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Requirements for Departmental Honors Degree in Philosophy

Earning an Honors Degree in Philosophy involves meeting all the ordinary requirements for the Major in Philosophy plus four further requirements. The four further requirements are as follows:

1. Satisfactory completion of all requirements for an Honors Certificate. For information on satisfying this requirement, you should deal directly with the people at the Honors Program.

2. Satisfactory completion of two graduate level philosophy courses. This requirement arises in that one of the primary aims of the Honors track is to promote the kind of research skills typically developed at the graduate level. Completion of any graduate level philosophy course counts as satisfactory if you earn a grade of B or better. For help in picking suitable graduate courses to complete this requirement, you should consult with the Departmental Honors Advisor.

   You will need instructor permission to register for any graduate level course. Bear in mind that, in typical cases, you will have better luck getting permission if you have already taken an undergraduate course with the instructor in question — and done very well.

   Since completion of any graduate level course counts towards the Advanced Course Requirement for the Major (see the ordinary requirements for a Major in Philosophy, the second requirement), this requirement for the Honors Track — namely, satisfactory completion of two graduate level courses — need not involve taking any additional courses over and above the amount needed for the ordinary Major.

3. Satisfactory completion of an Honors Thesis. Completing the thesis will require you to do each of the following:

   1. The very first step is to contact the Honors office to schedule a pre-thesis interview. There is various information you'll need at the outset — information provided in this interview.

   2. Find a faculty member in the Department of Philosophy who is willing to serve as your Thesis Supervisor. Finding a supervisor is your responsibility, not the responsibility of the Department of Philosophy, nor the Honors Program. Here are some rules of thumb that may help you find a Thesis Supervisor:

      • Typically, this faculty member will be someone whose research overlaps your proposed Thesis topic.

      • Typically, this faculty member will be someone with whom you have already established rapport — perhaps you have earned a top grade in a course with this professor, or served as her/his research assistant, or some such. The point is that the faculty member needs some basis for judging you an appropriate student for whom to serve as a mentor.

      • Build relationships with your professors:  introduce yourself; be a regular participant in class; use office hours; and so on. These relationships will serve you not merely in finding a Thesis Supervisor, but in getting strong letters of recommendation when applying to grad school.

   3. Register for Phil 4999 (3 units of "Honors Thesis Project") in the semester in which you are completing your Thesis. When the time comes, you will need to get the code used to register for these units from the department.

   4. Complete your manuscript — at a satisfactory level of quality. This will be a substantial research paper. You should think of the workload as comparable to a rigorous, upper-division course. And you should think of the resulting paper as needing to be a significantly higher quality product than an excellent term paper. A three member committee (consisting of your Thesis Supervisor, the Departmental Honors Advisor, and the Department Chair) will judge whether your paper is of satisfactory quality.

   5. Though standards of quality are determined by the three member departmental committee (as noted in c above), the Honors Program imposes various additional requirements relating to formatting, deadlines, and the like. So be sure to consult with them in conjunction with your work on the manuscript.

4. An overall GPA of at least 3.5. This applies to all coursework.

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As you can see, earning an Honors Degree involves significantly more work than for a regular degree. Why then bother? There are numerous benefits, including (among others):

• Developing advanced research skills.

• Improving your writing skills.

• Becoming an expert in a philosophical topic.

• Achieving a more complete educational experience.

• Enhancing your ability to be accepted in a top graduate program: Admissions committees recognize the above virtues. Furthermore, you will be in a better position to get strong letters of recommendation. And you will have a polished writing sample ready to submit.

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Contact the Departmental Honors Advisor

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