The Honors Program for English Majors
The English Honors program is offered by the Department of English and is designed for outstanding English majors. In their senior year, qualified students write a senior thesis under the supervision of a Senior Thesis Committee.
Benefits of participating in the Honors Program in English include individual mentoring by exceptional faculty and useful practice in undertaking extended work in the area of English, American, African American literatures, and world literatures; creative writing; linguistics; or rhetoric. Writing the thesis gives students the chance to work one-on-one with outstanding research faculty in all fields of English study. Our honors students thus gain valuable writing and critical experience, personalized writing instruction, and the opportunity to acquire especially strong letters of recommendation from committee members. Students completing the program are recognized at the English Department Awards Reception, receive a certificate at the spring UAB Honors Convocation, and will graduate from UAB "With Honors in English" at their UAB commencement, an accomplishment that enhances any résumé.
Eligibility
To be eligible for the Honors Program in English, a student must be enrolled full-time as a UAB English major, have earned a 3.5 GPA in English courses taken and a 3.0 GPA overall, and have completed at least EH 101 and EH 102 and 9 hours of EH 200-level literature survey courses.
Requirements
Qualified students electing to enter and complete the Honors Program in English must do the following:
- Successfully complete EH 301.
- Submit a completed English Honors Program application form to the Director of Undergraduate Studies for approval. Students must secure permission of the Director of Undergraduate Studies in order to enter the English Honors Program.
- Select a member of the English graduate faculty to serve as faculty mentor and one other member of the English graduate faculty to serve with that mentor and the Director of Undergraduate Studies on the Senior Thesis Committee. Fill out a Senior Thesis Committee Form and give it to the Director of Undergraduate Studies for approval. Obtain a copy of the Honors Thesis Guidelines.
- Write a thesis proposal and have it approved by the Senior Thesis Committee. Once approved, a copy of the proposal should be filed with the Director of Undergraduate Studies.
- Enroll non-concurrently for two courses (6 hours) of EH 497: Individual Studies for the purpose of writing the thesis under faculty guidance. Students usually do this in their senior year.
- Obtain approval of the completed thesis from all members of the Senior Thesis Committee.
- Complete a final, one-hour public defense of the thesis.
Program descriptions are available from the English Information Center, located on the wall to the left of Humanities Building room 215A.
top