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Honors in Spanish

Graduating with honors in Spanish involves collaboration between the student, a faculty mentor, the honors advisor in Spanish & Portuguese, and the Honors Program.  Students who wish to graduate with honors in Spanish must meet minimum gpa requirements, complete two honors courses in the department, and write and defend an honors thesis in accordance with the guidelines of the department and the Honors Program.  Please see the Honors Program website for a complete description of their activities and programs (http://honors.uiowa.edu/about/summary.shtml).

Honors GPA:  At the UI there is no application process for entering the Honors Program; all students with a gpa of 3.33 are automatically admitted into the UI Honors Program. To graduate with honors in Spanish, a student must maintain an overall UI gpa of 3.33, as well as a 3.5 gpa in Spanish.

Honors Courses:  To be eligible to graduate with honors in Spanish, students must take two honors courses.  The first of these can be selected from the few established honors courses the department offers each semester, namely, honors sections of 35:103 Writing in Spanish, 35:110 Readings in Spanish Literature and Culture, and 35:111 Readings in Spanish American Literature and Culture.  Students may also arrange to take any other course with Honors Designation at the discretion of the instructor.  The student and the instructor must agree on an additional project, such as a paper or outside reading that would help enrich the course.  The student must also file the appropriate form with the Honors Program by the end of the fifth week of the semester.  (http://honors.uiowa.edu/events/deadlines/forms/academic/academic_forms.shtml).  At the end of the semester, the student will need to visit the professor and ask for a signature confirming that the student has completed the agreed-upon work.  In order for this course to count as an honors course, the student must receive a grade of B or higher. In addition to the first honors course, a student wishing to graduate with honors must also register for 3 s.h. of 35:198 Honors Research and Thesis.  These six s.h. count toward the total of 36 s.h. required for the Spanish major; 35:198 also counts toward the major requirement of three courses above 35:170.

Honors Thesis:  In order to graduate with honors in Spanish, students must fulfill the required minimum gpa and the six credits of honors coursework in Spanish, three of which are in 35:198 Honors Research and Thesis.  In this course the student will write an honors thesis in Spanish and defend it orally to a faculty committee in a meeting conducted in Spanish.  Usually students write and defend their honors thesis during their last semester as an undergraduate.  The honors thesis is a research essay of approximately 40 pages on a topic of the student's choice related to the course of study in Spanish.  Ideally, the honors thesis will be based on a research essay written in a Spanish course at the 35:170 and above level or in a Spanish course taken with an honors designation.  Students must choose a Spanish professor to direct the thesis and enroll in 35:198 with that professor.  The exact nature of the thesis (theme, methodology, length, etc.) will be determined by the student and the thesis director.  In consultation with the thesis director, the student will select an additional two professors from the Department of Spanish and Portuguese who serve as members of the thesis committee.  The student must defend the thesis with the three-member committee no later than the last Friday of classes.  Then the student must file the thesis along with a title page and an abstract with the Honors Program (420 BHC) no later than the Wednesday of Finals Week during the semester of graduation.  The Honors Program has very specific guidelines about submitting the thesis.  Please see their website (http://honors.uiowa.edu/research/theses/index.shtml).

go to Writing the Honors Thesis