Senior Special Projects and
Senior Honors Theses

Senior Special Project (AMER 198) is a semester-long senior seminar for one credit which will result in a capstone project or paper integrating the student's interdisciplinary cluster. If written as a research paper, it will be a minimum of 35 pages, although other media are acceptable for part of the 35 pages, e.g., a film, play, artwork, photography, musical production. (See the most recent course offerings booklet for more details). Two elective one-credit courses (course content to integrate course work of the interdisciplinary cluster and two-thirds focused on the United States or the Americas) would complete the 10 required courses for the American Studies major.

Senior Honors Thesis (AMER 0199) may be substituted for the Senior Special Project (AMER 0198). It is a year-long course with at least two credits. This course represents an extraordinary amount of work and should be well thought out. If a student selects this option for the senior thesis, one elective one-credit course (course content to integrate course work of the interdisciplinary cluster and two-thirds focused on the United States or the Americas) would complete the 10 required courses for the American Studies major.

* For HT students, your progress will be assessed in early December by your primary reader, AMER 198/199 instructor, and AMER Program Director. Failure to complete AMER 198/199 assignments and make adequate progress on research and preliminary writing will result in your HT becoming an SSP.

Note: The Honors Thesis differs from the Senior Special Project in the following ways:

A student must have been on the Dean's List once in order to take the Honors Thesis course and must register with the Dean's Office in Dowling Hall, preferably in the spring of the junior year. (See the Bulletin of Tufts University.)

The Honors Thesis covers two semesters and most often earns 2 credits. (Both the SSP and HT are variable credit courses, ranging from 0.0 - 3.0 credits, depending on the breadth and quality of work submitted.)

The student must find three readers instead of two to mentor him/her. One of the three has to be the chair of his/her committee and must be affiliated with the American Studies Program.

The subject and scope of the Honors Thesis, agreed upon in advance by the student and his/her advisers, are substantially greater than those of the SSP . For example, if the Honors Thesis is in the form of a research paper, the length of the thesis is a minimum of 75 pages, instead of 35 pages for the SSP .

Earned honors will appear on the student's transcript.