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DEALL Header Image.The Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures

Undergraduate Research

Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures
The Ohio State University Graduation with Distinction

Graduation with Distinction involves completion of one set of basic requirements with a selection of options available for completion of the advanced requirements for the major. Qualifying candidates will have the with distinction honor inscribed on the diploma. The students application must be approved by his or her major advisor, working in collaboration with the Department Honors advisor. Seniors who are candidates for graduation with distinction must also file their applications to graduate with the Arts and Sciences Honors Office in 207 Enarson Hall.

Basic Requirements:

A student seeking graduation with distinction must complete a 55-hour major in Chinese, Japanese or Korean. See individual major requirements.

All course work must be completed with a 3.3 grade-point average. Note that as of Autumn Quarter 2006, the minimum grade-point average will increase to 3.4 for incoming students.

Advanced Requirements:

Language training: students may choose from either of the following

  1. Because language skills are the gateway to distinction in East Asian-related fields a student seeking graduation with distinction is required to complete the equivalent of Level 4 language training This can be done through additional language course work at DEALL, approved study-abroad programs, special and/or summer instruction offered here or elsewhere.
  2. In addition, in consultation with the students academic advisor and the Department Honors advisor, a student seeking distinction will take an additional ten hours of one or a combination of the following:
    1. level 5 training in modern language
    2. training in classical language*
    3. other upper-level courses directly related to the major
      *Note: in the case of Chinese majors, (b) above entails ten hours beyond Chinese 601, which is already a requirement for the major.
  3. Finally, a student seeking distinction is required to earn a minimum of eight credit hours working on a senior project. These credit hours, awarded as H783, usually are spread over two quarters during the senior year. Along with completion of the research and final product, students must successfully defend their work in an oral examination. The nature of the senior project is as follows.

Senior project: this final project is the culmination of a students training in his or her major program. The content and the format of the senior project may vary depending on the goals of the individual student. These goals should be determined with the guidance of the students major advisor and in consultation with the Honors advisor. The following is a representative list of the kinds of options available:

  1. Thesis: to introduce the student to the literature of the discipline, to develop methodology skills, and to have the student produce a scholarly thesis.
  2. Performance: to train the student in use of the target language in a specific cultural context. This may include such activities as a dramatic production, a speech, a translation, or a series of interviews. The student must keep a record of the progress of the project, and must complete a final paper that documents the achievement.
  3. Field project: to train the student in approaches to cross-cultural fieldwork. This option primarily is intended for students who are enrolled in study-abroad programs and who have a strong interest in researching some aspect of life in the country in which they are studying. The student must keep a record of the progress of the project and must complete a final research paper that documents the findings.
Procedural Guidelines for Graduation with Distinction in the Major
  • Graduation with distinction requires the student to undertake a project under the guidance of a faculty project advisor, and in consultation with the students academic advisor (if different from project advisor), and the Department Honors advisor.
  • May be pursued with or without candidacy for Graduation with Honors in the Liberal Arts (which requires an Honors Contract).
  • Candidate must have a minimum grade point average of 3.3 at the time of graduation. The minimum will increase to 3.4 for incoming students as of Autumn 06.
  • Candidate must complete a minimum of 8 hours or a maximum of 15 hours of H783: Honors Research to graduate. It is prudent for students to start the research project in Autumn of their senior year (but starting in Winter is also possible).
  • There is an oral exam at which the candidate defends his/her work. It is done in the 8th week of the final quarter before graduation. The candidate is expected to have a draft copy of written work available for the committee by the sixth week of that quarter.
  • Committee members are chosen by the candidates project advisor.
  • The Committee should be made up of the project advisor, a second person from the Department, and a third person from any Arts and Sciences Department.
  • All three members have to sign the certification paper before Honors can certify the candidate for graduation with distinction.
  • A candidate is required to turn in his or her project application one quarter before he or she starts the project (or at the latest, one quarter before finishing the project).
  • Students can compete for funding to write the senior thesis either in the spring of the junior year or autumn of senior year. Between $500-$5,000 is distributed to students based on the quality of their work and the recommendations of advisors. All the money goes to tuition unless the student already has a full scholarship, in which case, the student might receive money if there is a budget with his or her proposal.