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Fall 2009 Courses (PDF)

Graduate With Honors

Undergraduate majors with an overall QPA of 3.25 or above and a QPA in anthropology of 3.5 or above can graduate from the Department with honors with the submission and acceptance of a paper representing substantial student research. The honors paper may be from a course, or result from independent research.

Read the guidelines below or talk to your Department Advisor or the Advising Coordinator:

Dr. Kathy Allen
Anthropology, 3B13 FQUAD
648-87511
kmallen@pitt.edu

General Guidelines

Departmental Requirements for Honors in Anthropology:

1. Anthropology QPA of 3.5 or better; Overall QPA of 3.25 or better.
2. Research Paper
3. Linguistics course recommended but not required.

Research Paper

The following guidelines are intended to help you successfully navigate through this process.

• Your honors paper can be an expanded and revised version of your favorite Anthropology term paper, or a report of some original research done in conjunction with an internship, field school, study abroad or independent study. The paper should be based on research and should make a contribution to literature on the subject. If the paper is based on original research in which you gather and analyze data, awareness and citation of relevant literature as it pertains to your research problem should be evident. If the paper is based on written literature, your phrasing of the research question and your marshaling of relevant literature should be original. In addition, you should focus on primary literature rather than restating arguments already reviewed in secondary literature.
• Your paper will be written under the supervision of a faculty member. Choosing a professor with knowledge of the particular topic you are investigating will be most beneficial to both of you. If you are revising a term paper written for a class, the professor of that course is a good choice for a supervising faculty member. Alternatively, you could choose another faculty member to supervise the completion of your honors paper.
• There is no specific page limit for your honors paper. It should be long enough to allow you to present your research and demonstrate your mastery of the literature and original contribution to the problem.

Scheduling your work

It is important that you begin this process early to insure that you have sufficient time to do the research, write a good research paper, and incorporate comments from your committee.

1. If you are interested in writing an honors paper, it is a good idea to think about it and talk with your professors in your junior year, if possible. Ideally, you will begin writing your paper in your junior year or early in your senior year. Some students enroll in an independent study or directed research course to carry out research during their fall semester and complete the paper and review process in their final semester.

2. Expect that the process of writing the paper will involve several revisions. Ultimately, your paper will be reviewed by a committee of three faculty members. This committee will decide whether your paper merits 'honors' status. They may make suggestions for revision that you will need to incorporate into the final version of your paper. The following steps will help you achieve this process.

• Abstract or Prospectus. It is a good idea to start by writing an abstract or prospectus of your proposed research. Discuss it with your professor and get it approved early in the process.
• First Draft. You should submit a first draft to your supervising professor. Your advisor will read the paper and provide you with feedback. You will then incorporate those suggestions into your next draft. This step will be repeated until you and your advisor believe the paper is ready to go to the faculty review committee.
• Penultimate Draft. You will submit three copies of your penultimate draft to your Honors Thesis Advisor who will distribute your paper to the other members of the committee. They will decide whether your paper merits honors and will suggest revisions to your advisor who will discuss their comments with you. You will need to incorporate the final comments in your final paper.
• Final Paper. Submit your final paper to your advisor, your committee members as requested, and to the Anthropology advising office. In this paper you will have addressed all the comments and suggestions of the committee. This should be in by no later than the last week of classes in the term you are graduating.

Additional comments

1. We will select a committee for you, but feel free to request specific faculty members.

2. Deadlines: We suggest the following schedule to help you realize Departmental Honors. You should discuss a schedule for specific target draft dates with your Honors Thesis Advisor.

First Draft -By the end of the first month of your final term.

Penultimate Draft -By the end of the second month of your final term.

Final Paper -By the beginning of the last month of your final term - no later than the last week of classes.