East Asian Studies Certificates
The East Asian Studies Program and Department offer two certificates for minoring in East Asian Studies:
The Language and Culture Certificate in Chinese, Japanese or Korean is offered by the EAS Department, located in 211 Jones Hall. For more information on this certificate please visit the East Asian Studies Department.
The East Asian Studies Program Certificate is sponsored by the East Asian Studies Program in 219 Frist Campus Center. Please contact the Program Coordinator, Beate Witzler, at bwitzler@princeton.edu for more information.
EAS Program Certificate Requirements:
- Two years study (four courses) of Chinese, Japanese, or Korean (at least two of the four must be at the second-year level or higher)
- Four East Asia content courses
- Written work using significant East Asian language sources.
The Program Certificate candidate will take four language courses, four cognate courses, and submit a paper dealing with an area of East Asia and using Asian language sources, at least in part. The student may submit his/her thesis, or substitute a junior independent paper, or an original research paper that meets the same standards of relevance to Asia and use of Asian-language sources.
The Written Work may be:
- A senior thesis with an East Asian component and language materials
- A junior paper with an East Asian component and language materials
- An independent research paper for a ninth course (i.e., a course that not already used to fulfill the language or cognate requirement) with an East Asian component and language materials
The standard way to meet the requirement for independent work is by writing a senior thesis on an East Asian topic. "East Asian Topic" means the thesis is more than half about East Asia. The use of East Asian language sources - Chinese, Japanese, or Korean - is strongly recommended. They can be either primary or secondary sources, and can be written, or, if appropriate, oral. While the work does not have to be based entirely on such sources, their use must not be trivial, i.e., it must be shown that something important was learned from the Asian language sources that reaches beyond the insights gained from English language materials.
If students cannot write a senior thesis meeting these criteria, either a junior paper or an original seminar paper can be substituted, assuming the criteria for an East Asian topic and East Asian language sources, as stated above, are met. The paper will need to be a substantial research paper. That is, it must report the results of an independent investigation of a scholarly question. Essays, book reports, and standard course term papers are not acceptable. If students submit a seminar paper, the seminar for which it was written cannot count toward their course requirements for the EAS certificate, but it must be a "ninth course." The Program Director must approve of the proposed substitution.
Procedure For Submission: Students should come by the Program Office in Frist 219 and fill out an application form. This application may be turned in any time before May 1st of the senior year, however, applying early will provide certificate students with the benefits of inclusion in the mailing list for news and events in East Asian Studies at Princeton, as well as allow the Program Coordinator to notify them on their progress and any deadlines.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Earning both Program and Language & Culture Certificates: Students may not earn both East Asian Studies Department and East Asian Studies Program certificates. Regarding receiving a certificate from a different department and EAS, you must have two lists of different courses with no overlap and two different pieces of independent work. This is a campus-wide policy.
Choice of Applicable Courses: Any departmental course and cognate course in other departments listed under “East Asian Studies” in the Undergraduate Announcement can be applied to the certificate. Any other courses, including courses taken abroad, will have to be approved by the Program Director.
Is It Necessary to Take a 200-Level Content Course? Yes. The 200-level course is a “gateway” that provides a solid framework of East Asian Studies upon which you can build.
Summer Language Courses / Courses Taken Abroad: Candidates should get approval from the Program Director for language or content courses taken over the summer or abroad to be certain that they will count toward attainment of the certificate. This does not apply to language courses taken with Princeton in Beijing (PIB) or Princeton in Ishikawa (PII). PIB and PII can each be considered as the equivalent of one year of language classes.
Heritage/Advanced Speakers and Course Requirements: Students with advanced language ability who are pursuing the East Asian Studies Certificate and place into advanced language courses can meet the certificate course requirement by taking content courses to replace the beginning level language courses. In individual cases, it is possible to fulfill the course requirements with 8 content courses, assuming proficiency – both oral and written - in the selected language is proven. Please consult with your language program coordinator how to achieve this.
Heritage/Advanced Speakers and Written Work: It is acceptable, for instance, if an advanced speaker of Chinese studies Korean or Japanese to fulfill the certificate language requirements, but chooses to write a thesis concerning China and using Chinese language sources.
Writing a Paper Independently: Students pursuing a major that prevents writing a long paper on an East Asian topic, but who would like to pursue the certificate, have the option of writing a paper independent of a course. He or she would need to find a faculty member in the East Asian Studies Department to advise the writing of the paper. Students should be aware that they will not be awarded credit through the University for this independent work; it will count only in terms of attainment of the East Asian Studies Program certificate.
Pass/Fail: Candidates may take only one course pass/fail toward certificate requirements.