Honors

理想情况下，学生应该在皇冠体育大学第三年春季学期开始考虑一篇荣誉论文, 当德语系的系主任向三年级学生伸出手，看谁有兴趣在四年级写一篇荣誉论文时. 一般来说，学生需要两个学期来计划和完成一篇荣誉论文. Optimally, students develop a summer reading list for thesis research, 所以这个项目在大四开始的时候已经有了一些势头.

The Primary Advisor and Second Reader (the Committee)

Every honors project has a primary advisor and a second reader. 主要的论文指导老师在一年中经常与你会面，讨论论文的进展和发展, and to help students resolve issues of research, methodology, focus, content, and form. 她/他定期阅读和评论草稿，并为草稿和修改指定最后期限.

The second reader may give expert guidance, including on areas not strongly represented by the department if, in rare circumstances, the second reader comes from another discipline. 第二阅读者将在最终提交之前阅读完整的论文草稿. 她/他将在年中和春季研讨会上提供大量反馈，并且可能会或可能不会在全年中阅读和回应个别章节的草稿. On a regular basis, 第二个读者能够根据论文主任制定的时间表和反馈意见对项目的方向提供输入.

主要论文指导老师必须是德国系的成员. 第二个读者通常也是德语系的一员，但也可能是皇冠体育的一员, whose field of expertise is relevant to your project. On occasion, the second reader may bring an area of expertise, 例如，在纪律和方法上，与你的主要顾问相当. The second reader will be identified and approached by the advisor, after consultation with you; this happens early in the fall semester and a consultation schedule may be established that exceeds the deadlines spelled out in the timeline.

Evaluating the Thesis

这篇论文代表了相当数量和质量的学术工作. 它大大超过了学生在课程中所知道的“研究或研讨会论文”，并且更加全面, sustained and polished in scope, argument, research, and execution than an A grade seminar paper. An honors thesis provides a thoughtful answer to a question that is worth asking; a literature review about a particular topic is not sufficient. 通过持续和长期的学术研究和反思，应该对问题有一个清晰的表述, leading to a conclusion supported by evidence, while considering relevant research in the field.

While an honors thesis is usually between 50 and 75 pages long, its length should not be an important criterion, 只要这篇论文能简洁而明智地表达出支持该项目的主要论点所需要的一切.

论文将由两名德国教师进行“盲评”，而不是导师. In other words, 主要论文指导老师不会决定你的论文是否被授予荣誉, or what degree of honors. That said, 论文导师的指导是必不可少的:为学生奠定了成功论文的基础, and to the department, as the advisor provides “objective” information about the process, i.e. 项目是如何开始的，它的各种曲折，障碍，或者可能是更新. the project’s relationship to current scholarship.

一个成功的年终讨论会是荣誉过程的重要组成部分, confirming that the honors candidate “owns” the material, argumentation, 结果涵盖并能够在半公开的环境中交流和讨论这些方面. However, 而一个出色的表现可以提高任何方面的书面论文, it cannot compensate for shortcomings, and the colloquium performance cannot upgrade the level of honors. 

德语系授予三个等级的荣誉:荣誉、高级荣誉和最高荣誉. 

Honors

一篇获得荣誉的论文必须有清晰的论点，清晰的写作和良好的证据. 这是对所提出的主题的恰当回应，其作者做了大量的研究, but the approach may be not entirely clear or original. The argument may be clear and the thesis properly limited, 并尝试将该项目与有关该主题的现有文献联系起来. The prose is generally good but not distinguished.

获得荣誉学位的论文与高级荣誉学位论文的不同之处在于所解决问题的难度, the amount of work shown by the student, the clarity of the presentation, and the soundness of the conclusions reached.

High Honors

一篇优秀的论文表现出清晰的论点，清晰的写作和良好的证据. It need not be an original contribution to knowledge, but it should show sound judgment, a substantial amount of work, clarity of thought and presentation, and some creativity. 该论点在其最初的概念中是原创的，并且由二手文献提供了充分的信息, but may not be fully developed. 作者表明她或他对一个问题进行了仔细的思考，并清晰而有说服力地提出了这些想法. The prose is good, with perhaps a lapse here and there. There is a methodology, but it is not always consistently applied.

一篇获得高荣誉的论文可能在问题的选择上很弱, its manner of presentation, its method of analysis, or in its interpretations and conclusions. 高荣誉论文的弱点可能是在这些领域中的一个，但不是在许多领域.

Highest Honors

获得最高荣誉的论文在各方面都很优秀，并且证明学生能够在德语文学和文化研究方面进行原创和创造性的工作. 这是一种原创的方法，也是对知识的原创贡献, and it is well-situated in relationship to the secondary literature. 对知识的原创性贡献可以探索“新”或“未被充分研究”的问题.“它也可能源于对一个熟悉的问题进行新颖而敏锐的重新审视，从而发现现有研究中的空白。. The central argument of the work is clearly stated, 论文在不偏离轨道的情况下解决了任何细微差别和复杂性. The thesis is well organized, 精心设计的过渡引导读者从一个想法到下一个想法, while advancing the overall argument. 作者对相关的一手资料和第二手资料都掌握得很好, and the conclusions drawn are persuasive. The prose is elegant, sophisticated, polished and convincing. The interest of the reader is engaged by the ideas and presentation, 她或他应该得出结论，她或他知道一些皇冠体育这个问题的新知识, having read the thesis.