HISTORY DEPARTMENT HONORS PROGRAM
The honors program is designed to afford an opportunity for recognition of distinguished achievement in the study and writing of History. Covering the two semesters of the senior year, the program provides qualified majors with training both in the analysis and criticism of historical scholarship and the intellectual experience for interested students regardless of whether they plan to pursue graduate work in History.
These guidelines are applicable to students in a normal sequence of completing their work in History. Students outside the normal sequence (e.g. those who plan to graduate in December), or who are planning to be off campus during parts of either their junior or senior years) should consult with their advisors and/or the Department Chair.
A. Criteria and Procedure for Admissions into the Honors Program
1. Entry to the honors program is by invitation of the Department and is dependent upon the availability of appropriate staffing. Shortly after mid-term break during the fall semester, the Chair will circulate to all junior History majors a letter describing the honors program. This letter will encourage those who meet our basic requirements (as listed below) and are interested in honors to speak with their potential honors advisor (who need not be their regular academic advisor). Faculty are expected to encourage students who would benefit from the program to apply. Students who are off campus during all or part of their junior year are encouraged to use email, FAX, or letters to stay in touch with their advisor regarding honors work.
2. Criteria for admission to the honors program normally include the following:
I. By the end of the fifth semester:
a. GPA of at least 3.00
b. History GPA of at least 3.25
II. By the end of the sixth semester:
a. An acceptable proposal for an honors thesis
b. A minimum of 15 hours in History course work
c. The year-long survey (or its equivalent) in the area of concentration
d. A minimum of three courses above the survey (100) level, including one 300-level course, and relevant preparation in the area of thesis research.
3. At the discretion of advisors, students can be required or simply advised to take a private reading course as background for their honors research during the second semester of their junior year. If an advisor feels that this need has been satisfied by other course work or is not otherwise necessary, it will not be required. Students planning to be off-campus the second semester of their junior year should consult in advance with potential honors advisor or the department Chair.
4. Students are expected to develop an honors prospectus over the course of the first half of their sixth semester in consultation with their project advisor. By April 15, all prospective honors students are required to submit a proposal to the department which details the project to be undertaken, briefly traces some of its historiography, discusses bibliography with particular attention to primary sources, and calls attention to any difficulties which could be expected to arise in terms of access to sources, facility with necessary foreign languages, etc. Prospective honors students are expected to have consulted with their project advisor in preparing their honors proposals. If the appropriate advisor is on leave, the student is encouraged to consult with the chair who will endeavor to find an interim advisor.
5. The Department will meet the week before pre-registration for the fall semester to evaluate honors proposals and to determine invitation into the honors program. Students will either be invited into the program, rejected from the program, or encouraged to rework their proposals for reconsideration during the first week of classes in the fall semester.
6. The Department will meet during the first week of classes in the fall semester to reconsider any proposals which remained undecided the previous spring, as well as any new proposals from students who were away from campus during the spring semester and who did not submit them at that time. Late proposals, with the support of an advisor, may be considered at the discretion of the department.
B. Credits and Dropping Honors
1. The candidate may elect to receive either three or four hours of credit for each semester of honors work.
2. A student can be dropped from the honors program by the collective action of the Department or at the initiative of the thesis supervisor. In either case, the registration for honors (HIST 501/502) will revert to private reading credit (HIST 995). The faculty advisor will then assign a grade for the private reading consistent with the amount and quality of work completed.
C. Evaluation of the Honors Project
1. The candidate will submit three copies of the final thesis for evaluation by 4:30 on the last Friday in April. The honors thesis should not exceed sixty pages of text.
2. The thesis will be read by three members of the Department, one of whom must be outside the area of concentration. When appropriate, a person outside the History Department may be asked to serve as a reader. The contribution of the outside reader will be equal to that of each of the other readers. Each outside reader will be sent a description of the History Honors program at the time he/she is asked to participate in the evaluation. If two readers find the thesis to be satisfactory, the thesis will be accepted as recommended for honors, and the oral examination administered.
3. The candidate will be orally examined on the thesis by the three readers and other interested members of the Department. It is the responsibility of the thesis supervisor to invite outside readers and to set the time and place for the oral defense. Prior to the defense the supervisor will discuss with the other readers the order of questioning. Each examiner will utilize fifteen minutes, with the remaining time for other faculty in attendance. The exam may not exceed sixty minutes in length, and is open to the public.
4. The readers of the thesis will evaluate the thesis and the oral exam and make a recommendation to the Department as to the level of honors (honors, high honors, or highest honors).
5. The Department will forward its recommendation as to the level of honors at graduation to the College Honors Committee, which makes the final determination on this matter. The final grade in honors (HIST 501/502) is determined by the honors advisor. The honors advisor may grant either a grade or a deferred grade (*) for the first semester of honors (HIST 501). In the case of the latter, the final grade will be deferred until the completion of the thesis.
D. Depositing the Thesis
1. It is the candidate's responsibility to submit two unbound copies of the thesis to the Oberlin College Library. Please see the Library's Policy for Collecting Oberlin College B.A. Honors Papers and M.A. Theses.
