The Honors Program
Overview of the Program
The English Department Honors Program allows both English and Creative Writing majors to deepen and enrich their knowledge of literature and writing beyond what would normally be required by the majors. The program is designed for strong, academically motivated students who wish to advance their skills in research and in writing. Students in the program complete a year-long senior thesis project. The current honors coordinator is Dr. Elizabeth Outka.
Eligibility
To be eligible for admission to the honors program, a student should have 18.5 or more units of completed work, a cumulative GPA of at least 3.3, and a major GPA of 3.5 or higher. A student must also have 3.5 or more units completed in the respective major with evidence of distinguished achievement. A creative writing thesis requires at least two of the 3.5 units be completed within the Creative Writing program, and the two classes would not include the intro to creative writing. In addition, all candidates are required to maintain an overall GPA of at least 3.3 and a major GPA of 3.5 while participating in the program. Please note that the honors program is distinct from Sigma Tau Delta, the English Honors Society, which has a different set of eligibility requirements.
Applying to the Program
A student who wishes to pursue honors and who meets the GPA requirements will need to find a director willing to supervise their project and to submit a formal application and proposal in March of the junior year (deadline determined each year). The student should already have shown drafts of the proposal to the faculty member who will be directing the thesis. Applications for Creative Writing majors will also need review and approval by the Creative Writing Committee. Information meetings for qualifying juniors are held early in the spring semester. The Honors Program Guide lays out deadlines and requirements in detail.
Course Work
Honors candidates will follow the same set of course requirements as other English or Creative Writing majors. In addition, during the senior year, honors candidates will register for the following courses with their director:
- ENGL or CRWR 498: Honors Thesis Research (fall semester, .5 units)
- ENGL or CRWR 499: Honors Thesis Writing (spring semester, 1 unit)
Thesis Project
Honors candidates complete a thesis project in their senior year. Several types of projects are possible: (1) a scholarly thesis of about 30-40 pages focused on a key work or works; the thesis should engage with literary criticism and form an original argument. This option is open only to English majors and requires approval by a faculty director; (2) a creative writing thesis consisting of a collection of short stories, poems, or a section of a novel or play; for fiction or non-fiction, about 50-100 pages are expected, and for poetry, about 30-60 pages. This option is open only to Creative Writing majors and requires approval by a faculty director in CW; (3) a combination thesis, consisting of a scholarly treatment of a particular subject (about 15-20 pages) combined with a related creative writing component (about 25-50 pages for fiction or non-fiction, and about 15-30 for poetry); this option may be open to English or Creative Writing majors but requires advanced permission from the department. If a student is expanding an earlier paper or project into a thesis, about thirty new pages of writing are required.
Typically, the student will complete the research for the project in the fall term of the senior year and will write the thesis in the spring term, though special circumstances will be considered.
Honors students are encouraged to apply for a summer research fellowship from the School of Arts & Sciences Dean’s Office in the spring semester of the junior year, so they can work on the project over the summer.
Please consult the Honors Program Guide for more detailed information.