honours thesis

Honors Theses

What this handout is about.

Writing a senior honors thesis, or any major research essay, can seem daunting at first. A thesis requires a reflective, multi-stage writing process. This handout will walk you through those stages. It is targeted at students in the humanities and social sciences, since their theses tend to involve more writing than projects in the hard sciences. Yet all thesis writers may find the organizational strategies helpful.

Introduction

What is an honors thesis.

That depends quite a bit on your field of study. However, all honors theses have at least two things in common:

• They are based on students’ original research.
• They take the form of a written manuscript, which presents the findings of that research. In the humanities, theses average 50-75 pages in length and consist of two or more chapters. In the social sciences, the manuscript may be shorter, depending on whether the project involves more quantitative than qualitative research. In the hard sciences, the manuscript may be shorter still, often taking the form of a sophisticated laboratory report.

Who can write an honors thesis?

In general, students who are at the end of their junior year, have an overall 3.2 GPA, and meet their departmental requirements can write a senior thesis. For information about your eligibility, contact:

• UNC Honors Program
• Your departmental administrators of undergraduate studies/honors

Why write an honors thesis?

Satisfy your intellectual curiosity This is the most compelling reason to write a thesis. Whether it’s the short stories of Flannery O’Connor or the challenges of urban poverty, you’ve studied topics in college that really piqued your interest. Now’s your chance to follow your passions, explore further, and contribute some original ideas and research in your field.

Develop transferable skills Whether you choose to stay in your field of study or not, the process of developing and crafting a feasible research project will hone skills that will serve you well in almost any future job. After all, most jobs require some form of problem solving and oral and written communication. Writing an honors thesis requires that you:

• ask smart questions
• acquire the investigative instincts needed to find answers
• navigate libraries, laboratories, archives, databases, and other research venues
• develop the flexibility to redirect your research if your initial plan flops
• master the art of time management
• hone your argumentation skills
• organize a lengthy piece of writing
• polish your oral communication skills by presenting and defending your project to faculty and peers

Work closely with faculty mentors At large research universities like Carolina, you’ve likely taken classes where you barely got to know your instructor. Writing a thesis offers the opportunity to work one-on-one with a with faculty adviser. Such mentors can enrich your intellectual development and later serve as invaluable references for graduate school and employment.

Open windows into future professions An honors thesis will give you a taste of what it’s like to do research in your field. Even if you’re a sociology major, you may not really know what it’s like to be a sociologist. Writing a sociology thesis would open a window into that world. It also might help you decide whether to pursue that field in graduate school or in your future career.

How do you write an honors thesis?

Get an idea of what’s expected.

It’s a good idea to review some of the honors theses other students have submitted to get a sense of what an honors thesis might look like and what kinds of things might be appropriate topics. Look for examples from the previous year in the Carolina Digital Repository. You may also be able to find past theses collected in your major department or at the North Carolina Collection in Wilson Library. Pay special attention to theses written by students who share your major.

Choose a topic

Ideally, you should start thinking about topics early in your junior year, so you can begin your research and writing quickly during your senior year. (Many departments require that you submit a proposal for an honors thesis project during the spring of your junior year.)

How should you choose a topic?

• Read widely in the fields that interest you. Make a habit of browsing professional journals to survey the “hot” areas of research and to familiarize yourself with your field’s stylistic conventions. (You’ll find the most recent issues of the major professional journals in the periodicals reading room on the first floor of Davis Library).
• Set up appointments to talk with faculty in your field. This is a good idea, since you’ll eventually need to select an advisor and a second reader. Faculty also can help you start narrowing down potential topics.
• Look at honors theses from the past. The North Carolina Collection in Wilson Library holds UNC honors theses. To get a sense of the typical scope of a thesis, take a look at a sampling from your field.

What makes a good topic?

• It’s fascinating. Above all, choose something that grips your imagination. If you don’t, the chances are good that you’ll struggle to finish.
• It’s doable. Even if a topic interests you, it won’t work out unless you have access to the materials you need to research it. Also be sure that your topic is narrow enough. Let’s take an example: Say you’re interested in the efforts to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and early 1980s. That’s a big topic that probably can’t be adequately covered in a single thesis. You need to find a case study within that larger topic. For example, maybe you’re particularly interested in the states that did not ratify the ERA. Of those states, perhaps you’ll select North Carolina, since you’ll have ready access to local research materials. And maybe you want to focus primarily on the ERA’s opponents. Beyond that, maybe you’re particularly interested in female opponents of the ERA. Now you’ve got a much more manageable topic: Women in North Carolina Who Opposed the ERA in the 1970s and 1980s.
• It contains a question. There’s a big difference between having a topic and having a guiding research question. Taking the above topic, perhaps your main question is: Why did some women in North Carolina oppose the ERA? You will, of course, generate other questions: Who were the most outspoken opponents? White women? Middle-class women? How did they oppose the ERA? Public protests? Legislative petitions? etc. etc. Yet it’s good to start with a guiding question that will focus your research.

Goal-setting and time management

The senior year is an exceptionally busy time for college students. In addition to the usual load of courses and jobs, seniors have the daunting task of applying for jobs and/or graduate school. These demands are angst producing and time consuming If that scenario sounds familiar, don’t panic! Do start strategizing about how to make a time for your thesis. You may need to take a lighter course load or eliminate extracurricular activities. Even if the thesis is the only thing on your plate, you still need to make a systematic schedule for yourself. Most departments require that you take a class that guides you through the honors project, so deadlines likely will be set for you. Still, you should set your own goals for meeting those deadlines. Here are a few suggestions for goal setting and time management:

Start early. Keep in mind that many departments will require that you turn in your thesis sometime in early April, so don’t count on having the entire spring semester to finish your work. Ideally, you’ll start the research process the semester or summer before your senior year so that the writing process can begin early in the fall. Some goal-setting will be done for you if you are taking a required class that guides you through the honors project. But any substantive research project requires a clear timetable.

Set clear goals in making a timetable. Find out the final deadline for turning in your project to your department. Working backwards from that deadline, figure out how much time you can allow for the various stages of production.

Here is a sample timetable. Use it, however, with two caveats in mind:

• The timetable for your thesis might look very different depending on your departmental requirements.
• You may not wish to proceed through these stages in a linear fashion. You may want to revise chapter one before you write chapter two. Or you might want to write your introduction last, not first. This sample is designed simply to help you start thinking about how to customize your own schedule.

Sample timetable

Avoid falling into the trap of procrastination. Once you’ve set goals for yourself, stick to them! For some tips on how to do this, see our handout on procrastination .

Consistent production

It’s a good idea to try to squeeze in a bit of thesis work every day—even if it’s just fifteen minutes of journaling or brainstorming about your topic. Or maybe you’ll spend that fifteen minutes taking notes on a book. The important thing is to accomplish a bit of active production (i.e., putting words on paper) for your thesis every day. That way, you develop good writing habits that will help you keep your project moving forward.

Make yourself accountable to someone other than yourself

Since most of you will be taking a required thesis seminar, you will have deadlines. Yet you might want to form a writing group or enlist a peer reader, some person or people who can help you stick to your goals. Moreover, if your advisor encourages you to work mostly independently, don’t be afraid to ask them to set up periodic meetings at which you’ll turn in installments of your project.

Brainstorming and freewriting

One of the biggest challenges of a lengthy writing project is keeping the creative juices flowing. Here’s where freewriting can help. Try keeping a small notebook handy where you jot down stray ideas that pop into your head. Or schedule time to freewrite. You may find that such exercises “free” you up to articulate your argument and generate new ideas. Here are some questions to stimulate freewriting.

Questions for basic brainstorming at the beginning of your project:

• What do I already know about this topic?
• Why do I care about this topic?
• Why is this topic important to people other than myself
• What more do I want to learn about this topic?
• What is the main question that I am trying to answer?
• Where can I look for additional information?
• Who is my audience and how can I reach them?
• How will my work inform my larger field of study?
• What’s the main goal of my research project?

Questions for reflection throughout your project:

• What’s my main argument? How has it changed since I began the project?
• What’s the most important evidence that I have in support of my “big point”?
• What questions do my sources not answer?
• How does my case study inform or challenge my field writ large?
• Does my project reinforce or contradict noted scholars in my field? How?
• What is the most surprising finding of my research?
• What is the most frustrating part of this project?
• What is the most rewarding part of this project?
• What will be my work’s most important contribution?

Research and note-taking

In conducting research, you will need to find both primary sources (“firsthand” sources that come directly from the period/events/people you are studying) and secondary sources (“secondhand” sources that are filtered through the interpretations of experts in your field.) The nature of your research will vary tremendously, depending on what field you’re in. For some general suggestions on finding sources, consult the UNC Libraries tutorials . Whatever the exact nature of the research you’re conducting, you’ll be taking lots of notes and should reflect critically on how you do that. Too often it’s assumed that the research phase of a project involves very little substantive writing (i.e., writing that involves thinking). We sit down with our research materials and plunder them for basic facts and useful quotations. That mechanical type of information-recording is important. But a more thoughtful type of writing and analytical thinking is also essential at this stage. Some general guidelines for note-taking:

First of all, develop a research system. There are lots of ways to take and organize your notes. Whether you choose to use note cards, computer databases, or notebooks, follow two cardinal rules:

• Make careful distinctions between direct quotations and your paraphrasing! This is critical if you want to be sure to avoid accidentally plagiarizing someone else’s work. For more on this, see our handout on plagiarism .
• Record full citations for each source. Don’t get lazy here! It will be far more difficult to find the proper citation later than to write it down now.

Keeping those rules in mind, here’s a template for the types of information that your note cards/legal pad sheets/computer files should include for each of your sources:

Abbreviated subject heading: Include two or three words to remind you of what this sources is about (this shorthand categorization is essential for the later sorting of your sources).

Complete bibliographic citation:

• author, title, publisher, copyright date, and page numbers for published works
• box and folder numbers and document descriptions for archival sources
• complete web page title, author, address, and date accessed for online sources

Notes on facts, quotations, and arguments: Depending on the type of source you’re using, the content of your notes will vary. If, for example, you’re using US Census data, then you’ll mainly be writing down statistics and numbers. If you’re looking at someone else’s diary, you might jot down a number of quotations that illustrate the subject’s feelings and perspectives. If you’re looking at a secondary source, you’ll want to make note not just of factual information provided by the author but also of their key arguments.

Your interpretation of the source: This is the most important part of note-taking. Don’t just record facts. Go ahead and take a stab at interpreting them. As historians Jacques Barzun and Henry F. Graff insist, “A note is a thought.” So what do these thoughts entail? Ask yourself questions about the context and significance of each source.

Interpreting the context of a source:

• Who wrote/created the source?
• When, and under what circumstances, was it written/created?
• Why was it written/created? What was the agenda behind the source?
• How was it written/created?
• If using a secondary source: How does it speak to other scholarship in the field?

Interpreting the significance of a source:

• How does this source answer (or complicate) my guiding research questions?
• Does it pose new questions for my project? What are they?
• Does it challenge my fundamental argument? If so, how?
• Given the source’s context, how reliable is it?

You don’t need to answer all of these questions for each source, but you should set a goal of engaging in at least one or two sentences of thoughtful, interpretative writing for each source. If you do so, you’ll make much easier the next task that awaits you: drafting.

The dread of drafting

Why do we often dread drafting? We dread drafting because it requires synthesis, one of the more difficult forms of thinking and interpretation. If you’ve been free-writing and taking thoughtful notes during the research phase of your project, then the drafting should be far less painful. Here are some tips on how to get started:

Sort your “evidence” or research into analytical categories:

• Some people file note cards into categories.
• The technologically-oriented among us take notes using computer database programs that have built-in sorting mechanisms.
• Others cut and paste evidence into detailed outlines on their computer.
• Still others stack books, notes, and photocopies into topically-arranged piles.There is not a single right way, but this step—in some form or fashion—is essential!

If you’ve been forcing yourself to put subject headings on your notes as you go along, you’ll have generated a number of important analytical categories. Now, you need to refine those categories and sort your evidence. Everyone has a different “sorting style.”

Formulate working arguments for your entire thesis and individual chapters. Once you’ve sorted your evidence, you need to spend some time thinking about your project’s “big picture.” You need to be able to answer two questions in specific terms:

• What is the overall argument of my thesis?
• What are the sub-arguments of each chapter and how do they relate to my main argument?

Keep in mind that “working arguments” may change after you start writing. But a senior thesis is big and potentially unwieldy. If you leave this business of argument to chance, you may end up with a tangle of ideas. See our handout on arguments and handout on thesis statements for some general advice on formulating arguments.

Divide your thesis into manageable chunks. The surest road to frustration at this stage is getting obsessed with the big picture. What? Didn’t we just say that you needed to focus on the big picture? Yes, by all means, yes. You do need to focus on the big picture in order to get a conceptual handle on your project, but you also need to break your thesis down into manageable chunks of writing. For example, take a small stack of note cards and flesh them out on paper. Or write through one point on a chapter outline. Those small bits of prose will add up quickly.

Just start! Even if it’s not at the beginning. Are you having trouble writing those first few pages of your chapter? Sometimes the introduction is the toughest place to start. You should have a rough idea of your overall argument before you begin writing one of the main chapters, but you might find it easier to start writing in the middle of a chapter of somewhere other than word one. Grab hold where you evidence is strongest and your ideas are clearest.

Keep up the momentum! Assuming the first draft won’t be your last draft, try to get your thoughts on paper without spending too much time fussing over minor stylistic concerns. At the drafting stage, it’s all about getting those ideas on paper. Once that task is done, you can turn your attention to revising.

Peter Elbow, in Writing With Power, suggests that writing is difficult because it requires two conflicting tasks: creating and criticizing. While these two tasks are intimately intertwined, the drafting stage focuses on creating, while revising requires criticizing. If you leave your revising to the last minute, then you’ve left out a crucial stage of the writing process. See our handout for some general tips on revising . The challenges of revising an honors thesis may include:

Juggling feedback from multiple readers

A senior thesis may mark the first time that you have had to juggle feedback from a wide range of readers:

• your adviser
• a second (and sometimes third) faculty reader
• the professor and students in your honors thesis seminar

You may feel overwhelmed by the prospect of incorporating all this advice. Keep in mind that some advice is better than others. You will probably want to take most seriously the advice of your adviser since they carry the most weight in giving your project a stamp of approval. But sometimes your adviser may give you more advice than you can digest. If so, don’t be afraid to approach them—in a polite and cooperative spirit, of course—and ask for some help in prioritizing that advice. See our handout for some tips on getting and receiving feedback .

Refining your argument

It’s especially easy in writing a lengthy work to lose sight of your main ideas. So spend some time after you’ve drafted to go back and clarify your overall argument and the individual chapter arguments and make sure they match the evidence you present.

Organizing and reorganizing

Again, in writing a 50-75 page thesis, things can get jumbled. You may find it particularly helpful to make a “reverse outline” of each of your chapters. That will help you to see the big sections in your work and move things around so there’s a logical flow of ideas. See our handout on  organization  for more organizational suggestions and tips on making a reverse outline

Plugging in holes in your evidence

It’s unlikely that you anticipated everything you needed to look up before you drafted your thesis. Save some time at the revising stage to plug in the holes in your research. Make sure that you have both primary and secondary evidence to support and contextualize your main ideas.

Saving time for the small stuff

Even though your argument, evidence, and organization are most important, leave plenty of time to polish your prose. At this point, you’ve spent a very long time on your thesis. Don’t let minor blemishes (misspellings and incorrect grammar) distract your readers!

Formatting and final touches

You’re almost done! You’ve researched, drafted, and revised your thesis; now you need to take care of those pesky little formatting matters. An honors thesis should replicate—on a smaller scale—the appearance of a dissertation or master’s thesis. So, you need to include the “trappings” of a formal piece of academic work. For specific questions on formatting matters, check with your department to see if it has a style guide that you should use. For general formatting guidelines, consult the Graduate School’s Guide to Dissertations and Theses . Keeping in mind the caveat that you should always check with your department first about its stylistic guidelines, here’s a brief overview of the final “finishing touches” that you’ll need to put on your honors thesis:

• Honors Thesis
• Name of Department
• University of North Carolina
• These parts of the thesis will vary in format depending on whether your discipline uses MLA, APA, CBE, or Chicago (also known in its shortened version as Turabian) style. Whichever style you’re using, stick to the rules and be consistent. It might be helpful to buy an appropriate style guide. Or consult the UNC LibrariesYear Citations/footnotes and works cited/reference pages  citation tutorial
• In addition, in the bottom left corner, you need to leave space for your adviser and faculty readers to sign their names. For example:

Approved by: _____________________

Adviser: Prof. Jane Doe

• This is not a required component of an honors thesis. However, if you want to thank particular librarians, archivists, interviewees, and advisers, here’s the place to do it. You should include an acknowledgments page if you received a grant from the university or an outside agency that supported your research. It’s a good idea to acknowledge folks who helped you with a major project, but do not feel the need to go overboard with copious and flowery expressions of gratitude. You can—and should—always write additional thank-you notes to people who gave you assistance.
• Formatted much like the table of contents.
• You’ll need to save this until the end, because it needs to reflect your final pagination. Once you’ve made all changes to the body of the thesis, then type up your table of contents with the titles of each section aligned on the left and the page numbers on which those sections begin flush right.
• Each page of your thesis needs a number, although not all page numbers are displayed. All pages that precede the first page of the main text (i.e., your introduction or chapter one) are numbered with small roman numerals (i, ii, iii, iv, v, etc.). All pages thereafter use Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.).
• Your text should be double spaced (except, in some cases, long excerpts of quoted material), in a 12 point font and a standard font style (e.g., Times New Roman). An honors thesis isn’t the place to experiment with funky fonts—they won’t enhance your work, they’ll only distract your readers.
• In general, leave a one-inch inch margin on all sides. However, for the copy of your thesis that will be bound by the library, you need to leave a 1.25-inch margin on the left.

How do I defend my honors thesis?

Graciously, enthusiastically, and confidently. The term defense is scary and misleading—it conjures up images of a military exercise or an athletic maneuver. An academic defense ideally shouldn’t be a combative scene but a congenial conversation about the work’s merits and weaknesses. That said, the defense probably won’t be like the average conversation that you have with your friends. You’ll be the center of attention. And you may get some challenging questions. Thus, it’s a good idea to spend some time preparing yourself. First of all, you’ll want to prepare 5-10 minutes of opening comments. Here’s a good time to preempt some criticisms by frankly acknowledging what you think your work’s greatest strengths and weaknesses are. Then you may be asked some typical questions:

• What is the main argument of your thesis?
• How does it fit in with the work of Ms. Famous Scholar?
• Have you read the work of Mr. Important Author?

NOTE: Don’t get too flustered if you haven’t! Most scholars have their favorite authors and books and may bring one or more of them up, even if the person or book is only tangentially related to the topic at hand. Should you get this question, answer honestly and simply jot down the title or the author’s name for future reference. No one expects you to have read everything that’s out there.

• Why did you choose this particular case study to explore your topic?
• If you were to expand this project in graduate school, how would you do so?

Should you get some biting criticism of your work, try not to get defensive. Yes, this is a defense, but you’ll probably only fan the flames if you lose your cool. Keep in mind that all academic work has flaws or weaknesses, and you can be sure that your professors have received criticisms of their own work. It’s part of the academic enterprise. Accept criticism graciously and learn from it. If you receive criticism that is unfair, stand up for yourself confidently, but in a good spirit. Above all, try to have fun! A defense is a rare opportunity to have eminent scholars in your field focus on YOU and your ideas and work. And the defense marks the end of a long and arduous journey. You have every right to be proud of your accomplishments!

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Atchity, Kenneth. 1986. A Writer’s Time: A Guide to the Creative Process from Vision Through Revision . New York: W.W. Norton.

Barzun, Jacques, and Henry F. Graff. 2012. The Modern Researcher , 6th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Elbow, Peter. 1998. Writing With Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process . New York: Oxford University Press.

Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein. 2014. “They Say/I Say”: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing , 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton and Company.

Lamott, Anne. 1994. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life . New York: Pantheon.

Lasch, Christopher. 2002. Plain Style: A Guide to Written English. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Turabian, Kate. 2018. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, Dissertations , 9th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Honors Thesis Guide

An honors thesis is required of all students graduating with any level of Latin honors. It is an excellent opportunity for undergraduates to define and investigate a topic in depth, and to complete an extended written reflection of their results & understanding. The work leading to the thesis is excellent preparation for graduate & professional school or the workplace.

Important Dates and Deadlines

Thesis Database

The thesis database is a searchable collection of over 6,000 theses, with direct access to more than 4,000 full-text theses in PDF format. The database—fully searchable by discipline, keyword, level of Latin Honors, and more—is available for student use in the UHP Office, 8am–4:30pm, Monday–Friday.

Thesis Forms & Documents

• Thesis Title Page template
• Thesis work is reported using the "Thesis Proposal" and "Thesis Completion"  found in the Honors Reporting Center.

+ Sample Timeline

Plan ahead! Developing a project, completing research or creative work, and writing your thesis will be a year-long effort at a minimum. Consult with your honors advisor and honors faculty representative to determine a timeline that is appropriate for you.

Freshman & Sophomore Years

• Explore major options; meet with faculty teaching your courses
• Ask faculty and advisors about research opportunities in your department
• Get involved in research to develop topics of interest

Junior Year

• Discuss thesis options with appropriate faculty
• Select a faculty supervisor and additional readers (if required)
• Review current literature
• Define your thesis topic
• Begin (or continue) thesis research

Senior Year, fall 

• Submit your Thesis Proposal form  by the established deadline  using the  Honors Reporting Center.
• Finish thesis research
• Establish a comprehensive outline to inform your preliminary draft
• Submit a preliminary draft to your faculty supervisor

Senior Year, spring

• Please consult your faculty supervisor for discipline-specific guidelines
• Submit final draft to supervisor and readers  by the established deadline.
• Submit revised draft to committee and arrange public presentation (if presentation is required by your department)  by the established deadline.
• Submit your Thesis Completion  by the established deadline  using the  Honors Reporting Center.
• Submit PDF copy of thesis according to  submission guidelines .

+ Requirements and Evaluation Criteria

Whatever form it takes, the purposes of the Honors Thesis are many—all of which develop skills that will serve our students well after graduation. The Honors Thesis must go above and beyond any project done for a course other than thesis or directed-studies/independent-studies courses. It may expand upon a term paper written for a course, but may not simply be a repurposed project completed for another course or requirement. The Honors Thesis must demonstrate that the student:

• Has developed excellent writing skills;
• Understands the project's relevance to the field of study and/or to society;
• Is able to apply theories and methods of research, analysis, or interpretation, or artistic techniques as appropriate to the field;
• Has cited appropriate sources;
• Is able to critically examine the work of other scholars or artists and relate that work to the thesis;
• Has contributed original research, ideas, knowledge, interpretations, or creative expression at a level appropriate for undergraduate study, such that the thesis goes beyond describing existing work;
• Has the ability to digest pre-existing work, present and summarize it succinctly, and, hence, articulate the context in which the student’s new work is situated;
• Has the ability to propose an idea in brief (i.e., the thesis proposal), and then bring that idea to fruition within a given timeline;
• Has the ability to present writing or recordings whose quality and polish are at a publishable or public-presentation level (even if the data, research, or ideas are still at a preliminary level);
• Has the ability to present ideas clearly and compellingly to an audience of non-specialists;
• Has the ability to go beyond programmatic or major capstone requirements for non-UHP students.

Moreover, a summa cum laude Honors Thesis must also demonstrate:

• The ability to do original (i.e., not an extended literature review or synopsis of previous work), highest-quality work;
• The ability to meet department- or program-specific stipulations for summa-level thesis work, as defined on our Major and Thesis Requirements page.

Supervision and Approval

All Honors Theses require approval by a committee of three members—the main thesis advisor and two other readers. One of the three members (not necessarily the main thesis advisor) must be a tenured or tenure-track faculty member in the student's home department. Other members may be tenured, tenure-track, contract, affiliate, adjunct, emeritus, and/or P&A faculty members at the University of Minnesota. Faculty members from other institutions, graduate students, and community members with expertise relevant to the student's topic may serve on the committee if approved by the departmental  Honors Faculty Representative (listed by major) and by UHP. The process for approval is for the Honors Faculty Representative to email UHP's director to explain in a couple of sentences the potential committee member's qualifications, and to then receive approval from the director.

+ Supervision and Approval

All Honors Theses require approval by a committee of three members—the main thesis advisor and two other readers. One of the three members (not necessarily the main thesis advisor) must be a tenured or tenure-track faculty member in the student's home department. Other members may be tenured, tenure-track, contract, affiliate, adjunct, emeritus, and/or P&A faculty members at the University of Minnesota. Faculty members from other institutions, graduate students, and community members with expertise relevant to the student's topic may serve on the committee if approved by the departmental  Honors Faculty Representative  and by UHP. The process for approval is for the Honors Faculty Representative to email UHP's director to explain in a couple of sentences the potential committee member's qualifications, and to then receive approval from the director.

Summa cum laude  theses require students to go above and beyond the requirements for cum laude and magna cum laude theses. The specifics for the students major may be found on our  Major and Thesis Requirements page.

+ Credit and Honors Experience

All students are required to take a classroom-based, Honors Thesis support course of at least one credit, one semester. Many majors and colleges provide such courses. UHP also provides HCol 3101H every spring and HCol 3102H every fall. You can find the required thesis coursework for your major on our  Major and Thesis Requirements page . If the student's major or college offers an Honors Thesis course, taking a different course in lieu of this one requires approval of the Honors Faculty Representative. Completing the approved course with a passing grade fulfills the Honors Thesis course requirement. Additional thesis courses marked with an H or V may count as Honors courses if they comprise 2 or more credits. Additional research activity, whether recognized with credit or not,  may count as a non-course experience.

+ Style and Formatting

Style guides.

When preparing your honors thesis and citing sources, follow the style guide that is most appropriate to your field of study. For example:

• Modern Language Association (MLA) style - common in the humanities
• American Psychological Association (APA) style - common in the social sciences
• Chicago style - common in history

Check with your faculty supervisor before choosing a style. Style and citation resources are available from  the University Libraries .

The following formatting parameters should be strictly followed in most cases. However, certain types of theses, such as collections of poetry, may vary from these guidelines if necessary to the integrity of the work, with the faculty supervisor's assent.

• Margins:  at least 1" on all sides
• Type size:  no smaller than 11 point; 12 point preferred; a smaller font may be used for footnotes or end notes
• Font:  use a standard, easily-readable font, such as Times New Roman
• Spacing:  double space all main text

Sections of the thesis include (and should be sequenced as follows):

• Title Page:  Prepared according to the  thesis title page template
• Acknowledgements  (optional)
• Abstract or Summary:  No more than one double-spaced page. For thesis projects in the creative and performing arts, the summary must provide specifics about the exhibition or performance that the written thesis complements.
• Non-technical Summary:  (optional) recommended in cases where the abstract and thesis are too highly technical to be easily understood by non-specialists
• Table of Contents  (optional)
• Body of the Thesis
• Appendices  (optional)
• Bibliography or List of Works Cited

+ Thesis Submission

By the last day of final examinations in the semester in which you are graduating, you must:

• Submit your final thesis in  PDF format  via the "Thesis Completion" WorkflowGen process in the  Honors Reporting Center

How to Create a PDF Document

• On a Mac:  From the print dialog, select the PDF option from the lower left-hand corner. Or, from Microsoft Word, select "Save As" and change the format to PDF.
• On a Windows PC:  From Microsoft Word, select "Save As" and change the file type to PDF.

Combine Multiple PDFs

Your thesis should be submitted as one singular file. Multiple PDF documents can be combined using Adobe Acrobat Pro (available in most campus computer labs). You can also use a free online tool such as  SmallPDF.

Please note: the thesis completion form should not be included in this file.

Non-Electronic Documents

Non-electronic portions of your thesis should be scanned and included as part of your PDF. Scanners are available at the University computer labs in Coffman Memorial Union, Humphrey Center, McNeal Hall, and Walter Library.

+ Publication

The  University Digital Conservancy  provides permanent online access to academic works produced at the University. Benefits of placing your thesis in the conservancy include:

• Free, public accessibility
• Long-term storage and preservation
• Improved rankings in search engine results
• A direct, public URL for reference in resumes, applications, CVs, etc.

Submission Process

To have your honors thesis placed in the Digital Conservancy, you must submit the following forms to the honors office:

• a signed copy of the  Digital Conservancy Deposit Agreement
• a  Digital Conservancy Agreement Addendum  signed by your faculty thesis advisor. At the discretion of your thesis advisor, signatures of additional readers or research contributors may be required.

After receiving these forms, the honors program will submit your thesis to the Digital Conservancy within a few months. Upon submission, you will receive instructions on how to access the digital copy of your thesis.

Further Submission Considerations

You may not want to submit your honors thesis to the conservancy if it:

• Contains sensitive data or information about potentially patentable inventions
• Is something you may want to commercially publish
• Involved other authors, collaborators, or advisors who have not granted their permission for you to submit.

View the  Digital Conservancy Policies and Guidelines  for more information.

+ What if I choose not to submit my thesis in the Digital Conservancy?

The University Honors Program will keep an electronic copy of your thesis in our internal thesis database. It will not be available publicly or on the Internet.

+ Will choosing not to submit affect the approval and/or grade of my thesis?

No. Submitting your thesis to the conservancy is completely optional and has no bearing on grades, the acceptance of your thesis, or your graduation.

+ Will submitting my thesis affect my ability to publish it elsewhere?

It might. Some academic journals have policies against publishing previously printed or archived work. Consult your thesis advisor or the honors office if you have questions about this.

+ Who holds the copyright to my thesis?

Your work will be protected by U.S. copyright law to the same extent it would be if it were on a shelf in the library or University archives. The deposit agreement gives University Libraries rights to store, preserve, and make your work available to the public, but you still hold the rights to publish and distribute it as you see fit.

+ What if my thesis includes images, videos, or other non-PDF materials?

Materials in formats other than PDF may be submitted to the Digital Conservancy; however, the level of preservation support provided for such works varies. To learn more,  view the conservancy’s preservation policy .

+ Can my thesis be removed from the Digital Conservancy if I change my mind later?

No. If you are in doubt, you may want to consider not submitting your thesis to the conservancy.

A Distinctive Achievement Honors Thesis

As a Schreyer Scholar, you are required to complete an undergraduate honors thesis as the culmination of your honors experience. The goal of the thesis is to demonstrate a command of relevant scholastic work and to make a personal contribution to that scholarship.

Your thesis project can take many forms — from laboratory experiments all the way to artistic creations. Your thesis document captures the relevant background, methods, and techniques and describes the details of the completion of the individual project.

Two Penn State faculty members evaluate and approve your thesis — a thesis supervisor and an honors adviser in your area of honors.

Planning is Key Project Guide

The thesis is, by design, your most ambitious undertaking as a Scholar.

A successful thesis requires a viable proposal, goal-setting, time management, and interpersonal skills on top of the disciplinary skills associated with your intended area of honors. This guide will walk you through the thesis process. Keep in mind, though, that your honors adviser and thesis supervisor are your key resources.

Planning A Thesis

An ideal thesis project should:

• Satisfy your intellectual curiosity
• Give you the opportunity to work closely with faculty
• Develop transferable skills
• Clarify your post-graduation plans

The single biggest factor in determining thesis quality is your level of interest in and engagement with the topic, so consider multiple possibilities rather than selecting the first one that seems attractive to you.

From the perspective of the Schreyer Honors College, the purpose of the thesis experience is to develop your intellectual and professional identity in the field and to help you think about your future.

Once complete, the purpose of the thesis is to advance knowledge, understanding, or creative value in its field.

Lab-Based Research Fields

We recommend avoiding the temptation to stick with your first lab placement merely out of convenience if the topic is not interesting to you. The quality of your thesis is truly dependent on the depth of your interest and the energy behind your curiosity. Your intellectual engagement is the thing that will carry you through what may at times feel like a long and sometimes difficult process.

A Thesis Needs A Thesis

A thesis is problem-oriented and identifies something of importance whose answer or best interpretation is not fully known or agreed-upon by people who make their careers in the field, and it proceeds towards the answer or best interpretation. Even with a creative or performance thesis, the purpose is not to demonstrate technical ability (writing, painting, acting, composing, etc.), but to express something you think is worth expressing and hasn't been fully expressed already.

Identifying a Topic

An interest can come from anywhere, but the problem that defines a thesis can only come from a thorough acquaintance with "the literature," the accumulated knowledge or creative value in your field.

By speaking with faculty (preferably more than one) and reading professional journals (again, more than one), you not only get a "crowd-sourced" sense of what is important, you also get a sense of what the open questions are. This is where you start to strike a balance between ambition and feasibility.

Feasibility & Realistic Ambition

You might want to come up with the definitive explanation for Rome's decline and fall, or the cure for cancer. There is strong evidence — several thousand prior theses — that your honors thesis will not accomplish anything on that scale. This realization might be disheartening, but it is an introduction to the reality of modern scholarship: Knowledge almost always moves incrementally and the individual units of knowledge production and dissemination (theses, journal articles, books, etc.) are only rarely revolutionary in isolation. This is part of what the thesis experience will test for you — whether or not you want to continue via graduate school in that kind of slow-moving enterprise.

The feasibility of a given thesis problem is bounded, as mathematicians might say, by several factors.

The honors thesis should not extend your time at Penn State by design. There are circumstances where you might defer graduation to complete your thesis, but that should not be your initial plan.

Resources are a potential issue in that even a comprehensive and well-funded university like Penn State does not have the physical infrastructure for every possible kind of research. The expense of ambitious off-campus research, such as a comparative study requiring visits to several countries, can easily exceed our funding abilities. If you expect to incur more than $300 in expenses, you should get commitments from your department and academic college before proceeding.

Proposal, Supervisor & Area of Honors

Thesis proposal.

The thesis proposal is due at the end of your third year, assuming you're on a four-year path to graduation. File your Thesis Proposal with the Schreyer Honors College via the Student Records System (SRS) . The end-of-third-year requirement is from the Honors College, but your major may expect a much earlier commitment so be sure to talk to your honors adviser as early as your second year about this. The thesis proposal needs the following things:

• Supervision
• A Working Title
• Purpose/Objective
• Intended Outcome
• Project Interest
• Will your thesis satisfy other requirements?
• Does your thesis involve working with human, animals, or biohazardous materials or radioactive isotopes?

The Honors College staff does not review the content of the proposal, so the intended audience is your thesis supervisor and the honors adviser in your intended area of honors.

Thesis Supervisor

Your thesis supervisor is the professor who has primary responsibility for supervising your thesis.

Ideally your thesis supervisor will be the single most appropriate person for your thesis in the whole university, or at least at your whole campus, in terms of specialization and, where relevant, resources. How far you can stray from that ideal depends on the nature of the thesis. If specific lab resources are needed then you cannot stray too far, but if general intellectual mentoring is the extent of the required supervision then you have more flexibility, including the flexibility to choose a topic that does not align closely with the supervisor's specialization.

Apart from a professor being unavailable for or declining your project, the biggest reason to consider bypassing the "single most appropriate person" is that you have doubts about whether you would get along with them. Do not put too much stock in second-hand information about a professor, but if after meeting him or her you have concerns then you should certainly consider continuing your search.

Area of Honors

Thesis honors adviser.

An honors adviser from the area in which you are pursuing honors must read and approve your thesis. If the thesis supervisor and thesis honors adviser are the same person, you must find a second eligible faculty member from your area of honors to read and approve your thesis.

Multiple Majors

If you have more than one major, you can do the following:

• Pick one major and write a thesis for honors solely in that major
• Pick a topic that can legitimately earn honors in both majors. This will be considered interdisciplinary .
• Write multiple theses, one for honors in each major

The first scenario is the most common, followed by the second depending on how closely related the majors are. You can also pick a non-major area of honors.

Second- and Third-Year Entrants (including Paterno Fellows)

If you were admitted to the Honors College after your first year or via the Liberal Arts Paterno Fellows program, you are expected to write your thesis for honors in your entrance major. You do have the right to pursue honors elsewhere, for instance in a concurrent major for which you were not admitted to the Honors College, but there is no guarantee of approval.

Topic, Not Professor

Typically, the area of honors suggested by the topic aligns with the professor's affiliation, as when you seek honors in history based on a history thesis supervised by a professor of history. But if the supervisor happens to be a professor of literature, you are still able to pursue honors in history based on the substance and methodology of the thesis.

This is especially worth remembering in the life sciences, where faculty expertise is spread among many different departments and colleges. As always, the honors adviser in the intended area of honors is the gatekeeper for whether a given thesis topic and supervisor are acceptable.

From Proposal to Thesis

Timetable & benchmarks.

The thesis proposal does not require a timetable, but you and your supervisor should have a clear idea of how much you should accomplish on a monthly basis all the way through completion. Not all of those monthly benchmarks will be actual written work; for many Schreyer Scholars the write-up will not come until toward the end. If you fall behind during the earlier part of the thesis timeline, it will be difficult if not impossible to make up that ground later.

Regular Meetings with Your Thesis Supervisor

You should take proactive steps against procrastination by making yourself accountable to someone other than yourself. Scheduling regular meetings (or e-mailing regular updates) with your thesis supervisor — even if you are working in the same lab routinely — is the best way to do that. You should also regularly update your thesis honors adviser.

Think ahead, preferably well before the time of your thesis proposal, about what your thesis work will mean for your fourth-year schedule. This is especially important if you have a significant capstone requirement like student teaching for education majors, or if you expect to do a lot of job interviews or graduate/professional school visits.

There are many reasons to plan to include the summer between third and fourth year in your research timeline: those mentioned above, plus the benefit of devoting yourself full-time to the thesis, whether it is in a lab on campus or in the field. Funding opportunities for full-time summer thesis research include Schreyer Honors College grants , the Erickson Undergraduate Education Discovery Grant , and funding via your thesis supervisor (especially in the sciences and engineering).

Department & College Thesis Guides

In addition to this guide, many departments and colleges have thesis guides with important information about their deadlines and expectations. If you do not see your college or department listed, consult with your honors adviser.

• College of Agricultural Sciences
• Smeal College of Business
• Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications
• Aerospace Engineering
• Biomedical Engineering
• Chemical Engineering
• Biobehavioral Health
• Communication Sciences and Disorders
• Hospitality Management
• Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management
• College of Information Sciences and Technology
• Comparative Literature
• Germanic & Slavic Languages and Literatures
• Global & International Studies
• Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
• College of Nursing
• Astronomy & Astrophysics: Thesis 1
• Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
• Chemistry: Thesis 1 | Thesis 2 | Thesis 3
• Mathematics: Thesis 1 | Thesis 2 | Thesis 3 | Thesis 4 | Thesis 5 | Thesis 6

Follow the Template Formatting Guide

The formatting requirements in this guide apply to all Schreyer Honors theses. Please follow the thesis templates provided below:

Information about using LaTeX is available from the University Libraries .

Formatting Requirements

Fonts & color.

All text should use the Times New Roman font.

Reduced type may be used within tables, figures, and appendices, but font size should be at least 11-point in size and must be completely legible.

The majority of your thesis document should be in black font, however, color is permissible in figures, tables, links, etc.

Organization

Begin each section on a new page. Do the same with each element of the front matter, the reference section, and the appendix.

Try to avoid typing a heading near the bottom of a page unless there is room for at least two lines of text following the heading. Instead you should simply leave a little extra space on the page and begin the heading on the next page.

If you wish you use a "display" page (a page that shows only the chapter title) at the beginning of chapters or appendices, be sure to do so consistently and to count the display page when numbering the pages.

Page Numbers

Excluding the title page, every page in the document, including those with tables and figures, must be counted. Use lower case Roman numerals for the front matter and Arabic numbers for the text. The text (or body) of the thesis must begin on page 1. Follow the template provided at the top of this section.

Use the template provided as a pattern for creating your title page. Be sure all faculty members are identified by their correct professional titles. Check with the department for current information. Do not use such designations as "PhD" or "Dr." on the title page. (Ex. John Smith, Professor of English, Thesis Supervisor).

Electronic Approvals

Please submit your final thesis to your Thesis Supervisor and Thesis Honors Adviser at least two weeks prior to the final submission due date to allow them ample time for review and suggested changes. Also, please communicate with your professors to find out their schedule and preferred amount of time to review your thesis. Once your thesis is submitted, your committee will review the thesis one last time before giving their final approval.

Number of Approvals

A minimum of two approvals is required on each thesis. If one of the approvers has a dual role (e.g. Thesis Supervisor and Honors Adviser), then list both roles under the professional title. Do not list the same person twice. If the sharing of roles leaves you with fewer than the required number of approvals, an additional approver must be added (Faculty Reader).

Professional Titles

Be sure to identify all faculty by their correct professional titles. Check with the department for current information. Do not use such designations as "PhD" or "Dr." on the title page.

This is a one-paragraph summary of the content of your thesis that identifies concisely the content of the thesis manuscript and important results of your project. Some students like to think of it as an advertisement — i.e., when someone finishes reading it, they should want to examine the rest of your work. Keep it short and include the most interesting points.

The abstract follows the title page, must have the heading ABSTRACT at the top, and is always page Roman number i. There is no restriction on the length of the abstract, but it is usually no longer than one page.

Table of Contents

The table of contents is essentially a topic outline of the thesis and it is compiled by listing the headings in the thesis. You may choose to include first-level headings, first- and second-levels, or all levels. Keep in mind there usually is no index in a thesis, and thus a fairly detailed table of contents can serve as a useful guide for the reader. The table of contents must appear immediately after the abstract and should not list the abstract, the table of contents itself, or the vita.

Be sure the headings listed in the table of contents match word-for-word the headings in the text. Double check to be sure the page numbers are shown. In listing appendices, indicate the title of each appendix. If using display pages, the number of the display page should appear in the table of contents.

Formatting Final Touches

An honors thesis manuscript should replicate the appearance of professional writing in your discipline. Include the elements of a formal piece of academic work accordingly. For specific questions on organization or labeling, check with your thesis supervisor to see if there is a style guide you should use.

Acknowledgements (Optional)

Acknowledgements are not a required component of an honors thesis, but if you want to thank particular colleagues, faculty, librarians, archivists, interviewees, and advisers, here's the place to do it. You should include an acknowledgements page if you received a grant from the University or an outside agency that supported your research.

Tables & Figures

A table is a columnar arrangement of information, often numbers, organized to save space and convey relationships at a glance. A rule of thumb to use in deciding whether given materials are tables or figures is that tables can be typed, but figures must be drawn.

A figure is a graphic illustration such as a chart, graph, diagram, map, or photograph.

Please be sure to insert your table or figure. Do not copy and paste. Once the figure or table is inserted, you right click on it to apply the appropriate label. Afterwards, return to the list of tables or list of figures page, right click on the list, and "update table (entire table)" and the page will automatically hyperlink.

Captions & Numbering

Each table and each figure in the text must have a number and caption. Number them consecutively throughout, beginning with 1, or by chapter using a decimal system.

Style Guides

These parts of the thesis will vary in format depending on the style guide you are following. Your discipline will use a consistent style guide, such as MLA, APA, CBE, or Chicago. Whichever style you are using, stick to the rules and be consistent.

Appendices (Optional)

Material that is pertinent but is somewhat tangential or very detailed (raw data, procedural explanations, etc.) may be placed in an appendix. Appendices should be designated A, B, C (not 1, 2, 3 or I, II, III). If there is only one appendix, call it simply Appendix, not Appendix A. Titles of appendices must be listed in the table of contents. Appendix pages must be numbered consecutively with the text of the thesis (do not number the page A-1, A-2, etc.).

Bibliography/References (Optional)

A thesis can include a bibliography or reference section listing all works that are referred to in the text, and in some cases other works also consulted in the course of research and writing. This section may either precede or follow the appendices (if any), or may appear at the end of each chapter. Usually a single section is more convenient and useful for both author and reader.

The forms used for listing sources in the bibliography/reference section are detailed and complicated, and they vary considerably among academic disciplines. For this reason, you will need to follow a scholarly style manual in your field or perhaps a recent issue of a leading journal as a guide in compiling this section of the thesis.

Academic Vita (Optional)

The academic vita is optional, must be the last page of the document, and is not given a page number or listed in the table of contents. The title — Academic Vita — and the author's name should appear at the top. A standard outline style or a prose form may be used. The vita should be similar to a resume. Do not include your GPA and personal information.

The Final Step Submission Guide

Once your final thesis is approved by your thesis supervisor and honors adviser, you may submit the thesis electronically. This guide will provide the details on how to submit your thesis.

Access Levels for Honors Thesis

Open access.

Your electronic thesis is available to anyone who wishes to access it on the web unless you request restricted access. Open access distribution makes the work more widely available than a bound copy on a library shelf.

Restricted Access (Penn State Only)

Access restricted to individuals having a valid Penn State Access Account, for a period of two years. Allows restricted access of the entire work beginning immediately after degree conferral. At the end of the two-year period, the status will automatically change to Open Access. Intended for use by authors in cases where prior public release of the work may compromise its acceptance for publication.

This option secures the body of the thesis for a period of two years. Selection of this option required that an invention disclosure (ID) be filed with the Office of Technology Management (OTM) prior to submission of the final honors thesis and confirmed by OTM. At the end of the two-year period, the work will be released automatically for Open Access unless a written request is made to extend this option for an additional year. The written request for an extension should be sent 30 days prior to the end of the two-year period to the Schreyer Honors College, 10 Schreyer Honors College, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, or by e-mail to [email protected] . Please note: No one will be able to view your work under this option.

Submission Requirements

Electronic submission of the final honors thesis became a requirement in spring semester of 2010. Both the mandatory draft submission and the final copy must be submitted online.

The "official" copy of the honors thesis is the electronic file (eHT), and this is the copy that will be on file with the University Libraries. Electronic submission does not prevent the author from producing hard copies for the department or for personal use. All copies are the responsibility of the author and should be made prior to submission. The Schreyer Honors College does not provide copies.

How to Submit

In order to submit your thesis, you must upload a draft in PDF format to the Electronic Honors Thesis (eHT) website .

What/When to Upload

• The initial submission, the Thesis Format Review, should be the textual thesis only and should be in a single PDF file (it may include image files such as TIFFs or JPEGs)
• The recommended file naming convention is Last_First_Title.pdf
• Failure to submit the Format Review by the deadline will result in removal from the honors graduation checklist. If this occurs, you must either defer graduation or withdraw/be dismissed from the Honors College

Uploading Video, Audio or Large Images

If your thesis content is such that you feel you need to upload content other than text to properly represent your work, upload the textual portion of your thesis first as a single, standalone PDF file. Then, add additional files for any other content as separate uploads.

If the majority of your thesis work is a multimedia presentation (video, slideshow, audio recording, etc.) you are required to upload these files in addition to your PDF.

Acceptable formats include:

Please do not upload any ZIP files. If uploading more than one file, keep individual file sizes for the supplementary material under 50 MB where possible. Large files will upload, but it may take a long time to download for future use.

Final Submission & Approval

Final submission.

In order to submit your final thesis:

• Refer to the thesis templates above to create your title page (no page number).
• Make sure you have correctly spelled "Schreyer Honors College".
• Be sure to include the department in which you are earning honors, your semester and year of graduation (Ex. Spring 2024, not May 2024), your thesis title and your name.
• List the name and professional title of your thesis supervisor and honors adviser (in the department granting honors). If your honors adviser and thesis supervisor are the same person, a second faculty reader signature from the department granting honors is required.
• Include your abstract following your title page (Roman numeral i).
• Make sure your thesis is saved in PDF format.
• Upload your final thesis on the eHT website .

Final Approval

When the final thesis is approved, the author and all committee members will be notified via e-mail of the approval. Your thesis will then be accessible on the eHT website within a month after graduation unless you have specified restricted access.

The honors women's studies class I'm taking right now is phenomenal. Every day I go to the class is really eye-opening. I don't know if I would have gotten that experience without being in Schreyer. Tara Golthi ' 20 Media Studies

Writing an Honors Thesis

An Honors Thesis is a substantial piece of independent research that an undergraduate carries out over two semesters. Students writing Honors Theses take PHIL 691H and 692H, in two different semesters. What follows answers all the most common questions about Honors Theses in Philosophy.

All necessary forms are fillable and downloadable.

Honors Thesis Application

Honors Thesis Contract

Honors Thesis Learning Contract

Who can write an Honors Thesis in Philosophy?

Any Philosophy major who has a total, cumulative GPA of at least 3.3 and a GPA of at least 3.5 (with a maximum of one course with a PS grade) among their PHIL courses can in principle write an Honors Thesis. In addition, students need to satisfy a set of specific pre-requisites, as outlined below.

What are the pre-requisites for an Honors Thesis in Philosophy?

The requirements for writing an Honors Thesis in Philosophy include

• having taken at least five PHIL courses, including two numbered higher than 299;
• having a total PHIL GPA of at least 3.5 (with a maximum of one course with a PS grade); and
• having done one of the following four things:
• taken and passed PHIL 397;
• successfully completed an Honors Contract associated with a PHIL course;
• received an A or A- in a 300-level course in the same area of philosophy as the proposed thesis ; or
• taken and passed a 400-level course in the same area of philosophy as the proposed thesis .

When should I get started?

You should get started with the application process and search for a prospective advisor the semester before you plan to start writing your thesis – that is, the semester before the one in which you want to take PHIL 691H.

Often, though not always, PHIL 691H and 692H are taken in the fall and spring semesters of the senior year, respectively. It is also possible to start earlier and take 691H in the spring semester of the junior year and PHIL 692H in the fall of the senior year. Starting earlier has some important advantages. One is that it means you will finish your thesis in time to use it as a writing sample, should you decide to apply to graduate school. Another is that it avoids a mad rush near the very end of your last semester.

How do I get started?

Step 1: fill out the honors thesis application.

The first thing you need to do is fill out an Honors Thesis Application   and submit it to the Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) for their approval.

Step 2: Find an Honors Thesis Advisor with the help of the DUS

Once you have been approved to write an Honors Thesis, you will consult with the DUS about the project that you have in mind and about which faculty member would be an appropriate advisor for your thesis. It is recommended that you reach out informally to prospective advisors to talk about their availability and interest in your project ahead of time, and that you include those suggestions in your application, but it is not until your application has been approved that the DUS will officially invite the faculty member of your choice to serve as your advisor. You will be included in this correspondence and will receive written confirmation from your prospective advisor.

Agreeing to be the advisor for an Honors Thesis is a major commitment, so bear in mind that there is a real possibility that someone asked to be your advisor will say no. Unfortunately, if we cannot find an advisor, you cannot write an Honors Thesis.

Step 3: Fill out the required paperwork needed to register for PHIL 691H

Finally, preferably one or two weeks before the start of classes (or as soon as you have secured the commitment of a faculty advisor), you need to fill out an Honors Thesis Contract  and an Honors Thesis Learning Contract , get them both signed by your advisor, and email them to the DUS.

Once the DUS approves both of these forms, they’ll get you registered for PHIL 691H. All of this should take place no later than the 5th day of classes in any given semester (preferably sooner).

What happens when I take PHIL 691H and PHIL 692H?

PHIL 691H and PHIL 692H are the course numbers that you sign up for to get credit for working on an Honors Thesis. These classes have official meeting times and places. In the case of PHIL 691H , those are a mere formality: You will meet with your advisor at times you both agree upon. But in the case of PHIL 692H , they are not a mere formality: The class will actually meet as a group, at least for the first few weeks of the semester (please see below).

When you take PHIL 691H, you should meet with your advisor during the first 5 days of classes and, if you have not done so already, fill out an Honors Thesis Learning Contract  and turn in to the Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) . This Contract will serve as your course syllabus and must be turned in and approved no later than the 5th day of classes in any given semester (preferably sooner). Once the DUS approves your Honors Thesis Learning Contract, they’ll get you registered for PHIL 691H.

Over the course of the semester, you will meet regularly with your advisor. By the last day of classes, you must turn in a 10-page paper on your thesis topic; this can turn out to be part of your final thesis, but it doesn’t have to. In order to continue working on an Honors Thesis the following semester, this paper must show promise of your ability to complete one, in the opinion of your advisor. Your advisor should assign you a grade of “ SP ” at the conclusion of the semester, signifying “satisfactory progress” (so you can move on to PHIL 692H). Please see page 3 of this document for more information.

When you take PHIL 692H, you’ll still need to work with your advisor to fill out an Honors Thesis Learning Contract . This Contract will serve as your course syllabus and must be turned in to and approved by the DUS  no later than the 5th day of classes in any given semester (preferably sooner).

Once the DUS approves your Honors Thesis Learning Contract, they’ll get you registered for PHIL 692H.

At the end of the second semester of senior honors thesis work (PHIL 692H), your advisor should assign you a permanent letter grade. Your advisor should also change your PHIL 691H grade from “ SP ” to a permanent letter grade. Please see page 3 of this document for more information.

The Graduate Course Option

If you and your advisor agree, you may exercise the Graduate Course Option. If you do this, then during the semester when you are enrolled in either PHIL 691H or PHIL 692H, you will attend and do the work for a graduate level PHIL course. (You won’t be officially enrolled in that course.) A paper you write for this course will be the basis for your Honors Thesis. If you exercise this option, then you will be excused from the other requirements of the thesis course (either 691H or 692H) that you are taking that semester.

Who can be my advisor?

Any faculty member on a longer-than-one-year contract in the Department of Philosophy may serve as your honors thesis advisor. You will eventually form a committee of three professors, of which one can be from outside the Department.  But your advisor must have an appointment in the Philosophy Department. Graduate Students are not eligible to advise Honors Theses.

Who should be my advisor?

Any faculty member on a longer-than-one-year contract in the Department of Philosophy may serve as your honors thesis advisor. It makes most sense to ask a professor who already knows you from having had you as a student in a class. In some cases, though, this is either not possible, or else there is someone on the faculty who is an expert on the topic you want to write about, but from whom you have not taken a class. Information about which faculty members are especially qualified to advise thesis projects in particular areas of philosophy can be found  here .

What about the defense?

You and your advisor should compose a committee of three professors (including the advisor) who will examine you and your thesis. Once the committee is composed, you will need to schedule an oral examination, a.k.a. a defense. You should take the initiative here, communicating with all members of your committee in an effort to find a block of time (a little over an hour) when all three of you can meet. The thesis must be defended by a deadline , set by Honors Carolina , which is usually a couple of weeks before the end of classes. Students are required to upload the final version of their thesis to the  Carolina Digital Repository  by the final day of class in the semester in which they complete the thesis course work and thesis defense.

What is an Honors Thesis in Philosophy like?

An Honors Thesis in Philosophy is a piece of writing in the same genre as a typical philosophy journal article. There is no specific length requirement, but 30 pages (double-spaced) is a good guideline. Some examples of successfully defended Honors The easiest way to find theses of past philosophy students is on the web in the Carolina Digital Repository . Some older, hard copies of theses are located on the bookshelf in suite 107 of Caldwell Hall. (You may ask the Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) , or anyone else who happens to be handy, to show you where it is!)

How does the Honors Thesis get evaluated?

The honors thesis committee will evaluate the quality and originality of your thesis as well as of your defense and then decides between the following three options:

• they may award only course credit for the thesis work if the thesis is of acceptable quality;
• they may designate that the student graduate with honors if the thesis is of a very strong quality;
• they may  recommend  that the student graduate with highest honors if the thesis is of exceptional quality.

As a matter of best practice, our philosophy department requires that examining committees refer all candidates for highest honors to our Undergraduate Committee chaired by the Director of Undergraduate Studies. This committee evaluates nominated projects and makes the final decision on awarding highest honors. Highest honors should be awarded only to students who have met the most rigorous standards of scholarly excellence.

Department of Economics

Honors thesis.

• Undergraduate

Junior year is the time to start thinking about eligibility requirements, topics of interest, and potential advisors for an honors thesis.

An Honors Info Session is held each spring to answer junior’s questions about their senior year, and interested students must fill out the  honors thesis form  by the end of junior year.

We strongly encourage students to write an honors thesis. This is very valuable for students interested in graduate school or careers requiring independent research skills, as well as for students interested in tying together their academic experience with an in-depth investigation of one topic.

More than a good course paper

An honors thesis is more than a good course paper. It must represent a substantial effort in research and exposition. A thesis must be an original contribution to knowledge, beyond a simple replication exercise. The department does not specify page lengths, methods, or topics. Instead, an honors thesis candidate should establish his or her goals – and a timeline to meet those goals – in an understanding with the thesis advisor. To see the range of topics and methods prior students have pursued, take a look at  examples of past honor theses here  or by visiting the academic office in person. To find a faculty advisor who would be a good match for your topic of interest, see their research questions  here. 

Requirements

To graduate with honors, students must satisfy the following requirements  by the   end of junior year ,

• Complete at least 70% of the courses required for the concentration.
• Have earned a grade of “A” or “S with distinction” in at least 70% of grades earned in the economics concentration, or 50% in the joint concentrations in APMA-Econ, CS-Econ, and Math-Econ (excluding courses transferred to Brown without a grade, and those taken Spring 2020).
• Economics Concentrators  must find a faculty thesis advisor in the economics department.
• Joint Concentrators  must find a primary faculty thesis advisor in either economics or the partner department. CS-Econ concentrators must have a secondary reader in the other department by the fall of senior year. APMA-Econ and Math-Econ do not require a secondary reader, unless the primary advisor deems it necessary. Joint concentrators need to satisfy the honors requirements of the economics department if their thesis advisor is in the economics department; while they need to satisfy the honors requirements of the partner department if their thesis advisor is in the partner department.

During senior year , thesis writers must:

• Enroll in ECON 1960 in the fall & spring semesters (Note that 1960 does not count as a 1000-level elective for your concentration). A requirement of ECON 1960 will be attendance at one of two lab sessions each week. 
• Submit a thesis proposal to both your thesis advisor and the Undergraduate Programs Coordinator Kelsey Thorpe, [email protected]  (see below for due date).
• Submit their work in progress to their thesis advisor and Kelsey (see below for due date).
• Depending on the nature of the thesis work, the thesis adviser may require the student to successfully complete one or more courses from among the  data methods ,  mathematical economics  and/or  financial economics  course groups in the fall of senior year, if they have not already done so.
• Complete an honors thesis by the deadline agreed upon with their primary advisor and obtain the final approval of their advisor(s) (see below for due date).
• Thesis writers are encouraged, but not required, to participate in the departmental Honors Thesis Presentation session held in May, with a brief presentation of their work and findings.

For students graduating  Spring 2024 :

• Proposal - September 18, 2023
• Work in Progress - December 18, 2023
• Final Draft - April 19, 2024

For students graduating in  Fall 2024*:

• Proposal - February 2, 2024
• Work in Progress - April 25, 2024
• Final Draft - December 10, 2024

For students graduating  Spring 2025 :

• Proposal - September 16, 2024
• Work in Progress - December 16, 2024
• Final Draft - April 18, 2025

For students graduating  Fall 2025 *:

• Proposal - February 7, 2025
• Work in Progress - April 24, 2025
• Final Draft - December 9, 2025

*Note that for the Requirements listed above, "by end of senior year" means by the "end of Fall semester 2023" for Fall 2024 graduates and "end of Fall semester 2024" for Fall 2025 graduates.

More information

For students interested in finding out more, please attend the information session on honors theses that will be given in the middle of every spring semester. For students interested in undertaking research, but not wanting to pursue honors, the department offers  senior capstone options .

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Honours Thesis Writing for Engineering and Science Students

Here you will find online thesis writing support and advice for honours students in the faculties of engineering and science including advice (from supervisors), examples (from past honours theses) and exercises to help you improve your thesis writing skills.

You won't find here anything to do with the content of your thesis. The content is between you, your research group and your supervisor.

• Thesis structure

Find out more

• Writing tools

Acknowledgements

We express our gratitude to the many students and staff who provided experience, ideas, examples, interest and support prior to and during the development of the site.

• This resource was developed as a project by The Learning Centre at UNSW.  The aim is to provide online support for students who are writing an extended piece of research at undergraduate or Honours level, especially in the fields of Science and Engineering .
• The site was designed to respond to the key writing needs that were identified in a survey of supervisors and Honours students, which asked them what their main priorities were for writing a thesis. This project is funded by the UNSW Learning and Teaching Fund.
• This site was written by Rosalie Goldsmith with extensive input from Pam Mort.
• The website was built by Tracey-Lee Downey .
• Beanland, C, Scneider, Z, LoBiondo-Wood, G & Haber, J 1999 Nursing Research , Mosby, Sydney.
• Burns, R 2000, Introduction to Research Methods , Pearson Education, Frenchs Forest.
• Craswell, G 2005, Writing for Academic Success , SAGE Publications, London.
• Eggins, S 1994, An Introduction to Systemic Functional Linguistics , Pinter Publishers, London.
• Evans, D & Gruba, P 2002, How to Write a Better Thesis , Melbourne University Press, Carlton Vic.
• Kamler, B & Thomson P 2006, Helping Doctoral Students Write , Routledge, Abingdon Oxon.
• Silyn-Roberts, H 2000, Writing for Science and Engineering , Butterworth, Heinemann Oxford.
• Weissberg, R & Buker, S 1990, Writing up Research , Prentice Hall Regents, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

Engineering & science

• Report writing
• Technical writing
• Writing lab reports
• Case study report in (engineering)
• ^ More support

Honors & Theses

The Honors Thesis: An opportunity to do innovative and in-depth research.  

An honors thesis gives students the opportunity to conduct in-depth research into the areas of government that inspire them the most. Although, it’s not a requirement in the Department of Government, the honors thesis is both an academic challenge and a crowning achievement at Harvard. The faculty strongly encourages students to write an honors thesis and makes itself available as a resource to those students who do. Students work closely with the thesis advisor of their choice throughout the writing process. Approximately 30% of Government concentrators each year choose to write a thesis.

Guide to Writing a Senior Thesis in Government  

You undoubtedly have many questions about what writing a thesis entails. We have answers for you. Please read  A Guide to Writing a Senior Thesis in Government , which you can download as a PDF below. If you still have questions or concerns after you have read through this document, we encourage you to reach out to Dr. Sergio Imparato ( [email protected] ), the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies who oversees the senior-thesis program in Government.

The Office of Undergraduate Research and Major Awards

Senior Honors Thesis

The undergraduate Senior Honors Thesis Program at the University of Houston is a two-semester, six-credit-hour capstone research experience completed under the guidance of a faculty mentor. Students of all majors can participate and membership in the Honors College is not required.

The Office of Undergraduate Research and Major Awards collaborates with the Honors College and the college of the student’s major to oversee the thesis process and approval. Students who successfully complete the Senior Honors Thesis program will graduate with an Honors designation noted on the official transcript. Students will also receive 3 points towards the Honors in Co-Curricular Engagement transcript designation . Students should speak with their academic advisor to determine if and how the thesis course hours might count toward their degree plan.

Significant coordination occurs between the student’s major department, the college of their major, and the Honors College. The Office of Undergraduate Research and Major Awards (OURMA) coordinates these efforts. It is therefore essential that the student communicate early and often with OURMA staff prior to beginning the thesis and maintain communication with OURMA throughout the thesis year. Students should also review the College-Specific Information for additional details specific to their college.

Eligibility requirements include GPA considerations as well as departmental and Honors College approval. Application and preparation occur the semester prior to beginning the thesis course hours. A student’s registration in thesis course hours does not guarantee enrollment in the Senior Honors Thesis Program. Please carefully review the How to Apply page for details.

Questions about the Senior Honors Thesis Program may be directed to Dr. Rikki Bettinger or the Office of Undergraduate Research and Major Awards .

How to Apply

College-specific information, defense and graduation, info for thesis directors, graduate with an honors in major designation.

Students who successfully complete the Senior Honors Thesis program graduate with the "Honors in Major" designation on their official transcript. Visit the Honors College's website to learn more about UH Honors designations.

Read past Senior Honors Thesis submissions

Review past theses in the Senior Honors Theses collection in the University of Houston Institutional Repository.

Check out outstanding thesis work

Celebrate the accomplishments of Outstanding Senior Honors Thesis Award recipients!

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Am I eligible for the senior honors thesis?

Thesis students should be prepared to undertake rigorous, self-paced research. Students must meet GPA eligibility requirements, secure a thesis director, and gain approval from both the department and the Honors College. There are several documents required for participation. Visit the How to Apply page for details.

I do not have any research experience. Can I participate in the thesis program?

The Senior Honors Thesis program does not require the student to have any formal research experience. Instead, it offers an opportunity for students to gain this experience, undertaking an in-depth, mentored research project, and honing their skills in research, analysis, and writing. A student should reflect on the kind of preparation they have developed in previous coursework and speak with a faculty mentor about their confidence in undertaking the research year.

I do not meet the GPA requirements. Can I still enroll in the thesis program?

Please review the eligibility requirements on the How to Apply page and note the fine print on the Verification of Eligibility (VOE) form . It asks that when the student is ready to submit the VOE to the director of undergraduate studies of their major department, a separate email of support is also sent by the proposed thesis director on behalf of the student to both the director of undergraduate students and to Dr. Rikki Bettinger .

My department registered me for the class, but I've never corresponded with OURMA. Do I still need to apply to participate in the program?

Yes. Students should not be registered in thesis coursework until after their participation is approved by both their department and the OURMA. Registration in thesis course hours does not guarantee enrollment in the Senior Honors Thesis Program. This program is coordinated by the Office of Undergraduate Research and Major Awards on behalf of the Honors College and students will not receive an Honors Reader or an Honors designation without collaboration through OURMA. The first step is completing the Verification of Eligibility form . Review the How to Apply page to learn more.

My prospective thesis director is not a professor in the department of my major. Can they still be my thesis director?

In most cases, students pursue a thesis working with a professor in their major department, sometimes receiving credit towards their degree (not in all cases, check with your academic advisor). In a small number of circumstances, a student might have clear reasons to pursue a thesis with a director outside of their major department. This will have implications on their course registration procedure, their thesis committee makeup, and their degree plan. Students in this case should reach out to Dr. Rikki Bettinger directly, providing their PSID, major, prospective thesis director, and their reasons for pursuing a thesis outside of their major department.

Will I receive credit hours for my thesis? How many?

The standard senior honors thesis course is courses 3399 and 4399. Each are three hours for a total of six credit hours over two semesters. *Architecture students: please note there is a different course sequence in CoAD.

How many professors are on my thesis committee? Can I pick my Honors Reader?

Three, and No. Prior to beginning the senior honors thesis coursework, the thesis student develops their prospectus under the mentorship of their thesis director. They also seek out a Second Reader to join their thesis committee. The thesis director and the second reader both approve of the prospectus prior to the semester start, signing the Prospectus Approval Form . OURMA then assigns an Honors Reader to the students’ committee following receipt of the prospectus and approval form. Honors Readers are assigned to students’ committees based on discipline, topic, and availability.

How long does my thesis need to be?

Please review the College-Specific Information page for details specific to your discipline.

Who is my college contact?

When do i need to contact my college.

You should review the College-Specific Information page prior to beginning your thesis to familiarize yourself with the expectations and procedures specific to your college. We recommend you revisit this information at the start of the second thesis semester to confirm your college’s filing deadline. Finally, you will reach out to your college thesis liaison following your defense when you are ready to submit your final thesis for college approval. Each student is responsible for tracking their own college submission deadline.

What deadlines do I need to know?

There are several deadlines at different stages of the thesis process, from the semester prior to beginning the thesis all the way through a student’s graduation. These deadlines are explained in detail in the sections above and students should take care to review each stage thoroughly. Broadly answered, the deadlines include:

• Submitting the Verification of Eligibility by December 1 or May 15 of the semester prior to beginning the thesis.
• Submitting to OURMA the prospectus, Prospectus Approval Form signed by the first and second reader, and the Thesis Checklist , prior to the start of the semester in which the student begins the thesis coursework.
• Submitting the defense-ready thesis to the committee a minimum of two weeks prior to the defense.
• Submitting the Final Defense and Evaluation Form to OURMA following the successful defense.
• Submitting the revised and final thesis and the Final Defense and Evaluation Form to the college thesis liaison by the college-specific filing deadline.
• Submitting the final thesis to the electronic submission portal by the end of the term.

Do I have to pay for a bound copy of my thesis?

The Honors College does not require a printed and bound copy of your thesis, but some colleges or departments do. Please follow the guidance of your college thesis liaison. If you participated in the Writing Studio program, you will receive an email with instructions for how to use your $150 voucher toward printing and binding costs. This voucher can be used toward personal or university copies!

Do I have to be a member of the Honors College to receive the Honors in Major designation?

No. Prior membership in the Honors College is not required to be a part of the Senior Honors Thesis Program. Students who successfully complete the thesis program graduate with an Honors designation and are invited to the Honors College Medallion Ceremony held in May. Students should monitor their university email for an invitation from the Honors College to the Medallion Ceremony and be prepared to RSVP no later than mid-April.

Who do I contact if I have a question about the thesis program?

Home > Theses and Dissertations > Honors Theses

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The Honors Undergraduate Thesis Program provides students from all disciplines the opportunity to engage in original and independent research as principal investigators. Over the course of two to four semesters, students work closely with a faculty committee to research, write, defend and publish an Honors thesis that serves as the capstone product of their undergraduate career. This thesis is published through the university library and is available to researchers worldwide through electronic databases. Please visit the Honors Undergraduate Thesis website for compete information.

This collection contains records for Honors theses completed at UCF. Links to electronic versions are included when available. If your Honors thesis is only in print, you can help us make it available online for use by researchers around the world by downloading and filling out the distribution consent form .

For additional assistance locating theses or dissertations, please email STARS , or check out the FAQ .

Honors Undergraduate Theses from 2024 2024

Exploring the Link Between Neurocognitive Function and Long COVID: A Comprehensive Review , Dinamaris Aguilar

Evaluating Barriers to Mental Health Care Utilization Among Undocumented Latino Immigrant Adults , Katherine I. Alvarez

Clinical Outcomes and Patient Satisfaction of Platelet-Rich Plasma Injections in Regenerative Aesthetic Medicine , Inah Cassandra Bascos

Improving Screening for Intimate Partner Violence Amongst Older Adults , Olivia Bell

Intent, Content, and State Specific Circumstances 25 Years Later: A Comparative Analysis of Contemporary Protections for Women Refugees Among Beijing Declaration Signatory Countries , Grace Bennett

Handheld X-ray Fluorescence (HHXRF) as a Non-Destructive Method for Trace Element Analysis of Ancient Maya (Pre-Conquest 800 BC - AD950) Teeth from Altun Ha, Belize , Griffon G. Binkowski

Monitoring Faunal Responses to Biodegradable Oyster Reef Restoration Materials with Camera Traps , Tara L. Blanchard

Sexual Assault Disclosure: The Role of Survivor and Disclosure Recipient Race & Ethnicity , Nola J.A. Browne

The Effect of Pharmacological Inhibition of Receptor-Interacting Serine/Threonine Protein Kinase 2 on the Enzymatic Activity of Arachidonate 5-Lipoxygenase , Hannah Burleson

The Battle Over Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Critical Race Theory in Florida: A Case Study on the Stop W.O.K.E. Act , Grace Anne Castelin

Curanderismo and Healing: Insights from Hispanic Young Adults , Allisa Castro

In My End is My Beginning: Mary Stuart and the Foundation of Her Religious Pragmatism , Shantelle M. Clement

The Relationship Between Social Media Use, Social Skills, and Loneliness in The Covid-19 Era , Jeyliz M. Collazo Rivera

The Effects of Nanobubbles for Gene Delivery for Osteoporosis Treatment , Abel Córdova Flores

Subjectivity in Circulation: Jean Baudrillard and the Image as Objective Reality , Jacob Crawley

Estimating Modeling Parameters for COVID-19 Spread on Campus , Aviel S. Crigger

Clostridioides difficile: Identification of Rival Organisms & Evaluation of Non-Antibiotic Treatment Implementation , Justin Davis

The Contribution of the White Working-class Toward Their Own Political and Economic Disenfranchisement , Dana De Castro

Exploring the Diffusion Potential of a Collaborative Mobile Platform for Disaster Management and Relief , Joao de Mendonca Salim

Adaptation of a Commercially Available Galvanic Skin Response Sensor to Measure Respiration Across the Chest for Heart Rate Variability Monitoring , Breno C. Dobal

The Investigation of the Effects of Adolescent Substance Use on Socioeconomic Outcomes During Adulthood , Bedis Elkamel

Rewriting Reality: The Sociological Context of Gaslighting , Kristen L. Engasser Jr.

On the Rocks: The Association Between Dating and Alcohol Consumption Among Young Adults , Hannah Ettele

Tracking the Reaction Networks of Criegee Intermediates Formed in the Ozone-Assisted Oxidation Reactions of C5 Acyclic and Endocyclic Alkenes , Arden M. Floyd

Experiences of Healing with Ayahuasca in the United States , Rebecca Galinanes

Page 1 of 142

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• honours thesis (hstr 499)

Honours Thesis (HSTR 499)

Timeline for the Honours Thesis

Many students who are contemplating applying to the Honours Program are curious about the thesis. There is no need to have decided, at that early stage, who you might ask to be your supervisor or even what area you would like to study. Normally, these are questions you would begin to think about in the early months of the spring term prior to enrolling in HSTR 499, although of course you can always discuss your interests with your instructors or with the Honours Advisor.

By the summer prior to your thesis year, you should have selected an area of interest and found a supervisor. Starting in September, you will meet with your supervisor on a mutually agreed-upon schedule (perhaps once every two weeks); you will discuss assigned readings, locate primary source material, and narrow down your topic.

From October/November to February of the following year, you will normally be researching, reading widely, and writing your thesis, submitting pieces of writing and analysis and, eventually, chapter drafts to your supervisor at regular intervals. You will be helped along in this process by preparing for the Colloquium (see below). The deadline for the first draft of the complete thesis is typically the end of February. In March, you will make revisions based on your supervisor's feedback, and submit a final copy in early April.

In January, students enrolled in HSTR 499 are asked to give a brief presentation of their works-in-progress at the annual Honours Colloquium. The Colloquium is a friendly, supportive event, attended by other students and faculty members, who will ask questions to learn more about that year's thesis projects.

Oral Examination (Defense)

The last stage of 499 is the defense, or oral examination, which will be scheduled during the April exam period. The exam will be conducted by an examination committee composed of the faculty supervisor, a second reader from the department who will have read the final copy submitted in early April, and the Honours Advisor. Honours students give a brief (10-minute) presentation of their work, which is followed by a question session in which the supervisor and second reader ask the candidate to clarify or elaborate on aspects of their research. The grade for HSTR 499 is based primarily on the written thesis, but the result of the oral examination is taken into account.

Length and Formatting of the Honours Thesis

The word limit for the Honours Thesis is 7,500-10,000 words (approximately 35-40 pages).

In many ways, honours theses resemble a research paper (title page, typed, double-spaced, with footnotes or endnotes and a bilbiography). Owing to the greater length of the thesis, students should consider breaking the thesis into segments (Introduction, 1-2 sections or chapters, conclusion) and including a table of contents. More detail and guidance will be available to thesis writers as they near completion.

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Getting started

Preparing for the honors thesis

What is the honors thesis?

The honors thesis is the culmination of Barrett students’ honors experience and their entire undergraduate education.

The honors thesis is an original piece of work developed by a student under the guidance of a thesis committee. It is an opportunity for students to work closely with faculty on important research questions and creative ideas. The honors thesis can have either a research or creative focus, and enables students to design, execute and present an intellectually rigorous project in their chosen field of study.

The first step in the honors thesis process is the completion of a thesis preparation workshop.

These workshops are places for you to brainstorm topics, learn about the honors thesis process, gain feedback on your ideas, ask questions, and create a to-do list for your honors thesis. Completion of a thesis preparation workshop is required before enrolling in thesis credits, and we encourage you to participate in a workshop by the first semester of your junior year.

There are two options for completing a thesis preparation workshop.

Enroll in the online self-paced workshop

Or, sign up to attend a live workshop offered in the fall or spring semester:

Thurs Sept 5th 12pm–1pm Barrett Suite, Lantana Hall 121 (Polytechnic campus) No RSVP required

Mon Sept 9th 4pm–5pm Barrett Suite, Athena Conference Room (West Valley campus) RSVP

Wed Sept 11th 4:30pm–6pm Barrett Student Center, Vista Del Sol (Tempe campus) RSVP

Wed Sept 18th 11am–12pm Barrett Suite, Athena Conference Room (West Valley campus) RSVP

Tues Sept 24th 3:30pm–5pm Edson College focus Virtual (Zoom) RSVP

Thurs Sept 26th 9:30am–10:30am Barrett Suite, Athena Conference Room (West Valley campus) RSVP

Thurs Sept 26th 4:30pm–6pm Virtual (Zoom) RSVP

Mon Sept 30th 10am–11am Barrett Suite, Athena Conference Room (West Valley campus) RSVP

Wed Oct 2nd 4:30pm–6pm College of Health Solutions focus Virtual (Zoom) RSVP

Wed Oct 2nd 5pm–6pm Virtual (Zoom) No RSVP Required

Tues Oct 8th 5pm–6:30pm Barrett Student Center, Vista Del Sol (Tempe campus) RSVP

Fri Oct 25th 4:30pm–6pm Virtual (Zoom) RSVP

Thurs Nov 14th 4pm–5pm Virtual (Zoom) No RSVP Required

Fri Nov 22nd 4:30pm–6pm Virtual (Zoom) RSVP

Thurs Feb 20th 3:30pm–5pm Cronkite School focus Virtual (Zoom) RSVP

Tues Feb 26th 12pm–1:30pm Watts College focus Virtual (Zoom) RSVP

Ready to take the next step?

Following the completion of a thesis preparation workshop, Barrett students should schedule a thesis advising appointment with their Barrett Honors Advisor to discuss and review the guidebook, checklist and the due dates that correspond with the semester they intend to complete their undergraduate degree.

Honors Thesis Student Guidebook

Please explore the resources available to you within this guidebook to ensure your success. Refer to the checklist on page 13 to continue moving forward in the process.

View the Student Guidebook

Student Guidebook sections

What is the honors thesis.

The honors thesis project is an original piece of work by a student, in collaboration with their thesis director and committee. Most students complete an honors thesis within their major department but may choose a topic outside of the major. Each department may set its own standards for methodology (i.e., empirical, comparative, or descriptive), project length, and so on. Review the relevant Opportunities in the Major documents created by the Faculty Honors Advisors (FHAs)  here , and contact the FHAs in your area(s) of interest for additional information.

A thesis can be:

• A scholarly research project involving analysis that is presented in written form. Represents a commitment to research, critical thinking, and an informed viewpoint of the student.
• A creative project that combines scholarship and creative work in which the primary outcome consists of something other than a written document but includes a written document that supports the creative endeavor and involves scholarly research.
• A group project that brings together more than one Barrett student to work on a thesis collaboratively. Working in a group gives students valuable experience and enables them to take on larger, more complicated topics. Students may begin a group project with approval of a Thesis Director.

Selecting a Topic

Because the honors thesis is the culmination of undergraduate studies, begin thinking about a topic early. Many students base the honors thesis on an aspect of coursework, internship, or research. Once an area of interest is identified, take two or three courses that concentrate in that specific area.  Selecting a topic should ultimately be done under the guidance of faculty. The honors thesis is a joint effort between students and faculty.

Consider these tips and resources as you begin the process of selecting a topic: 

• Reflect on past experience to determine interests.
• Talk to faculty including Faculty Honors Advisors about topics that are interesting and relevant to coursework, major, career interests, or from ongoing faculty research.
• View past honors theses through the ASU Library Digital Repository .

Thesis Pathways

Honors Thesis Pathways are unique thesis opportunities, where students can be paired with faculty on interesting and engaging topics. The pathway options provide students a structured experience in completing their thesis, while researching a topic that interests them.

The committee consists of a Director, a Second Committee Member, and may include a Third Committee Member. Ultimately, your committee must approve your thesis/creative project, so work closely with them throughout the process.  Specific academic unit committee requirements can be found here .

• Any member of ASU faculty with professional expertise in the project area. (This excludes graduate students.)
• Includes lecturer and tenure-line faculty.
• Primary supervisor of the project.
• Conducts regular meetings, provides feedback, sets expectations, and presides over the defense.

*Emeritus faculty may serve as thesis directors as approved by the FHA from the department which the thesis is to be completed. Directors are expected to be physically present at the honors thesis defense. They may not be reimbursed for travel related to attending the defense.

Second Committee Member

• Individual whom you and your Director decide is appropriate to serve based on knowledge and experience with the thesis topic.
• Credentials will be determined by the Director and the criteria of that academic unit.
• Conducts regular meetings, provides feedback, and offers additional evaluation at the defense.

Third Committee Member (optional-varies by academic unit)

• Faculty member or qualified professional.
• If required, credentials will be determined by the Director and the criteria of that academic unit.
• External Examiners are Third Committee Members.
• Offer insight and expertise on the topic and provides additional evaluation at the defense.

The prospectus serves as an action plan for the honors thesis and provides a definitive list of goals, procedures, expectations, and an overall timeline including internal deadlines for your work. This will lay the groundwork for your project and serve as a reference point for you and your committee. You and your committee should work together to solidify a topic and create project goals. 

Submit your prospectus online

Registration and Grading

To register:

• Be enrolled in Barrett, The Honors College and in academic good standing. 
• Have the approval of the faculty member who serves as the Director. 
• In-person Barrett thesis workshop
• Online (via Blackboard) Barrett thesis workshop. Self-enroll- search words “Barrett Honors Thesis Online Workshop”
• Major specific thesis preparatory workshop or course may be available in limited academic units.

Register for the honors thesis through the department of the Director .   First, obtain override permission from the department of the Director during normal enrollment periods. 

Thesis Credits (up to 6 hours)

• 492 Honors Directed Study: taken in the first semester during research and creation of the project (not offered by all departments).
• 493 Honors Thesis: taken in the second semester for defense and completion of the project.  
• 492 and 493 are sequential and may not be taken in the same semester.  
• You must register for and successfully complete at least 493 (or its equivalent) to graduate from Barrett, The Honors College.

Grading the Honors Thesis

When the honors thesis is completed and approved by the committee, the Director assigns a course grade. Criteria and evaluation for grading are determined by the Director and the standards of that academic discipline.   

If you enroll in 492, the Director has the option of assigning a Z grade until the project is completed.

The assignment of a Z grade indicates that a project is in progress and delays placement of a final grade until completion. 

Defense and Final Steps

• Presentation and summary of the honors thesis. Format, content, and length are determined by the Director and standards of the content area. Plan to review the origins of the project, its scope, the methodology used, significant findings, and conclusions. 
• Submit final draft to the committee at least two weeks before the defense. Allow time for revisions leading up to the defense.
• Work with your committee to set a defense and report to Barrett using the Honors Defense and Thesis Approval form. Once submitted, your Director will automatically be emailed an approval link on the date of your defense.
• All committee members must participate in the defense.
• Group projects: Each student is required to submit an individual Honors Defense and Thesis Approval form. All group members must participate in the defense. 
• Defenses are open to the ASU community and published to the Defense Calendar.
• Following the presentation, committee members will ask questions about issues raised in the work, choices made in the research, and any further outcomes.
• At the conclusion of the discussion, the committee will convene to provide an outcome that will determine next steps.

Thesis Outcomes

• Minor format/editorial corrections may be suggested.
• Director will report approval using the Final Thesis Approval link emailed to them on the defense date.
• Your next step is to upload your approved final project to the Barrett Digital Repository.

Provisional Approval (Common outcome)

• More significant revisions required.
• Once revisions are complete, Director will report approval using the Final Thesis Approval link emailed to them on the defense date.
• Your next step is to upload your approved final project to the Barrett Digital Repository after revisions are approved.

Not approved (Least common outcome)

• Basic design and/or overall execution of the honors thesis is significantly flawed.
• The Director and committee may continue working with the student to make major revisions. You should discuss this with committee and Honors Advisor about implications on Barrett graduation.

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Understanding honours

Honours is an additional qualification where you can build on your undergraduate studies by completing a supervised research project and disciplinary or research-focused coursework. This may be embedded in your undergraduate degree or require an additional year of study.

Overview and types of honours

• Eligibility and preparing for honours
• Honours awards and classes

You can undertake honours through an appended honours degree after your undergraduate degree. Some professional or specialist degrees also have embedded honours study options.

Honours provides an opportunity to work on an independent but supervised research project and is usually completed as one year full-time study (some disciplines offer part-time options).

Under the guidance of an academic supervisor, you will choose a thesis topic, create a reading list and identify your method of research.

Academics in your faculty or school will provide supervision as you write your thesis. This thesis will document your research from proposal through to conclusion.

Why study honours?

Completing honours shows you have achieved high academic standards and gives you a Bachelor (Honours) qualification. 

An honours degree can open the door for further research study, equipping you with the prerequisite research skills to undertake a research degree such as the PhD.

Alternatively, if you decide to complete an honours degree without pursuing further research, you will graduate with a robust set of transferrable skills including:

• time management and research skills
• project management and delivery
• showing future employers that you can investigate independently and achieve more complex goals.

What’s involved

Generally, honours will consist of two components:

• an independent research project, under the supervision of an academic staff member
• additional honours units in research design and technical training.

You will usually complete a dissertation or thesis and attend regular meetings with your supervisor to discuss your research.

Once you complete the requirements for your honours, you will graduate with a Bachelor (Honours) degree.

You can contact the faculty or school honours coordinator from the area of interest you are considering, for more information about honours. We also hold honours information sessions (usually in September) where you can discuss your options.

Types of honours

The type of honours you undertake depends on your individual study circumstances.

Appended honours

Appended honours is an additional qualification that you complete after you have finished your undergraduate degree. Generally, appended honours is available to both current University of Sydney students and external applicants. You’ll find information and eligibility criteria for most appended honours degrees in Find a course .

As a current student, often you'll need to apply through Find a course in the same way that external applicants apply, but may also need to submit an additional application form to your school or discipline. When searching for these on Sydney Courses (Find a course) these degrees will look like the Bachelor of Arts (Honours).

If you enrolled in a combined Bachelor of Advanced Studies program prior to Semester 2, 2024, and plan to apply for honours, we will advise you during your candidature of your appended honours degree options.

Embedded honours

Some bachelor’s degrees have an honours program embedded within them. You will complete your honours study during your current undergraduate degree by completing specific units. Honours will not increase the overall time taken to complete your studies.

Joint honours

Joint honours is when you complete one honours thesis in two subject areas closely related to each other. A special program of study is designed that allows you to complete the course concurrently in one year.

To apply for joint honours, you need to meet the eligibility requirements for both honours.

Contact the honours coordinator in your faculty or school to discuss your options.

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HLTH432 Honours Thesis information guide

What is hlth432a/b honours thesis, why complete a thesis, who is eligible to enroll in hlth432a/b, contact potential supervisors, tips for the interview with your potential supervisor, external supervisors, complete hlth432a/b enrollment process, how am i graded in hlth432a/b.

According to the calendar course description, HLTH432 is:

“An independent research project on an approved topic, supervised by a faculty member. Includes an approved proposal and completion of -- introduction, review of literature, methods, data collection, data analysis and presentation of results in thesis form. Recommended for students planning graduate studies.”

Generally, an Honours thesis is a research project in which you choose a topic, review all relevant literature, collect and analyse data and then report your results. If there is an area of health sciences or public health that you find particularly interesting and if you feel that you understand statistics and research design, you may want to consider completing the honours thesis, which may require either Social Science (non-lab based) or a Biohealth (lab based) research. The research may involve:

• Original field or lab research (pending finances);
• Secondary analysis of existing data;
• Historical or archival analyses;
• Systematic Review or meta-analysis.

Back to top

The main objective of the Honours Thesis (HLTH 432A/HLTH 432B) is to provide you with an opportunity to gain experience in formulating and evaluating research ideas, but even more importantly, completing a thesis will allow you to consolidate your thinking about the many aspects of health you have studied during your undergraduate career.

How will that happen? You will:

• review, evaluate and interpret information from a wide range of relevant disciplines that are relevant to a specific area of health science / public health.
• integrate and apply that information to identify and address a specific health problem.
• consider the ethical issues specific to your research.
• apply your knowledge of methodologies, at least in one type of research.
• you will have the opportunity to polish your written communications, and
• in your meetings with your supervisor, you will have the chance to practice communicating your ideas orally in a one-on-one situation with a scientist-mentor; moreover,
• you will have the opportunity to enhance your information literacy skills and your data collection and analysis skills.

The thesis is an exciting way to cap off your undergraduate career. It provides huge opportunities for you to consolidate what you already know, and to learn about a specific topic in-depth. It also provides you with invaluable preparation for whatever path you take after your undergraduate studies. Finally, it is a really amazing experience to actually create new knowledge!

The following prerequisites apply:

• Department Consent Required: please submit HLTH432 Honours Thesis Pre-approval Application online.
• HLTH 204 or approved equivalent statistics course and HLTH 333; Level at least 4A School of Public Health Sciences (SPHS) students.
• Normally, minimum 75% major and overall averages are recommended to enrol in the course but 80% major and overall averages are preferred.
• A faculty member must agree to act as your supervisor. Because of limited faculty resources, enrolment in HLTH 432A/B is not guaranteed.

You will be notified via email once your HLTH432 Honours Thesis Pre-approval Application is approved. Your next step is to:

• Review this package completely.
• Create a WORD document (250 words or less) that provides details of any research or other relevant experience that a potential supervisor might be interested in knowing about you.
• Create a WORD document (250 words or less) that provides details of any specific research interests or research questions you might wish to investigate, including support for your questions (if you have considered the area in greater depth).
• Review and update your resume.
• Review the SPHS Faculty members’ areas of research interests and decide on one or two potential supervisors. If you already have a research question, try to select a potential supervisor whose area of interest is most closely related to that question. See the list of SPHS faculty members by area of focus .
• DO NOT approach faculty members without emailing first to make an appointment.
• If at all possible use your @uwaterloo.ca email. This email is less likely to end up in Junk mail.

Email template

Dear (Use proper title and full name),

I am writing to express interest in working on an honours thesis under your supervision. I have reviewed your research interests and would be very excited to work on an aspect of your research, or to develop independent research that is consistent with your work. I am attaching a recent resume, a statement of my experience and a statement of my research interests for you to review.

I am available on (state days of the week) at (state hours of availability) to see you. Would it be possible to book an appointment at any of those times? I look forward to meeting with you to discuss your research, and whether there is a way in which I can contribute to it with an honours thesis.

Yours truly, (your name) (contact email and telephone)

• Be punctual
• Be respectful
• Highlight any experience you have.
• Highlight your academic strengths
• your unofficial transcript
• your resume
• your statement of research interests and/or another sample of your written work
• the Thesis Requirements (Appendix A in the course outline) so that your potential supervisor can review the expectations for the thesis
• FORM 432A - Agreement to Supervise .

On occasion, students may be permitted to work with a supervisor from outside the School of Public Health Sciences. There are two separate categories of external supervisors:

• Category B supervisors are UW professors from other Departments in the Faculty of Health or are one of our adjunct faculty members. In such cases, the research thesis and the supervisor must be approved by the Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies, who is the coordinator of HLTH 432A/B. The thesis will be approved if it meets SPHS standards for learning objectives.
• Category C supervisors may be professors from another faculty at the University of Waterloo (e.g., Science, Arts), or the supervisor may be someone who conducts research outside the University of Waterloo. In such cases, the research thesis and the supervisor must be approved by the Associate Director, Undergraduate Studies, who coordinates HLTH 432A/B. The thesis will be approved if it meets SPHS standards for learning objectives and the HLTH 432A/B coordinator can arrange for an SPHS faculty member to co-supervise the thesis.

My supervisor has agreed! What’s next?

• Submit HLTH432 Honours Thesis Enrollment Form for HLTH432A online no later than one week prior to the last day to add courses for the school term . Note you will need to upload a signed copy of Form432A (PDF) in order to complete the online submission, so please allow plenty of time for yourself to gather your supervisor’s signature.
• At the end of your HLTH 432A term, you need to submit another HLTH432 Honours Thesis Enrollment Form for HLTH432B. You will not be enrolled in HLTH 432B until your supervisor has agreed to supervise you for a second semester. The procedure and deadline is similar to HLTH432A enrollment: the HLTH432 Honours Thesis Enrollment Form for HLTH432B needs to be received no later than one week prior to the last day to add courses for the school term . A signed copy of Form432B (PDF) will need to be uploaded at the same time to complete the online submission.

Separate grades are submitted for your work in 432A and 432B and the nature of the term products that will be evaluated will depend upon the type of thesis you are completing (Social Science/non-lab or Biohealth/lab –the course outline). Due dates for term products for each of 432A and 432B are specified in the course outline. Normally these are the final day of classes for the term in which you are enrolled in the course. Your supervisor must submit final grades to the Course Coordinator at the very latest by the end of the examination period, and you must submit your term products before this to give your supervisor time to read and grade it. A number of drafts should be submitted early so that your supervisor can read them and provide comments. This will allow for revisions to be made before the final submission of materials for grading. Remember to provide the Course Coordinator with a final copy of your thesis. Note that you will also have to give a poster presentation on your proposal towards the end of the HLTH 432A term and a Powerpoint presentation on your final thesis project during the 4 th year Honours Thesis Colloquium at the end of the HLTH 432B term.

Sample Honors Proposals and Theses

Sample honors proposals.

The following represent a sampling of outstanding English honors project proposals.

Disrupting Stereotypes: A Usability Report on Inclusive Design for Invisible Disabilities, including ADHD and Anxiety (PDF)

Author: Abby Wing Thesis Type: Independent Thesis Approved By: Janine Solberg, English Department Published: Spring 2023

Sir Lancelot Portrayed in Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur , Chretien de Troyes's Lancelot du Lac and T.H. White's The Once and Future King (PDF)

Author: Taylor Wise Thesis Type: Independent Thesis Approved By: Jenny Adams, English Department Published: Expected Spring 2017

Jane Austen’s Male Characters Through A Feminist Critical Lens (PDF)

Author: Anastasia Armstrong Thesis Type: Independent Thesis Approved By: Heidi Holder and Suzanne Daly, English Department Published: Expected Spring 2017

Sample Honors Theses

The following represent a sampling of outstanding English honors thesis projects.

Author: Abby Wing Thesis Type: Independent Thesis Approved By: Janine Solberg, English Department Published 2023

Abstract: In the Spring 2023 semester, I recruited students and faculty members with disabilities to test the usability of UMass Amherst financial aid web pages. The purpose of my testing was to learn more about the accessibility needs of people with disabilities. I conducted six remote usability tests with participants using Zoom. Each participant completed five tasks and shared their responses to a series of open-ended questions at the end of each test. These tasks involved finding information related to the cost of attending UMass Amherst for prospective students (i.e., total cost of attendance, net cost of attendance, housing costs, dining costs, and scholarships). Afterward, I generated inclusive personas that reflected the diverse characteristics of the participants. These personas, which are further discussed in the conclusion, offer insights into the accessibility needs of students with disabilities.

What I found: while participants are able to complete all tasks, they wished that information was more consolidated for greater navigability. Most of the time participants spent completing tasks involved trying to locate the appropriate pages to complete the tasks. Participants also wished that there was a stronger information hierarchy on cost pages for improved readability.

“This Is Hardly the Happy Ending I Was Expecting”: NIER ’s Rejection of the Heteronormative in Fairy Tales (PDF)

Author: Emily Cerri Thesis Type: Independent Thesis Approved By: Caroline Yang and TreaAndrea Russworm, English Department Published 2019

Abstract: Despite the perception they are just entertainment, video games have the potential to present criticisms on aspects of culture such as race, gender, and sexuality. Games such as Gone Home and The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories subvert stereotypes of gender and sexuality or highlight the struggles of sexually marginalized groups in a heteronormative society. However, games often miss the opportunity to subvert expectations or represent racially marginalized communities. The game NIER both creates and overlooks critiques of this lack of attention through its use of the fairy tale genre. NIER ’s destabilization of binaries and refusal to conform to gender roles and performance present a critique of heteronormativity and the gender binary of the fairy tale canon. And yet, NIER also misses the opportunity to fully present criticisms on the topics of race, gender, and sexuality. The game’s presentation of race is especially lacking, particularly through its tacit assumption of whiteness as the “unmarked” race. Though attempts to it dismantle some stereotypical racial imagery, it shuts out the possibility of nonwhite people persisting through the apocalypse. Furthermore, while its portrayal of nonheteronormative characters destabilizes the stereotypes of these characters in other media, censorship and pandering to the male gaze ultimately hinder the representation of these marginalized characters. That is, the localization explicitly alters characters’ identities in favor of heteronormativity and the game uses clothing and camera angles to hypersexualize the female protagonist. Its use of fairy tales, which are typically European tales, sometimes highlights their normalized gender and sexual stereotypes and expectations and sometimes subvert them. In other cases, it misses the opportunity to destabilize these notions and instead maintains the status quo. In such ways, NIER also fails to completely queer the fairy tale canon even as it tries to subvert the genre. Nonetheless, while NIER falls short of being a queer critique, it provides the opening for the critical player to do so.

Using Genre Theory to Understand the Way Opinion Journalism is Changing in Today’s Digital World (PDF)

Author: Tess Halpern Thesis Type: Independent Thesis Approved By: Donna LeCourt and Janine Solberg, English Department Published 2019

Abstract: As an editor of opinion journalism during my college years, I have always struggled to not only articulate but also determine which texts constitute opinion journalism and which are simply opinion. As opinions become more ubiquitous with the rise of the digital era, and as they can now be published on platforms like blogs, podcasts, and social media with no regulation or editorial review, this distinction has become even harder to make. Unfortunately, the blurring of the line between opinion journalism and opinion has happened at the precise moment that the legitimacy of journalism has also begun to be questioned more than ever before in my lifetime. The purpose of this research was to definitively draw that line, separating opinion journalism from opinion. To do this, I first determined the genre norms of opinion journalism by studying the texts, the writers, and the publications that define the genre. Following, I then determined where the genre set of opinion journalism ends by studying articles written for non-reputable, digital-only platforms, and platforms that were self-publishing or otherwise had minimal editing and regulation processes. A total of 63 articles from The New York Times , The Wall Street Journal , The Washington Post , The Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, Odyssey Online , and personal blogs were analyzed for this research. The results of this study allowed me to track the transformation that opinion journalism, and journalism in general, is currently undergoing. Additionally, it clarified the distinction between opinion journalism and ordinary opinion, allowing me to better understand the genre and the texts that are excluded from that genre.

"You Can Be Useful to Us in a Hundred Different Ways”: A Study of Stage and Screen Adaptations of Dickens’s Nicholas Nickleby (PDF)

Author: Emma Piscia Thesis/Project Type: Independent Honors Thesis Approved By: Heidi Holder and Suzanne Daly, Department Of English Published 2016

Abstract: Charles Dickens’s Nicholas Nickleby has been adapted since 1839, when it was still in the midst of its initial serialized publication. It has since been adapted into plays, films, and television miniseries over 250 times, and the number continues to grow. This thesis investigates the history of Nickleby as adapted for stage and screen from 1838 to the present. While there has been much scholarly consideration of adapted Dickens, there has been little in the way of examination of any particular work across periods and genres; Nickleby, with its varied history on stage and screen, certainly merits such critical examination. Works discussed here range from Edward Stirling’s early farce Nicholas Nickleby: or, Doings at Do-The-Boys Hall (1838), through David Edgar’s marathon stage adaptation The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (Royal Shakespeare Company 1980), to David Innes Edwards’s and Joy Wilkinson’s The Life and Adventures of Nick Nickleby (a 2012 miniseries). This thesis explores the cultural uses and revisions of Dickens’s text. Key topics of discussion include the highly varied representation of the orphan Smike; the portrayal of physical, sexual, and financial violence; and the sociopolitical and economic themes of the novel that allow it to resonate with contemporary audiences down through the centuries. Using reviews, historical context, literary and film criticism, performance history, and gender theory, this thesis endeavors to explain the persistence of an early Victorian novel in popular culture.

Eye on Research (PDF)

Author: Alexandra Foley Thesis/Project Type: Capstone Thesis Approved By: David Toomey and Janine Solberg, Department Of English Published 2012

Abstract: A collection of the newest discoveries and breaking edge research taking place on the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus. Here is a list of some of the research published in this thesis: a new synthetic material called “Geckskin” which mimics the adhesion power of Gecko feet developed in Polymer Science department; UBot, a robot designed by UMass’s Laboratory for Perceptual Robotics, can learn by interacting with its environment; Gregory Tew, of the Polymer Science department, has found a way to look inside their previously impenetrable membranes of T cells; and Dr. Caitlyn Shea Butler of the Environmental Engineering department has designed a “Microbial Fuel Cell Latrine” that purifies human waste and produces electricity at the same time.

“How could the body politic be made to work in the absence of its head?”: Beheadings, Gender, and Power In Malory’s Morte Darthur (PDF)

Author: Kerry Ditson Thesis/Project Type: Independent Honors Thesis Approved by: Jen Adams, English Department and Sonja Drimmer, Art History Program Published: 2015

Abstract: The Wars of the Roses were without a doubt one of the most transformative and traumatic events of medieval England. This bloody conflict called into question commonly accepted notions of nobility, masculinity, kingship, governance, and violence. The deposition of Richard II in 1399 set into motion aftershocks that would be felt half a century later, as the notion of divinely anointed kingship was called into question—in a world where kings could be gotten rid of, who had the right to rule? The answer came down, in many ways, to one issue: blood.

Closets and Transylvanian Castles: Vampires and Queerness in the Nineteenth-Century Literature and Beyond (PDF)

Author: Maxwell Heath Thesis/Project Type: Independent Honors Thesis Approved by Heidi Holder and Jenny Spencer of the Department of English Published 2015

Abstract: My thesis examines how vampires have been used in literature to depict queer people and explore issues of queerness. Focusing primarily on the nineteenth century with a brief foray into the twentieth, I analyze seven key texts, both well known and relatively obscure, from John Polidori’s groundbreaking “The Vampyre” (1819) to G.S. Viereck’s The House of the Vampire (1907). This wide range is significant: previous work in the field has tended toward individual studies. I track how the depictions of vampirism and queerness evolved over time, focusing especially on the tropes of disorientation of space and narrative structure, complex patterning of relationships between characters, and conflict between humans and vampires for control of narrative. To this end ideas drawn from theorists such as Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick have been deployed in my analysis. I have discovered that from the first there is a degree of sympathy for queerness which is often occluded by gothic tropes. While the vampires themselves only begin to shift from villains towards more ambiguous figures at the end of the nineteenth century, their victims are often figured as queer and portrayed sympathetically. This suggests that vampires have been used as a way to mask queerness in metaphor so that it could be explored and discussed during a time when any explicit examination was forbidden.

Transplanted (PDF)

Author: Michael Sirois Thesis/Project Type: Independent Honors Thesis Approved by John Hennessy, Department of English Published May 2015

Abstract: My honors thesis project is a manuscript consisting of twenty-four poems. This collection of poetry reflects my transition from a working-class upbringing to completing my degree at the university. The many years I spent working in agriculture influence my poetry significantly, so natural settings and elements serve as a prism for my themes of work, the working-class, and the family. The introduction to my thesis project is included to show the departures from my literary influences.

For more information, see  499Y Honors Research (Part I) or  499T/P Honors Research (Part II) .

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E445 South College 150 Hicks Way Amherst, MA 01003 (413) 545-5456

Honours Thesis in Psychology

Honours Thesis –  PSY 4276

Eligibility criteria

Honours b.a. with specialization in psychology.

• Completion of the courses PSY 2106/2506, PSY 2116/2516 and PSY 2174/2574
• Completion of the course PSY 3307/3707 (Note: this course may be taken concurrently with the Thesis). (It is recommended to register to  PSY 4130  in 4 th year)
• Have completed a minimum of 81 credits after the Winter 2024 trimester.
• Have a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of at least 8.0 after the Winter 2024 trimester.

* The Thesis may be replaced by 6 optional PSY course units at the 4000 level.

PLEASE NOTE:  No exception will be granted

Honours B.Sc. with Specialization in Psychology

• Completion of the courses PSY 2106/2506, PSY 2116/2516, PSY 2174/2574
• Completion of the course PSY 3307/3707 (Note: this course may be taken concurrently with the Thesis).
• Completion of all 1 st and 2 nd -year science courses.
• The Thesis may be replaced by 6 optional PSY course units at the 4000 level.

Registration procedure

Registration is not accessible through your student center. Please submit a  Modification/Cancellation of Enrolment  form through the online form portal.  You have from May 30 th  to June 30 th  2024 to submit your enrolment form for registration to the 2024-2025 academic year. 

Finding an Honours Thesis supervisor

You will find below the list of full-time professors who are available to supervise 4 th -year undergraduate honours thesis students. This list also includes cross-appointed faculty members, emeritus professors, and clinical professors who have been approved.  To be able to monitor and ensure training of high quality, only professors appearing on this list will be authorised to supervise the honours thesis.  The maximum number of Honours theses that a professor can supervise in 2024-2025 appears in italics. Once the maximum number of students that we can supervise in 2024-2025 is achieved, that is 90, students will not be able to register anymore.  

Please note, that the students who are officially registered will have until September 10th to find a supervisor and to communicate the name of their supervisor to the Honours thesis Coordinator, Charles Collin ( [email protected] ). The students should include their supervisor in their message so that they can confirm that have agreed to supervise their Honours thesis.

Students who are not successful in finding an Honours Thesis supervisor by September 10th will have to withdraw from the Thesis.

Finding an Honours Thesis supervisor should be done only when all eligibility criteria are fulfilled. 

• Consult the list of Honours Thesis supervisors for 2024-2025.
• Approach the professor(s) who have an area of research that interests you, by communicating with them via e-mail, to ask for an appointment. During that meeting, you will have to establish the modalities and the research to begin. This approach is normally done starting in June.

2024-2025 Information Session

• Powerpoint Presentation (English)
• Powerpoint Presentation (French)
• Information Session Recording (English)
• Information Session Recording (French)

Additional Information – Brightspace

When you are registered to the course, you will have access to Brightspace developed for the Honours Thesis in Psychology.

Award for the best Honours thesis in French - 2023-2024

La familiarité de stimuli présentés successivement et le rôle de leurs différences dans l’activité enregistrée avec un EEG  Annabelle Potvin-Pilon Supervisor: Dr. Denis Cousineau

Award for the Best Honours thesis in English - 2023-2024

The Predictive Capacity of Oculomotor Features for Behavioural Drowsy Driving Performance Aidan Smith Supervisor: Dr. Stuart Fogel

Honours Thesis Coordinators

Charles Collin , PhD School of Psychology University of Ottawa VNR 3090, 136 Jean-Jacques Lussier Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5 Canada Tel: 613-562-5800 (4296) [email protected]  

Sylvain Gagnon , PhD School of Psychology University of Ottawa VNR 3042, 136 Jean-Jacques Lussier Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5 Canada Tel: 613-562-5800 (2515) [email protected]

Finding theses

University of sydney theses, higher degree by research theses.

We hold theses written by the University’s Higher Degree by Research (PhD or Masters by Research) students in our collections.

You can find a University of Sydney thesis by searching the  Library catalogue . Select the “Advanced search” and then select “USYD Theses” from the “Material type” dropdown menu.

You can also find digital theses by searching directly in the Sydney eScholarship repository .

Access a digital or digitised thesis

Many of the University’s digital and digitised theses are openly available for download through the Sydney eScholarship repository .

Theses marked “University of Sydney Access” are only available to current University staff and students. Libraries and private researchers can request to purchase a copy of a University of Sydney Access only thesis for AUD$18.50 (incl. GST, within Australia) or AUD$40.00 (international requests).

To purchase a digital thesis, you need to complete one of the relevant request forms below and submit it to [email protected] :

• Individuals requesting a thesis, or library requesting on behalf of an individual
• Libraries requesting a copy to be included in their collection

All requests for copies of material held at the University of Sydney Library must comply with the  Copyright Act of 1968 .

Access a hard copy thesis

Theses that are only available in printed format can be viewed in the Rare Books and Special Collections Library , Level 1, Fisher Library.

We are currently running a project to digitise hardcopy theses. You can request an update to find out where a particular thesis is in our digitisation queue by emailing [email protected] .

We don’t digitise theses on request.

Honours or postgraduate coursework theses

Search for an honours or postgraduate coursework thesis in the repository , then use the filters on the left side of the results page to narrow by “Type”.

You can also search the Honours and Postgraduate Coursework theses collection for a faculty, school or discipline (if available).

There are limited numbers of honours theses in the Sydney eScholarship repository as we have strict requirements for submission of honours theses . If you can't find the thesis you're looking for, we suggest contacting the relevant faculty office.

Theses from other Australian and New Zealand universities

Find a thesis from other Australian or New Zealand universities by searching:

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International theses

For theses written and submitted at universities outside of Australia, try the following resources:

• Open Access Theses and Dissertations
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• British Library Electronic Digital Thesis Online Service (EThOS)
• EBSCO open dissertations
• French Thesis-On-Line Repository
• History Online – postgraduate theses in History submitted in the UK since 1995
• Index to Theses – listing of theses with abstracts accepted for higher degrees by universities in Great Britain and Ireland since 1716
• Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations – North American theses
• ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global

Related information

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The Division of Physiological Sciences Honours it's Doctoral and Masters Students

On 2nd September the Division of Physiological Sciences Doctoral and Masters students were honoured in a uniquely HPALS' hosted fashion. The Doctoral candidates presented their body of work to colleagues, family and friends.

Presentation of PhD Thesis

• Genetic risk factors for overuse and acute musculoskeletal injuries
• The relationship between genes associated with the pain pathways and the development of chronic shoulder pain and disability in South African breast cancer survivors
• A world of possibilities: an exploration of experiences of children with disabilities’ participation in a surf therapy programme in South Africa
• An assessment of the utilisation of stokvels or rotating savings and credit associations to influence healthy eating in South Africa
• Formative assessment of weight management and lifestyle factors in overweight/obese patients attending medical outpatient clinics at secondary hospitals in Ibadan, Nigeria, and feasibility testing of a weight loss intervention for the target population
• Sleep, cardiometabolic health, and neurocognitive performance in esports players

Presentation of MSc Certificates

• MSc (Med) in Physiology: Christina Brazier (with distinction)
• MSc (Med) in Exercise Science: Shevi Brand
• MMedSc Dietetics: Megan Blacker (in absentia) (with distinction)
• MPhil in Biokinetics: Natalia Ferreira
• MPhil in Biokinetics: Anna Malan (in absentia) (with distinction in the dissertation)

Lee-Devlin Hill graduated with a BSc (Med)(Hons) in Exercise Science from UCT before continuing with his PhD studies. There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that inherited genetic elements predispose  individuals to tendon and ligament injuries. Previous studies have investigated the association of several variants within collagen genes, which encode for structural components these tissues, with lower limb tendon injuries. The association of these collagen gene variants with rotator cuff tendinopathy (RCT) anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) ruptures has not been extensively investigated. Lee-Devlin Hill’s thesis identifies important differences in the genetic profile of RCT, ACL and lower limb tendon injuries. Exploring these genetic loci may help us better understand the important  similarities and differences in the aetiology of these common musculoskeletal injuries. Supervisor : Professor M Collins (Human Biology) Co-supervisor : Associate Professor M Posthumus (Human Biology)

Firzana Firfirey holds a BSc(Hons) and MSc in Biotechnology from the University of the Western Cape (2013) where she researched the role of genetics in Autism Spectrum Disorder in South African children. In 2016, she joined UCT and commenced her doctoral degree in the Division of Physiological Sciences. Firzana Firfirey’s thesis focuses on chronic shoulder pain and disability among South African breast cancer survivors (BCS), aiming to identify genetic contributors to pain variability. Through cross-sectional analysis of 252 BCS, she investigated associations between pain/disability symptoms, and polymorphism within candidate genes (ABCB1, OPRM1, COMT), highlighting significant findings within a SA population. She also investigated the gene-gene interactions that unveiled complex associations impacting pain/disability. Furthermore, her bioinformatic exploration supported the genetic findings, shedding light on functional pathways. Overall, the study elucidated genetic influences on chronic pain/disability in a diverse BCS cohort, paving the way towards personalized pain management strategies and novel therapeutic developments in the future. Supervisor : Associate Professor D Shamley (Human Biology) Co-supervisor: Professor AV September (Human Biology)

Roxanne Davis holds an honours degree in psychology and communications and has been a  registered psychological counsellor since 2013. She has been involved with ocean-based physical activity, community and disability initiatives in South Africa since 2016. She began full-time study towards her PhD in 2020. Roxanne Davis’ thesis contributes to the knowledge gap surrounding research on the effectiveness of surf therapy as a therapeutic tool for children with disabilities in South Africa, where large health inequalities exist. Her thesis explores the experiences of children with disabilities who participated in a surf therapy programme in the Western Cape, using a qualitative participatory research approach. The research design was a longitudinal exploratory case study underpinned by interpretive  phenomenological analysis. The findings supports the promotion of mental, physical, social, and emotional health through a surf therapy programme for children with disabilities. Additionally,  participation in the programme had an impact on reshaping participants’ worldviews, and the development and mastery of new skills. The synthesis of findings from the children with disabilities, parents, professionals and individuals that delivered the surf therapy programme produced four key findings and three key implications of the study. Supervisor: Professor T Lorenzo (Health and Rehabilitation Sciences) Co-supervisors: Professor Y Albertus (Human Biology); Professor A Hunter (Nottingham Trent University, Sport Science)

Akim Lukwa holds a BSc-Honours in Economics from Midlands State University and a Master of Public Health with specialisation in Health Economics from UCT. His journey towards a PhD began in January 2020. Akim Lukwa's thesis explores the important role of community-based savings schemes (Stokvels) in promoting healthy eating choices and addressing food security challenges in urban South Africa. Using a mixed-methodapproach, he starts with a systematic literature review on Stokvels, followed by a stakeholder mapping analysis to understand diverse stakeholders’ perceptions of Stokvels. Subsequently, a realist evaluation was conducted to understand the context and mechanisms influencing food purchasing decisionmaking in Stokvels. Finally, utilizing the discrete choice experiment methodology, the research investigated the factors influencing Stokvel members' decision-making regarding healthy food preferences. The findings of the research highlights how Stokvels can be leveraged to enhance nutritional choices, foster economic empowerment, and improve public health outcomes, especially among women in urban settings. His findings highlight the importance of shopping frequency, proximity to shopping outlets and transportation options as key factors influencing Stokvel members’ healthy food procurement preferences and choices.

Supervisor: Dr O Alaba (Public Health and Family Medicine) Co-supervisors: Emeritus Professor EV Lambert (Human Biology and Public Health and Family Medicine); Dr FA Wayas (Human Biology and Public Health and Family Medicine)

Oluyemisi Folasire holds a BSc and MSc in Human Nutrition, and MB., BS. (lb.), FWACP (Fam. Med.) from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. She joined UCT in 2016 for her PhD studies. She works as a senior lecturer and clinician in Human Nutrition, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

Oluyemisi Folasire’s thesis focuses on addressing the increasing obesity prevalence in Nigeria. She first conducts a  comprehensive formative assessment (quantitative and qualitative) of patients living with overweight/obesity (PLWO) attending medical outpatient clinics (MOPs) at secondary hospitals in Nigeria to inform the development of a culturally appropriate diet and physical activity weight loss (DaPWL) intervention. She then investigates the feasibility of the developed intervention in a sample of PLWO attending a MOP in a pre-post-test design trail, monitorsintervention delivery, and interviews a sub-sample of completers and all health care personnel involved in intervention delivery. Triangulation of results provides strong support for good reach, acceptability, applicability, and intervention integrity of the intervention. A strong signal of effect is reflected in the significant reduction in weight, and significant improvements in dietary, physical activity, knowledge, and belief indicators. She recommends further testing of the DaPWL-intervention in a full scale randomized controlled trial.

Supervisor: Emeritus Professor M Senekal (Human Biology) Co-supervisor: Associate Professor J Harbron (Human Biology)

Chadley Kemp holds a BSc (Human Physiology & Anatomy and Biochemistry) and a BSc (Med) Honours (Exercise Science) from UCT. Having been engaged commercially in esports since 2014, his PhD was inspired by a personal interest in the impact of sleep and circadian rhythms on esports players' health and performance. Chadley Kemp's thesis explores sleep patterns, cardiometabolic disease risk factors, and neurocognitive performance in adult esports players. It also profiles their 24-hour physical activity and light exposure patterns. The findings demonstrate that despite similar cardiometabolic disease profiles, esports players have a strong eveningoriented phenotype, with later sleep timing, greater exposure to light-at night, lower exposure to bright natural daylight, more sedentary behaviour, but superior neurocognitive performance compared to non-gamers. These elements, coupled with irregular, poor quality sleep, may place gamers on a trajectory for higher future cardiometabolic disease risk. While additional research is needed to unravel the complex interplay between sleep, lifestyle, and gaming behaviours, the findings of this thesis highlight the need for interventions targeting sleepand circadian-disrupting behaviours in the esports community. The intention is for these data to be used to encourage policy reform within the esports industry through developing a framework to promote healthier gameplay standards. Supervisor: Associate Professor DE Rae (Human Biology) Co-supervisors: Associate Professor LC Roden (Molecular Biology, Coventry University); Associate Professor G Lipinska (Psychology)

Graduation Celebration, September 2024

Link to UCT Graduation Page