Graduating seniors in comparative literature must complete a senior thesis. The guidelines are as follows:
There are three basic requirements:

1. It should be comparative: the thesis should discuss at least two texts from different linguistic groups, historical periods or genres; or texts from different media, for example, literature and film or literature and music.
2. It should have a theoretical component: thesis writers should demonstrate a knowledge of literary criticism and theory by referring to theoretical texts and ideas that have particular bearing on the thesis topic or approach; this does not mean that each thesis must strictly follow a particular school of theory or a specific interpretive practice.
3. It should be a research project: the thesis must demonstrate that the writer has a knowledge of secondary material relating to his or her project; that is, through references in the body of the text and in the bibliography, the writer must show that he or she has examined the ideas of the important interpretations and commentaries on the works at issue in the thesis.

There is no set page length for the thesis; however, generally they average 35-40 pages in length.