Honors Projects
Procedures
The registrar's office deadlines, requirements for honors, and honors project registration instructions can be found at Registrar: Honors Projects. The Bowdoin library's guidelines for formatting the finished honors project prior to submission, important deadlines, and support the library offers honors students can be found at Library: Services for Honors and Independent Study Students. Below are procedures and a timeline specific to English honors.
Thesis Requirements
A student who has maintained an A/B average in the courses offered in the English major may decide to become an honors candidate and pursue in depth a topic of interest to them.
In the spring of their junior year, the honors candidate presents a definitive plan for their honors thesis to a department faculty member within whose field the project falls. Work begins in earnest in the fall semester of the student's senior year.
The honors advisor/project director signs the honors candidate's fall semester honors project/independent study form, and signs again for spring semester.
The honors work is graded and may count (at the 4000 level) as one or two of the elective course units required for the major.
The honors thesis must be a thorough and sophisticated literary essay growing out of:
- a course paper, as an expansion of it (in which case it may do double duty only with the consent of the instructors involved)
- an English course
- an extension of an English course, or
- a fresh subject not explored in another connection
Strict compliance with the directions for manuscript preparation specified by the library—where the original copy will be permanently filed—is required.
Students contemplating application to graduate school should be advised that honors, or even candidacy for honors, is a highly significant element of their record.
2023-24 DUE DATES
- Student finds English faculty
member to direct their project
and maps plan with project director:
Prior to last day of classes
of student's junior year
Wednesday, May 10, 2023 - Honors prospectus due
to project director, two readers, and coordinator:
Thursday, October 12, 2023
by 5:00 pm
- Honors prospectus reviews
with project director and two readers:
Friday, October 20, 2023
Times to be assigned
- First chapter or section due
to project director and two readers:
Friday, December 8, 2023
by 5:00 pm
- Partial draft due
to project director and two readers:
Friday, March 1, 2024
by 5:00 pm
- Defense draft due
to project director, all three readers,
and coordinator:
Monday, May 6, 2024
by 5:00 pm - Honors defenses
with project director and three readers:
Thursday, May 9, 2024
Times to be assigned
- Honors candidates upload theses
to Bowdoin Digital Commons
and complete Thesis Access and Embargo form:
Thursday, May 16, 2024
by 5:00 pm
Library submission guidelines
Registrar's honors guidelines - Project directors must approve projects
through Bowdoin Digital Commons:
Friday, May 17, 2024
by 2:00 pm