Honors in Classics

Classics majors who have achieved distinction in the major may be eligible to write an Honors Thesis during the senior year and should begin conversations with faculty during winter term of the junior year.

Senior Honors Thesis

The Classics Department offers qualified students the opportunity to write an honors thesis during their senior year. The honors thesis affords motivated students an excellent opportunity to conduct intensive research on a topic they have designed, and to synthesize their research in a work of original scholarship.

The honors thesis is a yearlong program and carries 6 credits. Normally, the fall term is devoted to research, and the winter term is spent composing the thesis, which should be approximately 45-60 pages in length.

In order to qualify to write an honors thesis, a student must have a GPA of at least 3.5 in the Classics major, and an overall GPA of 3.0.

Students contemplating an honors thesis during the senior year should begin developing a topic during their junior year. Interested students must approach a member of the Classics Department no later than spring term of their junior year, and preferably in the winter term. When broaching the possibility of an honors thesis, the student should already have some idea of potential research topics. The student should also have some background in the proposed topic.

Provided the faculty member agrees to advise the student in the honors thesis, the student must then submit, before the end of the spring term, a brief statement of the research topic, and an initial statement of the research program. The research program should include a preliminary bibliography, to be worked out together with the advisor, so that reading and research are possible over the summer.

The student must begin work on researching the thesis at the start of the fall term of senior year. At the beginning of each term, the student and the professor will work out a schedule setting forth research and writing deadlines. Students are expected to adhere to the schedule they have arranged in consultation with the professor.

Writing the honors thesis must begin no later than the beginning of the winter term. The honors thesis must normally be complete by the end of winter term, and in no case later than May 1.