Honors Program Policies
The following document specifies policy and expectations for various aspects of student work in the program. Please read this carefully, as you will be required to meet the standards, as explained and elaborated by the faculty for your courses.
1) TEAM Approach
Principle: to write and present verbally at honors level; to persuade an audience to support a claim, through marshalling of evidence which is linked to claim by a clear argument
All papers should incorporate the TEAM approach:
1. Thesis: Should be focused, interesting, and debatable.
2. Evidence: Should be relevant
, admissible, and evaluated.3. Argument: Should be logical, cogent, and persuasive.
4. Mechanics: Should meet standards of vocabulary and grammar; structure and flow, style and presentation. Note: instructors may use variant terminologies, e.g: claim for thesis; or reasoning for argument.
2) Fourth Credit
Principle: To enhance student learning through specific and graded activities outside of class and to explore further issues related to course material.
1.The specific activities required for a course will be determined
solely by the professors of the course
2. These activities may be designed for individuals and/or groups.
3. These activities should reflect the equivalent of the additional 4th credit hour.
4. Examples of appropriate activities include, but are not limited to:
Attendance, participation, and/or organization of campus activities;
Creative projects;
Debate Preparation;
Field trips;
Group meetings;
Online discussions
3) Academic Honesty
Principle: To respect principles of academic honesty in all work, especially written work; to avoid all forms of plagiarism.
Note: The new university policy on Academic Dishonesty is available at http://www.ccsu.edu/MisconductPolicy.htm and supplements the program guidelines provided below, taking precedence over these guidelines where any differences may exist. The university document defines academic misconduct as including, but "…not limited to providing or receiving assistance in a manner not authorized by the instructor in the creation of work to be submitted for academic evaluation including papers, projects and examinations (cheating); and presenting, as one's own, the ideas or words of another person or persons for academic evaluation without proper acknowledgement (plagiarism)." Students must consult the above on-line document and be familiar with its content. The guidelines below, subordinate to the university policy, are indicative of what we expect in the Honors Program at all times:
1. All written work individually handed in must be original, that is to say: your own thoughts and words, with any ideas or text from another source clearly indicated and referenced. Failure to do so constitutes plagiarism a) All quotes must be in quotation marks with footnote or in-text reference, including page numbers. b) Sources used for ideas must be referenced at the end of appropriate sentences or paragraphs.
2. Paraphrasing without attribution is plagiarism, as is copying of discontinuous sentences.
3. Documents found on the web must be cited by source URL and date accessed; students must download a hard copy of the text for consultation by the instructor if requested.
4. Take home exams must be original; unless specified by the instructor, no collaboration is allowed for take homes.
5. Group captains must note all absences from the group; they may not "excuse" fellow students.
6. On-line or other "paper-mills" that provide papers for free or for a fee may not be used in any circumstances or for any purposes, including citation or referencing.
7. Students found guilty of plagiarism may receive an F for the work and/or course, as well as probation or dismissal from the Honors Program.
4) Timeliness and Incompletes
Principle: To complete all work in a timely manner so as to not build up overloads and carry work over to the next term.
1. Papers and take homes must be completed on time. Budget for this: recall that Honors courses will be reading, writing and speaking intensive.
2. Incompletes in a course will be allowed only for major medical reasons or major personal crises.
3. In both cases, documentation from appropriate health care professionals is required.
4. Incompletes must be completed by the mid point of the succeeding session.
5. Incompletes may prevent the distribution of scholarships.
5) Scholarships
Principle: To reward honors level work and reduce part time work
1. A half scholarship, covering half of in-state tuition and student fees
, may be offered to students entering the program, up to the maximum total amount provided by the university, after which students are admitted without a scholarship. These latter students will be placed on scholarship once funds permit, so long as the student meets the grade point standards below.2. The Half scholarship may be maintained in succeeding years by jointly satisfying the following criteria:
(a) at least a 3.2 GPA in all honors courses and
(b) at least a 3.2 GPA overall. (3.2 corresponds to a B/B+ average)
3. Full scholarship may be awarded at the end of a given year for the following year once a student has achieved:
(a) at least a cumulative 3.5 GPA in all honors courses and
(b) at least a 3.5 GPA overall. (3.5 corresponds to a B+/A- average)
4. Probation for students no longer satisfying criteria for maintaining their existing scholarship level, but judged able to return to that level by the program director, may be permitted up to one year probation, followed by downgrade where grades are insufficient.
5. Modifications of scholarship status are not made after the fall term, except in cases of students recruited without a scholarship who maintain the required GPA and for whom funds become available.
6) Debates and Oral Presentations
Principle: To develop students' ability to express their ideas orally, as well as in writing.
1. All classes should have debates or other oral presentation component; where allowed by the instructor, a web-site may be used in place of this component.
2. Classes will be divided into groups for preparation and presentation of debates.
3. There will be no free riders: all members of the group must participate in preparation and presentation.
4. Debates will always be issue and policy oriented; personal attacks are not allowed.
5. Part of the debate grade will be for group work, part for individual contribution, as determined by the instructors.
7) Theses
Principle: To produce a focused study of an area of academic interest related to any topic in the program and/or major; serves as capstone to the program and is produced by students in their third year in the program.
1. The thesis preparation course (Hon 440) includes preparation and presentation of a thesis proposal, and production of at least one chapter.
2. The thesis completion course (Hon 442) includes the production of at least one chapter per month (Feb, March, April) or more often, as agreed upon.
3. Each thesis is graded by a supervisor, chosen by the student from among full time faculty willing to undertake the task. A copy of each completed thesis is provided to director of the program.
4. Students should meet with their supervisor at least every two weeks during the spring term, at least to provide progress reports.
5. An incomplete after Hon 442 requires at least two chapters already handed in.
6. The thesis should be from 35-50 pages (minimum/maximum).
[revised September 2003]