English Department Honors Program

1. You must be a declared English major.
2. You must have completed 12 credit hours of 300/400-level English courses.
3. You must have a minimum GPA of 3.25 in the English major and an overall GPA of at least 3.0 or consent of the Honors and Scholarships Committee.

As a rule, students seeking honors in English complete a two-semester honors project in their senior year on topics of their choice with faculty advisors of their choice.

First you must submit a two-to-three-page proposal to the English Honors and Scholarships Committee in the semester preceding the anticipated beginning of work on your honors project (by April 15 for projects beginning in the Fall Semester and December 1 for projects beginning in the Spring Semester).

Your proposal should identify the topic that you wish to explore; give a preliminary sense of the direction that your explorations will take, including, to the extent possible, the methods, theories and/or techniques to be used; identify the primary texts that you plan to use as well as a few key scholarly or critical works; and include a schedule for the completion of the various steps of the project.

Although certainly open to change and development, your proposal should be more than just a statement of interest. It should reflect extended thought about the topic and at least an initial awareness of relevant resources in the field.

You should produce your preliminary proposal in close collaboration with your project adviser. Upon approval by the English Honors and Scholarships Committee, the department chair will register you for ENGL 490: Directed Study for the following semester.

The chair of the English Honors and Scholarships Committee will notify the director of College Honors that you have been approved to undertake honors in English and provide the director with your name, the name of the advisor and the working title of your project.

You will work on your project with your advisor, which normally includes at least a one-hour meeting each week. Toward the end of the semester (by April 15 for the Spring Semester and December 1 for the Fall Semester), you will submit to the English Honors and Scholarships Committee a four-to-five-page expanded proposal that articulates in more detail the direction in which your project is moving and provide a more thorough bibliography. The English Honors and Scholarships Committee will review the proposal, and the chair of the committee will forward any comments or suggestions to your project adviser.

The decision whether or not to continue your honors project into the second semester rests upon you and your advisor. If you decide to continue, you should register for ENGL 492: Directed Study for the following semester. Your project advisor will give you a grade for ENGL 491. (Advisors have the option of giving an Incomplete, thus deferring grades for both 491 and 492 until the completion of the final project.)

Because projects vary greatly, there is no absolute page requirement. Normally, however, projects will run between 30 and 50 pages, plus bibliography.

In order to ensure that you are able to participate in year-end awards ceremonies and are listed in the Commencement program, you should submit a final draft of your project to the English Honors and Scholarships Committee by April 15 in the Spring Semester (December 1 in the Fall Semester). Before submission to the committee, your final draft should be thoroughly read by your advisor.

The committee will read your project and award you honors or not. If the committee asks for revisions or corrections before making a determination, the chair will inform you and your adviser immediately, and you will have until the fourth week in April (or the second week in December) to make changes and resubmit your project.

Your project advisor will give you a grade for ENGL 492. If the project is awarded honors, the chair of the English Honors and Scholarships Committee will notify the Records Office and the Commencement Office. The chair will also notify the director of College Honors whether or not you have been awarded honors.

To complete the departmental honors project, you need to submit both paper and digital copies of your project to the James P. Adams Library with a proper title page and a signature page signed by your project advisor, the chair of the Departmental Honors Committee, and the chair of the English Department. Directions for submissions are available on the Adams Library website. Go to Services and then Thesis Submission.

Title page and signature page models are available on the College Honors Website. Go to Departmental Honors Projects and then Completing the Honors Project. There is also a brief online completion form to fill out and send to the director of College Honors.

You are strongly encouraged to present your completed project at a college-wide poster session held on the Monday afternoon prior to Cap and Gown and to attend the Honors Awards Banquet on that Monday evening. Honors cords for Commencement will be awarded at the banquet. The director of College Honors will circulate information about the poster session and the banquet.

• declared English major
• completion of 12 credits of 300/400 level English courses
• minimum GPA of 3.25 in the English major; overall GPA of at least 3.0, or consent of the Creative Writing Committee.

As a rule, students seeking honors in creative writing complete a two-semester honors project in their senior year on topics of their choice with faculty advisors of their choice.

First, you must submit a two-to-three-page proposal to the Creative Writing Committee in the semester preceding the anticipated beginning of work on your honors project (by April 15 for projects beginning in the Fall Semester and November 21 for projects beginning in the Spring Semester).

Your proposal should identify the genre and topic(s) that you wish to explore; give a preliminary sense of the direction that those explorations will take; specify meetings with your advisor and the number of pages of writing to be completed; and provide a bibliography of texts that you plan to examine. You should also provide a writing sample (usually one prose work or half-a-dozen poems).

Your preliminary proposal should be produced in close collaboration with your project advisor who will submit your proposal to the department’s Creative Writing Committee for approval. Upon approval by the Creative Writing Committee, the department chair will register you for ENGL 490: Directed Study for the following semester.

The chair of the Creative Writing Committee will inform the director of College Honors that you have been approved to undertake honors in English and provide the director with your name, the name of your advisor and the working title of your project.

You will work on your project with your adviser, which normally includes at least a one-hour meeting each week. Toward the end of the semester (by November 21 for the Fall Semester and April 15 for the Spring Semester), you will submit to the Creative Writing Committee your thesis proposal of approximately three pages that articulates with more specificity the direction in which your project is moving. You should also submit samples of writing in progress from the project itself (usually one prose piece or a half-a-dozen poems). The Creative Writing Committee will review your proposal and writing samples, and the chair of the committee will forward any comments or suggestions to your project advisor.

The decision whether or not to continue your honors project into the second semester rests upon you and your advisor. If you decide to continue, you should register for ENGL 492: Directed Study for the following semester. Your project advisor will give you a grade for ENGL 491.

Your thesis – a body of original work normally in one genre – should be of a higher caliber than is usually produced in 300-level creative writing courses. Generally, a thesis in prose will be approximately 35-50 pages. A thesis in poetry is approximately 15-20 poems.

In order to ensure that you are able to participate in year-end awards ceremonies and are listed in the Commencement program, you should submit the final draft of your project to the Creative Writing Committee by the end of the second week of April in the Spring Semester and by the end of the third week of November in the Fall Semester. Before submission to the committee, final drafts should be thoroughly read by advisors.

The committee will read your project and award you honors or not. If the committee asks for revisions or corrections before making a determination, the chair will inform you and your advisor immediately, and you will have until the second week in December or the fourth week in April to make changes and resubmit your project.

Your project advisor will give you a grade for ENGL 492. If the project is awarded honors, the chair of the Creative Writing Committee will notify the Records Office and the Commencement Office. The chair will also notify the director of College Honors whether or not you have been awarded honors.

To complete the departmental honors project, you will need to submit both paper and digital copies of your project to the James P. Adams Library with a signature page signed by the project advisor, the chair of the Creative Writing Committee and the chair of the English Department. Directions for submissions are available on the Adams Library website. Go to Services and then Thesis Submission.

Signature page models are available on the College Honors Website. Go to Departmental Honors Projects and then Completing the Honors Project. There is also a brief online completion form to fill out and send to the director of College Honors.

You are strongly encouraged to present your completed project at a college-wide poster session held on the Monday afternoon prior to Cap and Gown and to attend the Honors Awards Banquet on that Monday evening. Honors cords for Commencement will be awarded at the banquet. The director of College Honors will circulate information about the poster session and the banquet.