Green Sheet Information

Use the examples below to inform the scope of your Green Sheet 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 Green Sheet 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 Green Sheet 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.
  

As part of the review process, Honors Program staff will ask for more information or revisions if your proposed project seems to require either too much or too little compared to typical expectations for a Green Sheet. This process promotes greater equity for students completing Greens Sheets across courses and disciplines.

While some students choose to write a research paper for their Green Sheet project, the L&S Honors Program encourages other types of Green Sheet experiences. Consider these 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).

Looking for more ideas and wondering how to put everything together? Review Green Sheet Proposal summaries and examples from previous semesters.

No. When a Green Sheet is approved, the Honors Optional designation is added to your enrollment in the course. This type of Honors credit can count toward the 24 total Honors credits and toward Honors breadth, but not toward the 15 required Automatic Honors credits needed for HLA.

If the course has an approved breadth designation, you will get the corresponding Honors breadth credit. You will find approved breadth designations under the course’s “course details” in Guide or Course Search & Enroll.

Honors in the Liberal Arts students: You must have completed an Honors Only, Accelerated Honors, or Honors Optional course (with Honors Option selected) with a final grade of B or better to be eligible to do a Green Sheet.

Honors in the Major students: As a default, you must have completed an Honors Only, Accelerated Honors, or Honors Optional course (with Honors Option selected) with a final grade of B or better to be eligible to do a Green Sheet. The Honors Program will consider exceptions if your major does not regularly offer Honors courses or if your degree requirements might otherwise necessitate using a Green Sheet for your first Honors experience. If this might be your situation, we encourage you to make an appointment with an Honors advisor to discuss options.

All: Remember that Green Sheets are intended to be rare. You are expected to take advantage of available Honors coursework (Honors Only, Accelerated Honors, and/or Honors Optional) whenever feasible. Prior completion of at least one Honors course will also help you be more prepared to design and complete work appropriate for a Green Sheet.

You can do a maximum of one Green Sheet per semester and no more than four Green Sheets during the course of their degree.

If you are pursuing Honors in the Major for a major with limited Honors course offerings, you may be able to exceed these maximums in order to complete requirements. You should still make every effort to spread out required Honors coursework and avoid concurrent Green Sheets.

1. The L&S Honors Program Advising Team will evaluate completed proposals for eligibility, completeness, and appropriateness of the described project. Proposals are typically reviewed within two weeks of the submission deadline.
2. If the proposal does not fulfill the requirements and expectations for an Honors experience, or if clarification is needed, you will be given the opportunity to revise and resubmit the proposal. If the revision is not received by the new deadline, the Green Sheet proposal will be automatically rejected.
3. Upon approval of a Green Sheet proposal, the Honors Program will process the necessary paperwork to have the Honors designation added to the course and will send confirmation to you and the course instructor. The course will be recorded as an Honors Optional course on your transcript.

Honors credit from a Green Sheet 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 Green Sheet experience.

Satisfactory completion:

• When your instructor assigns you a final letter grade for the course, that serves as confirmation that the you completed the agreed-upon Green Sheet 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 your college or school’s academic deans office (typically L&S Academic Deans’ Services), copying your instructor and the L&S Honors Program. Your instructor can also contact the L&S Honors Program for assistance.
• 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 Green Sheet 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 ask your instructor to submit an Honors Optional Selection Change: Instructor Form. You or your instructor could email the Honors Program advisors (advisor@honors.ls.wisc.edu) with any questions.