Criteria for SPA 498 and 499

Courses for Honors Students Candidates in Spanish

Guidelines for the Honors Thesis
Approved May 2010

SPANISH 498 (Organization, Research, and Proposal Defense of the Honors Thesis)

1.  Honors student candidate should submit a proposal of the honors thesis and turn a copy of proposal in to the thesis director and to the chair of the Spanish Department as early as the spring of junior year, but not later than the second week of classes of fall of senior year.

2.  The director of the Honors thesis should define a working schedule so that the following is completed by the end of the fall semester of senior year and used to determine the grade for the Spa 498 Fall course:
• a detailed proposal of the thesis defined in writing (approximately 5 pages)
• an annotated bibliography
• an outline of the thesis including chapter breakdown
• an analysis of a single text (8-10 pages)
• an oral defense of the honors thesis proposal for the committee.

SPANISH 499 (Writing and Oral Presentation of the Honors Thesis)

1.  The honors thesis committee and committee meetings:
• The honors thesis committee will be composed of one director and two readers, drawing from professors in the department, with knowledge in the field of study, who will grade the written and oral work.
• The student and director should meet weekly, at least seven times during each of the two semesters the student is enrolled in SPA 498 and SPA 499.
• The student should have at least two meetings with each reader during the spring semester.

2.  Deadlines to be established by the director of the honors thesis.

3.  Grade will be based on the written thesis and oral presentation.

4.  The written thesis in Spanish:
• will be on a topic approved by the director
• should focus on the literary and cultural representation of visual, and/or written texts; non-literary topics may be admitted in exceptional cases and pending approval of the department
• will be a minimum of 75 pages in length
• will be research oriented (original hypothesis, analysis, body of evidence, conclusions)
• will have a theoretical framework in the area of study
• will follow MLA format and documentation

5.  Criteria to evaluate the honors thesis:
• Proof of scholarly excellence
• Outstanding level of linguistic proficiency
• Independent research, and sophisticated analytical work
• Originality and contribution in the field
• Rigorous and consistent research process

6.  Oral Defense

An Oral defense in Spanish with the Honors Thesis Committee and open to the public will be required.

The Honors candidate will offer a 25-40 minute presentation of the Honors Thesis Project.

A 45-60 minute question period led by the Director of the Honors Thesis, and the Members of the Honors Thesis Committee will follow.

After a discussion among the members of the Committee (approximately 30 minutes), the candidate will be informed of the results of his/her oral defense examination.

If needed, the Committee will make specific recommendations that the student should follow and complete before the submission of the Final Honors Thesis.

*Criteria of evaluation: 75% for written work and 25% for oral presentation

7. The Honors Thesis should be distributed to the Director, to Members of the Honors Committee, and to the Chair of the Department. The Candidate granted Honors should also submit the original Honors Thesis following the binding process described below, as it has been stipulated by the College Archives Department in the Library to the Chair of the Spanish Department.

* Note that being a candidate for Honors does not automatically guarantee Honors.

If Honors are granted, Honors Students in Spanish should follow the requirements stipulated by the College Archives. An original copy of the Honors Thesis needs to be submitted to the Chair of the Department for binding and cataloguing. A copy will be ordered to be kept in the Spanish Department for future consultations.

From Library Web site: Honors Thesis Rules

The College Archives maintains a collection of Departmental Honors Theses written by Davidson College students. The theses are catalogued and included in the library's catalog. In order to have theses added to the College Archives, the following guidelines should be followed:

Title page must include: STUDENT'S NAME, TITLE OF PAPER, DEPARTMENT, and DATE.

Left margin must be 1.5 inches.

Copy for the Archives should be on acid free paper (students will find this available at Central Services -all of the copy paper used on campus is now acid-free).

DO NOT BIND or place any holes in the left margins of the archives copy.

NOTE: Please do not have individual students bring their thesis to the archives. We have no way of knowing if we have received all the theses from a department. We do know that we are now missing several theses because students failed to deliver them.

The College Archives will be responsible for binding the theses that are housed in the archives.