Welcome to the undergraduate program's Guide for Concentrators. We have updated last year's Guide. Below you will find an explanation of the English Department's undergraduate program requirements and a year-by-year guide for concentrators. If you are new to the department or are thinking about declaring English as your concentration, the Guide is a good starting point to learn about your options (e.g., honors vs. elective programs and what they entail). If you already are a concentrator, the Guide is a resource as you move through the concentration, as you seek information on requirements or other aspects of your program. All concentrators are responsible for knowing the dates, policies, and requirements in the Guide and are encouraged to refer to it as a first resource when they have specific questions about the concentration. Do not hesitate to contact us with any questions if you need further information.

To view or print the Guide from a PDF file, click here.

CONTENTS:

FOREWORD: The English Concentration

PART I: AN OVERVIEW OF THE CONCENTRATION

INTRODUCTION TO THE ENGLISH CONCENTRATION
Department Staff
Student Advising

CONCENTRATION REQUIREMENTS
Elective Program
Honors Program
Thesis Option
Non-thesis Option
Joint Concentrations
Courses Fulfilling the Pre-1800 Requirement
Courses Fulfilling the Shakespeare Requirement
The Foreign Literature Requirement

OTHER CONCENTRATION INFORMATION
Varieties of Courses
The Concentration Grade Point Average
Study Abroad
Core Exemptions
Pass/Fail
Double Counting
Related Courses (i.e. courses from other departments)
Advanced Placement / Advanced Standing
Summer Research Grants

PART II: A YEAR-BY-YEAR GUIDE

THE FRESHMAN YEAR
Freshman Seminars

THE SOPHOMORE YEAR
Sophomore Seminar (English 97)
The Sophomore Close Reading Examination
Applying to the Honors Program

THE JUNIOR YEAR
Elective Program
Honors Program
Tutorial Requirements
English 90 Seminars
Senior Thesis Application Process
Non-Thesis Honors Option

THE SENIOR YEAR
Elective Program
Honors Program
The Senior Creative Writing Thesis
The Senior Critical Thesis
Joint Concentration Senior Theses
The Senior Thesis Prospectus
Evaluating the Thesis
Oral Examinations
Department Honors Recommendations and College Latin Honors

LOOKING AHEAD
Graduate Study in English
Letters of Recommendation
Jobs, Internships, and Career Placement

Foreword: The English Concentration

The concentration in English and American Literature and Language introduces students to the full range of imaginative writing in English from Anglo-Saxon times to the present. In more recent years the field's embrace has expanded to include English literature written around the globe in places like India , Africa, and the Caribbean . Of course, students cannot cover the entire breadth of this immense field, but the department aims to offer the widest possible experience of it. At the same time, students receive intensive, sharply-focused training in advanced forms of textual analysis, in the full range of literary genres and modes, in the formal intricacies of lyric poems and the architectonics of fiction, in the linguistic structures that underlie literary discourse, in the philosophical and historical contexts of literature, and in the careers of great authors such as Chaucer, Spenser, Milton, Austen, Wordsworth, Melville, Tennyson, Eliot, Woolf, and Heaney. Courses vary in character from large lectures to more specialized study seminars (in which enrollment is limited to 15), such as “Navigating Joyce's Ulysses ,” “Poetry and Philosophy,” and “Money in Literature.” Lecture courses include the two parts of “Major British Writers,” “The 19th-Century American Novel,” “Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales ,” “Shakespeare and Modern Culture,” and “The Postcolonial Classic.” Advanced students have opportunities for still more concentrated research and tutorial work with faculty and graduate students. Most honors students write senior theses. Among the topics of recent senior theses are violence in the religious poetry of John Donne, the sense of time and place in the prose of Joan Didion, the iconography of portraiture in the fiction of Nathaniel Hawthorne, the relationship between genre and psychological entanglement in Shakespeare's plays, and the phenomenon of accident in the prose of Thomas De Quincey.

The department offers creative writing courses in fiction, poetry, screenwriting, playwriting, and the essay. Some honors students pursue creative projects, in verse or in prose, as senior theses. The vital presence of creative writing in the department is reflected by the distinguished authors on its faculty: Jorie Graham, Seamus Heaney, Jamaica Kincaid, James Wood, and others. The department sponsors frequent readings by established and emerging authors. Informal events, such as “ Readings in the Parlor,” in which a faculty member reads and discusses with students a favorite short poem or prose passage, are also part of life in the department.

The student who concentrates in English, whether as an elective concentrator or in the Honors Program, will be well prepared for graduate school in English and for any profession in which careful reading, persuasive writing, and exact habits of thought are required. But an education in English-language literature is also a source of moral reflection and aesthetic pleasure that will be a possession for life. Literature awakens the mind to the radical strangeness of human experience, to the “otherness” of others as much as to the qualities we share. Literature also helps us to see how complex problems will not admit of simple, technical solutions because they are deeply and subtly imbedded in their human contexts. Sharpening one's powers of discernment as well as widening one's intellectual horizons is at the heart of a liberal education. Such an education, to which literature is central, prepares the student not only for “life” in the abstract but also for life as an engaged, intelligently caring citizen of the world.

Daniel Donoghue,
Director of Undergraduate Studies

PART I: AN OVERVIEW OF THE CONCENTRATION

STAFF DIRECTORY

CHAIR

Professor James Engell

Barker Center 162

495-8444

jengell@fas.harvard.edu

DIRECTOR OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES (DUS)

Professor Daniel Donoghue

Barker Center 208

495-2505

dgd@wjh.harvard.edu

DIRECTOR OF CREATIVE WRITING

Bret Johnston

Barker Center 067

495-5921

bajohnst@fas.harvard.edu

UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM ADMINISTRATOR

Jeff Berg

Barker Center 159

495-4252

jmberg@fas.harvard.edu

UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM ASSISTANT

Melissa Gerber

Barker Center 158

495-8443

mgerber@fas.harvard.edu

RESEARCH LIBRARIAN

Laura Farwell Blake

Research Services, Widener Library

496-0108

farwell@fas.harvard.edu

For a listing of English department faculty members, see the faculty profiles section on the department web site: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~english/people/facultyprofiles.html

STUDENT ADVISING

Members of the faculty advising team are available during weekly, drop-in hours throughout the year to help students select courses. The staff of the undergraduate program office, Inga Peterson (Program Administrator) and Melissa Gerber (Program Assistant), is available to answer questions on program requirements and other matters. Hours are listed online at http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~english/programs/advisingprogram.html .

2007-2008 CONCENTRATION ADVISERS

CONCENTRATION REQUIREMENTS

The English Program has two options for English concentrators: the Elective Program and the Honors Program . The Elective Program allows more flexibility for course selection within and outside the English department. The Honors Program is for students who wish to engage in more intensive study in the English 90 seminars and in the thesis program. Honors students choose between a non-thesis option and a critical or creative thesis option. Honors students may also pursue a joint concentration, in which a critical thesis is supervised jointly by a member of the English department and a member of another department.

**A grade point average of A-/B+ (3.40) or higher in the concentration is required in the Honors Program. Students whose concentration GPA falls below a 3.40 will be dropped from the Honors Program.

Elective Program

Required Courses (12“half courses”, i.e. single term courses)

English 10a (Major British Writers I)

English 10b (Major British Writers II)

English 17 (American Literature)

English 97 (Sophomore Seminar)

One half course of Shakespeare

Two half courses in pre-1800 literature other than Shakespeare

Five additional half courses, one of which may be related, i.e., extra-departmental courses (see below).

Tutorials and Seminars

Sophomore year: English 97, letter graded. A writing-intensive seminar, concentrating on the techniques of literary analysis and introducing works of different genres and periods.

Close Reading Examination: to be taken at the end of the fall or spring term of sophomore year.

Honors Program

Required Courses (14 half courses)

English 10a (Major British Writers I)

English 10b (Major British Writers II)

English 17 (American Literature to 1915)

English 97 (Sophomore Seminar)

English 98 (Junior Tutorial)

English 99 (Senior Thesis Tutorial; both terms of senior year) or two half-course English 90 seminars

English 90 seminar

One half course of Shakespeare

Two half courses in pre-1800 literature other than Shakespeare

Foreign literature (see below)

Two additional half courses

Tutorials and Seminars

Sophomore year: English 97. Prepares the student for the Close Reading Examination.

Junior year: English 98, letter graded . A group tutorial concentrating on techniques of critical reading and writing in which students choose their tutorial topic and lead some discussions. This requirement may also be completed with English 91r. (For more information, see section on varieties of courses).

Senior year: English 99 (two terms), graded SAT/UNSAT. Individual tutorial devoted to writing the senior honors thesis.

Close Reading Examination: to be taken at the end of the fall or spring term of sophomore year.

Thesis/Non-thesis

Thesis: critical or creative option.

Non-thesis : two English 90 seminars. Note that students who choose this option will not be eligible to receive a departmental degree recommendation higher than cum laude .

Oral Examination for Highest Departmental Honors ( summa cum laude )

To be recommended for highest departmental honors, selected students take a forty-five minute oral examination at the end of the senior year.

Thesis Option

In April in the junior year, students who intend to write a thesis must submit a senior thesis proposal of 300-500 words, plus a bibliography. Students whose proposals are accepted are then enrolled in two terms of the senior tutorial (English 99), in which they receive individual advising from a faculty member, or a combination of both a faculty member and graduate student.

Acceptable senior thesis topics may include any aspect of British, American, or global literature in English, or, with approval from the staff of the creative writing program, an original literary work. Creative thesis proposals by honors juniors (out-of-phase students included) are submitted in February. In addition to fulfilling other concentration requirements for the Honors Program, including the junior tutorial, students applying for a creative writing thesis ordinarily will have completed one course in creative writing at Harvard before they apply. Questions about creative theses should be directed to Bret Johnston, Director of the Creative Writing Program, or to Jeff Berg, Undergraduate Program Administrator. Creative writing thesis information may be found on the department web site: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~english/programs/c_w_thesis.htm .

Non-thesis Option

In the non-thesis Honors Program, students replace the senior tutorial with two English 90 seminars or other advanced undergraduate courses in the department. A grade point average of A-/B+ (3.40) or higher in the concentration is required. Note that students who elect this option will not be eligible to receive a degree recommendation higher than cum laude.

Joint Concentrations

Upon approval from the undergraduate program office, honors students may combine a concentration in English with a concentration in another department, supervised by one member of each department. In addition to the senior thesis, joint concentrators are often required to take more courses than other students. Only students with a strong record and a clearly formulated project across two disciplines should consider a joint concentration.

Joint concentrators may declare English to be either their primary or secondary concentration: the requirements are the same for both. Students are encouraged to take both the sophomore and junior tutorials in English, but may opt out of one (not both) in favor of the requirements of the other department. While students having English as their second concentration are expected to enroll in the two-term senior tutorial in their primary department, they will nonetheless have a thesis adviser in English.

Students interested in declaring a joint concentration must complete a change of concentration form, which must be signed by both departments and by the student's Allston Burr Resident Dean. For further questions contact Jeff Berg
(jmberg@fas.harvard.edu ).

Required Courses (minimum of 10 half course)

English 10a (Major British Writers I)

English 10b (Major British Writers II)

English 17 (American Literature)

English 97 (Sophomore Seminar) OR a numbered English course

English 98 (Junior Tutorial) OR English 99 (Senior Tutorial—for thesis writers, two terms)

One half-course English 90 seminar

One half course of Shakespeare

One half course in pre-1800 literature other than Shakespeare

Foreign literature (see below)

Electives to fill out remaining courses if necessary

Tutorials and Seminars

Students must meet with a departmental adviser to discuss the sophomore and junior tutorials.

Close Reading Examination: to be taken in the fall or spring of sophomore year.

Thesis

Same as Honors Program critical thesis requirement. Ordinarily, the creative thesis option will not be available to joint concentrators.

Oral Examination

Same as honors requirement.

All honors concentrators,must maintain a grade point average of A-/B+ (3.40) or higher in the concentration, joint concentrators must have 3.60. Failure to do so will result in being dropped from the Honors Program.

Courses Fulfilling the Pre-1800 Requirement

Fall 2007
English 90cd. Introduction to Medieval Drama (Appleford)
English 90cl. Comic Literature through the Middle Ages (Donoghue)
English 102e. Anglo-Saxon Language and Culture: Introduction to Poetry (Harris)
Medieval Studies 114. The Medieval Imagination: Visions, Dreams, and Prophecies (Watson)

Spring 2008
English 90mf. The Rise of the Novel (Shinagel)
English 101. The History of Structure of the English Language (Appelford)
English 103e. Anglo-Saxon Language and Culture: Beowulf and Elegy (Harris)
English 115b. Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales (Watson)
English 131. Milton : Major Poetry and Prose (Teskey)
English 132. Metaphysical Poetry (Teskey)
Lit & Arts A-72. The Enlightenment Invention of the Modern Self ( Damrosch )

Not Offered in 07-08
English 90ad. The Art of Dying (Appleford)
English 90cm. Mapping the World: Medieval Romance (Appleford)
English 90cp. Performance of History: Medieval to Early Modern (Appleford)
English 90ei. Images, Idolatry, and Iconoclasm (Simpson)
English 90ga. Alternative Worlds in Early Modern England (Lewalski)
English 90gh. Renaissance Epic and Romance: Sidney, Spencer, Wroth, Milton (Lewalski)
English 90gm. Reading Paradise Lost (Lewalski)
English 90hs. Satire: Augustan and Modern (Shinagel)
English 90ht. Politics and Poetics of Augustan and Modern Satire (Nohrnberg)
English 90md. Medieval Drama (Appleford)
English 90qh. Exotica in Renaissance Drama
English 90sl. The Romance of Scotland
English 102a. Anglo-Saxon Language and Culture: Historicizing the Past (Donoghue)
English 103. Beowulf (Harris)
English 103f. Anglo-Saxon Language and Culture: Before Love (Donoghue)
English 103g. Anglo-Saxon Language & Culture: Working with Manuscripts (Donoghue)
English 111. Introduction to Medieval Literature (Donoghue)
English 112. Chaucer and the Invention of Middle English Literature (Simpson)
English 127. Renaissance Narrative in Poetry and Prose (Teskey)
English 129. Some Uses of Renaissance Pastoral (Lewalski)
English 130. 17th-Century Poetry and Prose (Lewalski)
English 141. The 18th-Century Novel ( Damrosch )
English 144. Early Modern Literature: Six Voices, Six Visions (Engell)
English 190x. Philosophy and Literature: The Problem of Consent (Scarry)
Lit & Arts A-11. Arthurian Literature: Epic versus Romance (Simpson)

Courses Fulfilling the Shakespeare Requirement

Fall 2006
English 120. Introduction to Shakespeare (Teskey)

Spring 2007
English 90fh. Hamlets (Greenblatt)

Not Offered in -06-07
English 90fr. Shakespeare, Repetition, and Revenge
English 121. Shakespearean Playwriting
English 124d. Shakespearean Tragedy
English 125. Shakespeare and Modern Culture

NOTE: Shakespeare courses do not count toward the pre-1800 requirement.

The Foreign Literature Requirement (not required of students in the Elective Program)

The foreign literature requirement arises from the conviction that English literature has never existed in isolation from other languages. Writer as diverse as Geoffrey Chaucer and Derek Walcott, and many others, remind us that the way English has been enriched by the literature of other cultures is too vast to enumerate. Because this requirement goes beyond the college's foreign language requirement, honors concentrators may not use advanced placement language scores or courses they have used to fulfill the college requirement. There are several options from which to choose.

Foreign Literature

Because the goal is to read foreign literature in the original language, the usual way to fulfill the requirement is to take one half-course at a level advanced enough that students are reading literature and not, for example, reviewing grammar. Foreign literature in English translation does not count, nor does a single half course that deals primarily with language fundamentals. Many courses satisfy the requirement; some examples are as follows:

French 180. 20th-Century French and Francophone Women Writers

Portuguese 132. The Short Story in Brazil

Hebrew 153. Midrash Seminar

Greek 4. Selections from Homer's Iliad

Chinese 110a. Advanced Readings in Modern Chinese

Alternatives within the Foreign Literature Requirement

Students have three alternatives to the half-course literature option.

A. Two half courses of Anglo-Saxon (Old English). Students take English 102 and its continuation in English 103. For students who exercise this option, the first term will count as a pre-1800 requirement.

B. One full or two half courses of continued study in a foreign language beyond the college requirement. Students may use this option to begin study of a new foreign language, or they may undertake advanced study of the language they used to fulfill the college requirement. Some examples of acceptable language courses are as follows:

French Ca and Cb—Intermediate French I and II (taken together)

Spanish BaB—Intensive Beginning Spanish

Celtic 132 and 133—Intro and Intermediate Modern Irish (taken together)

Sophomores and juniors exercising this option should note that the second half of a full course or the second of two half courses may also count towards concentration requirements.

VARIETIES OF COURSES

Students may count toward concentration credit one freshman seminar taught by a department faculty member.

Core courses taught by department faculty with sections designated for concentration credit may similarly be counted toward the concentration, either as elective credit or as related, extra-departmental courses.

English 10-34 are lecture courses designed primarily for undergraduates. English 10a and 10b, a full-year introduction to British literature from Beowulf to the twentieth century, and English 17, a half-year introduction to American literature, are required.

100-level lecture courses , open to both undergraduate and graduate students, cover the full range of topics in English and American literature and language. Generally without enrollment limits, these courses range in size from a few students to large lectures with weekly section meetings conducted by graduate student teaching fellows. The course number indicates the following topic areas:

100-109 Old English and language study

110-119 Middle English and Medieval literature

120-129 Renaissance

130-139 17th-century British

140-149 18th-century British

150-159 19th-century British

160-169 20th-century

170-179 American literature

180-189 Genre courses

190-199 Critical theory

English 90 seminars encourage discussion and intensive work in specialized topics, usually culminating in a substantial research paper. Enrollment is limited to fifteen students and is restricted to undergraduates, with priority given to junior and senior concentrators. Honors students must take at least one English 90 seminar to meet concentration requirements (non-thesis honors students must take three).

English 91r is designed for the supervised study of topics not available within departmental course offerings. It may be substituted for the honors junior tutorial (English 98). Supervision of English 91r courses is limited to faculty. Such courses may not be taken more than twice (only once in a given term) and may count toward the honors concentration only by prior petition to the undergraduate program office. Application forms for English 91r are available at the Barker Center or online at http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~english/programs/undergradprogram.html . Applications, which are due on the same day as study cards, must include a bibliography and must be signed by the supervising faculty member.

Tutorials (97, 98, and 99): see sophomore, junior, and senior years, respectively (beginning on p. 15), for tutorial information.

Creative writing courses (e.g., English Capr, Ckr, Cnr, etc.) are open to all undergraduates but admission is by application only. Workshops are offered each term in fiction writing, poetry, nonfiction writing, screenwriting, and playwriting. Workshops concentrate on one genre and have no more than twelve students per class. For application instructions, see the department web site at http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~english/programs/creativewriting_faculty.htm . Please note that while all creative writing courses are figured into the concentration GPA, no more than two may count toward concentration requirements.

Graduate courses , numbered 200 and above, may be taken by undergraduates with the permission of the instructor.

Harvard Summer School English courses count toward concentration credit, whether or not an English department faculty member teaches the course. Students may likewise count for concentration credit Harvard Summer School courses in foreign literature or in a related field. Students who have taken summer school courses prior to their matriculation into the college should contact the registrar for information on obtaining college credit for those courses.

THE CONCENTRATION GRADE POINT AVERAGE (GPA)

The Honors Program requires a GPA of 3.40. Grades from all courses used to fulfill concentration requirements (including related courses and courses used to meet the foreign literature requirement) are used to calculate the GPA. In addition, grades from English department courses taken beyond the required number of concentration courses also count. Grades without numerical values assigned to them (CR, W, and SAT, for example) do not figure into the concentration GPA. Grades from courses taken outside the University, including courses taken abroad, likewise do not count toward the GPA. Note that the concentration GPA used by faculty for degree recommendations includes only those courses taken through first term of the senior year.

The English department uses a 4.0 scale to calculate grades in the following way:

The English department awards Latin grades for theses and oral examinations. summa cum laude = with highest praise; magna cum laude = with great praise; cum laude = with praise. The Latin grades correspond to the following numerical ranges, which are used in final degree recommendations.

Summa 3.93-4.00

Summa Minus 3.80-3.92

Magna Plus 3.67-3.79

Magna 3.60-3.66

Magna Minus 3.53-3.59

Cum Plus 3.46-3.52

Cum 3.40-3.45

Cum Minus 3.33-3.39

STUDY ABROAD

Harvard College 's renewed commitment to liberal education through international experience has led to increased University-wide support for students interested in study overseas. The English department, in concert with the Office of International Programs (OIP), encourages students to supplement their Harvard education with an international experience.

There are a number of options to consider when deciding if, when, and where to study overseas. The OIP is the best place to find resources to help students investigate the many opportunities for international study and advisers to help students focus their search ( http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~oip/ ). In addition to research assistance, the OIP will help students navigate the application and approval process, which will include consultation with the department on concentration credit and final approval by the College's Committee on Study Out-of-Residence. Note that the OIP has two deadlines for submitting applications: October 15 for spring study abroad and March 15 for summer, fall, or full academic year study abroad. Individual universities may have earlier deadlines, so please plan accordingly.

Note that credit from courses taken abroad may count toward concentration requirements but not toward the concentration GPA.

CORE EXEMPTIONS

The Core exemptions for English are as follows: Literature and Arts A; Literature and Arts C; and two of the following areas: Foreign Cultures; Historical Study A; Historical Study B; and Literature and Arts B. Historical Study A and Historical Study B may not both be taken as exemptions. For detailed information on the Core requirements, consult the FAS Handbook for Students, or see the Core Program web site: http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~core/ .

PASS/FAIL

Courses taken Pass/Fail may not be counted toward concentration credit, with the exception of one freshman seminar taught by department faculty and the junior and senior tutorials.

DOUBLE COUNTING

In some instances, concentrators may use one course to satisfy two requirements. One may, for example, take an English 90 course on medieval drama to fulfill both the English 90 and pre-1800 requirements simultaneously. Double counting will not reduce the total number of courses a concentrator needs to take: fourteen for honors concentrators, twelve for elective concentrators, ten for joint concentrators, and six for the secondary field. But double counting will allow more room for electives.

RELATED COURSES

A related course is one that contributes to a student's study of literature but is not offered through the English department. Elective concentrators may count one related course toward the twelve required for the concentration. Honors concentrators may not count related courses. Courses in fields such as history, literature, dramatic arts, folklore, religion, philosophy, fine arts, and foreign literature may count as related. See a departmental adviser if you have any questions about specific courses.

Advanced Placement (AP): The English department does not grant course credit for AP examinations, except in the case of Advanced Standing–eligible students who will graduate within three years. These students may petition the Director of Undergraduate Studies to have AP credit count as a related course.

Advanced Standing: Though it is possible, it is difficult to graduate in three years with an honors concentration in English. Please contact the undergraduate program office or the Freshman Dean's Office, or consult their pamphlet, Advanced Standing at Harvard College , with any questions regarding the Advanced Standing Program. Please note that the English department does not offer a terminal master's degree program for students who accept Advanced Standing and then decide to stay a fourth year.

SUMMER RESEARCH GRANTS

A comprehensive list of grants and fellowships available throughout the University is available online at http://www.seo.harvard.edu/resprog/index.html.

PART II: A YEAR-BY-YEAR GUIDE

THE FRESHMAN YEAR

Beginning with the class of 2010, students do not declare their concentrations until the end of the first term of their sophomore year. Freshman seminars offered by English department faculty are a good introduction to the field. They also count toward English concentration requirements. Interested freshmen are encouraged to visit the undergraduate program office and to meet with advisers to discuss the concentration.

For more information on freshman seminars, see the web site at http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~seminars/ .

In addition to freshman seminars, the departmental lecture courses, English 10a and 10b (which together survey English literature from the beginnings to the present) and English 17 (various topics on American literature) provide a strong foundation for further work in the department. Although these courses are not prerequisites for entry into the concentration, strongly committed students may wish to take them in their freshmen year.

THE SOPHOMORE YEAR

The required courses, 10a and 10b, Major British Writers, and English 17, American Literature, are usually taken in the sophomore year. Sophomore English concentrators must take one term of English 97, the sophomore seminar.

Sophomore Seminar (English 97)

Sophomore Seminars introduce concentrators to skills of close reading, library research, critical writing, and literary theory. There is no common reading list for sophomore seminars: each is designed by its individual instructor. Course descriptions and meeting times will be posted on the department's web site at http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~english/courses/sophseminars.html . There is a mandatory organizational meeting held each term for sophomores taking the seminar in that term. In preparation for this meeting, sophomores should review course descriptions (available in the undergraduate program office and online at the link above) and rank preferences.

Sophomore Close Reading Examination

At the end of the term in which they take the sophomore seminar, sophomores are required to take a two-and-a-half hour, Pass/Fail close reading examination. Two essays will be written, one on a passage of poetry, one on a passage of prose. Some preparation for the close reading examination will be given in the sophomore seminar and in practice sessions offered at the end of each term. Students who fail the examination may retake it. Joint concentrators opting out of English 97 may take the examination during either term of their sophomore year. Students who switch to English at the beginning of second term of sophomore year will be expected to take the spring examination.

Applying to the Honors Program

Applicants to the Honors Program must have a concentration GPA of 3.40 at the time of application. Applications are due at the end of the sophomore year. To apply, students must first attend an informational meeting on the Honors Program and then submit an application for a junior tutorial to the undergraduate program office. Applicants will be notified of their status in the summer.

THE JUNIOR YEAR

Elective Program

Juniors in the Elective Program continue to work toward completing program requirements. They are especially encouraged to take English 90 seminars.

Honors Program

In the junior tutorials, which are taught by advanced graduate students, small groups of students (no more than four) pursue directed study of a topic of keen interest to them and their peers. The writing requirements of the junior tutorial include twenty-five pages of critical writing, fifteen to twenty of which comprise the junior essay. Junior tutorials are given a letter grade.

Requirements of the tutorial include:

Library Session

Honors juniors attend an individual, hour-long library consultation with Laura Farwell Blake, Research Librarian at Widener Library, the goal of which is to deepen the student's knowledge of digital and print research resources available for the junior essay. Students may contact Ms. Farwell Blake directly at farwell@fas.harvard.edu or at 617-496-0108 to schedule an appointment. Students who do not complete the library requirement during their junior tutorial term will be dropped from the Honors Program.

Junior Essay

The purpose of the junior essay is to explore a literary topic in depth, to demonstrate independent critical judgment and analysis, and to engage other critical writing. The essay also serves as practice for the year-long research and writing of a senior thesis. Two copies of the junior essay should be submitted, one directly to the tutor and one to the undergraduate program office. The deadlines are firm. Late papers will not be accepted without prior permission of the Undergraduate Program Administrator or Director of Undergraduate Studies. Students who do not complete the junior essay requirement will be dropped from the Honors Program.

English 90 Seminars

English 90 seminars, open to all concentrators (with preference given to juniors and seniors if oversubscribed), encourage intensive work in a specialized topic. Honors concentrators are encouraged to take at least one English 90 seminar during the junior year. Non-thesis honors concentrators must take three English 90 seminars by the end of their senior year. These numbers are minimum requirements; students are encouraged to take more if they wish.

Senior Thesis Application Process

Honors juniors may apply to write either a creative or a critical thesis. Creative thesis applications (including those from out-of-phase students) are due to the undergraduate program office in early February. Critical thesis applications (except for students who are out-of-phase) are due in early April. Out-of-phase students interested in writing a critical thesis should see an adviser in the undergraduate program office.

Creative Thesis

Creative writing thesis proposal guidelines may be found on the department web site at http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~english/programs/c_w_thesis.htm . Ordinarily, students applying to write a creative writing thesis will have completed at least one course in creative writing at Harvard before they apply. Successful applicants usually have taken more than one creative writing course. It is strongly suggested that students acquaint themselves well ahead of time with the requirements and guidelines for the creative thesis application.

Any exceptions to these requirements must be approved by the creative writing director and faculty.

Students not accepted into the program will be notified in time to submit an application to write a critical thesis, if they so wish. Questions about the creative thesis process should be directed to Bret Johnston, Director of the Creative Writing Program, or to Inga Peterson, Undergraduate Program Administrator.

Critical Thesis

Juniors interested in writing a critical thesis must attend an informational thesis meeting. Topics covered at this meeting will include the decision to write a thesis, the assignment of a thesis supervisor, and the writing of a thesis proposal.

Thesis proposals should consist of the following:

• a completed proposal form and advising worksheet,
• a preliminary bibliography of primary and secondary sources (cited in proper form),
• a 300-500-word description of the project, including texts and authors to be studied, critical approaches, and specific issues to be explored.

Upon submission, thesis applications, concentration GPAs, and sophomore seminar and junior tutorial reports will be reviewed by the director of undergraduate studies and the undergraduate steering committee. Students accepted to write a thesis will be informed of the committee's decision over the summer.

Non-thesis Honors Option

Honors Program juniors who maintain a 3.40 concentration GPA, but who wish to take an additional two English 90 seminars instead of writing a thesis submit a non-thesis honors declaration form to the undergraduate program office in May. Please note that cum laude is the highest honors recommendation possible from the department for non-thesis honors concentrators.

THE SENIOR YEAR

Elective Program

Seniors in the Elective Program should continue to fulfill concentration requirements (twelve courses total), and are especially encouraged to take English 90 seminars. Please see a department adviser for questions regarding remaining requirements.

Honors Program

The Senior Tutorial (English 99)

The senior tutorial is devoted to the researching and writing of a recommended 12,000-15,000 word (20,000 maximum) thesis (excluding notes), in which students pursue in depth a topic of special interest. Note that theses longer than 15,000 words require prior approval from the undergraduate program office.

Writing a thesis is a serious commitment for both the thesis writer and the supervisor. Each term, the supervisor will assign a grade of SAT/UNSAT. If, at the conclusion of the first term, the thesis appears to the supervisor to be incapable of completion at an acceptable level of quality, the student may submit a written description of the project and research up to that point and receive credit for the first term.

The Senior Creative Writing Thesis

Senior creative writing theses most often take the form of a novel, a screenplay, a collection of poems or short stories, or a play. Unlike the critical thesis, the creative thesis tends to be refinement and extension of work begun in creative writing courses taken while a concentrator. The creative thesis application process takes place in February. Applicants should have taken at least one creative writing course before the spring term of their junior year.

The Senior Thesis Prospectus

A three-page prospectus describing the thesis project, to which a two-page, annotated bibliography must be added, is due in the undergraduate program office in the first week of October. The prospectus must be signed by the thesis writer and by the supervisor. The prospectus should define the topic of the thesis, specify the works to be studied, discuss the method of analysis to be used, and state why the project is worthwhile. The prospectus will be read and commented on by a member of the faculty.

The Senior Critical Thesis

The senior critical thesis explores a topic—ordinarily dealing with English and American texts (this may not be the case for joint concentrators)—which may be defined in a variety of ways: by author, work, genre, theme, theoretical issue, or historical period. The project must be of sufficient originality and interest to merit about ten months of research and writing and should demonstrate knowledge of the criticism written on the subject, from periodicals as well as books. Scrupulous citation of sources must be observed. The thesis should normally be divided into two or three essay-length chapters, with an introduction or a conclusion, and must include a bibliography.

Research for the thesis often begins at the end of the second term of junior year or during the summer. A thesis prospectus (for critical thesis writers only) is due to the undergraduate program office the first week in October in the senior year (see below). Critical thesis writers therefore are strongly encouraged, immediately upon returning to campus, to schedule regular meeting times with thesis supervisors. On the first Friday in December students must submit at least twenty pages of the thesis both to their supervisors and to the undergraduate program office. Failure to do so will result in being dropped from the senior tutorial. Thesis writers are strongly advised, however, to complete, by the end of the first term, a draft of the entire thesis, which may then be refined, in consultation with the supervisor, in the five weeks of the spring term leading up to the thesis deadline: Monday, March 10th. Because of the complex procedures necessary for grading theses and determining levels of honors, no exceptions to this deadline will be made.

Joint Concentration Senior Theses

It is crucial that joint concentrators coordinate their work with advisers in both departments as early as possible and as often as necessary. Early discussion before a student submits an application in May of the junior year, and again in the fall as the student prepares the prospectus, is crucial. Students having difficulty managing the diverse expectations of both departments should contact the undergraduate program office for assistance.

Evaluating the Thesis

Theses will be graded cum laude (“with praise”), magna cum laude (“with great praise”), and summa cum laude (“with highest praise”), with pluses and minuses (there is no summa plus). Two faculty members who are not the thesis adviser will read and comment on each thesis and give a grade. In the event that the two readers' marks differ by more than a whole step (e.g., a cum and a magna plus , or a magna minus and a summa ), a third reader will be asked to read and grade the thesis (but is not required to write comments). In either case, the final thesis grade will then consist of the average of all grades, with equal weight given to each.

Thesis comments and grades will be available in mid April: thesis writers will be notified by e-mail when all readings are in. Copies of summa - and magn a-level theses will be deposited in the university archives.

Oral Examinations

In order to qualify for a departmental degree recommendation of highest honors (see section on degree recommendations below), all eligible seniors must take a forty-five minute oral examination by two faculty members at the end of the final term. To be eligible a senior must have 1) a concentration GPA of 3.80 or higher and 2) an average of thesis readings in the summa range (please see the section on the concentration GPA for the range). The examination is optional. Eligible seniors who choose not to take the examination will be recommended by the department for high honors.

The examination is graded with the same Latin designations as the thesis and will be used by the faculty, in conjunction with the concentration GPA and thesis grades, to arrive at a final departmental degree recommendation.

To take the examination the students must submit, two weeks beforehand, a list of readings gleaned from the student's time as an English concentrator and the titles of all major course essays written in that time. (Sample lists are available in the undergraduate program office.)

Examinees will be expected to demonstrate knowledge of periods, authors, and genres, and to draw connections among them. The examiners will almost certainly not let it get bogged down in discussing all the works in any one area. Mock sessions with tutors, advisers, and classmates may be helpful.

Departmental Honors Recommendations and College Latin Honors

In May of each year the full department faculty meets to determine departmental honors, also referred to as “honors in field.” There are four categories: no honors, honors, high honors, and highest honors. A further purpose of this meeting is to provide recommendations to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, which decides the level of Latin honors ( cum laude , magna cum laude , and summa cum laude ) on the basis of the student's departmental recommendation and overall academic record.

Beginning with the class of 2005, the determination of Latin honors at the College level was limited to a percentage of the graduating class, roughly as follows: 4-5% summa cum laude , 15% magna cum laude , and 30% cum laude , such that the total of all three types of degrees represents slightly less than 50% of the graduating class. For the class of 2005, the following points for cumulative College GPA were established for awarding degrees cum laude and magna cum laude :

cum laude in field   3.414   

magna cum laude   3.657

NOTE: new cutoffs will be determined for each class. For students receiving a November or a March degree, the college applies the cutoffs established for the previous June degrees. For details on this process and the recent changes, see the FAQ page on the web site of the College Dean: http://www.college.harvard.edu/academics/resources/honors_faqs.html . Also see the FAS Handbook for Students . Questions should be directed to the registrar's office or to a student's Allston Burr Senior Tutor.

LOOKING AHEAD

Graduate Study in English

Notices received from graduate programs are posted on the bulletin boards in the Barker Center . Students considering applying to graduate school should consult with faculty advisers. Applications to graduate schools in English and related fields are typically due in early January of the senior year (for matriculation the following September). Fellowship applications are often due earlier. Application to graduate schools can be a lengthy process, one you should begin in October.

Letters of Recommendation

Before requesting a letter of recommendation from a faculty member, tutor, or adviser, please consult the guidelines found on the main page of the department web site: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~english/ .

Jobs, Internships, and Career Placement

The undergraduate program office will occasionally send by e-mail notices of internships or other opportunities that may be of interest to concentrators. Students should also check the bulletin board in the department office (between the front reception area and the faculty lounge), where announcements are posted for internships, jobs, or related study opportunities. The English department does not have a career placement function beyond these announcements, but its staff will be happy to help students find proper resources for their searches. For more information on fellowships, internships, and jobs, consult the Office of Career Services ( http://www.ocs.fas.harvard.edu/ ).