CALS Honors Optional (Green Sheet) Submission Deadlines:
You must submit a completed CALS Honors Optional (Green Sheet) Request Form by the stated deadline.
What is the CALS Honors Optional (Green Sheet)?
Occasionally, you may be eager to do more in-depth or applied work in a class for which no Honors component is available. In such situations, you may be able to collaborate with the instructor early in the semester to develop and propose your own unique Honors project for the course. Honors experiences should enrich your understanding and appreciation of the course content and facilitate stronger connections – with the instructor, with the discipline, with your personal interests, and with the local and/or global context.
You will submit a written description of the agreed-upon project plan as part of the CALS Honors Optional (Green Sheet) Request Form. The form must be submitted by the stated deadline for that term. When approved, the “Honors Optional” designation is added to your enrollment for the course. The form serves as a contract between you and the instructor about how Honors credit will be earned.
Why the name “Green Sheet?” This process was developed by the College of Letters and Sciences and used to be submitted with a form that was printed on green paper.
Steps to add CALS Honors Optional to a course:
- Review the project expectations and Frequently Asked CALS Honors Optional Questions (FAQ) below.
- In the first few weeks of the semester, discuss your interest in a CALS Honors Optional project with the course instructor. Instructors are not required to allow an eligible student to add an Honors Optional project to their course.
- Coordinate with your professor to determine the details of your project and prepare responses for the CALS Honors Optional Request Form. You may find it helpful to type out the answers in a document that your instructor can review before transferring your responses into the online form.
- Generate and save a Course Change Request in the MyUW Student Center to request that Honors be added to the course. You will upload a PDF of the Course Change Request as part of the CALS Honors Optional Request Form. Please DO NOT send the form directly to CALS Academic Affairs or the CALS Honors Program Manager.
- Before that semester’s deadline, complete the CALS Honors Optional Request Form.
- Once processed and notified, complete the agreed-upon project/activities and submit completed work to your instructor. Enjoy learning, creating, and connecting along the way!
Project expectations
CALS Honors Optional projects are an opportunity for you to think creatively about what, how, and why you learn. While the possibilities for projects are endless, CALS Honors Optional projects should meet the following standards:
- Distinct work. The proposed work must be separate from standard course requirements and graded assignments. For example, writing a longer version of a paper assigned to all students in the course is not appropriate.
- Relevant topic. In the form, you must clearly articulate how the CALS Honors Optional project is related to the content, themes, and/or learning outcomes of the course.
- Substantive product. The proposed work must involve meaningful academic engagement with the chosen topic(s) over the course of the semester and demonstrate depth appropriate for the level of the course. Your learning must yield at least one “product” that can be reviewed by the instructor. Keep in mind that projects do not add an additional credit to the course and should not create an undue burden on you or the instructor; do not attempt to write a novel or a thesis as a project. See the FAQ below for more guidance, such as lengths for research papers.
- Increased interaction. The experience of completing the project should increase student-instructor interaction and must include opportunities for guidance and feedback from the instructor ahead of project completion. The Honors Program encourages projects that also foster meaningful connections with peers and/or communities outside of the classroom.
Frequently Asked CALS Honors Optional Questions (FAQ)
Use the examples below to inform the scope of your project and the creation of one or more “products.” We encourage you to think about a combination of experiences and outcomes that would be rewarding for you and may allow you to develop skills that you wouldn’t otherwise focus on in the course.
- If the primary outcome of your project is a research paper, the paper should be 8-10 double-spaced pages in length, not including headings or works cited.
- If the primary outcome of your project is a presentation to your class peers, the presentation should be at least 10 minutes in length and be accompanied by prepared materials (e.g. handouts, slides, script) that show depth of preparation.
- If you will regularly attend relevant department colloquia or campus lectures (at least 6 hours of event time), you should produce written notes throughout the semester to discuss with your instructor and write a final reflection (minimum 3 double-spaced pages) that synthesizes your experiences and discusses how they related to and expanded upon your learning for the course.
- If you produce a creative piece (e.g. oil painting, video, children’s book, digital map), it should be accompanied by a written explanation and reflection paper (minimum 3 double-spaced pages) that discusses the motivation for the piece, the choices involved in its creation, interpretation of relevant sources, and connections to course content or themes.
While some students choose to write a research paper for their project, you can consider these other ideas to get started.
- Participate in a departmental reading group on topics relevant to the course.
- Interview a docent at the Chazen Museum of Art and produce your own work of art.
- Write and record an imagined conversation between two scholars in the field (contemporary or historical) discussing a current question or topic.
- Develop a lesson plan in consultation with the instructor and lead your class for a week, preparing activities and learning guides for your peers.
- Meet with your professor every other week to discuss additional readings and events related to the course material.
- Create an interactive website that showcases and contextualizes contributions of marginalized figures in the discipline.
- Volunteer regularly with an established community organization, such as Madison International Partners, and write a series of short reflections that incorporate scholarly research about issues related to that organization’s work (e.g. immigration policy, language acquisition).
Upon receipt of a complete CALS Honors Optional Request Form, CALS Academic Affairs will review and process the necessary paperwork to have the Honors designation added to the course. The instructor will also receive your responses in the form and submit their approval. Once the instructor has approved, the course will be recorded as an Honors Optional course on your transcript.
Honors credit from a CALS Honors Optional project is earned on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis and should not factor into your final letter grade. Remember that engaging in the process and seeking guidance/feedback along the way is a critical aspect of the experience.
Satisfactory completion:
- When your instructor assigns you a final letter grade for the course, that serves as confirmation that you completed the agreed-upon CALS Honors Optional project in a satisfactory way and thus have completed that course “with Honors.”
Unsatisfactory completion:
- The Honors designation must be removed in order for you to receive your letter grade for the class. You can generate a Course Change Request to remove Honors from the course and submit that CCR to CALS Academic Affairs at academicaffairs@cals.wisc.edu.
- A “Q” grade may be assigned as a temporary final grade if the Honors isn’t removed from your enrollment before final grades are submitted for that term.
In the rare case that a student cannot or does not successfully complete an approved project, the Honors status must be removed from the student’s enrollment in the course.
To have your Honors status for the course changed, please generate a Course Change Request to remove Honors from the course and submit that Course Change Request to CALS Academic Affairs at academicaffairs@cals.wisc.edu.