Eligibility: 

Any member of the University Honors Program may do a senior thesis. Additionally, any student with a GPA above 3.6 in their Languages, Literatures and Cultures major with a concentration in German and 3.5 overall may earn departmental distinction by completing a senior thesis.

 

Credits: 

Students may choose to sign up for credits (GERM 3998) or not, depending on their course load.  It is recommended that the student sign up for at least one credit at some point during the senior year so that the work receives proper recognition on the permanent transcript.

 

Student Learning Outcomes:

This project requires students to identify, understand, analyze, and critically apply knowledge gained from various sources to a new project.

Students will demonstrate 

  • their understanding of core concepts in German Studies, 
  • advanced levels of linguistic and intercultural competence, as well as 
  • critical and analytical thinking.

 

Project Advisor and Committee:

Students should work with the German advisor to ask the appropriate full-time faculty member to serve as their thesis advisor. The work will be evaluated by a committee of all full-time German faculty, including the advisor. 

 

Project Topic, Length, Expectations: 

Topics may have to do with literature, culture, civilization or language and, with the approval of the faculty advisor, may combine interests from another major such as International Studies, as long as the topic is focused German Studies.  The thesis should be 20-25 pages long and must be written in German.
 

The thesis is different from a regular course paper primarily in that the topic should be an original formulation on the part of the student and engage the student with critical perspectives in the chosen field.   A thesis is also expected to go through several drafts — it is not simply submitted to a professor once for a grade.

 

Timeline, Feedback, Deadlines:

- Spring quarter of the junior year:

Students should select an area of interest and work with the German advisor to ask the appropriate full-time faculty member to serve as their thesis advisor.  

 

- Fall quarter of the senior year:

Working with one of the German professors, students should refine their topic and submit a 1-page written proposal for their project (in English or German) to the committee by the end of week 5, and an annotated bibliography of the main resources by the end of the quarter. Students are expected/encouraged to continue their work during winter interterm.

 

- Winter quarter: 

Students email weekly reports (1-2 pages) on their research and writing progress to all committee members and submit a draft of at least 10-12 pages and a detailed outline of the entire project to all committee members at the end of the quarter. Students will receive written comments and suggestions for revision from each committee member by the beginning of the spring quarter.

 

- Spring quarter

Students will submit a draft of the paper by May 1 and receive comments from the committee by May 8. A final draft of the project will be submitted to all committee members by May 20. The student will present their findings to the committee before the end of the quarter.

 

The committee reserves the right to terminate the thesis project at any time if a student does not adhere to these guidelines.