General Guidelines for English Honors Essays and Theses
You must have completed at least five courses in the English concentration and you must have a GPA of 3.5 in your English courses to be eligible for honors.
Steps to follow:
1. Select a general topic for a one-semester essay or a two semester thesis. Click here to access previous thesis topics.
2. Discuss your topic with one or more potential faculty advisors, until you have a definite and explicit commitment from a faculty member who agrees to advise you.
3. In consultation with your advisor, draft a proposal (2 pages): outline your topic, methods, sources, texts you plan to examine, questions you will ask and your likely conclusions. Have your advisor approve and sign your proposal.
4. Submit your signed proposal to the Undergraduate Advising Head. Do this by the last week of the semester before you plan to begin writing the thesis or essay.
5. Sign up for ENG 99a, 99b, or 99d (as appropriate).
6. Research and write the thesis or essay. Determine a schedule for this step in consultation with your thesis or essay advisor. In order to be eligible for University prizes, essays/theses must be completed by the last week of April.
7. Submit the first completed draft of your thesis (60-100 pp.) or essay (30-50 pp.) to your advisor(s). For an essay, you only need one advisor. For a thesis, you need a second reader to approve your work. Make sure to identify a second reader before the middle of the semester in which you will complete your project.
8. Submit the final version of your thesis: one copy each to the first and second readers and one for the English Department to be submitted to the library archives. The library will bind the copy sent to the archives. You will also need to sign a permission form giving the library permission to make copies of your thesis for research purposes only. You retain all copyrights. The permission form is also available in the English Department.
The cover page should include:
Title
Name of author
Date
Names of Advisor and Second Reader
Department, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
this page updated June 25, 2004