Spanish Honors Program
FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions
"Do I have to be designated an Honors student to complete an Honors Thesis?"
No. Non-honors students with strong academic records (3.5 GPA or higher) are eligible to complete an Honors Thesis.
"Can I get credit for working on the thesis?"
Yes. Students typically receive 8-15 undergraduate hours of credit (H783) spread out over two quarters. This credit will count as major-level Elective Hours.
"Does my Spanish or Portuguese Thesis have to be written in Spanish or Portuguese? Can it be in English?"
Your thesis may be written in English, although many students have chosen to complete theirs in Spanish or Portuguese. If you choose to write your thesis in Spanish, all effort will be made by your advisor and ASC Honors to ensure that your committee member from outside the department is a speaker of Spanish.
"Senior year is a long way off. What can I do now to prepare myself for writing a thesis?"
Develop a curriculum plan that allows you to take the Core courses during your sophomore and early parts of your junior year. Also consider substituting advanced courses for one or more of the Basic courses and taking an additional statistics course to improve your analysis skills. We recommend that you search for faculty-taught courses at the 500, 600 and 700 level, so that you can develop substantive knowledge that might lead to a thesis topic, as well as relationships that might lead you to faculty advisors. In addition, seek out research experiences: ask your professors whether you could assist in their own research in some way to become more familiar with the research process.
"Senior year is now! Am I too late to do a thesis?"
You may be able to complete a thesis within 2-3 quarters before graduation. Meet with a Faculty Honors Advisor as soon as possible by calling the SPPO main office at 292-4958.
"What if I am not sure about a thesis topic?"
You do not need to have a topic identified. Indeed, we encourage you to be open-minded about the specifics of your project. Often students find that they are able to define a thesis that is within or related to a faculty member’s own research agenda, working with substance and data with which the faculty member is already invested and familiar.
"How do I find a thesis advisor?"
You should schedule an appointment with a faculty honors advisor through the SPPO Main Office (292-4958). During your appointment, you should express your general interests so that the honors advisor can refer you to an appropriate colleague.
"How much work is a thesis?"
It is hard to answer this question with precision! Your ideal workload for the honors thesis, and that of the professor that you are working with, could be two very different standards. Length and difficulty of your thesis depends on the subject matter, previous work completed, and your personal interests. You should plan to form a relationship with your honors thesis advisor so that you can express your concerns, discuss your interests, and maintain a reasonable quarterly workload level.
"How long should my thesis be?"
Your thesis should be a minimum of 40-50 pages including title page, abstract, text, footnotes, tables, figures, charts, and bibliography. This is a suggested minimum length; certainly, theses of acceptable quality may be longer than 40-50 pages.
