QC LogoLogo
Department Home
Faculty & Staff
Degree Programs
Advisement
Course Listings
Scholarships & Awards
Klapper Hall
English Major
English Minor
Honors Program
Composition Program
MA Program
MFA Program
Courses for Non-Majors
Writing-Intensive Courses
Freshman Year Initiative
Women's Studies
American Studies

Honors Program in English

New: The Queens College English Honors Program has a new website for this year's Department Honors seminar:

The Honors Program, administered by the Faculty Committee on Honors in English, offers a highly advantageous academic experience for qualified English majors. During the senior year, the graduating cohort of Honors students works together intensively for two consecutive semesters--discussing literature, studying for exams, organizing a student conference, and preparing, where appropriate, applications for graduate programs in English and in other disciplines.. At the same time, each member of the cohort develops an independent research project in a series of individual sessions with the seminar instructor. The program features complementary social events as well, such as the annual party for Honors graduates, to which all members of the Honors program are invited.

After completion of the program requirements, Honors students graduate with Honor, High Honors, or Highest Honors, an accomplishment (marked on student transcripts) that is a decided asset in any future endeavor.

Eligibility

Eligible majors must have at least a 3.3 GPA (general), and a 3.3 GPA in  English courses as well. Students may sign up any time after enrolling as English majors.

Requirements

  1. Two-semester (six-credit) seminar during the senior year.

Note: Students MUST sign up for the first (fall) half of the Honors seminar during the spring semester of their junior year. No one will be admitted to the second (spring) half of the Honors seminar that has not completed the work of the preceding semester. There will be two sections of the seminar each semester, one in the day time and one in the evening.

Fall semester:

Full-class work: Analysis of several fictional and non-fictional works (of any genre) focusing on a common theme--for example, “Dislocating Identities,”  “Dreams and Dreaming”--together with a selection of short theoretical essays. Some of the texts for the fall semester are announced in the preceding spring. (Topics, texts and instructors change each year, but prospective syllabi are reviewed by the Chair of the Faculty Honors Committee, in consultation with Committee members).

Guest faculty: On several occasions, faculty with special expertise in the works under study will participate in seminar discussions.

Conferences and independent projects: In a series of individual conferences with the seminar instructor, each student will develop an   independent research project related to the theme of the seminar. The topics of student projects are subject to the approval of the instructor.

Class blog: Much of the work of the seminar is posted on a class blog which allows for ongoing interaction between the instructor and students, and among students themselves.

Spring semester:

Full-class work: Study groups for Part I of the Honors Exam, organized and conducted by students in both sections working together. Preparations include class discussions and electronic communications.

Completion of independent research paper, five-to-six thousand words (due early in the semester).

Academic conference (early May): The culminating event of the Honors seminar, based on student research projects. Designed, organized and presented by the graduating cohort to an audience of faculty, students, family and friends.

  1. Honors Exam (mid-March)

A two-part exam: in Part I, students comment on nine (of eighteen) quotations from major British and American literary works; in Part II, students provide a detailed analysis of two or three poems with a common theme.

Grading and Graduation Status

Honors students graduate with Honors, High Honors, or Highest Honors.

Graduation status depends on four criteria: final GPA; final GPA in English; performance on independent research paper; performance on Honors exam. Two members of the Faculty Committee on Honors grade the essay; four additional members (two for each section) grade the exam. Grading is done anonymously (essays and exams are identified by social security number rather than by name). All six faculty graders vote on each student’s graduation status.

Program Registration

Registration forms for the program are available in the English Office, and should be submitted to Professor Zimmerman, Chair of the Faculty Committee on Honors (Klapper 636).  Registered participants, including faculty, communicate via the Honors electronic listserve. 

 

Sample Honors Seminar Syllabi

 

Honors Class Website