Honors Program

Classical Languages Honors Program and Thesis

Note to academic advisors and thesis supervisors: Annual usage of the following will reveal the need of regular corrections in keeping with evolving campus policies and website changes. Whether matters of substance affecting policies and standards or merely matters of process, please inform the MCL Office Coordinator immediately upon encountering them.

College and MCL Departmental General Policies

For the college catalog’s baseline qualifications and description consult the College Catalog (scroll down to “Departmental Honors Programs”).

The Classical Languages (CL) honors program requires 12 hours of in-residence upper-division (300-400) course work beyond the major requirements. Of these, 4 hours must be in the student’s language of concentration (HEBR, GREK, or LATN); 4 hours must be HEBR, GREK, LATN, or any other departmentally approved ancient language course, such as Akkadian, Aramaic, Ugaritic; and the remaining 4 hours must be CLAL 499 (thesis course).

Aside from CLAL 499, these additional courses are regularly scheduled upper-division classes. Upon selection by the candidate, these courses are designated “honors work.” “Honors work” means that a student’s work goes beyond that of the class’s other students, in quality if not quantity. These hours are usually taken in the senior year. The minimum acceptable grade in honors work is A-. The student will complete an application in the department for the honors program during the student’s junior year (per the catalog policy linked above).

Application to the Program

(See below for the CLAL 499 thesis class)

Students majoring in Classical Languages (CL) who are interested in pursuing departmental honors should discuss this interest with their general CL academic advisor at least 1 academic year prior to registering for CLAL 499. It is advisable to begin this conversation at the outset of the junior year (early fall semester), in case the student wishes to designate a course in the spring semester of the same (junior) academic year as “honors work.” In any event, note that registration for senior year fall semester classes is completed during the spring semester of the junior year, and any course intended as “honors work” should be so designated at the time of registration.

There are two application forms, to be completed in this order:

1. MCL Departmental Form: Honors Program Application
2. Endorsement Change Application (Download PDF)

To apply to the honors program, the student will obtain the MCL departmental form from either their general CL academic advisor* or the MCL office coordinator in McAlister Hall and complete this in consultation with their general CL academic advisor.

*Advisors: Box → MCL Admin Folder → Digital Major and Minor Files → Classical Languages → 2.Forms → Fillable CL Honors Program Application

Upon submission and approval of that form, the student will complete the “Endorsement Change Application” which is linked above. This will activate the honors endorsement within DegreeWorks and allow registration for “honors work.” 

On that form, the “major” is the applicant’s major (not “honors program”) or majors (all majors, if more than one). In the “endorsement” line enter:“
Departmental Honors Endorsement: Modern and Classical Languages,” or just, “Honors: MCL.” The “academic advisor” is the applicant’s general CL academic advisor (not the thesis supervisor). The “endorsement director” is the MCL department chair.

Application Checklist

• If the thesis course will be in the spring semester, note the special spring deadlines related to being included in the Honors Convocation program included in the catalog policies linked above.
• The student’s departmental application includes the requirement to identify the CL professor who has agreed to serve as the supervisor of the honors thesis. The student must discuss the thesis idea with her or his honors thesis supervisor prior to completing the application. This thesis “idea” is a less matured, less formal version of the thesis “proposal.” The thesis supervisor may require this thesis “idea” to be written. See below for the “proposal.”
• Upon completion of the foregoing application forms, the student should verify that their program of study and graduation plan are in order, using the What-If function in DegreeWorks and consulting with their academic advisor and, as necessary, the Office of the Registrar.
• Note: The registrar will be able to assist the student with questions about the relevance of CPOS policies to their records after the students are registered for the classes in question.

Registration for Classes as "Honors Work" 

• Preliminaries
  • Once the MCL “Honors Program Application” and the “Endorsement Change Application” forms have been completed, the student may designate selected 300-400 level courses as “honors work.” See the first section above.
  • As a rule, a course should be designated as “honors work” at the point of registering for the course.
• Register for the class online as normal. The following form is also necessary for this step.
• At the time of registration, the student will ask their general CL academic advisor* to complete and submit a “Departmental Recommendation” (DR).
  
  *Advisors, the fillable form can be located in Gateway by typing “departmental recommendation” into the search window or: Box → MCL Admin Folder → Digital Major and Minor Files → 1. FORMS and Templates → Dept Recommendation Form
  
  
  • In completing that form, the “major” is the student’s basic CL major (including the full name of the IM if that applies). The “adjustment” is to the “endorsement.” In the fillable space provided beneath the adjustment options, write: “Designate [HEBR/GREK/LATN 3xx/4xx] toward this student’s CL honors endorsement,” indicating whether or not this course is for the student’s “primary” (= the language of concentration) or “secondary” (= any of the qualified CL courses, including the language of concentration) language. The Department Chair will need to sign the form and submit it to the Office of the Registrar.
  • As a general reminder about DRs, a DR should be completed as soon as you register for the course, and certainly before starting the course, as DRs do affect CPOS eligibility.

Thesis (CLAL 499) 

Registration for CLAL 499

• Preliminaries
  • A written thesis proposal is required before registering for CLAL 499. The format and details of the proposal are at the discretion of the thesis supervisor.
  • Ordinarily the thesis proposal should be approved by the end of the semester preceding enrollment in CLAL 499 (often that is the fall semester of the student’s senior year).
  • Once the proposal is accepted by the CL thesis supervisor, the student can register for 4 hours of CLAL 499.
• To register for CLAL 499, complete and submit to the registrar the form titled “Departmental Honors Registration and Guidelines,” (Download PDF). Once the Office of the Registrar receives that form, they will create the 499 section and register the student for the course. The student does not need also to register himself or herself online.

Supervision, Thesis Requirements

• The format of and schedule for the thesis course will be arranged in conversation with and at the discretion of the thesis supervisor.
• Ordinarily the honors thesis should be 40-60 pages. Double-spaced, 12-point font. Footnotes single-spaced, 10-point or 12-point font (no endnotes). Justified alignment. Left margin = 1.5"; other margins = 1". Include bibliography of all works cited.
• The work of both preparation and composition of the thesis must center on and contribute to language learning related to Hebrew, Greek, or Latin. This may involve study of a language artifact (inscription, manuscript), a direct study of the language itself, and/or some application of the language (e.g., exegesis centered on and governed by philological analysis). The quality and depth of work must transcend papers for other courses in areas such as the use of primary and secondary sources, analysis, logic, independence, creativity, and composition, though the thesis need not represent original discovery.
• For example, if it is an exegetical study of a biblical or classical text, while a wide range of elements will be ingredient and must be acknowledged – e.g., backgrounds, concepts, hermeneutics, history of interpretation – , the body of the thesis must be given to intense philological analysis, dilating on the linguistic aspects of the candidate’s language of concentration. The passage chosen for study should lend itself to showcasing these skills. Throughout, the thesis may not be a mere catalog of other authorities (including dictionaries and grammars) in deference to their linguistic and interpretive judgments but must instead foreground the student’s own expertise in understanding and employing the language first-hand, using textual and material evidence wherever appropriate. Authorities may be employed as supplements, but critically. The argument as a whole and its conclusions must be ground-breaking for the candidate and independently researched and argued. It need not be ground-breaking in the larger world of scholarship.

Defense, Finalization

• The oral defense will be a public event at the end of the semester. There will be one external examiner, selected by the CL thesis supervisor with the candidate’s input.
• The final version of the thesis must be submitted to the external examiner leaving sufficient time for the external’s preparations for the public defense. It is appropriate to arrange this due-date in conversation with the external.
• Normally, at the defense the candidate will present a 20-minute oral summary of their thesis followed by 10 minutes of questioning from the supervisor, external examiner, and possibly other attendees of the event. Handouts and visual aids are at the presenter’s discretion.
• Upon a successful defense, the final draft of the honors thesis is approved by the thesis supervisor and by the designated external examiner.
• The student’s grade for CLAL 499 will be decided by the thesis supervisor. The minimum acceptable grade is A-.
• The departmental honors designation will appear on the student’s transcript and on the printed Honors Convocation program. The processes for these work as follows:
  • Transcript
    After the conclusion of a student's final undergraduate semester, the Office of the Registrar will confirm the completion of the departmental honors thesis and defense with the thesis supervisor/department and confirm the thesis title for inclusion on the transcript.
  • Honors Convocation
    Note the special spring deadlines related to being included in the Honors Convocation printed program; these are in the catalog policies linked in the first section above. In February, the Office of the Provost sends out an email to the Office Coordinators, Deans’ Assistants, and other staff involved in gathering the information for Honors Convocation and Commencement Programs. They usually have a deadline of April 15 for the Honors Convocation since they do not print it and it is published online only after the Honors Convocation Chapel (usually the last Wednesday in April or 1st Wednesday in May, depending on the academic calendar).
    The Office of the Registrar sends them a list of students whose names should not be published, and those are removed from the list.
• Once defended and approved, the student will submit the thesis to the library as described on the Wheaton College Library website.
  • The library copy of the thesis will require two pages with handwritten signatures. This can be done by printing, signing, scanning as a PDF, forwarding to next in line, etc., and finally inserting into the Word doc as an “object.” Be sure to include the page numbers on these pages per the library’s guidelines.
  • When completing the “undergraduate honors thesis form” that is included in that link, one question will be “Availability of your thesis.” Here we recommend that the student choose the second option, “Make it available to current Wheaton College students, faculty and staff only (e.g., if you intend to publish a version of your work).” The parenthetical comment is written with Ph.D. students in mind, who use this same form. As an undergraduate student it will be wise to limit access until any graduate work has been completed.