduate Committee and the Director of Honors, they will be notified of their status in June. In preparation for their final submission in their senior year, students will select, revise, and extend two of their coursework essays. By mid-January of their senior year, they will submit these revised essays for additional feedback from the faculty members who initially graded them. A final version of these essays (minimum length: 25 pages) will be submitted on the last business day of February, along with an abstract of the student’s coursework (title, number, instructor), and an essay (3-4 pages) discussing the aims and methods in the two long papers in relation to each other and to the student’s upper-division work as a whole. These materials will form the basis for an oral exam to be conducted by three faculty members in March, typically after spring break.Determination for Level of Honors
The examining committee will recommend level of honors based on the following considerations:- the College of Arts and Sciences GPA standards for Latin Honors
- the quality of the thesis or course papers submitted
- the student’s performance in the oral exam
- the breadth of learning reflected in the student’s course choices