English Honors Program
The English Honors Program offers special seminar courses and special senior year independent study options for English majors who have shown high skill and intensive interest in the study of literature and rhetoric. It brings some of the most able and committed students together with their peers in small classes that encourage more challenging study and often provide more opportunity for each student to join actively in class discussions.
Ordinarily, students may join the program when they have completed three semesters, taken two or three English courses, and maintained a 3.25 grade point average. Students who qualify may join the program by enrolling in an honors seminar. To enroll in an honors seminar, qualified students must come to 200 English beginning on the first day of advanced registration and sign-up for the seminars they wish to take (students may sign-up for two seminars a semester). The first 18 eligible students on a specific course’s sign-up page will be given permission to add the seminar. Once they are able to register, students with permission to enroll in an honors seminar must add the class themselves. No special permission is required for students who meet the qualifications described above. To enroll in the English Honors Program, students do not need to be part of the Campus Honors Program or any other honors program.
English Honors Courses are small seminars, usually no larger than eighteen students. Although priority goes first to students in the English Honors Program and then to other English majors, these courses are open to anyone with a GPA of 3.25 or above who can write well and do independent work in English. Honors seminars and tutorials count as advanced-level courses and may be used to meet the LAS Advanced Hours requirement.
The English Honors Program offers two options: for English majors, the Honors Essay option; and for Rhetoric majors, the Rhetoric option. To complete the Honors Program, students must complete three honors seminars and complete an Honors Essay (a one-semester project, English 391). To complete the Rhetoric option, students must complete two honors seminars and a major writing project in Rhetoric 455.
Honors Essay: The senior honors essay is a scholarly and critical essay of 20-25 pages, written for English 391 (Honors Independent Study Tutorial). The essay will be evaluated by the essay director and by two other faculty readers selected by the director and the student. English 391 can fulfill the advanced composition requirement that English majors otherwise fulfill through English 300.
Rhetoric Option: Rhetoric majors pursuing honors work complete a major writing project in Rhetoric 455. The project will be evaluated by the project director and by two faculty readers selected by the director and the student. Students interested in honors work in Rhetoric should consult Steve Davenport (245 English Building).
To graduate with Distinction in English, a student must complete the Honors essay. Levels of distinction will be decided by the Honors Advising Committee, which will consider a student's overall GPA, record in honors seminars and English courses, and the recommendations of the readers of the Senior Honors project (Essay or 455 writing project). Distinction is normally awarded for a GPA of 3.25, meritorious work in the honors seminars and English courses, and an English Honors essay of merit (two out of three readers recommend Distinction). High Distinction is normally awarded for a GPA of 3.5, meritorious work in the honors seminars and English courses, and an English honors project of superior merit (two out of three readers recommend High Distinction
Questions? See Maureen Airsman, 200 English Building, or Professor Ted Underwood, Chair of the Honors Advising Committee, 339 English Building.