East Asian Languages and Cultures

Requirements for the Honors Thesis

(1) Majors who would like to undertake an honors thesis must submit a draft proposal of the thesis to the department committee and thesis advisor no later than the first week of September of the Senior year, and ideally in the spring semester of the Junior year. Only students whose proposals have been approved by the thesis committee will be permitted to write a thesis. Once approved, students should enroll in the two-semester sequence CHI 497-498 or JAP 497-498.

East Asian studies majors whose primary faculty advisor is someone outside of the EALC Department (for example, in history, anthropology, government, or religious studies) must maintain regular communication with the thesis committee by submitting copies of all required work to the department in addition to their faculty advisory, as well as attending two required group meetings.

(2) In addition to regular meetings with the thesis advisor (to be arranged between the student and professor), the student must meet the following deadlines:

October 1
Final proposal

November 1
Complete outline due (or, in the case of a translation project, draft of the first 10 pages)

November 15
Thesis workshop

December 1
Bibliography (including Chinese or Japanese sources) and first section of text

March 1
First complete draft due

April 20
Final project due

Early May
Presentations to the faculty and students in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures

(3) Honor's theses in Chinese Language and Literature, Japanese Language and Literature, and East Asian Studies must include research using primary Asian language sources (at least three sources). For Chinese and Japanese literature majors, translation projects may be accepted, but they must be accompanied by a critical introductory essay to the translated text(s).

(4) Honors students must make two oral presentations of their projects. The first presentation will be given at the thesis workshop in the fall semester, at which time honor's students will present a brief description of their project at an informal group meeting of all students writing a thesis in China- or Japan-related topics, and discuss common research concerns and problems. The second will take place in May, when the student will report on their final projects at a more formal gathering of students and faculty.

(5) Two copies of the completed thesis must be submitted to the faculty advisor no later than 5 p.m. on April 20th. Both copies should be typed and bound. One copy to be placed on permanent display in the library of Woodworth House.

(6) The primary faculty advisor is responsible for the final evaluation and grade of the project. However, in the event that the department committee deems that a student has not met all the requirements (eg. by failing to submit the required materials in a timely fashion and/or failing to attend thesis meetings), the faculty advisor will be informed of these concerns.

(7) The student with the top honor's thesis of the year (to be judged by the department committee) will be awarded a small gift and certificate recognizing his/her achievement.