Graduating with Honors in English
Seniors may opt to pursue a year-long research-oriented thesis project in order to receive honors in the major. This thesis should offer an original analytical argument and should reflect a sustained engagement with contemporary critical discourse. Over the course of the academic year the student will work closely with a faculty advisor, who will offer guidance in gathering primary and secondary literature for the project and provide feedback during the various stages of its development. When the thesis is complete and ready to defend, the student will submit it to the thesis committee. The distinction of honors will be conferred by the committee following a successful oral defense of the thesis.
II. Eligibility
Students who plan to pursue an honors thesis:
1) Must be entering their final academic year of study prior to graduation
2) Must have completed ENGL 20100: Approaches to Literary Study and at least one course at the 300 level
Please note: students embarking on the two-semester honors project must register into ENGL-49801 and ENGL-49802.
III. Project Timeline
A. Spring Semester of the Student’s Junior Year:
Ideally, the student should define a broad field of interest from which the thesis topic will emerge and secure the participation of a faculty advisor.The faculty advisor and the student will work together to develop a short bibliography designed to help the student become conversant particularly with the primary literature in the field.
This preliminary work on the senior thesis is not mandatory; however, it is strongly recommended. The student should be aware that much of the fall semester should be devoted to research in criticism and context, and so advance study of primary material will be extremely helpful in structuring research over the fall semester.
B. Fall Semester of the Student’s Senior Year:
The student will enroll in ENGL 49801, Honors Project I, a four-credit course of thesis-level independent study, with the faculty advisor. The purpose of the work undertaken by the student in the fall semester is to produce and defend a 1-2-page preliminary abstract, a preliminary bibliography, and a draft of one chapter or substantial section of the thesis. The student should also construct a thesis committee, which will consist of two additional faculty readers. All three committee members must be Ithaca College faculty, although they may be from departments other than Literatures in English.
Week 3: By the end of the third week of the fall semester, the student should submit a brief project description that identifies a specific topic of interest and a series of relevant literary texts.
Week 6: By the end of the sixth week of the fall semester, the student should submit to the faculty advisor a 1-2 page abstract describing the thesis project, its organization, and its provisional argument. This should be accompanied by a preliminary bibliography, including both literary and scholarly texts.
Week 10: In the tenth week, the student should submit to the faculty advisor a draft of a chapter or some substantial section of the thesis. This draft should be considered a significant part of the materials submitted for review at the end of the semester, and even though it represents work in progress, it should demonstrate the student’s ability to make an original argument about a primary text while integrating and responding to contextual and/or critical perspectives.
By Week 14: Following revisions as recommended by the faculty advisor, the student will submit the preliminary abstract, the bibliography, and the chapter draft to the full thesis committee at least one week before the chapter exam is scheduled.
Chapter Exam: The chapter exam should be about one hour in length and should provide the student with the opportunity to discuss his or her project in greater detail with the members of the thesis committee.In this meeting, the committee will provide the student with suggestions on particular directions in which the project might be taken and identify areas of possible concern. Although the chapter exam is meant to offer advisory input, it is important to note that the primary goal of the exam is for the committee to evaluate the student’s progress and determine whether s/he is prepared to proceed on to the thesis stage. Near the conclusion of the exam, the committee will decide by majority vote whether the project may continue.
Chapter Exam Decision:
If the committee decides that the project may continue, the student will enroll in a second course of independent study with his or her faculty advisor for the spring semester. The student’s course grade for the fall independent study will be assigned by the faculty advisor alone.
If the committee decides that the project may not continue, the faculty advisor will assign a grade for the student’s fall independent study, and the student will not move on to write the thesis paper.
Provisional Pass:
In some cases, when the committee feels that the preliminary written material and chapter exam are insufficient to allow the project to continue, the committee may decide by consensus to allow the student to move on to the thesis stage pending the submission of further work. The nature of this work will be determined by the committee and should be submitted and evaluated no later than the third week of the spring semester. There is no formal oral defense required for material submitted under the provisional pass.
If the committee decides that the work submitted is insufficient for the project to continue, then the student will finish the semester in an advanced independent study under terms to be decided upon by the student and the faculty advisor. The student will not move on to write an honors thesis.
C. Spring Semester of the Student’s Senior Year:
The student will enroll in ENGL 49802, Honors Project II, a second four-credit course of thesis-level independent study, with the faculty advisor.During the spring semester, the student should expect to continue researching but most importantly to draft and revise the thesis paper. Although the precise structure of each individual project will vary, senior theses in the Literatures in English department are comprised typically of an introduction and two to three analytical chapters. All completed papers:
1) Should be double spaced in Times New Roman 12-point font within the standard margins
2) Are usually a minimum of thirty pages in length
3) Must include a full bibliography
The student and the faculty advisor should agree on a timetable for the completion of the thesis, which should be submitted to the full committee—following the recommendation of the faculty advisor—at least one weekbefore the scheduled date of the defense. The faculty advisor must approve the thesis and certify that it is ready to defend before it is sent on to the committee.
Thesis Defense: The thesis defense, which must take place before the end of the finals period, should be about one hour in length and is primarily evaluative in nature. The student should begin with a brief description of the aims of the project, which will be followed by questions from the committee. Toward the end of the meeting, the committee will decide by majority vote whether to confer the distinction of departmental honors. The final grade for the project will be determined by the faculty advisor.
If the committee votes not to confer departmental honors, then the student’s final grade will be determined by the faculty advisor and the student will receive full credit for an advanced independent study.
Approved by the Department of English, September 2024.