There are two options for English Departmental Honors:
a) the literary/cultural criticism option;
b) the creative writing option.
Department Honors in Literary/Cultural Criticism
A student who earns English Departmental Honors in literary and cultural criticism at Centenary College of Louisiana is someone who, through a rigorous course of comprehensive research, literary and cultural analysis, synthetic and critical writing, and an oral defense, demonstrates mastery of a primary work or set of works of literature and/or cultural texts through close reading, a robust understanding of the literary and cultural context, and a thorough knowledge of relevant criticism.
Department Honors in Creative Writing
A student who earns English Departmental Honors in creative writing at Centenary College of Louisiana is someone who, through the production of original work and an oral defense, demonstrates not only a singularity of perception and expression but also a critical as well as an imaginative engagement in a literary tradition, which includes the conventions of genre and a repertoire of techniques.
Achievement of departmental honors will evaluated through:
- An honors thesis (see criteria below)
- An oral examination (see rubric below)
To apply for honors in English, a candidate must:
- Have a 3.25 GPA in both major and overall course work.
- Have participated in the program/major for at least two semesters.
- Apply to the chair of the department during his or her junior year.
- Collaborate with a faculty thesis director in a committee that oversees the candidate’s honors thesis.
- Have two committee members, including the thesis director, from within the English Department and one committee member from outside the department.
- Register for three hours of Independent Study (ENGL 493) during his or her senior year. (Note: these three hours of Independent Study are in addition to major requirements.)
- Submit hard copies of the honors thesis to the committee and all members of the English department.
- Schedule and pass an oral examination administered by members of the English department.
The critical honors thesis will:
- be equivalent in length to a seminar paper or publishable article (20-25 pages/5,000-7,000 words);
- be formatted using MLA style documentation;
- focus on a work or set of works of canonical literature (broadly conceived) with a rich literary history;
- be approved, in advance, by the candidate’s thesis director and members of his or her honors committee.
During the oral examination the candidate may be expected to:
- demonstrate breadth of knowledge of the subject matter, in this case, the subject of his or her thesis;
- speak clearly and confidently about his or her research;
- demonstrate a thorough understanding of the literary and cultural history of the primary work(s), including its/their relation to literary period, other literary or philosophical traditions, and relevant historical events;
- apply a number of critical approaches to the primary work(s) under consideration;
- extend the committee's learning about the text(s) and/or relate an existing critical understanding of the text to new texts.
The creative honors thesis will:
- consist of 20-25 pages of prose or 12-15 poems. (Note: a student who wishes to produce a thesis in more than one genre may do so with the approval and guidance of his or her thesis director.);
- include a critical introduction, 3-4 pages in length, in which the student relates his or her work to a pertinent literary tradition, draws attention to those literary techniques and modes that characterize the work, and clarifies in an analytical way its thematic aims and ideological implications;
- be approved, in advance, by the candidate’s thesis director and members of his or her honors committee.
During the oral examination the candidate may be expected to:
- speak clearly and confidently about the formal characteristics of his or her work;
- articulate the relationship between this work and the literary tradition in which the student is engaged and so reveal not only a critical understanding of his or her own work but also breadth of knowledge of a body of literature;
- demonstrate a thoughtful and informed consideration of the work as it relates to contemporary critical discourse.
Recommended timeline:
Fall Semester of Junior Year:
- Apply for departmental honors
- Assemble Committee
- Submit necessary paperwork to the Registrar
Spring Semester of Junior Year:
- Design research or creative project (in consultation with thesis director)
- Begin gathering and reading research materials or relevant creative and critical materials
- Register for Independent Study for Fall of Senior Year
Fall Semester of Senior Year:
- Continue to conduct research as part of Independent Study
- Submit first draft of thesis to Committee members on or before the Friday before Thanksgiving recess
- Revise thesis based on feedback from faculty
Spring Semester of Senior Year:
- Submit final draft of thesis to Committee members on or before the Friday before Mardi Gras recess
- Prepare for oral examination
- Schedule oral examination
- Undergo oral examination
- Submit necessary paperwork to the Registrar