Senior Honors Thesis (681/682) is a two-semester course sequence. You cannot take these courses concurrently. To enroll for either course, you must be a senior enrolled in the honors program. Course authorization can be obtained by the procedures noted below. After you have been authorized, be sure to register for the course.

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION AND APPROVAL

If required by your thesis advisor, a copy of the Thesis Research Proposal Form (Word doc, click here for PDF) should be submitted to the thesis advisor by the end of the third week of classes for the semester in which the thesis work is to be initiated. The proposal should be developed with input and guidance from the thesis advisor; the thesis advisor must sign the proposal form.

THESIS GUIDELINES

The thesis should follow the format described below:

• Introduction and Literature Review: This section is intended to provide a short introduction to the questions addressed in your thesis, including a review of the relevant literature. The literature review need not be extensive, but it should summarize the status of the field at the time the project was undertaken. This section should conclude with a clear, concise statement of the hypothesis to be tested or the questions to be answered.
  
  
• Materials and Methods: In this section, the materials (usually biological and/or chemical) used in your experiments should be reported and all techniques should be described. If a technique has been used essentially as reported in the literature, you can reference it without further description, but you should note any significant modifications of the original report. Methods should be reported in sufficient detail to allow an interested colleague to reproduce the experiments, if desired.
  
  
• Results: The purpose of this section is to describe your major experimental findings, which are usually summarized in the form of tables or figures. Tables and figures should be numbered consecutively, with each on a separate page. They may be inserted into the text as needed (usually as the page immediately following the text page on which a given table or figure is first mentioned) or collected together at the end of the thesis.
  
  
• Discussion and Conclusions: This section is intended to provide a discussion, interpretation, and summary of your findings. The conclusions that can be drawn from the data should be stated clearly and defended concisely. It is often appropriate to discuss your results in light of the findings of other investigators, particularly if your conclusions appear to be in conflict with those of others.
  
  
• References: All references cited in the text should be collected together in a bibliographic listing at the end of the thesis. You should use a consistent format for all references. References may be cited in the text by number (in parentheses or as superscripts) and listed here in order of citation. Alternatively, you can cite in references by name and list them alphabetically here. In the latter case, papers with one or two authors are usually cited in the text by name(s) and year (i.e., Smith and Kuba, 1999), whereas papers with three or more authors are usually cited as the first author et al. with the year (i.e., Smith et al., 1999).
  
  
• Other Sections: It is helpful to include a short (one-page) abstract or summary and a table of contents at the beginning of your thesis. You may also wish to include a page of acknowledgements to express your appreciation to those who were especially helpful to you in your work. The coversheet should precisely follow the format in this document (Word doc, click here for PDF).
  
  
• Appendices: Experimental details or findings that are only tangentially relevant to the thesis may be included as appendices, if it seems desirable to preserve a record of the information.

FINAL THESIS SUBMISSION

Your final thesis is due to your thesis advisor no later than 3 weeks before the last day of classes of the semester in which you are completing your thesis.

If you anticipate needing additional time to complete the work, you must discuss this with your thesis advisor well before the thesis submission deadline. If additional time is granted, you will receive a grade of incomplete for that semester. If you are graduating and need the 681/682 credits for graduation, you will not officially graduate until the thesis is approved and the incomplete is removed.

If you do choose to take an incomplete, your final thesis must be handed in no later than the end of the first week of the next semester for which you register. If you need an extension past this deadline, you must request, and be granted, an extended incomplete from your thesis advisor. Failing to do this will result in the incomplete lapsing into an F.

GRADING

The grade for the thesis will be given by the thesis advisor. The thesis advisor assigns the grade for the second semester only after the thesis has been reviewed and approved. You will receive a grade of "P" (progress) or "U" (unsatisfactory) upon completion of the first semester, course 681. This grade will be changed, upon completion of the second semester (682) to match the second semester letter grade.