American Studies

Undergraduate Honors Thesis

Breadcrumb

Undergraduate Honors Thesis

The 2023-24 Honors Director for both AMST and ETHN concentrators is Professor Elena Shih. After reviewing the information available here, you should email her at Elena_Shih@brown.edu with any questions about the honors process.

Admission to Honors candidacy in American Studies or Ethnic Studies requires:

  1. An academic record providing evidence of the student's ability to do Honors work.
    • At least half of the student's grades in courses counted toward the concentration in ASK must be grades of A or "S with Distinction". (Note that grades of S_DIST are not visible on the academic transcript. If needed, the Honors Director may ask the Registrar which grades of S were filed as S_DIST.)
    • The student must submit a Faculty Recommendation Form attesting to their ability to do Honors work. This form should be given to a faculty member with whom the student has taken a class in which a major paper was required. (The faculty recommender might also be the proposed thesis advisor, but doesn't have to be.)
    • Note: these requirements were updated in Spring 2024. Students graduating in Fall 2024 or Spring 2025 should contact the Honors Director if they prefer to go by the previous requirements (i.e., two recommendation forms for American Studies; a grade requirement without a recommendation form for Ethnic Studies).
  2. A completed Honors Application Form for either American Studies or Ethnic Studies, which must be signed by both the prospective honors candidate and the Brown faculty member who has agreed to be their Thesis Advisor.
  3. A five page Thesis Prospectus, plus primary and secondary bibliographies.

All proposal materials are due to the current departmental Honors Director late in the 6th semester (when developed in the Honors Seminar) or early in the 7th semester, following the current Honors Schedule.

Form of the Thesis

  • When written as formal research papers, honors theses are generally between 50-100 pages. When there is a creative or public component, students should work closely with their faculty team to determine the appropriate length of the written accompaniment.
  • All theses must have a bibliography of primary and secondary works and documents consulted.
  • All end/footnotes, chapter headings, tables of contents, bibliographies, etc. must be in accepted form. See Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations or the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. We don't care what form you use, as long as you are consistent.
  • The bound and signed copy submitted to the American Studies Department will be available there for one year and then sent to the Hay Library.
  • Students will make a public presentation of their honors work to the department faculty during the first week of May for May graduates and mid December for December graduates.

Sample Honors Thesis Cover Page