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Bachelors EssaY FAQS All Honors students must complete a Bachelor’s Essay in order to graduate from the Honors College. The Bachelor’s Essay is a 6-credit hour independent project usually undertaken in the senior year that takes two semesters to complete, although exceptions can be made to both the year it is done in and the timeframe. The student works one on one with a Bachelor’s Essay advisor on a topic that the student, after careful consideration, has chosen to research in-depth. Most students do their Bachelor’s Essay in their major and will enroll in the XXXX 499 (i.e. SOCY 499) and follow the requirements for the Bachelor’s Essay of that department. There is a handout written by Honors College graduates in the Honors Center with helpful information about completing the Bachelor’s Essay. Below are some of the most commonly asked questions and answers about completing a Bachelor’s Essay.
How does a student decide what to do his/her Bachelor’s Essay on? By the end of the Junior year, the student should be well into the major requirements and have a good idea about areas of study that he/she would like to spend time researching and writing on in-depth. The Bachelor’s Essay could also be carrying out further research already undertaken in the Independent Study. Since the Bachelor’s Essay is going to be something the student will spend considerable time on the following two semesters, he or she should gather ideas and thoughts about the topic well before the start of the Senior year and approach a professor or an advisor to begin a dialogue about doing a Bachelor’s Essay with him/her the following year. Completing a Bachelor’s Essay is often one of the most important factors in gaining admission to graduate and professional schools and the culmination of one’s undergraduate experience, so the student should give a lot of thought to the topic before choosing it. How does a student go about finding someone to be their Bachelor’s Essay advisor? In the Junior year, the student should begin talking to professors whose classes they have enjoyed, as well as to their major advisor, about doing a Bachelor’s Essay the following year. That individual may agree to be the Bachelor’s Essay advisor, or may help clarify a good thesis for a Bachelor’s Essay and refer the student to someone better suited to work with him or her. It is imperative to begin this process early in the Junior year. If a student waits until the start of school in the Senior year, it may be too late to find someone to work with. Many professors can only work with a limited number of students on a Bachelor’s Essay each year, so talking with potential advisors in the Junior year is important to give the student time to find someone else to work with, if needed. Does the Bachelor’s Essay have to be done in the student’s major or minor? The Bachelor’s Essay does not have to be done in the major or minor, but the majority of students do so for several reasons: 1) this is the area of study they are interested in and one they may pursue in graduate school; 2) students can usually get credit in the major/minor for the Bachelor’s Essay; 3) doing the Bachelor’s Essay in the major helps the student complete the 12 credit hours of research/independent study needed to graduate with departmental honors; 4) it is unlikely that a faculty member in another department will work with a non-major. If the student is going to do a Bachelor’s Essay in a department other than the major or minor department, they should talk with the Dean of the Honors College about enrolling them in an Honors Bachelor’s Essay. Below is information on doing this. What is the difference between an Honors Bachelor’s Essay and one that is done in a department? Does either one fulfill the Honors College Bachelor’s Essay requirement? The HONS 499 is an option for students who are doing Bachelor’s Essays on topics not in their major or minor or with an off-campus person, and no department will enroll the student in the Bachelor’s Essay. If this is the case, the student should make an appointment with Dr. Newell to discuss enrolling in an Honors Bachelor’s Essay. The student should have a well thought out idea and an outline of the proposed Bachelor’s Essay topic before meeting with Dr. Newell. Dr. Newell will not act as the Bachelor’s Essay advisor, but will enroll the student in HONS 499 and submit the student’s grade as reported to him by the Bachelor’s Essay advisor the student is working with. Either a Bachelor’s Essay done in one’s major or minor, or one done in Honors, fulfills the Honors College requirement to complete a Bachelor’s Essay. Can I do my Bachelor’s Essay with an off campus advisor? Yes, many students work with people at MUSC or with other professionals who are not College of Charleston faculty members. The student should keep in mind, however, that someone from the College of Charleston must enroll him or her in the Bachelor’s Essay and submit the grade, because an off-campus person cannot do either of these. The involvement of the CofC person can be minimal and limited to enrolling the student and submitting the grade to the Registrar, but there must be of a CofC person willing to do this. If an academic department will not enroll a student working with a non-College of Charleston faculty member, the student can ask Dr. Newell to be enrolled in an Honors Bachelor’s Essay -- HONS 499 -- as described above. How does one enroll in the Bachelor’s Essay? There is a form to enroll in any type of independent study called Application for Individual Enrollment. The forms are available in the Honors Center and online on the Registrar’s webpage. The student fills out the form which includes a description of the project. The amount of detail required for the proposal varies from one department to another, so the requirements of the specific department should be followed. The form is then signed by the student, the faculty member or advisor, and the department chair. In the case of an HONS 499, Dr. Newell signs the form. The form is then taken to the Registrar’s Office where a section is created for the Bachelor’s Essay and the student is enrolled in it. The student should keep a copy of this form for him/herself and give one to the Honors Center. The Bachelor’s Essay is usually a year-long project. Are all six credit hours enrolled at one time? Students generally enroll in three hours the first semester and three hours the second semester, but only need to submit the paperwork one time. At the beginning of the second semester, the student should e-mail the Registrar at registrar@cofc.edu to ask to be re-enrolled for the second three hours. The student should confirm on Cougar Trail that they are enrolled for the second semester and that the grade of IP (In Progress) has been assigned to the first half. Some departments will assign a grade for the first half of the Bachelor’s Essay but most will give an IP. Can a Bachelor’s Essay be completed in one semester … over the summer? If the department permits the student to do so, it is possible to complete a Bachelor’s Essay in one semester. This is the exception rather than the rule, as it involves a large time commitment to research and write a six credit Bachelor’s Essay in just one semester. The student would have to find an advisor who would be willing to work with him/her intensely and the department chair would have to sign off on it. There are some departments that will not allow a Bachelor’s Essay to be done in one semester. A Bachelor’s Essay could be started and/or completed during the summer, but the student must be enrolled in it and pay tuition to receive the credit hours. A Bachelor’s Essay can also be started in the Spring of the year and completed in the Fall of the following year. How is a Bachelor’s Essay graded? Will it count towards credit hours needed for scholarships? The grade “IP” (In Progress) is the correct grade to be given at the conclusion of the first half of the Bachelor’s Essay. Upon completion of the Bachelor’s Essay, the grade given will be for all six hours and will replace the IP. The IP grade counts as hours towards scholarship fulfillment between fall and spring semesters, but does NOT count between spring and fall. A grade of “I” (Incomplete) should not be given for the first half of the Bachelor’s Essay, as an “I” will automatically turn into an “F” after 60 days, while an “IP” will not. Some departments and/or professors, however, do give one grade for the first half of the Bachelor’s Essay and a separate grade for the second half. Can a Senior or Capstone Seminar count as a part of the Bachelor’s Essay? Honors students whose major require a Senior or Capstone Seminar are required to do a six credit hour Bachelor’s Essay independent of either their major’s Senior or Capstone Seminar to graduate from the Honors College. If the student requests it and approval is granted, some departments will allow the student who is completing a Bachelor’s Essay for the Honors College not to take the Senior or Capstone Seminar. Students should check with their advisor about the department policy about this. Students who do both the Senior Seminar and a Bachelor’s Essay for the Honors College will only need three more credit hours to be eligible for departmental honors so it is a recommended that they take the opportunity to earn the three credit hours from a Senior or Capstone Seminar to qualify for this honor. How long should my Bachelor’s Essay be? The length of a Bachelor’s Essay will depend on what type of Bachelor’s Essay the student is doing, what department he or she is doing it in, and that department’s requirements. Each department has specific rules about the length of a Bachelor’s Essay. Lengths range from “as long as you need” (this usually applies to the Sciences) to 40-60 pages or more in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Some Bachelor’s Essays in the arts culminate in a senior performance or show. What do students majoring in Theatre, Vocal Performance, Studio Art, etc. do for their Bachelor’s Essays? In the case of visual or performing arts, theatre or creative writing, the final product may be a creative work in that discipline such as a senior show of the student’s artwork, writing/directing/producing a play, or a body of creative writing. The crucial element is that it is done independently with an advisor and that it is a total of 6 credit hours. When must a Bachelor’s Essay be turned in by? The Bachelor’s Essay must be turned in to the advisor with sufficient time to be read, graded, and have the grade turned in to the Registrar’s Office prior to graduation. Individual departments and professors set different deadlines for turning in the completed Bachelor’s Essay, so the student should check with the Bachelor’s Essay advisor. If a student wishes to submit his or her Bachelor’s Essay for the Phi Kappa Phi competition for the top Bachelor’s Essay of that year, they should turn a copy into the chair of the Phi Kappa Phi competition committee by the last day of class. This competition is open to any senior, whether a member of Phi Kappa Phi or not, and to all majors. The winner will be recognized during the awards ceremony for his/her school and awarded a certificate and $100. How many copies of my Bachelor’s Essay are required? The student should either make four or five copies and turn two of them into the Honors Center. One of those two will be given to the College library where it will be cataloged and shelved in Special Collections. The other one will be kept on the bookshelf upstairs in the Honors Center. The third copy is for the student and the fourth is for the advisor. Some departments may also want to keep a copy, so a fifth copy may be necessary. Do all Bachelor’s Essays require a second reader? Must the student present the research? All departments require a second reader and some may require a third reader or a committee of readers. Some require that the student present his/her research to the department faculty or a subcommittee of that faculty. These and all other requirements are determined by departmental policy about Bachelor’s Essays, not by the Honors College. The student should check with the department to find out what they require. Bachelor’s Essays done in HONS do require a second reader and may require a presentation. If a student is pursuing teacher certification and will be student teaching the last semester of the senior year, when will he/she do a Bachelor’s Essay? Education students who are student teaching cannot enroll in any other coursework that semester according to a School of Education regulation. Therefore, Education majors completing a Bachelor’s Essay must finish it before they begin student teaching. They should talk to their advisor about doing a Bachelor’s Essay either in the Junior year, in the second semester of the Junior year and first semester of the Senior year, or doing it all the first semester of the Senior year. The Honors College counts student teaching as the Independent Study, provided that the student keeps a journal of the student teaching experience and does some related readings. Students should check with their departments to find out if their Bachelor’s Essay credits will count as credit towards the major or the minor. The deadline to sign up for Bachelor’s Essay is approximately one month after the start of the semester. That is the enrollment deadline only and NOT the deadline to begin planning the Bachelor’s Essay which should be done the semester before the work is to begin. |