Honors

To be eligible to pursue an honors project, students must have a excellent academic record in Anthropology. Typically, this means the student has earned a 3.5 or better in the courses taken for the major.

Students who pursue honors often have an interest in, and familiarity with, a specific topic or set of issues. They may have already completed coursework, summer research, or an independent study related to their topic. Honors students work closely with a faculty mentor who should have a enough background in the chosen area to oversee the proposed project.

Students are expected to work with a high degree of autonomy. Honors students are often the resident expert on their chosen topic and are positioned to seek out information, pursue questions, and request support.

Just as significant, students should expect to refine their research questions, methodology, and theoretical orientation in response to faculty suggestions. Students work closely with their primary advisor. The faculty advisor and Honors Committee offer a wealth of knowledge and expertise beyond any specific topic, including in scholarly research, ethics, and writing.

Students will write about their research and undertake significant revision of writing over the course of the senior year. Honors projects offer original insights and contribute to the production of knowledge in the discipline. Honors students are expected to represent their findings clearly and cogently and to align with scholarly standards of academic integrity.

Students must meet all deadlines for submitted work. Failure to meet deadlines, except in exceptional circumstances and in consultation with the advisor and Department Chair, may disqualify the project as eligible for Honors.

Students are expected to present their research in an Honors colloquium. Faculty members will have read their thesis and will ask questions about the thesis.

Many students begin preparing for an Honors project in their junior year.

One first step is to attend a meeting hosted by department faculty about summer fellowships and independent study and Honors projects, usually in the Fall.

Students thinking about pursuing an Honors project are encouraged to speak with a faculty member about the Honors process and potential topics in the Fall or early Spring of junior year. Students should consider how their potential project might benefit from a faculty member’s specific areas of expertise. (More information on faculty research can be found on Our Faculty webpage).

The Department encourages students who are considering Honors work to conduct independent research in the summer before their senior year. The Student Fellowships Office offers several institutional awards to fund full-time summer research (with applications due in February). The Department also funds summer research.

If a faculty member has agreed to mentor their research project, a student may register for an Advanced Independent Study (for the Fall of their senior year). If this project is approved as an Honors project by Department faculty, the designation will be changed by the Registrar in the Fall of senior year.

Sometimes students don’t realize until the summer before senior year that they want to pursue Honors. The Department Chair will send information about Honors in the Spring of junior year and again in the summer between junior and senior years. Read the correspondence. Contact potential advisors in the summer if you haven’t done so already.

The Department faculty (as a group) determine which projects will proceed as Honors projects. This determination is based on evaluation of a student’s formal Honors proposal early in the Fall of senior year. Before classes start in the Fall of senior year, ask a faculty member to offer comments on your Honors proposal.

Students intending to pursue honors must submit a formal Honors Proposal to the Department in the first week of the Fall semester of their senior year. Department faculty will review the proposals and determine which projects will move forward as Honors projects.

The Honors proposal explains the specific focus of your proposed Honors Project and gives a rationale for that project. It’s a good idea to have a faculty mentor review a draft of your proposal in advance of submitting it!

What to Include

The proposal includes 1) a narrative description of the project of approximately 1000 words (2 single- spaced pages); 2) a bibliography of selected sources; and 3) an unofficial transcript.

1. The narrative proposal typically includes following:
   • Research focus and description
     State your research question or problem, or the specific topic of your Honors project as clearly as you can. You may also discuss the theoretical and/or methodological approaches you plan to use.
   • Relevance and significance of the proposed research question or topic
     Explain how the proposed project relates to and/or makes a contribution to the broader scholarly literature. This will convey the intellectual significance of the project.
   • Feasibility and scope of the proposed project
     Explain how your previous academic courses, library research, primary ethnographic or archaeological research, and/or intellectual, practical, or personal background prepare you to carry out this project.
     
     
2. The bibliography may include sources that you have cited in the proposal and/or those that you have consulted or plan to consult for the project. You may divide the bibliography into sections if you wish. You do not have to make this an exhaustive list. Rather this should give faculty members a sense of the kinds of scholarly literature that you will be able to draw upon to carry out your project.
   
   
3. An unofficial transcript listing courses either by subject or by semester will aid the committee in determining the honors committee for those proposals that move forward.

How to Submit

Please submit as a single Word or PDF document to Monica Gallego (m.gallego@bowdoin.edu).

If you have questions about Honors or Independent Study projects or procedures, please contact Department Chair, Professor Krista VanVleet (kvanvlee@bowdoin.edu) or Department Coordinator,Monica Gallego (m.gallego@bowdoin.edu). If you have questions about your specific project, you may also talk with any department member.

Students pursuing Honors projects follow a rigorous schedule in their senior year. All deadlines for the submission of work in the senior year are required. The general schedule and expectations for those students who are pursuing Honors is explained below. Please read it carefully. 

A specific list of deadlines with dates for Academic-Year Honors Projects (August 2024 to May 2025) will be available from your faculty mentor.

A specific list of deadlines with dates for Calendar-Year Honors Projects (February 2024 to December 2024) is TBD.

During the first week of classes in the Fall, submit your Honors proposal to the Department.

The Department will meet before the end of Add/Drop period to decide which proposals will continue as Honors projects. The Department will also assign advisors and committee members for each Honors project.

Meet with your full committee to discuss your Honors proposal within the first month of the Fall semester. This meeting is to get feedback on the project, review the procedures for Honors, and develop a plan for advising. This meeting will be scheduled by the faculty advisor.

On the last day of Reading Period, submit the drafts of two chapters to all members of the Honors Committee. These should be completed chapter drafts, not outlines or summaries. If possible, please include a brief table of contents.

The Honors Committee will meet to discuss the submitted chapters, usually without the Honors student. The advisor will convey feedback from the Committee by the end of exam period.

On the Thursday before Spring Break, submit a complete thesis to the Honors Committee.

The thesis draft should be complete enough to allow the Honors Committee to evaluate the merits of the project, including logic, supporting data, and bibliography. If the student does not meet this deadline, the project will not proceed as an Honors project, and the advisor will convey this determination to the student.

The Honors Committee (or at minimum the advisor) will meet with the Honors student to share the Committee’s feedback and decision about whether the thesis draft demonstrates sufficient progress to continue as Honors in the first week after Spring Break.

Submit the final thesis to the Department Chair and Academic Department Coordinator seven to ten (calendar) days before the last day of classes (Spring). 

Honors Committee will evaluate the written thesis and communicate a recommendation to the Department Chair as to whether the thesis is defendable in the Honors Colloquium by the Friday before Reading Period.

Honors students present their theses in a Department Honors Colloquium usually during Reading Period. All department faculty members read student honors theses and attend the Colloquium. After all student presentations, faculty members will discuss each thesis and the department as a whole will make a decision about whether Honors should be awarded and allocate prizes. Advisor communicates decision to student.

Honors theses are now submitted only electronically to Hawthorne-Longfellow Library. Follow all of the library requirements found at libguides. Theses are typically due the week before graduation. The Honors Committee may suggest minor editorial changes no later than one week before the thesis is due in the library.

To earn Honors in anthropology, students research and write a thesis (of approximately 75-pages) and defend their thesis in an oral presentation to Department. Their written project must:

1. clearly articulate a research question or problem and sustain an argument with appropriate evidence
2. explain methodological approaches
3. creatively engage with an intellectual conversation within the discipline
4. critically evaluate, synthesize, or build upon analytical or theoretical perspectives
5. follow scholarly standards of presentation and citation