East Asian Studies

Honors

Breadcrumb

Honors

East Asian Studies offers qualified students, in their senior year, the opportunity to undertake a sustained research and writing project that, ideally, will result in a work of original scholarship.

The completion of an honors thesis is a requirement for the granting of honors in the concentration. Honors candidates work closely with a faculty member over the two semesters it takes to research, write and revise a thesis. Theses vary in format and length - 50 pages double-spaced pages would be on the short end, 100 pages at the other extreme - but all do careful analytical work, and follow the practices of the relevant field of scholarship. The best honors theses grow out of a passion for a particular topic, for a work of fiction or film, or a research problem so compelling that you can imagine spending two semesters reading and writing about it. Theses in the Department represent a wide range of disciplinary and topical choices, including (but not limited to) literary analysis, translation, film studies, historical scholarship, internet ethnography, and IR/political science-oriented work.

A Sample of Recent Theses Titles

  • Immortality and Transcendence: Finding the Dao in Quanzhen Daoism
  • Disputed Goguryeo: The Construction of National Histories and National Identities through Museum Narratives in China and Korea
  • Working Mothers, Childrearing Fathers: Implications of Family Policies on Gender Roles in Japan
  • Huawei: Chinese Government and the Building of a “National Champion”
  • Finally Free – Translation of Selected Poems by Ai Qing
  • Island Haafu, Tokyo Haafu: Learning English at the AmerAsian School in Okinawa
  • Burden or Brethren? Paradox in South Korean Society's Perceptions of Defectors and Defectors as Active Participants in the Creation of their Unimagined Identity
  • Law as a Mirror of Society: Late Qing and Early Republican Legal Reform in China

Honors Schedule

Students thinking about writing a thesis usually begin discussions with potential advisors during their junior year, and will have identified a topic and chosen an advisor before the end of their sixth semester. (There are, of course, exceptions to this rule.) A completed Honors Application form, with the signatures of the two faculty members who have agreed to advise the thesis, must be handed in during the first week of classes.

Honors Application

About The Honors Program

The awarding of Honors in East Asian Studies will occur only if the Honors Thesis receives a final grade of A. If an A is not received, the student will still receive academic credit for EAST 1930- 1940.

Enrollment Requirements

To enroll in the Honors Program, the student must be a senior East Asian Studies concentrator, and have earned an A or S* in the majority of courses for the concentration. Candidates for Honors are required to have developed a competence in an East Asian language sufficient to allow them to use East Asian language materials in carrying out their research. Students must also successfully obtain the support of at least two faculty members who will agree to serve as thesis director and second reader for the thesis. Normally both the director and the second reader must be regular (usually tenured or tenure-track) faculty at Brown with expertise in East Asia, and one of them must be a member of the Department of East Asian Studies. Prospective writers submit a thesis prospectus, brief bibliography, and completed application forms (with signatures), to the Director of Undergraduate Studies, who provides the final permission to proceed. Synopses of successful thesis proposals will be distributed to Department faculty.

Courses

Thesis writers enroll in advisor-specific sections of the thesis-writing course EAST 1930 (Fall) and EAST 1940 (Spring), meet regularly with their advisors over the course of both semesters, and submit final versions of their theses to the Department in mid-April. They also meet regularly together to workshop their drafts and receive guidance from department faculty. Advisors and students are required to provide updates of their progress to the Director of Undergraduate Studies at regular intervals. Details about all thesis-related deadlines are listed on the downloadable files below. The completed thesis is evaluated for Honors by the thesis director and by a second reader. In case of a difference of judgment between the two readers, a third opinion may be sought. Students are notified in mid-May whether the Department has recommended the awarding of Honors. Copies of readers’ comments are provided to the student.

Senior Project Forum

All graduating concentrators will present the results of their senior theses in the department’s Senior Project Forum. The Forum will usually take place at the end of the spring semester, but may also occur at the end of the fall semester to accommodate mid-year graduates. 

Neither EAST 1980 nor EAST 1981 count as one of the 8 elective courses needed to fulfill concentration requirements.

Download a PDF About the Honors Program

Thesis Deadlines

Friday, September 6th

Honors Application Form due to the department (name, thesis title, and 2 prospective advisors)

Wednesday, September 18th

Honors Application Form due to the department, signed by thesis advisor and second reader

Monday, September 23th

If Honors Application Form returned with comments, deadline to re-submit Honors Application Form

Friday, November 15th

Revised proposal with thesis outline due to Readers and Director of Undergraduate Studies

Friday, December 6th

First chapter due to Readers

Friday, February 21st

Complete draft due to Readers

Friday, March 7th (recommended)

Readers return comments to student

Friday, March 21th

Final draft due to Readers

Friday, April 4th (recommended)

Readers return draft to student with no recommendations for revision

Wednesday, April 9th

Students submit three bound copies of the thesis: one to their primary reader, one to their secondary reader, and the third to the Program Coordinator (54 College Street room 102) no later than 4:00PM. Late submissions will be penalized.  

Monday,  April 14th

Readers’ comments and recommendations regarding Honors due to the Director of Undergraduate Studies 

Download a PDF of the Deadlines