Honors thesis

The Honors Thesis is the culmination of a student's experience in the College Honors Program. It gives each student the opportunity to bring together the ideas, information, and research or creative techniques of his or her major with the critical thinking, reading, and writing skills that they have developed in the Honors classes, and the opportunity to work closely with several faculty members exploring in some depth a topic or creative experience of interest to them.

Honors Program students are required to take the thesis preparation seminar (Honors 350), which meets for an hour each week, in the first semester of their junior year. Students will learn about thesis requirements, will select their thesis advisors (typically iwithn their major), and develop a preliminary thesis plan in conjunction with those advisors.

Then, over the next several semesters and working closely with their thesis advisors, students will develop their thesis topics more fully, engage in the library research necessary to establish a context for the thesis, complete the field study or creative project that forms the heart of the thesis, and write and revise the thesis. Students must register for Independent Study in the area of their thesis (XXX 499; e.g., HIS 499 or BIO 499) at the beginning of the semester in which they will complete the thesis, typically the second semester of their senior year. They will receive a letter grade for the thesis, in the form of a grade for the Independent Study, at the end of that semester. Students then submit the completed thesis to the Honors Director, who certifies the student for graduation with the Registrar's Office.