The following is an overview of the opportunities, requirements and process for applying to the Honors Program in French, Italian or Spanish. For more information, please visit our page, Honors Program Frequently Asked Questions.
Opportunities for Independent Critical and Scholarly Work
Completing the French, Italian, or Spanish major with Honors allows students to do independent study on a topic they choose, to work closely with a faculty adviser, and to write a researched critically analytical paper of approximately 50 pages. Students almost always find the Honors Thesis an incalculably satisfying project and a memorable achievement. In fact, many graduate school applicants submit part of their Honors Thesis as a sample of their critical, scholarly work that demonstrates their future promise as scholars. Students find the thesis work an excellent preparation for other career paths as well. Successfully completing an Honors Thesis will require sustained interest, ability, diligence, and enthusiasm, and is always a rewarding experience.
Requirements and Courses
To qualify for the Honors Program, students should have an average of 3.5 in courses that count toward the French, Italian, or Spanish major.
The Honors Program is a two-semester commitment and represents the equivalent of 2 courses worth a total of 8 credits. Students enroll in French, Italian or Spanish 4290 (Fall) and French, Italian or Spanish 4300 (Spring). These semesters must be consecutive during the senior year. Both semester courses must be taken for a letter grade.
Stages of the Program
The year-by-year and semester-by-semester schedule sketched here should give those interested in the Honors Program an idea of the usual way students move through the Program. Other patterns are possible. Some students know at the time they declare the French, Italian, or Spanish major that they wish to pursue Honors, while others may discover later in their studies a riveting interest they desire to pursue in depth, and only then consider writing an Honors Thesis.
Junior year
Look over the papers you have written in your French, Italian, or Spanish courses; identify your interests; and think about work you have done well in the past and about what work you would enjoy pursuing for two semesters. These suggestions should help you identify your topic for the Honors essay and should help you think about the adviser with whom you would enjoy working. Some of the most successful Honors essays have come out of course work.
In April or early May before your year of Honors work, speak to faculty members who would be suitable advisers for your project, keeping in mind that your Honors Thesis adviser should be in residence both semesters. Ask for some suggestions for preparatory reading. Remember that when you pre-enroll for your Honors Work adviser's section of French, Italian, or Spanish 4290/4300, you must have your adviser's approval and the approval of the Director of Undergraduate Studies. French, Italian, or Spanish 4290/4300 is a year-long, 8-credit course, for which you will receive letter grades each semester. S/U grades are not an option. Feel free to consult with the Director of Undergraduate Studies about appropriate advisers. Spend some time in the summer months reading primary texts and thinking about your topic, approach, and argument. If possible, be in occasional email contact with your adviser over the summer.
Senior year
As soon as you return, consult with your Honors Thesis adviser about your topic, discuss requirements and procedures, and set up a schedule for regular meetings, usually at least once every two weeks. If you have not yet pre-enrolled for French, Italian, or Spanish 4290 you will need to do so with the approval of your Honors essay adviser. Set up and follow a schedule for your Honors essay work. Depending, of course, on what you and your adviser agree to, it would be reasonable in the first semester (French, Italian, or Spanish 4290) to complete in the target language:
• a short prospectus or essay proposal
• a bibliography of available and relevant secondary or conceptual work on your topic
• an annotated bibliography of the work you wish to use, critique, and apply to your research
• about 20-30 pages of writing
In the second term, while registered for French, Italian, or Spanish 4300 (Honors Work), you will write the final draft. Your essay should be about 50 pages in length. Your adviser should read a few drafts of the final version, drafts which you should be submitting and revising under your adviser's engaged supervision. Your thesis must be written in the language of your major.
Allow yourself the last two weeks before the deadline to edit and proofread your Honors Thesis. Please take care that it follows a style guide -- either the MLA guide or the Chicago Manual of Style -- in quotation, internal citation, footnotes or endnotes, bibliographical entries, etc. Above all, do not sabotage your own project by trying to do too much at the last minute and by not allowing time for refinement of ideas and execution.
Submit two spiral-bound copies of your thesis by the deadline in mid-April (or early November for those graduating in January).
In determining the level of Honors awarded with your degree, the Honors committee considers your GPA in the major as well as the two grades you receive from the two readers of your choice of your senior Honors Thesis, one of whom will be your Honors Thesis adviser. The committee also considers your grades in other courses, especially in those related to your major. While applying to the Honors program and writing an Honors Thesis is not a guarantee that you will be awarded Honors in French, Italian, or Spanish, most of our students completing an Honors Thesis have been successful candidates for Honors. In the event that you are not awarded Honors, you will receive 8 credits for the two courses you did during the academic year and grades for those two courses.
Enjoy the remainder of your final semester and graduate with Honors!