The Honors Process

The Honors Project:

An honors project is an extended research project (usually between 35-50 pages). It involves extended and directed work on literature: it is the kind of experience in which professional literary critics engage to produce research, such as journal articles and book chapters.

While most projects focus on particular literary texts and involve exploring the critical conversation concerning them, projects can vary: they may include archival work, literary theoretical engagement, or interdisciplinary work. However, a literary text (or multiple literary texts) must be at the center of the project. You may expand or develop a paper that you have written in a previous course.

The Honors Process:

The first step is writing an abstract (see below for an example). This is a description of the project, about 200-250 words. This does not need to have a thesis (in fact, it is likely that what you will have is really a critical question, an identification of key concepts that need to be answered by writing the thesis). With the abstract, you will hand in a statement of intent, which includes an explanation of the reasons, goals, and context you have for your project. The strongest applications will not only involve producing an engaging abstract, but also show that you have taken courses in the field of the work you wish to explore, read the text(s) in question and/or several texts by the same author, have written a previous paper on the topic, worked with faculty members in that field, and/or have taken a course in which a research paper was a significant component.  That abstract and statement of purpose is due to Dr. Irvin (mwirvin@sewanee.edu) August 1, 2024. Late abstracts will not be considered. These applications are to be produced independently. If you have questions about their form, you may contact the chair. At this point, you are not working with any particular faculty advisor.

The English Department will evaluate the abstracts and statements of purpose, and determine who will advance to the Honors Process. We will make this decision based on the thoughtfulness of the abstract, the feasibility of the project, the educational value of proceeding with a thesis (as opposed to taking additional courses), and the limited resources of the department. We will then assign Honors Students a thesis advisor. Faculty are limited to two thesis advisees per year.  

Registration:

After approval and the assignment of an advisor, you will then be free to register for ENGL451: Honors Seminar (that course runs in Advent 2023 and is a 4-credit ENGL course). To do an honors project, you must take this course. During the course, you will begin writing the paper, as the course will involve direction in research methods and regular sharing of work-in-progress with both the professor and other members of the class. Registering for the course does not bind you to the honors process; you can complete the course, receive a grade, and decide not to complete the honors process (there is no penalty for not continuing). During Advent semester, you will consult with your thesis advisor regularly in a schedule set by that advisor (perhaps every two weeks). Your thesis advisor will discuss your thesis ideas, but is not expected to comment extensively on drafts (that is the purpose of the ENGL451 course). By the end of Advent semester, you should have a rough draft of the thesis. If you receive at least a B in the Honor Seminar, and have the approval of your thesis advisor, you may continue with the honors process. 

If you are continuing with the honors process, you will register for ENGL452, the Honors Tutorial. This is a 2-credit course. Working more intensely with your thesis advisor, you will complete a finished draft of the thesis, which will be due before Spring Break. This provides time for you to study for the comprehensive exam. To complete the honors process:

 you must score at least a “B” on the comprehensive exam: the “B” grade is set by the department, with names of students anonymized; the precise number fluctuates slightly depending on the distribution of grades across the class; and your advisor must accept the project with only minor changes necessary. If one of these elements is not completed, you will still receive a grade for your work, but your course will be converted to an independent study, ENGL444.

Those changes will be completed before April 11, 2025. Students will then engage in a discussion of the thesis with a small group of English professors, all of whom will have read your thesis. You will also present a brief outline of your thesis in a roundtable of fellow honors students. Finally, you and your fellow honors students will bring your completed theses to the University Archives, and deposit them there.

 

Example of an Abstract:

In Geoffrey Chaucer’s Knight’s Tale, descriptions of the Athenian ruler Theseus’ military exploits are consistently abbreviated (in contrast to Chaucer’s source, Giovanni Boccaccio’s Teseida), and the narrative is focused instead on the erotic relationship between the cousins Arcite and Palamoun and their object of affection, Emelye. However, Theseus does not disappear from the story, but rather takes on more of a managerial, rather than military power. He transforms the private and personal conflict between Arcite and Palamoun into a public spectacle, going so far as to build an enormous tournament space and invite hundreds of other knights to take part in the tournament. The specifics of that tournament space, which includes temples to Mars, Venus, and Diana built into its walls, is considerably different from those in Chaucer’s source. Drawing on comparisons to Chaucer’s source, Chaucer’s own experience as Clerk of the King’s Works and his involvement in the Smithfield tournament in 1390, and employing Italian philosopher and theorist Giorgio Agamben’s notions of managerial power, this thesis will expand upon a previous paper to explore how Theseus works to widen his power beyond military might, and attempt to define the kind of power that Theseus possesses at the time of the tale’s conclusion. Finally, this thesis will attempt to understand why this tale is told by the Knight, whose description in the General Prologue is mostly a catalog of military campaigns. (231 words)

 

Example of a Statement of Intent

I intend to pursue honors in English through a research paper on Chaucer. During Advent 2023, I took Dr. Irvin’s Chaucer course, and wrote a research paper about the role of Theseus, especially his speech at the end of the Knight’s Tale. During the process, Dr. Irvin suggested several routes to consider, including looking at Theseus’ portrayal in Chaucer’s source, Boccaccio’s Teseida, and looking at philosopher Giorgio Agamben’s theory of government. Instead, I used some of the Chaucer life-records to think about Chaucer’s actual job, and used David Carlson’s book, Chaucer’s Jobs. However, I was fascinated with how Chaucer seemed to be drawing from his own experience at the same time that he was adapting someone else’s text. What seems to bring them together is an idea of power that Chaucer both read about and felt as he worked managing a royal spectacle, and I could not stop thinking about what this tale was supposed to do - for Chaucer and the reader. In class, we had talked about Chaucer’s adaptation of Boccaccio more extensively in Troilus and Criseyde, and I am currently reading a copy of the Teseida to prepare for the project. If accepted, I hope to get some guidance on where to start with Giorgio Agamben’s work on sovereignty. 

As you can see in the abstract, this particular example involves a theoretical and a comparative approach (there are other ways to approach this, for instance, through archival or critical work), and has a clear conceptual focus (power). It does not offer a thesis, but poses conceptual and interpretive questions: what kind of power does Theseus hold? How does he create it? Why does the Knight tell this tale?

As you can see in the statement of purpose, this draws on a paper from a previous class in which the main text was read and other texts by the same author were read. The student displays experience with researching, especially the use of various kinds of secondary sources. It also shows the heart of what interests the student: the juxtaposition of what seems like personal experience in the midst of an adaptation, and how one can relate them. It does not suggest mastery of the field (this is not expected at this stage). Major elements of the thesis have not yet been explored, like source material and theoretical material, and the paper previously written would only make up a small part of the completed thesis. I have offered you a very strong application; it may be that you don’t have all of these aspects, and that does not mean you should not apply, but if few or none of these are present, you may want to consider another project that better draws on your experience and education within the English Department. 

If you are working up a project that does not derive from a previous paper, you should do some preliminary research over the summer; reading critical work on your subject (that is, journal articles and book chapters) can give you a sense of methodology, sources, and approaches (aim to read recent publications, as they are more likely to be part of the current critical conversation). You are not necessarily bound to an approach (these things change, even for professional literary critics!). If you are considering writing about a text, and it is the only work you have read from that author or period, it would be a very good idea to gain context through reading some of their other texts.