2007-08 Economics Honors Program Coordinator:
Fall: Thierry Warin, Robert A. Jones House, Ext. 3475
Winter: Jessica Holmes, Warner 502C, Ext. 3439
The Economics Honors Program is intended to proclaim excellence in the practice of economics - in contrast to College Honors, which proclaim overall excellence in academic achievement. Hence the fundamental basis for evaluating work in the Honors Program is whether a student has demonstrated a superior ability to use the economics she/he has learned in 3 plus years at Middlebury. The central focus of that work is producing a major piece of independent research on a problem of current interest.
The thesis consists of a conceptually precise formulation of a question on some economics issue and an attempt to answer this question. This will involve applying economic theory -- of the sort covered, for example, in Intermediate Microeconomics and Macroeconomics and/or any other upper level course -- to a concrete problem. It is hoped that the thesis will pull together tools and concepts from several upper-level courses and will use them to analyze the chosen topic.
Basic Program Requirements
1. This program is open to any senior economics major having accumulated at least a 3.5 average in economics courses taken at Middlebury College.
2. The student must enroll inSenior Research for Honors seminar (EC 800) in both the fall and winter terms.
Grades and Honors Categories
1. The student receives a grade for EC 800 based primarily on the quality of the thesis, and secondarily on the quality of the oral defense.
2. The EC 800 grade, along with the student's G.PA in economics courses, determines his/her rank in the honors program, as follows:
Award Requirements:
Highest Honors:
3.7 Minimum ECON G.P.A
and an ECON 0800 Grade of A
High Honors:
3.6 Minimum ECONG.P.A
and an ECON 0800 Grade of at least A-
Honors:
3.5 Minimum ECON G.P.A
and an ECON 0800 Grade of at least B+
3. Note: A student can successfully complete the thesis program but not receive departmental honors if either the minimum economics course G.P.A. or EC 800 grade is not achieved. Furthermore if the progress of any EC 800 project is judged to be inadequate, at the discretion of the economics department such an EC 800 project is evaluated as an EC 500 project at the end of the fall term.
Schedule and Procedures
1. Pre-Fall Term Preparation
Each student planning to register for EC 800 is strongly encouraged to carry out a search of the relevant literature on the topic of his/her choice during the summer. You do not need to sign up for the EC 800 course during the spring registration. You will be expected to sign up for 4 classes and if your proposal is accepted, then you can do an Add/Drop.
You should begin to think of ideas, talk with faculty and come up with an outline of a proposal even before the summer is well under way. Stay in touch with the Coordinator and potential advisors through e-mail. We do not want you to come up with an idea just before the fall semester starts and expect it to be passed. You may either arrive upon a topic of your own interest and persuade professors to work with you, or if you are having difficulty narrowing down your interest, simply go talk with faculty members and see what topics they would be interested in supervising.
2. Thesis Proposal
By the first Monday of the Second Week of Classes during the Fall Semester, without exception, each EC 800 student must submit a 5-10 page paper (in triplicate) outlining the topic chosen and the direction of the proposed research, plus an extensive bibliography. After the Economics faculty have reviewed the thesis proposals, each student will be informed of whether or not his/her proposal has been judged to be satisfactory.
3. Individual Meetings
Throughout the program students are expected to meet regularly with the program coordinator and with their reader(s). The frequency and substance of these meetings is a matter for both students and faculty to decide; however, students should be aware that much more responsibility in arranging these meetings lies with the student than is common in most courses. In particular, the student is strongly advised to arrange frequent meetings with his/her advisors, possibly all together, early in the fall term to agree on ground rules.
4. Seminars
At the discretion of the program coordinator, seminars will be held throughout the fall and winter terms. The seminars are intended to provide each student an opportunity to report on his/her work, and to receive constructive criticism from the other students in the program and from the economics faculty.
Of particular note is one seminar meeting held in the latter part of the fall term (around the third week of November). This meeting, sometimes called the preliminary defense, is very important in judging a student's progress in the Honors Program. If the student passes this stage, then he or she will stay in the Honors Program and can finish the thesis at the end of J-term; if the student does not pass this stage, then the work is assessed as an EC 500 project and will have to be completed by the end of Fall term.
5. End of Fall Term
Three copies (need not be laser printed) of the completed draft of the thesis, incorporating the modifications suggested at the seminar (discussed above) should be submitted to the program coordinator at the end of the Fall Term. The readers and the coordinator will make comments on this draft, and the student should be ready to act upon these comments at the beginning of the Winter Term.
6. Winter Term
Each student will work on revising his/her thesis under the guidance of his/her readers and the program coordinator.
7. End of Winter Term
Three copies of the finished thesis are due on the last day of Winter Term classes. Each student must include with the thesis a 1-2 page abstract (maximum 500 words), stating the problem, the methods and procedures used, and the main results or conclusions. This version of the thesis will be read by all Economics Department faculty and also by an outside evaluator in the field. In the thesis, quality is to be stressed rather than quantity. The department takes it as given that all theses will be grammatically correct, stylistically interesting and totally free of typographical errors. Accordingly, the students are urged to seek assistance from theWriting Center located in Gifford Annex.
8. Oral Defense
The last phase of the program is intended to determine whether the student can present his/her findings orally and then defend them against criticism from persons who have read the paper. Questions asked need not be restricted solely to those pertaining directly to the thesis. This oral defense will take place early in the Spring Term. After all students have completed this phase of the program, the Economics faculty will decide on a grade for each student for the EC 800 course. This grade will be contingent upon successful completion of step 9, below.
9. Post-Defense Requirement
Within a week of your successful oral defense three laser-printed copies (one in a folder, two in thesis binders) of the final draft with any modifications suggested at the time of the oral defense should be handed to the honors program coordinator. There is no exception to this rule.
Updated 5/8/06
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Web page created and formatted 6/1/06; edited 9/1/07
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