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Oral Examinations |
Office of the Dean of the College
Wellesley College
Green Hall, Room 345, ext. 3583
To:
Students in the Class of 2008 Enrolled in 370 Senior Thesis, Department Chairs, Directors of Interdepartmental Major Programs and Honors Advisors
From:
Adele Wolfson, Associate Dean of the College, for the Committee on Curriculum and Instruction
Subject:
Important Information on Completion of Honors Theses and Oral Examinations
Honors Thesis Deadline | Grading of the Honors Thesis | Honors Thesis Format | Sample Title Page | Thesis Binding | Honors Oral Examinations | Thesis Archive Policy | Financial Assistance | Library Policy for Thesis Students | Copyright Information |
The honors thesis must be completed by Tuesday, April 29, 2008. No extensions to this deadline will be granted. By 4:30 p.m. on that day, one copy of the thesis should be submitted to the Office of the Registrar; at least three (3) additional copies should be submitted to the honors director. (Each student should verify with her director the number of copies needed.) The copy given to the Registrar's Office is read by the honors visitor and is returned to the Office of the Registrar at the conclusion of the oral examination. Assuming honors in the major is conferred, the Registrar's copy of the thesis becomes the property of the College Archives.
The grade for the honors project appears on the student's permanent record and represents a judgment of the entire research project over two semesters. The honors advisor is free to withhold the grade for the first semester of senior thesis research if he or she wishes; in this case, the final grade is recorded for both semesters.
If the thesis work is judged of honors quality and the student passes the oral exam, she is awarded honors in her major field. Candidates may withdraw from the program without prejudice at any time throughout the year. Advisors may recommend to a student that she withdraw from honors at the end of the first semester or in the course of the second semester if it becomes clear that the student is not progressing with her project in a satisfactory manner. The work of a student whose withdrawal from the program is approved by the department and by the Committee on Curriculum and Instruction will be credited as 360: Senior Thesis Research for the first semester. The course will be credited as 360 for the second semester if sufficient work is done to justify the awarding of a second unit. If the thesis is completed but the thesis or honors exam is not of honors quality, the student will normally receive credit and appropriate grades for 360 and 370 work, but the permanent record will not carry a notation of honors in the major field.
There is no single, preferred stylistic format for the senior thesis. All archived copies of the thesis should, however, include a standard title page. See Sample Title Page. The candidate should consult her honors advisor about the acceptable forms for footnotes, bibliography, and other issues of form appropriate to the field. One often-consulted reference is Kate L. Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses and Dissertations.
The College does not demand that the thesis be bound, although departments may require their honors students to do so. Suggestions from the Copy Center regarding alternative binding methods, as well as thesis copy lead times are noted in Copy Center Tips.
Honors examinations are normally scheduled during reading period. This year the examination period will be Thursday, May 8 and Monday, May 12, 2008. The examination should be approximately one hour in length. The oral examination committee is composed of the honors advisor, the department chair/program director (or a designated representative), a third faculty member from the department/program, and a non-voting representative of the Committee on Curriculum and Instruction. The honors visitor is designated by the Committee on Curriculum and Instruction in cooperation with the honors advisor.
If revisions to the thesis are suggested or required at the conclusion of the oral examination, the student is responsible for submitting the corrected copy of the thesis to the Office of the Registrar prior to graduation.
A copy of each thesis awarded honors in the major field will be placed in the College Archives except for cases described below. A copy of the thesis also may be given to the department or interdepartmental program in which the honors project was conducted.
As stated in the Articles of Government, Book II, Article 4:
Occasionally a student may feel that distribution of her thesis will jeopardize the privacy or safety of the author or other individuals or groups. In such a case the author, in consultation with her advisor, should submit to the Committee on Curriculum and Instruction, no later than the end of the tenth week of the semester the thesis is due (April 11, 2008), a request for exception to the Archiving requirement. The Committee on Curriculum and Instruction will advise the student and her advisor, the College Archives and the student's department or program if an exception has been granted.
Limited funds are available to support student research with Wellesley College faculty members. Students who wish to apply for a research grant should submit an application form. There are both fall and spring deadlines for these awards. These forms are available in the Office of the Dean of the College or on the CWIS http://www.wellesley.edu/DeanCollege/stugrnt.html
Library Policy for Thesis Students
Extended borrowing privileges and study carrels are available at the Clapp, Art, Music and Science Libraries for thesis students. Please check with the Circulation Desk staff of each library for the procedures necessary to establish extended borrowing privileges and assignment of a study carrel.
The College's copyright policy and information regarding the guidelines and procedures for obtaining copyrights are available on the CWIS (http://www.wellesley.edu/Library/copyright_ToC.html).