Major Requirements for Students Pursuing Latin Honors
SPAN 3015V Honors Spanish Composition and Communication
SPAN 3104V Honors Introduction to the Study of Hispanic Literatures
SPAN 3105V Honors Introduction to the Study of Hispanic Cultures
Spanish and Portuguese Studies students completing an Honors Thesis in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies must also take one 5xxx level SPPT or PORT course. This 5xxx-level course is taken in lieu of one of the required 3xxx-level SPAN/PORT electives in the major and also counts as an Honors Course Experience.
Students who declared their major prior to Fall 2022: HCOL 3101H or HCOL 3102H
Students who declared their major in Fall 2022 or after: Span 3972V (offered only in Spring). Span 3994 or Port 3994 must be taken in the Fall semester prior to Span 3972V.
Honors students should meet with the Director of Undergraduate Studies, who serves as the Department's Honors Faculty Representative, to discuss the honors capstone in Spanish & Portuguese Studies before they begin their final two semesters at the University. The Director of Undergraduate Studies will provide them with the names of faculty members who have expertise in the students’ area of interest for the Honors thesis and who are available to serve as their initial thesis advisor. In their penultimate semester, students who declared a Spanish Studies major in Fall 2022 or later should enroll in a 3-credit Directed Research course (Span 3994 or Port 3994) with a faculty member who has expertise related to the topic of their thesis. (Note: This step is optional for students who declared their Spanish and Portuguese Studies major prior to Fall 2022.) During that semester, students will develop their thesis statement or research questions, read extensively, and begin data collection (if relevant). By the end of the semester, they should have completed the first third of the thesis. During their final semester, students should enroll in Span 3972V Honors Graduate Seminar. They will be guided by the faculty member who teaches that course and will continue to consult with the faculty member who they worked with during the previous semester and who will serve as the thesis co-advisor (together with the instructor of Span 3972V).
Honor theses are expected to comprise an in-depth critical and analytical essay on a topic relevant to our discipline, such as literary, cultural or linguistic analyses focusing on the Portuguese- and/or Spanish-speaking world. They are generally 30 to 35 pages and must be written in Portuguese or Spanish.The thesis committee will base their evaluation on the Span 3972 assessment rubric. All honors theses must meet the standards specified for research and writing in the rubric. Summa theses must exceed the standards in the areas of research and writing as specified in the assessment rubric. A summa thesis involves original research. This may include the collection and analysis of new data or a new analysis of existing data within an appropriate theoretical framework, or a new interpretation of primary texts.