HONORS THESIS GUIDELINES & PROCESS

  1. If the thesis is the same topic as the student’s senior seminar paper, the Honors Thesis should go beyond this in either research, content, or presentation. Needs to be interdisciplinary, thus a need for two readers minimum from two different departments.
  2. A public presentation is required.
  3. Given the above, thesis should be for a broader audience and use language and concepts such that a broader audience could understand. Thus, part of the goal of the thesis process is for students to become public intellectuals.
  4. If the student is in a major with no senior seminar paper, or chooses to do a different topic, they could build such a thesis off of a topic that arose in one of their Honors Forums.
  5. Thesis will be bound to formatting specifications; left-hand margin (for binding purposes) must be 1.5 inches; all other margins are 1 inch.

Must be a substantive intellectual inquiry utilizing original research

  • Proves or argues a new concept
  • Connects existing research in a new way
  • Examples include:
    • Scientific thesis
    • Discursive thesis (humanities, etc.)
    • Engineering Project (tangible results needed – e.g., an 8 lb. bicycle, an underwater missile)
    • A business project
    • An oral history
    • Literary Creative Work – must have written critical component
    • Artistic Creative Work – must have written critical component
    • Music or dance performance – own compositions and covers and write up (critical) of piece
    • Curriculum development – not just Education majors may do this.
    • A combination of the above.

Must include a written portion if creative or applied

  • Example: Catalogue of art exhibit with critical analysis

Creative or applied theses must include a critical component that may be met by one or more of the following strategies:

  • Library research – annotated bibliographies
  • Theoretical or critical preface/paper
  • Evaluations by others - formalized
  • Narrative or written report, reflective, on the experience as it relates to others’ work, history, and theories.
  • Photographic record
  • Art exhibit catalogue with critical preface, narrative, etc.

Thesis Process

Submit description including, as much as possible

  1. Independent Study form
  2. Working Title
  3. Statement of Intent. What are you trying to say? This is your research question
  4. Background and significance. Why are you doing this? Identify central issues
  5. Methods/procedures. How are you going to do this?
  6. Human subjects approval (if necessary)
    1. Download Application Form
    2. Download Guidelines
  7. Preliminary outline or prospectus of finished thesis (perhaps at the beginning of second thesis term?)
  8. Why you are interested in doing this and what in your background lends itself toward helping you do it?
  9. Whom would you like to work with as a faculty advisor? How does their expertise lend itself to your project?
  10. Schedule. Please provide a timetable for research, drafts, etc. See below for guidelines.
  11. Expenses/Budget, if necessary
  12. References for proposal
  13. Hoped-for outcomes of proposal
  14. Appendices (if necessary)

Each step should be as fleshed out as possible for each term of the thesis work; I would anticipate that especially steps 6-7, 9-14 might change a bit as the second term is approached.

Schedule Guidelines:

  1. Submit IS form and proposal by census of the term, preferably before then;
  2. develop with advisor the above steps to produce a coherent proposal;
  3. A month before the end of the term, and/or two weeks before the presentation, submit a draft for Honors Council members to critique;
  4. Final draft due after presentation, in format appropriate for binding, but by end of finals’ week of term that it is due.

Required Forms & Sample Pages:

  • Application Form (doc)
  • Guidelines for Human Subject Research (pdf)
  • Sample Title Page (pdf) (doc)
  • Sample Thesis Signature Page (pdf) (doc)