Policies and Procedures for Thesis Projects
To the honors student:
The thesis topic will be in your major. If you are an interdisciplinary major, the topic
may be drawn from any area of the interdisciplinary program. For those students who have a double major in
which each major requires a senior project, the Honors thesis can substitute
for both major senior projects if certain conditions are met. Those conditions
are outlined at the end of this document.
The Honors Thesis is an opportunity for significant
research or creative project in an area of individual interest. Different
disciplines have different standards and expectations for length in the Honors
Thesis project. Your thesis director will be able to tell you what is typical
for your discipline.
Since 2001, the Memorial Library has archived theses by discipline; they are
available for review. Look for one in your discipline to give you an idea of what is
expected from you. Here is a sample of thesis titles:
- Hope and Nihilism: Leo Strauss
and his Students (Philosophy)
- The Magical Allure of Allende
(Spanish)
- The Effects of Modeling and
Topic-Stimulus on Self-Referential Touching (Psychology)
- Analyzing the Effects of the
HOPE Scholarship Program (Economics)
- EZLN: When Words are More
Powerful than Guns: A Look at the Media's Response to
- Subcommander Marcos' Political
Rhetoric (International Studies)
- Political Motivations
Understood Through The Federalist (Government)
- Differential Gene Expression
Between Mictic and Amictic Populations of Rotifers (Biology)
- BRT Polynomials of a Link
Family (Mathematics)
- Essays on Gas Prices, Hybrid
Car Tax Preferences, and Mass Transit Ridership (Economics)
- Development and Testing of a
"Safer" Tranquilizer Dart (Animal Science)
- Uncovering Egypt: The Lives and
Collections of Giovanni Belzoni and E. A. Wallis Budge (Art History)
- Electrochemical
Investigations of Acetylated Cytochrome c (Chemistry)
General procedures:
The honors thesis is a two-term project undertaken
as a two-course sequence, Honors 450 and Honors 451. In the process of developing materials for HON 450,
a student will meet with the thesis director for “review of progress” discussions. The supporting committee member(s) should
meet with the student at least once, probably sometime near or during the
tenth week, for a review of progress and to offer suggestions before the final
review in the thirteenth week.
Two weeks prior to the deadlines outlined in the
policies for HON 450 or HON 451 below, the Honors director will send a reminder
notice to all thesis committee members and students who are working on an
Honors thesis of an impending deadline.
Honors
450
- The purpose and
required work in Honors 450 is as follows:
- to discover and
define a focus, subject, topic, or creative project for the Honors Thesis;
- to do preliminary
work as defined by the Honors Thesis director (e.g., an annotated
bibliography, field or lab research, general research to narrow topic’s
focus, creative work, etc.); and
- to submit a report,
prospectus, annotated bibliography, literature review, and partial draft, or
some combination of these, or whatever was defined in the HON 450 course
outline form. Report should be submitted to each member of the committee
by the thirteenth week. Each committee member will comment on the
materials, sending those comments to the thesis director and the student.
- If a supporting member of the thesis committee does not
receive a draft by the thirteenth week, s/he will notify the chair of the
thesis committee and the Honors director.
- Unless each member of the committee has agreed prior to
the thirteenth week, no extensions will be granted. Instead, a grade of “U”
will be assigned for the course. The student may then repeat HON 450 the
following term. (Please note: incompletes for this course must conform to the
new college policies adopted for all incompletes, effective fall 2010.)
- Any grade awarded for work in HON 450 should reflect a
consensus of the entire committee.
Honors 450 is graded with an H (Honors), S (Satisfactory),
or U (Unsatisfactory). Three hours credit is awarded for either an “H” or “S.”
No credit is awarded for a “U.” If a student receives a “U,” the course must be
repeated. None of these grades affects a student’s grade point average. The
Honors Thesis director, in consultation with the other committee member(s),
will determine the grade to be awarded. All members must agree on the grade to
be awarded.
Unless a student is on a study-abroad program, he/she
should enroll in Honors 450 the second term of the junior year. If a student is
studying abroad in the second term of the junior year, enroll in Honors 450 in
the first term of the junior year (if possible) or in the first term of the
senior year.
The Honors Thesis Committee should have two or three
members. Required are a director, who is in your discipline/ department, and a
second member from any discipline or department. Optional is a third member,
also from any discipline/major within the college. Consult with your thesis
director as to who would be appropriate second and third members for your
committee. It is then your responsibility to ask these faculty to serve on your
committee.
Honors
451
Having successfully passed Honors 450, a student should
enroll in Honors 451. A student will work on creating the final draft of the
thesis in Honors 451. By the eleventh week, a reasonably polished final draft
of the thesis should be submitted to the faculty member who is directing the
thesis and to the other committee members. The committee has one week to
review, provide criticisms, and make suggestions for revisions. Once the
student receives the committee’s response, he/she revises and then submits a
final draft to all committee members. HON 451 receives a letter grade which is agreed upon by all committee members.
There are standard first and second (signature) page formats for the
thesis, and they are available online. See the “Forms” link on Honors web page.
Make sure you follow this format. Obtain the required signatures for the second
page of the final draft of the thesis once the defense has been successfully
completed. Two complete copies of the thesis including the signature page should be submitted to the Honors Director no later than the day that senior grades are due at the end of the semester.
Typical
timeline:
- Students should
begin the first thesis course, HON 450, the second semester of their
junior year. This semester will focus on research/drafting efforts. For
Honors 451, if a student began work during the spring term in Honors 450,
he/she should meet with his/her director and committee by the second week
of the fall term to discuss work done over the summer and to agree to the
kind of work to be completed for the remainder of the Honors 451 semester.
- Students must complete a “review draft” by the
11th week and submit that draft to each committee member for
review and commentary. The thesis
director and the two supporting committee members will evaluate the review
draft materials. Commentary and
suggestions for revisions will be sent by all committee members to the
student; the supporting committee member(s) will send copies of their
commentary to the thesis director as well.
- A student may submit a “late review draft” if,
prior to the 11th week, all the committee members have agreed
to the late submission. In no case may a review draft be submitted beyond
the 13th week.
- Any supporting committee member who does not
receive a review draft by the 11th week will notify the thesis
director and the Honors director. At that point, the entire
committee will meet and decide how to proceed. Options might be: a) allow the student
to complete a review draft before the 13th week, stipulating
clear guidelines and conditions to govern the extension; b) allow the
student to complete the project as a “directed study” in order to receive
3 credit hours and to graduate but not with an Honors degree; c) if the
student and committee agree, give an “I” for the course, allowing the
student to complete the requirements in the following term in accordance
with the new policy adopted by the college for incomplete grades, fall
2010; or d) submitting a “WF” for the course.
- If a student does
not pass the thesis defense, he or she will have a semester to rectify the
weaknesses of his/her thesis as defined by the committee. (This presumes
that a student began work on the Honors Thesis during his/her junior year
and completed HON 451 during the first term of his/her senior year.) Upon
fulfillment of the requirements and a satisfactory second defense, the
student’s incomplete will be changed to the appropriate letter grade, and
the student will be allowed to graduate with Honors as long as all other
requirements for the program have been fulfilled.
General guidelines for
the thesis defense:
A defense should be held during the last two weeks of a
given term. An earlier date is acceptable if the student and all committee
members agree. A copy of the final thesis should be available to all committee
members far enough in advance so that questions may be prepared for the
defense. When the thesis committee members meet for the defense, questions or
concerns are posed and the student’s response is noted. At the end of this
discussion, the student is asked to leave the room so that the committee
members may review the student “defense” and decide whether the student’s
defense will positively or negatively affect the final grade. The committee, if
possible, agrees on a final grade at this point and calls the student in. Final
comments are offered and the grade announced.
If the committee wishes more time to discuss a final grade, the student
should be told that the final grade will be reported by the thesis director as
soon as possible.
How to register:
To register for HON 450, you will need the signatures of your
thesis director (a professor in your major department) and the director of the
Honors Program.
To register for HON 451, you will need the signatures of
the Honors Director and the school dean (if you want to double count HON 451 in
honors and your major).
The form to register for either of these courses is
available here.
For
those students with a double major:
For those Honors students
who intend to graduate with two majors that both require a senior project, the
following policy and procedure will apply. An Honors student may substitute an
Honors thesis for two senior projects in different disciplines if:
- Both
departments have reviewed and agreed to the Honors thesis proposal as a
substitute for the departmental senior project requirement.
- The Honors
thesis will address its topic in such a way that significant research will be
drawn from both disciplines.
- The Honors
thesis will be substantial enough in development, research, and presentation so
as to be sufficient to satisfy the expectations implicit in two senior projects
and an Honors thesis.
- The Honors
Committee directing an Honors thesis to satisfy two departmental senior project
requirements will have representation from both departments on the Honors
Thesis Committee.