Thesis and Independent Study Guidelines
Guidelines for Independent Study and Honors
Thesis in Classics, Latin, or Greek
Department of Classics and Italian
The Department of Classics and Italian invites majors who
have completed coursework in a broad range of subjects related
to the ancient Mediterranean and who have a strong interest in
pursuing a particular topic to undertake independent course work
and to experience the discipline and rewards of preparing an honors
thesis. Because an independent course in the fall
of the senior year has the potential of leading to an honors thesis
in the spring semester, independent work and the honors thesis
are fundamentally related.
When a student undertakes an independent study in Classics, Latin,
or Greek, she should already have studied the languages necessary
for reading primary sources at the advanced level. Any
student who decides to pursue an independent course should have
a genuine interest in a well defined subject and should be willing
and able to work to an agreed upon timetable with faculty supervision.
The independent course provides students with the opportunity to
expand their horizons in literature, culture, history, etc., while
concentrating on a specific topic. The honors thesis is a true
test of intellectual curiosity, originality, and critical thinking.
Students and faculty involved in the independent/honors process
should be familiar with the College's "Guidelines for Honors
Program and Honors Thesis," which the Office of the Dean of
College has prepared.
Independent Study
- Any student may request the independent course option in her
sophomore, junior, or senior years. The College limits the number
of independent credits to eight in the sophomore and junior years.
A senior may take an independent course in the fall and change
the course status to honors in the spring. The procedures to
follow are detailed below. (See "Honors Program and Honors
Thesis.")
- Majors and minors should always take courses when they are
offered as part of the department's curriculum. If a course on
the same topic is already being offered in the department, students
should not request an independent study. If, however, the student's
area of interest is not covered in any of those courses, or if
the subject will not be offered during her time at Mount Holyoke,
she may then propose to study it independently. Independent study
395 entails research towards the goal of writing a thesis and
should be in addition to the advanced courses regularly offered
in the related languages and literature.
- Independent study students
must work on topics and areas of research that fall within the
professor's field of specialization or interest. The department
offers the possibility of research on ancient Greek or Roman
rhetoric, epic, tragedy, history and historiography, as well
as individual Greek and Roman authors. Students may also do interdisciplinary
research involving, for example, history, art, religion, or other
related disciplines. In such cases, the student should select
an adviser in each of the disciplines.
- The professor and the student together should determine the
scope and range of the topic or area of concentration and discuss
a tentative list of readings, the course expectations, and the
work required.
- Before the end of the semester prior to the independent
study, the student should submit to her professor an abstract
describing the course of study she proposes to follow together
with a preliminary bibliography. The abstract should explain
why she wants to take an independent course and why she has selected
the subject matter. Once the professor has agreed to supervise
the independent course, the student should submit a copy of her
abstract to the chair for discussion and approval by the department
as a whole.
- An independent study student must meet with her adviser
regularly, at least every two weeks. These meetings should focus
on materials read, critical analysis, discussion of assigned
short papers, etc. The professor may or may not elect to assign
papers during the semester, but a final paper or detailed thesis
proposal is required.
- Finally, an independent course is not simply
a list of books to be read. It is a dedicated dialogue between
a student and a professor that will stimulate intellectual curiosity
and original thinking, improve reading, writing and research
skills, and encourage critical analysis. In the case of students
intending to continue the project as a thesis, by the end of
the independent study a student should have articulated clearly
a problem that
can be solved or question that can be answered in the following
semester, AND HAVE ADVANCED SIGNIFICANTLY TOWARD THAT GOAL.
Independent study
takes extra time and energy on all sides. Students should be
aware that professors are not obligated to supervise independent
course work.
Honors Program and Honors Thesis
- With the department's approval a senior who has maintained
a minimum cumulative average of 3.5 in her major, and who is
well prepared to read primary sources in the languages in which
they were composed may extend the four-credit fall independent
study course into a full-year eight-credit honors project. The
prospective honors student should also have demonstrated that
she has the necessary skill and training to communicate clearly
and effectively in English. The student may be asked to submit
a writing sample. If she extends her fall independent study course
into a full-year eight-credit honors project, her professor will
submit no grade at the end of the first semester. The grades
for both semesters will be recorded at the end of the second
semester.
- By the end of the fall semester (December
1) the student should have (1) planned a second-semester work
schedule with her independent adviser and discussed extensively
the goals of her thesis project; at this time the student must
also submit to the department chair a refined and clearly defined
thesis proposal for departmental approval; and (2) completed
a draft of the introduction or one chapter of the thesis.
- If the department approves the proposal, the independent study
adviser then becomes the thesis director. The director's role
is to guide and challenge the student in a constructive manner,
but the quest for information and supporting materials is the
student's job.
- Students should be prepared to write a thesis of a least fifty
pages, although length will vary depending on the topic. Any
student beginning an honors project should consult the Williston
Library's copies of pervious Mount Holyoke theses in fields that
might provide useful models for the project that she is undertaking.
- By
the first week of second semester the student should have selected
a thesis committee in consultation with her thesis director.
The committee should be composed of at least three faculty members,
two or more from the department (including the thesis director
and the department chair) and an outside member chosen from another
department or another Five-College institution. This same committee
will evaluate the completed thesis and will conduct the oral
examination or thesis defense. On the basis of the oral and written
evidence of the quality of the student's work, the committee
will determine the degree of honors that the student's project
warrants.
- If the examining committee finds the thesis worthy of
honors, it can recommend honors, high honors, or summa cum laude. The
first category of honors requires the agreement of two-thirds
of the committee and a majority of the department; high honors
requires unanimous agreement of the committee and concurrence
of two-thirds of the department; summa cum laude requires
total unanimity of the committee, concurrence of two-thirds of
the department, and a 3.75 cumulative average on the student's
transcript. The thesis director is responsible for conveying
the committee's recommendation in writing to the Academic Administrative
Board (via the Registrar) by the date that the College announces
(usually 11 or 12 days before Commencement). Recommendation for summa
cum laude must be accompanied by a letter detailing the
reasons for the recommendation.
- Generally speaking, the honors
project should be finished and ready for committee reading
by the end of April. It is crucial that all committee members
be given ample opportunity to view the completed project well
before the date of the oral defense, so that the student can
consider and incorporate their comments and requests for revisions.
The thesis student must keep the committee members informed
of her progress during the course of the spring semester and
ask them to comment on draft versions of the work at earlier
stages.
- Students can avoid considerable frustration and loss of
time by keeping careful record of her source materials from the
very beginning of the research process. The student preparing
an honors thesis should be aware that there are strict College
and departmental regulations for the thesis's final format. The
College's "Guidelines
for the Honors Program and Honors Thesis" details rules
governing such things as the kind of paper, the binder, the margins,
the type size, the spacing, the location of the footnotes, the
nature and placement of the preliminary matter, the thesis's
parts, the number of copies needed, etc. For the proper citation
of ancient authors and works the student should consult the 9th
edition of Liddell, Scott, Jones, Greek-English Lexicon and The
Oxford Latin Dictionary. For rules governing the acknowledgment
and handling of secondary sources—that is, the style for
footnotes, bibliography, and quotations—the Department
of Classics recommends the Chicago Manual of Style (14th
edn.).
- The Department of Classics and Italian believes that research
for the honors thesis should demonstrate the student's investigative
skills, her intellectual curiosity, and her capacity for critical
thinking. It will also necessarily demonstrate her ability to
plan ahead. The project selected should be one that can realistically
be completed to a high standard within the time available. The
honors program in Classics is intended to challenge the student's
intellectual capacities to the fullest. Once she commits herself
to a project, the honors student should always have the quality
of her work in mind, since in undertaking that project she is
aspiring to the highest award that Mount Holyoke College has
to offer.
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