History Department Honors
Purpose: The purpose of departmental honors is to allow students who intend to study at the graduate or professional level to produce an advanced historical research project—with both historiography and primary source research components—on a level beyond the normal undergraduate program requirements. Departmental honors are reserved for the best students in the department who have shown superior abilities in their course work.
Prerequisites: (Departmental honors are reserved for History majors)
A) Completion of (or registration for) the department’s core distribution requirements (excluding HIS 400, Senior Seminar).
B) Senior standing at the time of completion of the project.
C) At least a 3.5 Grade Point Average within the major.
D) Approval by a supervising faculty project advisor and the Department Chair.
N.B. Students who successfully complete the Departmental Honors program do not have to complete the senior capstone course for the major, HIS 400.
Requirements:
A) Initial Proposal: All students must complete an initial proposal for their honors project a year before they intend to graduate. This will normally be during the spring of the student’s junior year. The initial proposal will include a clear thesis and research design for a project that will stretch over two semesters for 2 and 4 units of credit (6 units total). The project will include 1) a plan for a literature review and historiographical essay on an approved area of study to be completed as a 10-15 page essay by the end of the of the first semester of the honors project; and 2) a plan for a primary-source research essay (of 15-20 pages), incorporating insight and framework from the historiography paper, and resting on research on a clearly identified body of available primary sources. The student should work closely with the project advisor in designing the initial proposal.
All faculty members of the department must approve the proposal prior to the end of the student’s junior year (excepting faculty members on sabbatical, leave etc.).
B) Historiography Essay and Final Proposal: All students must complete the historiography essay before the end of their second to last full (fall or spring) semester before graduation with at least a “B” mark, as assessed by the project advisor. They must also produce a final proposal for their honors project. These steps will normally be completed during the fall of the student’s senior year.
The final proposal should include at least: a well-defined and supported thesis, a tentative outline of the final paper, a condensed literature review, a partial bibliography and a full description of the methodology and primary sources to be utilized in the research project.
All faculty members of the department must approve the proposal prior to the end of the second to last full (fall or spring) semester before graduation (excepting faculty members on sabbatical, leave etc.).
Failure to satisfactorily complete either the historiographical essay or the final proposal will require: 1) that the student register the first 2 units of work as independent study credit; and 2) register for HIS 400 to complete the major.
C) First Paper Draft: All students must complete an initial draft of the honors research essay by the beginning of their final semester of study (that is, work on the research project will commence at least in the Winter Session or Summer Break prior to the student’s final semester and produce a full draft by the first day of the final semester of study, normally the beginning of the spring of the student’s senior year). Failure to turn in the draft will require the student to immediately enroll in HIS 400 in order to complete the major.
All faculty members of the department will review the draft (faculty on sabbatical or leave may be exempted). The project advisor will integrate the faculty comments into a single document for the student and review the comments with the student. It is the responsibility of the student, with assistance of the advisor, to ensure all of the comments are properly addressed.
D) Final Honors Paper: The student will hand in a final paper to all faculty members of the department by the break of the student’s final semester (normally by the spring of the student’s senior year).
Any final comments by the faculty members of the department will be compiled by the project advisor and presented to the student. It is the responsibility of the student, with assistance of the advisor, to ensure all of the comments are properly addressed.
E) Oral Presentation: The
student will make an oral presentation of their final work. Every student will
apply to present at the C of I
Credits: Students should register for HIS 480 Senior Thesis: historiography, for the first semester of the honors project, and HIS 481 Senior Honors Thesis: monograph, for the second semester of the honors project. If the student does not complete any stage of the project by the above-mentioned time, an “F” mark will be recorded or the credits may be changed to HIS 494, Independent Study, at the discretion of the department.
Grading: Grading of the honors project will be done by the project’s advisor and two other members of the department. If a student does not fulfill any of the above requirements by the time noted above, honors will not be awarded. In this case, the student has the option to change the historiography course and honors research project to independent study courses, with permission of the advisor and department chair, but must complete HIS 400, the Senior Seminar, in order to graduate with the History major.
(to be submitted no later than week 10 of spring semester
of junior year)
Name _____________________________________________ Student ID # _____________
Major(s) ____________________________ GPA_________ Advisor(s) ______________
ACI Box # or mailing address_____________________________________________________
Telephone _________________________________ E-mail address____________
I expect to complete my degree requirements in (month, year) ___________________________
The working title of my project is: _________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
My Honors Project will focus on ___________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________
I have discussed my project with Dr. ______________________, who has agreed to serve as my project supervisor.
The project will be conducted using what primary sources? _____________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
I have attached a description of the work I expect to do and the methods I plan to use, including a provisional thesis statement, a focusing research question, and a preliminary bibliography.
Signatures: Candidate______________________________ Date____________
Advisor______________________________ Date____________
Project Supervisor_______________________ Date____________