General Honor’s Thesis Criteria for the Department of Hispanic Studies

An Honor’s thesis in Spanish is a great accomplishment for the students as it demonstrates language acquisition, intellectual maturity, and critical thinking prowess. The Department of Hispanic Studies promotes students’ independent interests and individual development by considering projects that range from literary and cultural studies analysis to creative and translation projects or others that fall within the support of the faculty.  The students and their advisors decide jointly on the type of project to be developed, and its feasibility as an Honor’s project.  In all circumstances, the students must demonstrate self-motivation, independence, and full commitment to the project.  In the writing and presentation components of the thesis, students demonstrate methodological rigor, creativity, breadth, and depth of research.

Criteria for Honor’s

• The student must meet the Honor’s Program, and the department GPA requirement of 3.5
• Student approaches advisor with the intent of writing an Honor’s thesis preferably by May of junior year.  In turn, a faculty member may identify and propose a candidate for Honor’s during the fall of senior year.
• The student presents to the chosen advisor a writing sample in Spanish in the form of previous work, demonstrating grammar and syntactic precision for evaluation.
• The advisor must review department established due dates and Honor’s calendar with the student before proceeding with approval.
• Advisor and student must keep accurate documentation of agreements.
• All students must meet due dates established by the department in order to proceed with honor’s nomination.

Preliminary Steps for Honor’s Thesis Proposals

• Students will express intent in May by submitting a one page abstract to the advisor.
• In September student submits a three to four-page prospectus, which includes an annotated bibliography of at least five sources, one of which must be a book.
• The department faculty reviews prospectus and approves or disapproves of the student’s Honor’s intent.
• The first week of December student submits at least two chapters of substantial content to the department faculty. The department faculty reads submitted chapters and jointly approves or denies the student to continue with the Honor’s process by the end of exam week.
• If the student’s project is approved, in January, during the first week of classes, before the Honor’s committee nomination due date, the student presents the project orally in front of the department faculty.
• If the student’s oral presentation is approved, the student and advisor proceed with the College Honor’s nomination.

Honor’s expectations for a Hispanic Studies Major

• Type of projects may include but are not limited to literary and cultural studies analysis, creative and translation projects, among others that may be supported by the faculty.
• The student pursuing an Honor’s thesis must demonstrate self-motivation, independence, commitment to the project.
• The thesis project is written with methodological rigor and creativity and demonstrates the breadth and depth of research.
• During the defense, the student demonstrates a facility of expression, clarity when articulating abstract concepts, and depth of thought.