Honors, SYEs & Independent Studies
Honors Projects (registered under a 4xx level)
Only students who have distinguished themselves with a minimum of a 3.5 average in their major and have maintained at least a 3.0 in their other courses are eligible to propose projects for honors during their senior year.
During the semester preceding the actual execution of the project, candidates must submit an 8-12-page proposal for the project along with a preliminary annotated bibliography and a timetable indicating the completion of the various stages of the project to the specified section of the World languages department. All members of the particular section (Spanish, French, German) must approve the project.
Multi-language majors will write their proposals and present in English.
All approved projects bearing the signatures of the designated faculty members and that of the honors candidate will be placed on file in the departmental office. The department will accept only those students as honors candidates who have completed the preliminary work in accordance with the above requirements.
The role of the directing faculty member will be that of mentor from the inception of the project to its completion (50 pages). She/he will guide the student through the drafting of the original proposal, assist her/him in establishing a timetable and then meet with the student a minimum of one hour per week throughout the semester to discuss and check the progress of the work. At any point during the semester, the director of the project reserves the right to change the designation of the student’s work from honors project to independent study if insufficient progress is being made in terms of the proposed project.
The final draft of the student’s honors project will be evaluated by the director and by a faculty committee composed of a minimum of two faculty members of whom one may be from outside the department.
At the end of the semester, the honors candidate will give an oral presentation of his project to his faculty committee, other interested faculty and students of the World Languages department. The director and the other assisting faculty members will make the final determination of whether or not the student’s work merits “honors” after the oral presentation. The committee will make its decision known to the student at this time.
For his/her Honor Project the student will earn 0.5 credit for preparation to be done during the semester preceding the execution of the project itself, and 1.0 credit for the completion of the project.
Summary:
Eligibility & Requirements:
- Senior year students only
- Minimum 3.5 GPA in the major
- Minimum 3.0 GPA in all other courses
- All section faculty members must approve the project
Project Details:
- Submit an 8-12 page proposal with a preliminary annotated bibliography. This proposal must be submitted in the semester preceding the actual execution of the project.
- Requires approval of the Chair of the department
- Final project must be 50 pages minimum
- Faculty mentor must meet with the student for a minimum of 1 hour per week
- Project evaluated by faculty mentor and 2+ faculty committee members
- Oral presentation required; final honors determination made after presentation
- Credits: 0.5 credit for preparation semester; 1.0 credit for completion
SYEs (registered under a 4xx level)
All language majors and minors are eligible to do an independent study during their senior year (SYE) depending on the approval of a faculty member from the World languages department.
During the semester preceding the actual execution of the independent study, the candidate must submit a 2 to 5 page statement of goals along with a preliminary annotated bibliography and a timetable indicating the completion of the various stages of the research and the drafting of the text to the specified section of the world languages department. Multi-language majors will write their statement of goals in English so that it can be evaluated by a representative from each of the languages in question for approval.
Summary:
Eligibility & Requirements:
- Open to all language majors and minors
- Senior year students only
- Requires faculty mentor approval
Project Details:
- Submit a 2-5 page application with a statement of goals and a preliminary annotated bibliography. This application must be submitted in the semester preceding the actual execution of the project.
- Requires approval of the Chair of the department
- Final project must be 25-30 pages
- Faculty mentor must meet with the student for a minimum of 1 hour per week
- Oral presentation required (fall semester) and a poster presentation at the Festival of Science required (spring semester)
- Faculty advisor determines final grade based on final draft quality and semester work
- Credits: Counts as 1 course credit toward graduation
Independent Studies (registered under a 2xx level)
All language majors and minors are eligible to do an independent study, depending on the approval of a faculty member from the World Languages Department.
The faculty will determine the final grade, basing her/his evaluation on the final draft(s) of the independent study as well as on the quality of the student’s work throughout the semester.
Summary:
- Open to all language students
- No minimum GPA requirement
- No submission of any proposal
- Doesn’t require the approval of the Chair of the department
- Covers standard language curriculum with or without a research component
- Faculty mentor must meet with the student for a minimum of 1 hour per week
- Credits: Counts as 1 course credit toward graduation
If you would like an application contact Constance Myers <cmyers@stlawu.edu>
The deadline to submit an application is the last week of classes.