GUIDELINES FOR LATIN HONORS IN FRENCH, ITALIAN, SPANISH

I. General Requirements set by the College of Arts & Sciences

A. The A.B. degree may be awarded cum laude, magna cum laude, or summa cum laude to students within the School of Arts & Sciences who have achieved academic excellence in the Honors Program of the department or area study committee in which their major study has been undertaken. To be eligible for Latin Honors, a student must maintain a 3.5 average over the eight semesters of the A.B. and must be accepted for candidacy by the department or area committee concerned. The student must register in such courses as the department or area study committee may recommend; complete satisfactorily a significant project appropriate to the nature of the discipline; and pass such written or oral examinations as the department or area committee may set. Upon completion of the Honors Program, students may be awarded the A.B. degree cum laude, magna cum laude, or summa cum laude through achievement of cumulative averages of 3.5, 3.65, and 3.8, respectively, and recommendation of the department or area committee to the College Committee on Honors, based in part on the evaluation of the senior project.

B. The A.B. degree with College Honors may be awarded to students who have achieved college-wide academic excellence as measured by a cumulative average of 3.5 or better, but have chosen not to participate in a departmental Honors Program, upon assessment of the Office of the College of Arts & Sciences forwarded to the College Committee on Honors.

In addition to the General Requirements set by the College of Arts & Sciences for the college-wide Honors Program, eligibility and participation in the Latin Honors Program of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures is determined as described below.

II. Departmental Requirements

Students may achieve Latin Honors in French, Italian or Spanish by fulfilling all of the requirements of either of two tracks, detailed below. Students wishing to obtain Honors should consult their major advisors early to ensure that they will be eligible.

The upper limit of the Honors that can be awarded will be determined by a student’s GPA. The student’s individual Honors committee can, however, lower the level of Honors recommended or deny the student Honors altogether, depending on its evaluation of the student’s written work and oral examination

Please note: students who do not confidently anticipate having the requisite average should not apply to the Honors Program.

A. Honors By Coursework

Undergraduates who have maintained a GPA of 3.5 or higher are eligible to earn Honors through coursework. Those interested in doing so should declare their intention in the Fall of their Junior year and select their courses accordingly. All students will be required to take two additional 400-level courses in French or Spanish beyond the major requirements. These courses must be taught in the target language or approved by the Honors coordinator. The additional courses must be completed in the Spring semester of the Junior year and the Fall semester of the Senior year. Students should inform the professors of the two additional courses of their intent to complete Honors through coursework. The professors of the courses will supervise the student’s written work accordingly. Topics for the written work completed for the courses should be chosen with a view towards subsequent expansion of the assignment.

Once the coursework has been completed and a grade for the course has been assigned, the student will be asked to expand the written work for each course by an additional 7-10 pages, which should include the consultation and application of critical and theoretical texts if the student has not already done so. The student will thus complete an additional 14-20 pages in all, above and beyond the written work required for the two courses. The student will then submit the two revised, expanded papers to an Honors committee comprised of the professors of the student’s two additional courses as well as the professor in charge of Honors by coursework. The committee will meet in mid-March to discuss the student’s written work and the student will be given a one-hour oral examination based on the two papers. The committee will then determine whether the student merits departmental Honors.

B. Honors by Thesis

Students who wish to do a sustained research project should consult with a faculty member in their area of interest in the Junior year, keeping in mind that it may take some time to find an appropriate advisor for the project. The student should then draft a thesis proposal (1-2 pp) in which he or she describes the nature of the project. The project advisor, as well as the major advisor, should then sign the proposal indicating approval. The signed proposal should be submitted to the Honors program faculty coordinator by early April; candidates will be notified of their acceptance by the end of April. Students who plan to study abroad during their Junior year are strongly encouraged to initiate contact with potential thesis advisors before going abroad, as the process may be significantly more difficult once they have left campus. Any exceptions to the April deadline require the consensus of the Honors coordinator, the thesis director and the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

If accepted, candidates for Honors by thesis should consult their thesis advisors about a research plan for the summer and should enroll in Honors 4951 (three credits, Pass/Fail) in the Fall. In 4951, students will meet in regular tutorials with their thesis advisors and draft a significant portion of the thesis. If their work in the Fall is satisfactory, they will be allowed to enroll in Honors 495 (three credits, for a letter grade) in the Spring, in which they will complete a sustained critical study, about fifty pages long, in the language of their major.

A defensible draft of the complete thesis is due before Spring Break; an oral examination (defense) must be held before the College of Arts & Sciences deadline for Honors Certification, which generally falls around the 25th of March. The thesis examining committee consists of three faculty members: the thesis advisor, the second reader, and the faculty coordinator of the Honors program. Students should anticipate making final revisions to the thesis after the defense. They will submit the final version to the Department by mid-April.