Senior Honors Program
Application for the 2009-2010 academic year is now closed. Check in spring 2010 for the 2010-2011 application.
Honors Guidelines for the English Major in Writing Program
Effective Fall 2008
In addition to completing all other major requirements, students who have completed the year-long advanced theory and practice course in their major genre (poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction) and seeking honors in the English Major in Writing must enroll in the two-quarter senior honors program and complete a significant creative writing or literary translation project that conforms to the timetable outlined below, and which meets the criteria described below for honors qualification. Students must apply to and be accepted into this sequence of courses.
Application
In the spring of junior year, eligible Writing Majors may apply to the Honors Program for the opportunity to spend two quarters of senior year immersed in a challenging writing project of their own design. The Senior Honors Program consists of two course enrollments: a 398 Senior Seminar and a 399 Independent Study.
The application form is available from the English Office and must be submitted by the stated deadline in spring quarter of the junior year. Students will provide a description of the proposed project and include a preliminary list of writers who would be good subjects for further reading.
During these two quarters, admitted students will complete an ambitious creative manuscript, which may be submitted for departmental honors consideration. Each of these courses is 1 credit, for a combined total of 2 credits. The Senior Seminar and the Independent Study are in addition to the 15 courses required for the major, and cannot be used in place of any of those requirements.
Eligibility Requirements:
– a 3.5 minimum GPA in English department course work
– a demonstrated potential to produce a finished creative manuscript worthy of honors consideration
– the demonstrated seriousness, dedication, and discipline necessary to complete an ambitious and sustained project
Further, successful candidates for the Honors Program will have proposed a project deemed by the faculty committee to be suitably ambitious, feasible, compelling, and otherwise appropriate.
Project Requirements
The final project must be a finished, polished manuscript of original creative work complete unto itself. The final manuscript may be new work or a combination of new work and revised work from the year-long sequence. The coherence and arrangement of the whole manuscript will be evaluated in addition to the merit of its individual parts. The manuscript’s actual accomplishments will be considered both independent of and in relation to its ambitions. The maximum and minimum page lengths indicated will be enforced.
Finished manuscripts must comply with the following guidelines:
Poetry: One long poem or coherent group of two or more poems totaling 15–20 pages of verse.
Fiction: One piece or a coherent group of two or more pieces, totaling 30–60 pages.
Creative Nonfiction: One piece or a coherent group of two or more pieces, totaling 30–60 pages.
Translation: Students with knowledge of another language may propose a project in translating poems, fiction, or creative nonfiction. Final manuscript length may depend on genre, but for poetry should comprise approximately 15–20 pages, and for prose, approximately 30–60 pages of finished translation.
Students who completed the year-long sequence in one genre may apply to do a manuscript project in that same genre or in a different genre.
Faculty Assignments
Owing to the limited number of Writing Major faculty, and the need to limit each faculty member's total of 399s, students will be assigned by the Honors Director, in conference with the faculty, to a particular faculty adviser. Students may be working with the faculty member for the first time. Every effort is made to match students with the best adviser for the project.
THE COURSE WORK
NOTE: for the 2008-09 year, the 398 Seminar will convene in fall quarter, followed in the winter quarter by the 399 Independent Study. In subsequent years, the honors program will commence with the Independent Study, followed by the Seminar in the winter.
THE 398 HONORS SEMINAR comprises all Writing Majors accepted to the Honors Program. The seminar is convened by the Honors Director. In addition to adhering to any deadlines and assignments set by the Honors Director, students meet with their assigned faculty adviser several times during the quarter. The student is responsible for maintaining good communication with his or her faculty adviser, and for taking a pro-active role in arranging the meetings throughout the two-quarter sequence of course work. Failure to do so may impact the student’s evaluations.
At the start of the FALL QUARTER, all students must arrange to meet with their faculty mentor within the first two weeks of the quarter to discuss the emerging project focus and scope, and to develop the reading list. During the fall quarter, students are expected to demonstrate regular and substantial progress in defining the project’s form, shape, and subject, and to accomplish significant drafting.
During the 399 Independent Study, students meet on a regular basis with their assigned faculty adviser, either individually or in small groups. Students are expected to show consistent progress in writing or revision throughout the quarter, as well as evidence of continued outside reading, when pertinent. The kind and amount of outside reading is decided between the faculty adviser and the student.
SECOND-READER REVIEWS
First Review: End of Fall Quarter
- On the last day of classes for fall quarter:
All students provide a copy of their manuscript-in-progress to a second faculty reader, as assigned by the Honors Director.
- By the end of exam week:
Each second reader provides the Honors Director an evaluative and constructive comment on the student work, the substance of which the Honors Director will convey to the student.
In addition, the Honors Director will confer with each faculty adviser to assess the student's progress and ability to continue with the project into the winter quarter. As a result of these evaluations, in extreme cases, some students may not be allowed to continue with the Honors Program, or may be put on probation.
Students placed on probation will have the whole of the winter break to address as fully as possible the faculty’s criticism of the manuscript-in-progress. A revised working manuscript will be due on the first day of school in winter quarter. This revised manuscript will be evaluated by the Honors Director in consultation with the faculty adviser and one other faculty reader no later than the fourth day of the quarter, or at least 24 hours before the end of Add Week. The student will subsequently be informed if s/he will be allowed to continue with the winter-quarter portion of the honors program in sufficient time to register as needed for appropriate courses.
Discontinued students will not enroll in the winter quarter course. They will still receive a final grade and (if passing) a credit for the fall quarter, but they will no longer be eligible for honors.
Second Review: Week 5 of Winter Quarter
- Each student provides his/her manuscript-in-progress to a second faculty reader, as assigned by the Honors Director.
- Each second reader discusses the developing manuscript with the student and/or the faculty adviser and/or the Honors Coodinator. Every attempt will be made to provide the student with a frank assessment of the work at hand and suggestions for further development and/or revision.
GRADES
Each student’s final 398 grade will be assigned by the Honors Director after consultation with the faculty adviser. 399 grades will be assigned by each individual faculty adviser. The grade of A- is for students who are writing superior original creative work, who have been diligent, who have matured considerably as writers, who attended to all assignments, and who have developed real subtlety as readers and critics. The grade of A will be given only to students whose work is genuinely first-rate. A final grade below an A- in either quarter will make the student ineligible for honors consideration. A grade of A- does not guarantee honors nomination.
FINAL PROJECT DEADLINE
The final project manuscript is due to the student’s faculty adviser in the English Office on the first day of exams in winter quarter, no later than 4 PM.
The student attaches a 400–600 word Defense of Thesis statement which
- gives the history and scope of his or her submitted project;
- describes the readings, any research, and what use was made of them; and
- defends the manuscript's accomplishments.
This letter must be attached at the back of the final manuscript.
Conferring of Honors
Honors consideration is not automatic. A student’s final manuscript must be supported for honors nomination by his or her faculty adviser. If the adviser cannot support the manuscript, then the adviser so informs the Honors Director and the student, and the process, for this student, ends there. Honors consideration is not possible without the support of the student’s faculty adviser.
After reviewing submitted and supported final projects, the Writing Major Faculty Honors Committee, chaired by the Honors Director, convenes in spring quarter and determines which projects are meritorious of nomination for Departmental Honors. This Committee under normal circumstances comprises all Writing Major faculty who are supervising senior honors 399s. The Committee’s decisions are final. Nominations are forwarded to the College's Committee on Superior Students and Honors, which makes the final honors determination.
Honors Nominations Committee Process:
- Each student manuscript proposed for honors consideration will be read by the Honors Director plus one other Committee faculty, in addition to the student’s adviser.
- Each proposed manuscript will be distributed to the assigned Committee readers accompanied by the student’s Defense of Thesis letter and a letter from the faculty adviser describing and evaluating the project. These letters are to be attached at the back of the manuscript.
- After carefully considering the proposed manuscript, each reader will prepare a brief comment giving an independent and substantive judgment of the student’s work. These comments will be shared at the Committee’s spring meeting to vote on honors.
- Additional faculty may be brought into the discussion as needed.
- Approved nominations will be forwarded to the CSSH for final review, accompanied by a more detailed letter written by the sponsoring faculty adviser, which argues the merits of the manuscript for departmental honors.
Students with first-rate projects but weaker academic records must be argued for with particular force. On the other hand, if a student has an outstanding record but a weak project, and the faculty adviser wishes nevertheless to nominate the student for honors, then the faculty adviser must acknowledge this, and indicate how well the project compares to other manuscripts that have received honors in the past. The faculty adviser should then also give as strong an argument as s/he feels s/he can for nominating the student for honors.
The Honors Director will inform each proposed student in writing of the Committee’s decision within three weeks of the Committee’s decision. These letters are written by the Honors Director and make use of the comments provided by the faculty. Students nominated to the College Committee on Superior Students will be notified of the CCSS’s decision in late May, when the College makes its final determinations of honors.
Student Appeals and Recourse
If a student believes that his or her 399 faculty adviser is not providing proper supervision, the student should discuss the situation with the Honors Director. If the student prefers, s/he may instead discuss the situation with any other Writing Major faculty, who will then discuss the situation with the Honors Director and/or the Director of the Major in Writing to seek a solution. In every case, a student should feel welcome to discuss a difficulty or situation with the faculty member of his or her choosing.
Important Dates in the Honors Program
Fall Quarter
- First two weeks of classes: students arrange to meet with faculty adviser.
- Last day of classes: students provide second readers with manuscript-in-progress.
- Exam week: Honors Director informs students of the results of their evaluation.
Winter Quarter
- First day of classes: probation students submit revised manuscript for review.
- Fourth day of Add Week: Honors Director informs probation students of results of re-evaluation.
- 5th Week: students submit manuscripts-in-progress to second faculty reader for feedback.
- First day of exams: students submit final project manuscripts with Defense of Thesis Letter.
