honours thesis presentation

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 the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Dr. Nara Dillon ( [email protected] ), the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies, Dr. Gabriel Katsh ( [email protected] ), or the Undergraduate Program Manager, Karen Kaletka ( [email protected] ).  

Presenting a Senior Honors Thesis: A How-to Guide

June 27, 2023

Presenting a senior honors thesis is an exciting milestone in an undergraduate student’s academic journey. It is an opportunity to showcase your research, knowledge, and critical thinking skills to faculty members, peers, and the wider academic community. However, delivering a compelling and confident presentation can be a daunting task. In this comprehensive guide, we will delve into the essential elements of presenting a senior honors thesis, providing you with valuable insights and strategies to captivate your audience. Additionally, we will introduce Yoodli , an AI speech and communication coach that can assist you in refining your delivery and presenting your senior thesis with confidence.

The Significance of Presenting a Senior Honors Thesis

Presenting a senior honors thesis is more than just a requirement for graduation. It is an opportunity to demonstrate your ability to conduct in-depth research, analyze data, and contribute to your field of study. The presentation serves as a platform to share your findings, insights, and the culmination of your academic journey. It allows you to engage in scholarly discussions, receive feedback, and potentially make a lasting impact on your discipline.

Mastering the Art of Presenting a Senior Honors Thesis

1. understand your audience.

Before diving into the preparation process, it’s crucial to understand your audience. Consider the background, expertise, and interests of the individuals attending your presentation. Tailoring your content and language accordingly will ensure that your audience can easily comprehend and appreciate the significance of your research.

2. Structure Your Presentation

A well-structured presentation enhances clarity and aids in the effective communication of your research. Consider the following components:

Introduction

Begin with a captivating introduction that provides an overview of your thesis topic, its importance, and your research objectives. Hook your audience by clearly stating the problem or question you aimed to address.

Literature Review

Summarize the relevant literature in your field, highlighting the gaps or limitations that your research aims to address. Provide context for your study and demonstrate your understanding of the existing body of knowledge.

Methodology

Explain your research design, methodology, data collection procedures, and analysis techniques. Make sure to justify your choices and discuss any limitations.

Present your findings in a logical and coherent manner. Utilize visuals such as graphs, charts, or tables to enhance the comprehension of complex data. Interpret the results and discuss their implications.

Conclusion and Future Directions

Summarize your key findings and their significance. Discuss the implications of your research and potential avenues for future exploration. Conclude your presentation by reinforcing the main takeaways and inviting questions or discussion.

3. Practice, Practice, Practice

Rehearsing your presentation is essential for delivering it with confidence and fluency. Practice in front of a mirror, record yourself, or seek opportunities to present to peers or mentors. Pay attention to your body language, tone of voice, and pacing. Repeated practice will help you become comfortable with your material and improve your overall delivery.

4. Utilize Visual Aids Effectively

Visual aids, such as PowerPoint slides or posters, can enhance the understanding and engagement of your audience. Use clear and concise visuals that support your key points and avoid overcrowding slides with excessive text. Balance the use of visuals with your verbal explanations to ensure a cohesive presentation.

5. Engage Your Audience

Creating a connection with your audience is vital for a successful presentation. Maintain eye contact, speak clearly and audibly, and be mindful of your body language. Incorporate interactive elements, such as posing questions or encouraging discussion, to actively engage your audience throughout the presentation.

6. Yoodli: Elevating Your Presentation Skills

Presenting a senior honors thesis is a significant undertaking that can benefit from additional support and guidance. This is where Yoodli, an AI speech and communication coach, comes into play. Yoodli offers a range of features that can assist you in refining your delivery and presenting your senior thesis with confidence.

Instant Feedback and Analysis

Yoodli’s advanced speech recognition technology provides instant feedback on your delivery, pace, clarity, and intonation. By recording your practice sessions or live presentations, Yoodli analyzes your performance and offers valuable insights for improvement. This feedback helps you refine your delivery and ensure that your message is effectively conveyed.

Refining Your Language and Structure

Yoodli’s AI capabilities generate a transcript of your presentation, allowing you to review and analyze your content. You can then utilize Yoodli’s smart rephrasing suggestions to enhance your language, improve sentence structure, and ensure a smooth flow of ideas. This feature assists in optimizing the clarity and impact of your presentation.

Confidence Building

Presenting in front of an audience can be nerve-wracking, especially when it involves a significant academic achievement. Yoodli’s virtual environment offers a safe and supportive space to practice your senior thesis presentation. By simulating realistic scenarios and virtual audiences, Yoodli helps build your confidence , reduce anxiety, and refine your overall presentation skills.

7. Seek Feedback and Prepare for Questions

Before your actual presentation, seek feedback from your thesis advisor, mentors, or peers. They can provide valuable insights, identify areas for improvement, and help you anticipate potential questions from the audience. Prepare thoughtful responses to common questions to ensure you are ready for any inquiries that may arise during the presentation.

3 Tips for Mastering the Art of the Q&A Session: How to Answer Questions After Presenting Your Senior Thesis

The Q&A session that follows a senior honors thesis presentation is an opportunity for you to engage in scholarly discussions, demonstrate your expertise, and address any inquiries from the audience. Mastering the art of the Q&A session is crucial for presenting a comprehensive and well-rounded thesis defense. Here are some tips to help you excel in this important aspect of your presentation:

1. Prepare for Potential Questions

Anticipating potential questions can help you feel more confident and prepared during the Q&A session. Take the time to review your thesis, identify areas that may raise questions, and consider alternative perspectives or interpretations. Discussing potential questions with your thesis advisor or peers can provide valuable insights and help you refine your responses.

2. Active Listening and Understanding

During the Q&A session, actively listen to each question being asked. Make sure you fully understand the question before providing a response. If needed, ask for clarification or paraphrase the question to ensure a mutual understanding between you and the audience member.

3. Practice with Yoodli’s Mock Interview Feature

Yoodli, the AI speech and communication coach, offers a unique feature to help you practice answering follow-up questions during the Q&A session. Yoodli’s mock interview feature generates AI-generated follow-up questions based on what you just said. As you speak, Yoodli prompts you with unique follow-up questions, allowing you to practice thinking on your feet and providing thoughtful and coherent responses. This feature enhances your ability to handle unexpected or challenging questions during the actual Q&A session.

By mastering the art of the Q&A session, you can effectively engage with the audience, showcase your expertise, and further highlight the significance of your senior honors thesis. With Yoodli’s mock interview feature, you can practice answering follow-up questions, refine your responses, and build confidence in your ability to handle any inquiries that come your way. Embrace this opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge, critical thinking, and dedication to your research.

Presenting a senior honors thesis is an opportunity to showcase your academic prowess and contribute to your field of study. By following the strategies outlined in this comprehensive guide, you can deliver a compelling and confident presentation that leaves a lasting impression on your audience. Remember to utilize Yoodli, the AI speech and communication coach, to refine your delivery, language, and overall presentation skills. Embrace the journey of presenting your senior thesis with enthusiasm, passion, and the knowledge that you have worked diligently to reach this milestone. Best of luck!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) – Presenting a Senior Honors Thesis

1. how should i structure my senior honors thesis presentation.

When structuring your senior honors thesis presentation, consider including an introduction that provides an overview of your research, a literature review, a section on methodology, presentation of results, and a conclusion with future directions. This structure ensures a logical flow of information and effectively communicates the significance of your research.

2. How long should my senior honors thesis presentation be?

The length of your senior honors thesis presentation may vary depending on the guidelines provided by your institution. Generally, presentations range from 10 to 20 minutes, with additional time allocated for the Q&A session. It is important to adhere to the given time limit and practice to ensure a well-paced and concise presentation.

3. Should I use visual aids in my senior honors thesis presentation?

Visual aids can enhance the understanding and engagement of your audience during the senior honors thesis presentation. Utilize slides, graphs, charts, or other visuals to support your key points and illustrate complex information. Ensure that your visual aids are clear, visually appealing, and effectively supplement your verbal explanations.

4. How can I make my senior honors thesis presentation engaging?

To make your senior honors thesis presentation engaging, incorporate storytelling techniques , use relevant examples or anecdotes, and maintain a confident and enthusiastic demeanor. Engage your audience by asking questions, encouraging participation, and creating a dialogue. Strive to connect with your audience on an intellectual and emotional level.

5. How do I handle nervousness during my senior honors thesis presentation?

Feeling nervous before a senior honors thesis presentation is normal. To manage nervousness, practice your presentation multiple times, visualize success, and focus on your preparation and expertise. Take deep breaths, maintain good posture, and remember that the audience is there to learn from you. Channel your nervous energy into enthusiasm and passion for your research.

6. What should I do if I make a mistake during my senior honors thesis presentation?

Making mistakes during a senior honors thesis presentation can happen. If you make a mistake, stay calm and composed. Take a brief moment to gather your thoughts and continue with your presentation. If necessary, politely correct the mistake or address it during the Q&A session. Remember, the focus should be on your overall presentation and the value of your research.

7. How can I effectively manage the Q&A session during my senior honors thesis presentation?

To effectively manage the Q&A session, actively listen to each question, understand it fully, and respond thoughtfully and concisely. Maintain eye contact with the questioner and the rest of the audience. If time allows, invite follow-up questions or engage in a discussion to encourage further exploration of your research. Be respectful, open to different viewpoints, and confident in your knowledge.

8. What should I wear for my senior honors thesis presentation?

Dress professionally for your senior honors thesis presentation. Consider the expectations of your institution or department and aim for a neat and polished appearance. Generally, business attire or formal wear is appropriate for such occasions. Dressing professionally contributes to a positive first impression and shows respect for the significance of the event.

9. Is it necessary to rehearse my senior honors thesis presentation?

Rehearsing your senior honors thesis presentation is crucial for a confident and polished delivery. Practice multiple times to become familiar with your content, timing, and transitions. Rehearsing allows you to refine your speaking style, identify areas for improvement, and build confidence in your presentation. Practice in front of a mirror, record yourself, or seek opportunities to present to peers or mentors for feedback.

10. How can Yoodli assist me in preparing for my senior honors thesis presentation?

Yoodli, your very own AI speech and communication coach, can be an invaluable resource in preparing for your senior honors thesis presentation. Its instant feedback and analysis feature helps you refine your delivery, pace, and clarity. Additionally, Yoodli’s mock interview feature allows you to practice answering potential questions, enhancing your readiness for the presentation. Utilize Yoodli to gain valuable insights and improve your overall presentation skills.

Start practicing with Yoodli.

Getting better at speaking is getting easier. Record or upload a speech and let our AI Speech Coach analyze your speaking and give you feedback.

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:

Mon, Feb 5th 10:30 - 11:30am  Athena Conference Room UCB 201 (West Valley campus)  RSVP

Wed, Feb 7th 10:00am - 11:00am  Athena Conference Room UCB 201 (West Valley campus)  RSVP 

Thu, Feb 8th 2:30pm - 3:30pm  Athena Conference Room UCB 201 (West Valley campus)  RSVP

Fri, Feb 9th 4pm - 5pm  Hayden Library Room 236 (Tempe campus)  RSVP

Thu, Feb 15th 4:30pm - 6pm  Hayden Library Room 236 (Tempe campus)  RSVP

Thu, Feb 29th 5pm - 6:30pm  Virtual (Zoom)  RSVP

Fri, Mar 15th 4pm - 5:30pm  Hayden Library Room 236 (Tempe campus)  RSVP

Fri, Apr 5th 4pm - 5:30pm  Virtual (Zoom)  RSVP

Thu, Apr 11th 5pm - 6:30pm  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.

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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How to Start a Thesis Defense Presentation

After months and years of hard work, the moment to wrap things all up is finally here—your thesis defense presentation.

Whether you’re pursuing a master’s degree or doctorate, it’s the final step to that much-deserved achievement. 

A thesis defense requires a lot of prior research and preparation. And as important as its content is, so is how you present it because a stunning design with clear data and text hierarchy plays an immense role in comprehension.

In this article, we’ll explore how you make your thesis defense .

The organization is the key to success. Establishing some previous steps before any project or work is essential for the result to be very positive. And the defense of a thesis could not be less. 

Below, we will develop all the necessary steps to make a thesis defense presentation and we will give you some tips on how to carry them out.

How to Make an Amazing Presentation

Defining the concept of your thesis presentation, structuring your thesis defense presentation, how do you welcome the audience, tell them why you did this thesis, go into the content by explaining your thesis part by part, how to end the defense of the thesis.

After a long time of research and study, the content of your thesis is ready. Now, you have to find the best way to reflect all that effort behind your work. The information comes across more clearly if you use a visual format, as it attracts the attention of the audience. To present your thesis information in a clear, concise, and ultimately amazing way, you can use one of our unique thesis defense templates , available at Slidesgo.

As an example, in this article, we are going to use the Ecology Thesis template . With it, we will show you what to include in your presentation and how to make an attractive design.

After choosing the Google Slides and PowerPoint template that best suits the needs and subject matter of your thesis, it is time to define an overarching concept.

This is the main theme on which your designs are based. It must be relevant to your thesis as its purpose is to guide your selection of colors, typography, images, style, etc. 

These must be portrayed in a way that supports the main message of your slides and should be aligned with your concept both visually and sociologically.

Once you have defined the concept, you will have to move on to the next step: structuring the content of your thesis. A good structure will show that there is a good organization behind the work, but most importantly: it will highlight your content.

In this article, we are going to show you a structure that could be a good example of how to structure a thesis, but you can adapt it to what your specific content requires.

Before you begin your thesis defense, you should welcome your audience. A good presentation will make you connect with your audience, which will result in more general interest in your work.

Use an appropriate language register (avoid informal language), but be approachable and natural.

"Welcome to the thesis defense on [the title of your thesis]". Next, introduce yourself with your name and give a short description of your background and occupation.

Don't forget to say “thank you for attending!”

To continue establishing that connection with your audience, explain the reasons that led you to do this thesis. Tell the professional reasons, and you can even say some personal ones, which will denote closeness, and your audience will appreciate it.

Now it's time to go into the content of the thesis ! After these preliminary steps, which are just as important as the thesis itself, it is time to explain part by part the structure (which you had previously established). We are going to propose a structure for your project, but the final decision is always yours!

First impressions are very important. Because your title page is the very first thing viewers see, it must be striking and impactful. It also sets the stage for the rest of your slides.

In one glance, the following should be established:

• Thesis defense topic
• Design style

For instance, the ecology thesis’s title page uses illustrations of a natural landscape to represent the topic of nature and a striking shade of blue to set the tone.

The sans serif font used depicts clean-cut typography and style and the thesis topic is written in large and bold typography, which draws attention to it immediately.

Right after your title page, include an introduction slide to provide more details about your topic. 

This means explaining what you hope to answer with your research, its importance to your field, and why you chose it.

Continue to incorporate design elements relevant to your concept. This example has done just that by using a different natural landscape and including animals. For coherence, stick to the same typography and style throughout your presentation.

The aim of the literature review slide is to illustrate your knowledge of your thesis topic and any relevant theories.

Walls of text kill a design. For clarity, we recommend presenting this with bullet points. Each one should be short and sweet and only touch on the basics; you can elaborate on them in your speech. 

Don’t forget to be consistent with your design. In our example, we’ve maintained the tone of blue chosen and added illustrations of leaves in the far corners of the slide. 

Also, address similar research that has been done. This is to showcase your topic’s originality and, if relevant, how it’s different and/or an improvement from previously done research. 

This is one of the most important parts of a thesis defense presentation.

It allows your viewers to assess the rationality and validity of your approach and consequently, the accuracy of your results.

A great methodology slide explains the what , how, and why :

• What method did you use for your research
• Why did you choose it
• How did you conduct it

Because this part of your thesis will be rather technical, the most effective way to aid understanding is by using graphics like charts and tables. 

Keep text to a minimum to avoid drawing attention away from the graphics. If there is a text that must absolutely be included, consider using bullet points and keep them short.

Don’t forget to maintain color, style, and typography coherence.

The results slides are easily the most quantitative part of a thesis defense. 

Here, your aim is to simply introduce your findings. Select the most impactful data and highlight them here.

Just as with methodology, use graphics like charts, tables, and graphs to portray the data in a clear way. And, once again, try not to write too much text. Let the visual content do the talking .

After you’ve introduced your data, the next step would be to help your audience make sense of it. That means understanding what it means in the context of your thesis research topic and your discipline. 

Simply put, you should answer the question: What do the numbers mean?

The best way to approach this would be to do it as if you were creating an infographic . 

Illustrations like icons are a quick and simple way to represent your message. It also reduces the amount of text on your slide, which makes the information much more digestible. 

For a balanced thesis presentation, you should also address any outliers and anomalies.

To quote bestselling author Robin Sharma, “Starting strong is good. Finishing strong is epic.”

That’s exactly what to aim for in your conclusion.

Provide an overview of your thesis topic and remind your audience what you set out to answer with your research. In our example, we’ve used three icons accompanied by a short title and text. 

Following that, reiterate the important points of your research results you want your audience to take away from your thesis defense presentation. 

You can do so by expanding the next slide to have more icons and points, for example.

Don’t forget to address any shortcomings and limitations in your approach and extra points for suggesting possible improvements for future research.

We are going to give you a little tip to make your thesis defense a success. You can combine your defense with good public speaking techniques. Take a look at our article "How to become a great speaker" .

We hope this article has been of great help, have you already seen our templates to make the presentation of your thesis ? Choose the one that best suits your needs, we are sure that one of them will go perfectly with your thesis presentation! 

Good luck from Slidesgo.

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Undergraduate Program - Writing a Thesis

• Created by Marcus Mayo , last modified on Jan 31, 2024

Pursuing a Thesis

Senior Concentrators wishing to graduate with honors in the Department must produce a senior thesis and carry academic standing of Group II or better, with a minimum GPA of 3.00 in concentration grades. In deciding whether one wishes to fulfill the honors requirements, students should consider their academic interests, commitment to independent research, and other deadlines and obligations during the thesis year. Many students find the task of producing a substantial piece of critical scholarship interesting and rewarding, but others find the senior thesis can become a frustrating and unwieldy burden. Some students prefer the freedom to take elective courses or savor extra-curricular pursuits during their last year at the College unhampered by the encroaching demands of thesis preparation. In general, it may be remarked that students are unlikely to do well in the honors program who are not already proven practiced writers committed to the process of scholarship; the senior thesis is not the place to acquire basic skills in writing, design, and/or research. In considering the Department's honors requirements, it should be remembered that students with honors grades overall may graduate with University Honors (Cum Laude) even if they do not receive Honors in History of Art and Architecture.

Department Timeline of Thesis Preparation 

A schedule of departmental dates and deadlines relative to the thesis will be available by the beginning of each Fall Term. The thesis writer and faculty thesis adviser should agree on a working schedule which will adequately conform to these deadlines.

Concentrators undertaking a thesis are required to enroll in HAA 99A (fall) and B (spring) for course credit. Students in the architecture track pursuing a design thesis should enroll in HAA 92r (fall) and 99B (spring). Joint concentrators will enroll in the 99 course of their primary concentration.

Overseen by the Senior Thesis Adviser, HAA 99A –“The Senior Thesis Seminar” – will meet several times during the fall semester for two-hour sessions devoted to facilitating the preparation and writing of a thesis. These sessions will cover such topics as compiling a bibliography, using archives, the use of key technology and software, and constructing and presenting an effective argument. All concentrators pursuing a written thesis project are required to enroll in this seminar. Joint concentrators enrolled in another department’s thesis seminar, and HAA design thesis students enrolled in HAA 92r, are welcome and encouraged to attend some or all sessions of 99A in addition to their primary thesis preparation course.

Late in the fall semester, each concentrator pursuing a thesis will deliver a twenty-minute presentation on the thesis topic, illustrated with digitally projected images, at the Senior Thesis Presentations. All departmental faculty and students will be invited to these presentations. By the end of winter break, each student will submit a complete first draft of the thesis, complete with illustrations.

Overview of Key Dates for Thesis Preparation

These dates apply to all HAA students wishing to pursue an honors thesis. For further criteria specific to students preparing a design thesis in the Architecture Track, see Academic Requirements: Design Thesis in the Architecture Track

Please consult the Senior Thesis Seminar Canvas site, or reach out to the Undergraduate Program Coordinator, for specific dates.

Spring Semester, Junior Year

• February: Initial Meeting. Junior concentrators are invited to meet with the Senior Thesis Adviser for an introduction to the senior thesis writing process.
• Early April: Short Proposals Due. Students submit a basic proposal outlining preliminary ideas, along with a list of potential faculty advisers. Faculty advisers are assigned to thesis projects in late April or early May.
• Late April: Applications due for Pulitzer and Abramson Travel Grants. See Undergraduate Prizes, Grants and Opportunities for details on grants and applications. Information on how to apply will be provided by the Undergraduate Program Coordinator. Grant recipients will be notified by email.

Fall Semester, Senior Year

• During the semester, students enroll in HAA 99A or 92r and follow course deadlines (Please consult the HAA 99A and 92r Canvas sites for additional details).
• Students meet regularly with their faculty advisers.
• Early December: Senior Thesis Presentations. All students pursuing a thesis will give a twenty-minute presentation to department students and faculty followed by discussion.

Spring Semester, Senior Year

• Late January: First Draft . Before the spring semester begins, students submit a full draft of the thesis, with illustrations, to the faculty adviser for comments.
• Late February/Early March: Second Draft. Students are encouraged to submit the near-final draft to their faculty adviser for a final review before formal submission to the Department.
• Week before Spring Break: Final Submission Deadline. Late submissions will not be accepted. On the afternoon of submission, all students are invited to attend the Thesis Reception.
• Late March: Gallery-Style public reception and presentation of Design Thesis projects. All architecture track students that have prepared a design thesis will present their work informally at this event. All HAA thesis writers, as well as faculty and graduate students, are encouraged to attend.
• April: Thesis Review and Honors Recommendation . Senior Honors Theses are read and critiqued by Members of the Faculty in HAA (and the GSD and the Harvard Art Museums, where relevant) at the request of the Senior Thesis Adviser. Department Faculty meet to vote on final honors recommendations, after which thesis writers will receive an email from the Senior Thesis Adviser notifying them of their thesis grade and recommendation for honors. Students should speak with their Allston Burr Senior Tutor for the anticipated final honors decision of the College.
• Mid-April: Senior Thesis Poster. All senior thesis writers are expected to prepare a digital file for a 24 x 36” poster summarizing the thesis to be exhibited in the HAA Department for the following academic year. A suggested template will be provided and a workshop will be held in late March for assistance with poster preparation. The printing and associated costs are taken care of by the Department. Examples of previous posters can be found here (AY21-22) and here (AY22-23) .

Senior Thesis Adviser 

The process of taking honors and producing the thesis in the Department is overseen for all concentrators by the Senior Thesis Adviser, Professor Carrie Lambert-Beatty. The Senior Thesis Adviser leads the Fall Term thesis-writing seminar (HAA 99A) and directs the meetings for departmental approval once theses have been submitted. 

Faculty Thesis Adviser 

When submitting their initial proposal in the spring of the junior year, students should include a list of three possible faculty advisers. The Department will then match students with advisers according to student preference and faculty availability. Faculty thesis advisers should generally be full faculty members of the History of Art and Architecture Department, although Harvard museum curators with relevant expertise may also serve as advisers at the discretion of the Senior Thesis Adviser. Students in the architecture track pursuing a design thesis must also secure a second adviser from the faculty of the Graduate School of Design. Joint concentrators will generally select one faculty adviser from each department.

The adviser ought to serve as a critic of synthesized ideas and writings/designs, rather than as a director of the project. The adviser should be chosen with consideration more to compatibility in overseeing the process of the work than to being an expert in the field. If you have trouble identifying an appropriate adviser, please consult with the Senior Thesis Adviser or Undergraduate Program Coordinator before the spring deadline for the Thesis Proposal.

Graduate students in the Department of History of Art and Architecture do not advise Senior Theses.

Program Director, Harvard Undergraduate Architecture Studies Track

Megan Panzano, Program Director of the Harvard Undergraduate Architecture Studies Track, oversees the execution of the two studio courses “HAA 96A – Architecture Studio I: Transformations” and “HAA 96B – Architecture Studio II: Connections”, as well as the senior design-thesis seminar “HAA 92R – Design Speculations.” She is available to consult for general advice on the design-thesis process and in finding a suitable advisor from the GSD. She coordinates the assignment of readers to senior design-thesis projects in consultation with the Senior Thesis Adviser and Undergraduate Program Coordinator.

Undergraduate Program Coordinator

The Undergraduate Program Coordinator, Marcus Mayo, is available to consult at any point regarding general questions about the senior thesis writing process. In conjunction with the Senior Thesis Adviser, they will coordinate the initial meeting of concentrators interested in writing a thesis in the spring term of their junior year. The Undergraduate Program Coordinator collects and distributes thesis proposals, summer funding proposals, advisor assignments, as well as completed theses, grades and reader comments. They hold examples of the written requirements (thesis proposal and prospectus) and of the Pulitzer and Abramson Grant applications which students might wish to consult as paradigms.

Academic Requirements – Written Thesis

The writing and evaluation of the thesis is a year-long process, during which the writer enrolls in a senior thesis preparation seminar (HAA 99A) and meets at scheduled intervals with their faculty adviser to formulate, develop, and ultimately refine their thesis work.

The Department encourages seniors to think broadly and explore a problem of interest. The thesis topic does not necessarily have to be within the writer's declared major field, except when required for a joint concentration, in which case, the topic must address an issue shared by both concentrations. The thesis should demonstrate an ability to pose a meaningful question, present a well-reasoned and structured argument, and marshal appropriate evidence. The student should apply a clear methodology and be aware of the assumptions behind the argument, the possible deficiencies of the sources and data used, and the implications of the conclusions. The various parts of the thesis should cohere in an integrated argument; the thesis should not be a series of loosely connected short essays. A primary expectation of the thesis is that it is a work of independent scholarship, directed and crafted by the student, with the thesis adviser serving in a capacity of "indirect overseeing of the project."

There is no set pattern for an acceptable thesis. The writer should demonstrate familiarity with scholarly methods in the use of sources, but this should not be the sole criterion for evaluation. Of equal if not greater importance is the development of the central argument and the significance of the interpretation. A thesis may be research on a little-studied problem or a perceptive reassessment of a familiar question. A well-pondered and well-presented interpretive essay may be as good a thesis as a miniature doctoral dissertation.

Skill in exposition is a primary objective, and pristine editing is expected. The Department encourages writers to keep to a short page count, so as to craft a clear, concise paper, and further edit it to an exemplary presentation. In general, a History of Art and Architecture thesis will have a text ranging from 20,000 to 25,000 words. Students are encouraged to explore the resources available to thesis writers at the Harvard College Writing Center .

The writer must indicate the source of material drawn from others' work, whether quoted, paraphrased, or summarized. Students who, for whatever reason, submit work either not their own or without clear attribution to its sources will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including requirement to withdraw from the College.

Academic Requirements: Design Thesis in the Architecture Track

The HAA Architecture Track asks students to select an Area of Emphasis for fulfillment of their degree -- either Design Studies or History and Theory. Students wishing to pursue an honors thesis in the History and Theory Area of Emphasis will usually complete a written senior thesis paper and presentation on the same model as the thesis for general concentrators (see Academic Requirements: Written Thesis ).

Students in the Design Studies Area of Emphasis who wish to pursue a thesis project may choose either a traditional thesis or a design thesis project. Design theses are creative thesis projects featuring a combination of written analysis and visual and physical design materials, as described below.

Course Requirements for Honors Consideration with a Design Thesis

Senior year – fall term.

• HAA 92r Design Speculations Seminar – required
• Course prerequisite: Completion of either HAA 96A (“Transformations”) or HAA 96B (“Connections”) studios.
• This course requires that students secure a pair of faculty advisers – one from Harvard History of Art and Architecture (HAA) Faculty and one from the Harvard GSD to support their research work within the course; course faculty advisers then serve as the faculty thesis advisers for the design thesis.
• Megan Panzano, GSD Architecture Studies Director, and Jennifer Roberts, HAA DUS, can both help make faculty adviser connections for students pursuing this path.
• (optional) HAA 99A Senior Thesis Tutorial – attendance in this seminar is encouraged but not required in parallel with HAA 92r.
• Presentation of design work to HAA and select GSD Faculty as part of HAA Thesis Colloquium in December) – required

Senior Year – Spring Term

• Throughout the semester: Advising meetings with individual faculty advisers to guide production and iterative refinement of design work (architectural analytical drawings and/or physical models), and edits to digital presentation made in fall term HAA Thesis Thesis Presentations.
• March 08, 2024, 12:00 pm EST: Submission of final senior thesis design project including digital images and written text as a single PDF file (see “ Submission Requirements for Honors Consideration ”).
• March 29, 2024 (date subject to change and TBC): Participation in a gallery-style final presentation with faculty and peers after submission of thesis . The design presentations for the gallery-style event should include an updated digital presentation comprised of the project title, author’s name, the most current versions of all elements listed below in the Final Project Requirements (with the exception of the Written Manifesto which should be consolidated to a single slide containing 3-4 sentences of a thesis statement capturing the topic of study, a position on this topic, your claim about design agency to address this topic, and specifically, what design elements you’ve explored in your thesis in this address).  Students may elect to also print or plot selected original design drawings they produced (analytical or projective) from their digital presentation to pin up in the space.  Likewise, students are encouraged to bring any sketch and/or final models they have created to display as well.
• April 8, 2024 : Preparation of a digital file for a 24 x 36” poster summarizing the thesis to be exhibited in the HAA department for the academic year to follow. A suggested template will be provided and a workshop will be held on March 26 (2024, date subject to change and TBC) for assistance with poster preparation. Examples of previous posters can be found here (AY21-22) and here (AY22-23) .

Submission Requirements for the Design Thesis Project (due March 08, 2024, 12:00 pm EST)

A single multi-page PDF file labeled with student’s full last name and first initial should be submitted. It should contain the following elements and should incorporate thesis research and design work from both fall and spring terms.

• Assemble a visual bibliography of references for your research project. The references included should be sorted into categories of your own authoring in relation to the research. Each reference should be appropriately cited using the Chicago Manual of Style, and each reference should also include an affiliated image. The bibliography should include a brief (approx. 200-word) annotation, describing the rationale behind the sorted categories.
• A written design manifesto of a minimum of 2,000 words that concisely articulates the issues, problems, and questions embedded in and engaged by your research project. The manifesto should address:
• Discourse : the role and significance of architecture relative to the project topic of interest, and;
• Context : the relationship of the project topic to broader surroundings which include but are not limited to the discipline of architecture, cultural contexts, technical developments, and/or typologies.
• The final statement should reflect deeply upon the character of the design process for the project, and discuss how the design process reinforced, inflected, or complicated the initial research questions. For most students, this final statement will be an elaboration upon the presentation text prepared for the fall senior thesis colloquium. The final text should capture and discuss the design elements that were further explored in the spring term as means to address initial research questions (i.e. include written descriptions of the drawings and/or physical models produced in relation to the thesis topic).  
• A visual drawing or info-graphic that describes the process of design research undertaken for your topic. This should include the initial criteria developed for evaluating the project, the steps taken in examining the topic, the points in the process where it became necessary to stop and assess outputs and findings, and final adjustments to the methodology as the project neared completion.
• High resolution drawings, animations, and/or diagrams and photographs of physical models  (if applicable)  that were produced through research. These should be assembled in single-page layouts of slides to follow preceding elements listed here.

Grading of the Senior Thesis

Theses are read and critiqued by faculty members applying a higher standard than expected for work written in courses or tutorials. Faculty do make use of the full range of grades, and students should consider that any honors grade is a distinction of merit. If you have any questions, please contact the Senior Thesis Adviser, the Director of Undergraduate Studies, or the Undergraduate Program Coordinator.

SUMMA CUM LAUDE: A summa thesis is a work of "highest honor." It is a contribution to knowledge, though it need not be an important contribution. It reveals a promise of high intellectual attainments both in selection of problems and facts for consideration and in the manner in which conclusions are drawn from these facts. A summa thesis includes, potentially at least, the makings of a publishable article. The writer's use of sources and data is judicious. The thesis is well written and proofread. The arguments are concise and logically organized, and the allocation of space appropriate. A summa is not equivalent to just any A, but the sort given by instructors who reserve them for exceptional merit. A summa minus is a near miss at a summa and is also equivalent to an A of unusual quality.

MAGNA CUM LAUDE: A magna level thesis is a work worthy of "great honor." It clearly demonstrates the capacity for a high level of achievement, is carried through carefully, and represents substantial industry. A magna plus thesis achieves a similar level of quality to a summa in some respects, though it falls short in others; it is equivalent to the usual type of A. A magna thesis is equivalent to an A-. For a magna minus, the results achieved may not be quite a successful due to an unhappy choice of topic or approach; it is also equivalent to an A-.

CUM LAUDE: As is appropriate for a grade "with honors," a cum level thesis shows serious thought and effort in its general approach, if not in every detail. A cum plus is equivalent to a B+, a cum to a B, and a cum minus to a B-. The cum thesis does not merely represent the satisfactory completion of a task. It is, however, to be differentiated from the magna in the difficulty of the subject handled, the substantial nature of the project, and the success with which the subject is digested. Recall that, as students putting extraordinary effort into a thesis most frequently receive a magna, theses of a solid but not exceptional quality deserve a grade in the cum range. When expressed in numerical equivalents, the interval between a magna minus and a cum minus is double that between the other intervals on the grading scale.

NO DISTINCTION: Not all theses automatically deserve honors. Nevertheless, a grade of no distinction (C, D, or E) should be reserved only for those circumstances when the thesis is hastily constructed, a mere summary of existing material, or is poorly thought through. The high standards which are applied in critique of theses must clearly be violated for a thesis to merit a grade of no distinction.

Thesis Readers 

Each thesis will have two readers chosen by the Department. All readers will be asked to submit written comments and grades, which will be factored equally to produce the final grade of the thesis. Individual grades are not released. When grades and comments are distributed, the readers no longer remain anonymous. There exists a procedure by which a writer may request, via the Senior Thesis Adviser, to speak with a reader provided that they are willing to discuss the work in further detail or expound on the written critique.

For joint concentrators, the department will defer the reading process to their primary concentration. Students should reach out to their adviser in their primary concentration for further information.

Grade Report and Honors Recommendation 

At the end of each term, Fall and Spring, the student's progress in the Senior Tutorial (HAA 99) will be graded SAT or UNSAT. At the end of the Department's Honors Review process, the Senior Thesis Adviser calculates a recommendation for Honors based on the factored grades of the thesis and the student's grades in concentration coursework. This recommendation is presented to the Faculty at their meeting in April for review. A faculty vote is taken and this decision is passed as an honors recommendation to the Registrar of the College. For joint concentrators, the faculty will make recommendations to a student’s primary concentration but will defer the final grading process to them. The decision of Final Honors to be granted on the degree is made by the Registrar based on departmental recommendation and the student’s College-GPA. Students should consult with their Allston Burr Senior Tutor to determine what final honors might be anticipated at Commencement.

The needs of the Department for fair deliberation dictate that there may be no report of decisions regarding the thesis until after the Faculty has considered and voted upon each recommendation for honors. After honors recommendations have been voted by the Faculty, students will be notified of the Department's recommendation to the College and will receive an ungraded copy of each evaluation of their thesis. The comments in these evaluations should provide the student with a clear explanation of the strengths and weaknesses of the thesis, bearing in mind the difficulties of the field and the type of thesis submitted, and evaluating what was accomplished in terms of what was undertaken, given the student's limitation of time and experience.

Discontinuance of a Thesis 

The process of writing the thesis is a serious commitment of time and energy for both the writer and the adviser. In some cases, however, it might be agreed that the thesis should be discontinued at mid-year. The Senior Tutorial year may be divided with credit through a procedure in which the student must submit a written paper presenting the project and research to that point.

Examples of Past Theses 

Senior Honors Theses which are written by students who graduate Summa or Magna are deposited in the University Archives in Pusey Library . Copies of theses which are awarded the Hoopes Prize are held in Lamont Library . Students are urged to consult past theses as much can be gained in exploring precedent or seeking inspiration.

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Your Honors Thesis

The honors college thesis handbook and guidelines.

Completing this Honors College requirement provides you with an opportunity to design a unique project that will challenge you to reflect upon yours Honors education and to present your work to a group of faculty and your peers.

If you have any additional questions please contact  Robin Bond .

View the Spring 2024 Thesis Presentation Schedule

Sign up for your thesis presentation , submit your final thesis.

Table of Contents

What is the Honors Thesis and why do I have to complete one?

What do i do first.

• Thesis checklist
• Formatting your thesis proposal, and proposal review process
• Formatting your thesis

Who will evaluate my thesis and oral presentations?

How will my thesis be graded.

• What is “pass with distinction” and will I be eligible?

Forms & Guidelines

• Download the Honors College Thesis Handbook and Guidelines
• Honors Thesis Proposal Form
• Thesis Oral Presentation Rubric
• Thesis Written Document Rubric
• Thesis Evaluation Guidelines
• Thesis Advisor Signature

Completing this Honors requirement provides you an opportunity to design a unique project that will challenge you to reflect upon your Honors education and to present your work to a group of faculty and your peers. Your thesis will be the culmination of your undergraduate work and a bridge to your future career or academic life. Completion of the senior thesis is one of the hallmarks of a quality Honors education.

The thesis also provides an opportunity for undergraduate students to work closely with faculty members on campus who share similar research or creative interests. Your thesis can provide entrée to academic and professional research. It can lead to a publication and/or a conference presentation. Furthermore, faculty members who serve as thesis advisors are in a position to write very strong letters for graduate/professional schools or positions in the labor force. Prospective employers and graduate school admissions committees are impressed by the dedication and discipline required to write a thesis.

A thesis is not just another research or term paper. A thesis will thoroughly investigate previous research on a topic and will include your own insights and contributions to the topic. Many theses attempt to answer an academic question or test a hypothesis. Students in art, music, creative writing, or film studies, for example, may choose to complete a “creative project.” In this case, your written paper would be a contextual analysis of the work that you completed and would provide a lens for an audience to evaluate your work. See the “Formatting Your Thesis Proposal” and “Formatting Your Completed Thesis” sections below.

The information provided here will help you complete your Honors thesis and will answer basic questions about the process. The advisors in the Honors College are available to talk with you further about this requirement and to help you successfully complete it.

Before you begin writing your thesis, it is highly recommended that you enroll in and complete HONORS 398, an optional one-unit “Thesis Proposal” class. HONORS 398 should be taken in your sophomore or junior year. The goals of this class are to identify an appropriate advisor, develop a research activity or creative project, and prepare your proposal. In conjunction with your thesis advisor, you will develop a proposal that will be submitted to the Honors College for approval. The required format for the proposal is outlined below in this handbook, and the cover form, which your advisor must sign, is available here.

Once the proposal is approved by the Thesis Review Committee, you will complete your project under the supervision of your thesis advisor, and you may plan to present your final thesis as soon as the following semester.

Note: Students in the College of Engineering should check their schedules of studies to see which course satisfies the Honors College thesis requirement.

Thesis Checklist

• Thesis topic/Research project Your thesis can be a project that you develop or it can be based on faculty research that you are involved in. Often a thesis is a critical discussion/literature review of a topic guided by the specific research question of your thesis. It is not a requirement that you generate your own data in a lab or by using a survey, for example.  Most students begin thinking about their thesis in SOPHOMORE YEAR ; some students get involved in research on campus as early as FRESHMAN YEAR .
• HONORS 398 Plan to enroll in HONORS 398 during your JUNIOR YEAR. The course is not required, but it helps you write a proposal for your project and explains information about writing and completing the thesis. If you are pursuing a major in nursing or speech and hearing sciences or if you are planning to study abroad in junior year.  Some students choose to take HONORS 398 in SPRING OF SOPHOMORE YEAR .
• Thesis Advisor The thesis requires that you work with a faculty advisor at WSU. This can be anyone who is in a faculty position (including clinical faculty and senior instructors) at any WSU campus. You must have an advisor before you submit your thesis proposal to honors. HONORS 398 can help you identify an advisor for your project; if you are doing research in a faculty lab, the PI (Principal Investigator) is the best option for your thesis advisor.
• Thesis Proposal Before you can enroll in HONORS 450 thesis credits, you must submit a thesis proposal to honors. The thesis proposal is a 5-page document that shows you are embarking on a solid, academic project that will satisfy the thesis requirement. The thesis proposal must be submitted no later than the semester before you plan to complete and present your thesis. The thesis proposal is submitted as an email attachment to [email protected] with a coversheet.  Most students submit their proposal in JUNIOR YEAR .
• HONORS 450, 3 credits HONORS 450 is not an actual class; these are 3 credits that satisfy your thesis requirement for honors. Once your thesis proposal is approved, you will be enrolled in HONORS 450 credits according to your instructions on the thesis proposal cover sheet (see above).
• Written Thesis You will work with your thesis advisor to write your final thesis, which will probably take multiple drafts. Communicate with your advisor about how often you should meet to review your work. Your final thesis will be due on the Monday of the week prior to the week of your presentation date.  Most students plan to complete the thesis in SENIOR YEAR .
• Schedule your Presentation Plan to schedule your thesis presentation early in the semester when you plan to complete your thesis. There will be a date by which you must schedule your presentation. You will need the information about your advisor and the faculty evaluator for your project. Your advisor can suggest an evaluator to review your work.  Most students plan to complete the thesis in SENIOR YEAR .
• Thesis Presentation Your thesis presentation is the last step in completing your thesis. Your presentation will be attended by your advisor, your evaluator, and a host from the Honors College. You will present your thesis for 20 minutes, followed by 10-15 minutes of Q/A, and finally the evaluation, so, the entire presentation will be scheduled for one hour. Students at the Spokane campus have the option of presenting via the WSU videoconferencing system.  Most students plan to complete and present their thesis in SENIOR YEAR .

Formatting your thesis proposal

Thesis proposals are typically 5 pages long and are double spaced using a 12-point font. Please paginate your proposal and be sure to attach the required Thesis Proposal Form to the front of your proposal. The guidelines below indicate the sections required.

I. Introduction/Literature Review

Your introduction or literature review provides specific background information or the “body of knowledge” relevant to your Honors thesis. The literature you cite should draw on both earlier and current scholarly work. For proposals in the arts and humanities, include several journal sources and academic book(s). For proposals in the social sciences and sciences, include primary sources, review articles, and academic book(s).

This section should be written such that your research question or hypothesis or creative activity flows logically from it.

II. Proposed Activity

Depending upon your academic discipline, you may present your proposed activity as a research question, hypothesis(es), or creative activity with a stated goal or outcome(s). The proposed activity that forms the basis of your Honors thesis must be tied to an existing body of knowledge. This section of your thesis proposal should be clear and concise – e.g., two sentences in length.

III. Methodology

All disciplines lend themselves to research and creativity; all work is conducted using some methodology. Your methodology determines the rigor and validity of your work.

This section of your thesis proposal should present all the methods (i.e., scholarly approaches) you will use in your thesis. Your advisor will be well-versed in methodologies.

Your methodology may depend on your field. For example …

• If you plan to create original artistic work or other creative work, provide a scholarly “lens” through which an audience may perceive it (e.g., analyze the work of artists who influenced your own work and how your work differs from/is similar to theirs). Discuss any challenges to be overcome and give a timeline you will follow to complete your project. Be specific about what you plan to create. Articulate your creative goals.
• If you plan to conduct literature research (whether in the liberal arts and humanities, sciences, social sciences, business, or communications), indicate how you will select and examine your sources (e.g., date range of journals to be searched, data base(s) to utilize), what guidelines you will use to interpret them, and how you plan to analyze and synthesize your findings.
• If you plan to perform scientific research in a lab or the field, provide information on materials and methods including controls, replicates, and statistical analyses.
• If you plan to conduct a meta-analysis in the social sciences, indicate the criteria to be used to select the publications for your analysis as well as the statistics you will apply.
• If your research involves the use of humans, including surveys and/or questionnaires, you must obtain Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval through the Office of Research Assurances (www.irb.wsu.edu). This approval is absolutely necessary before you interview one person or send out a single survey to be completed.
• If you are doing a survey or interviews, include the full survey instrument and/or the complete interview questions to the Appendix section. Further, if data collection is involved, describe how the data will be collected and analyzed and what materials will be used.

IV. Expected Results and/or Potential Conclusions

In no more than one or two paragraphs , describe the results you expect from your thesis and what those results will mean in the greater context of knowledge in the field. If you complete a creative project, discuss the implications of your project in terms of a larger context of your discipline.

V. Annotated Bibliography

This is a preliminary list of the “body of knowledge” that was cited in your Introduction/Literature Review (above). Your annotated bibliography section will begin on a new sheet of paper and contain at least five annotated sources. Select recent journal articles, review articles, and scholarly books that address your topic. After each source, write an annotation, i.e. a 3- to 4-sentence statement explaining what information is included in the source. (See example below.) Include specific facts rather than vague generalizations (e.g., instead of saying, “This journal article talks about Beethoven’s 9th symphony,” say “This journal article analyzes the form, instrumentation, and re-orchestration by Mahler of Beethoven’s 9th symphony”). If it is not obvious, explain how the source will be useful to the development of your thesis. For the citation, follow the approved style for your field (i.e. APA, MLA, Chicago Style Manual, etc.). Single-space each citation and its corresponding annotation and leave a blank line between entries:

Portes A. 1998. Social capital: its origins and applications in modern sociology. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 24:1-24.

This review article discusses the origins and definitions of social capital in the writings of several scholars in the field. The author identifies four sources of social capital and examines their dynamics. He also gives examples of both positive functions and negative consequences of social capital. It is fundamental for my thesis hypothesis.

Powell W.W. and Snellman K. 2004. The knowledge economy. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 30:199-220.

This review article uses evidence from patent data and discusses the debate on whether technological advances have generated more or less worker autonomy. It is useful for my research because it defines the knowledge economy and provides both sides of the debate.

VI. Appendix

This optional section will contain your complete survey instruments and full range of interview questions, or any other information you and your advisor deem essential for readers and reviewers.

Thesis proposal review process

If your thesis proposal is electronically submitted by the fifth day of a month, you will receive approval—or a request for revision—by the last working day of that month. A faculty committee will evaluate your thesis proposal. All notifications to you and your advisor will be made using WSU’s email system.

Formatting your completed thesis

All Honors College theses include these sections, arranged in the following order :

The title page will include the following: thesis title, your name, the semester in which you are giving your oral presentation, and your advisor’s name, department, and college.

Advisor Signature Approval Page

Your advisor must indicate that he/she agrees that your thesis is complete and ready to submit. This page should be placed directly after your Title Page, and include the following:

• As thesis advisor for (your name) , I have read this paper and find it satisfactory.
• Thesis advisor signature
• Date of signature

The précis represents an informative, concise summary of your thesis that is free from jargon and written in language that an academic reader outside your discipline can understand. (Note: A précis differs from an abstract, which is written for professionals in the discipline.) The précis should be no more than two pages long, double-spaced. Develop your précis after you complete the body of your Honors thesis, and place it directly after the Advisor Signature Approval Page. Include the problem, question, or hypothesis examined, an explanation of why you decided to study this problem or issue or to pursue this creative project, the approach you took, what you discovered, and avenues others might pursue in this area in the future.

Include a table of contents that guides the reader to the various sections of your paper.

List of Figures and Tables

If two or more figures or tables appear in the main body of your paper, include a list of figures/tables after the Table of Contents.

Main Body of Paper

This section of your thesis should be approximately 20 pages long, double-spaced, with page numbers at the bottom of each page. If you have chosen a creative project, your paper may be 10-12 pages long. It should be double-spaced, have page numbers at the bottom of each page, be written in English unless specific arrangements have been made in advance, and contain no spelling or grammatical errors. In all cases, the style should be appropriate for the discipline.

For organizational purposes, you may wish to use headings and sections (see below) for the main body of your thesis as they appear in your Table of Contents. Discuss the organization of your thesis with your advisor and follow a format that is typical of writing in your discipline. However, your thesis must include a Title Page, Advisor Signature Approval Page, Précis, and References Cited section. In addition, the main body of your thesis must provide the reader with a logical introduction to your project (explaining how it fits within a larger context and what your focus is), what you did for your thesis, how you conducted your work, and the significance of your work to your field of endeavor.

If you have chosen to complete a creative project, you may submit a shorter written document in which you should answer the following questions:

• What are the artistic aims of your project?
• What or who are the key influences on your work, i.e., current or historical artists with similar creative ideas?
• Is your work similar to or different from these artists?
• What methods or techniques did you use?
• Did you follow a disciplinary tradition?
• What issues and obstacles did you encounter?
• What did you learn? What are the next steps?
• What further work is needed related to your project?

Optional Headings and Sections

I. Introduction or Literature Review

This section sets the stage for your work. It gives the reader a view of the framework for your project – the particular field in which you are working – and brings the reader logically to the project at hand.

The introduction should answer two questions :

• What is the larger context (body of knowledge) for your topic?
• What is the significance of your particular topic?

The introduction or literature review should lead logically and clearly to your research question or hypothesis.

II. Thesis Activity or Creative Project

State your thesis activity/creative project succinctly in one or two sentences.

III. Methodology (Materials and Methods)

Describe the approaches you employed, and cite any relevant literature. Readers should be able to understand clearly the procedural and analytical steps you undertook.

IV. Results and Discussion

This is the real heart of your project and contains your original contribution of new knowledge in your field.

What did you discover, learn, create, or uncover? Present, interpret, and discuss the data or ideas you have collected or generated. Describe your findings in a precise and well-supported manner, as this is primarily where you can persuade your readers to adopt your perspective on the subject. Relate your work to the larger field. Cite any relevant bibliographic sources within your discussion.

The ability to view one’s own work critically and objectively is essential for all fields of scholarly research, and a thorough discussion of your findings demonstrates your potential as a scholar.

Because all projects are by their very nature limited in scope, an essential part of fully analyzing your work is to understand its limits. Think about the robustness of what you have done:

• If you had collected your materials or data differently, could you still expect to replicate your findings?
• Could you have approached your project in a different way?
• Did your assumptions lead to a certain bias that had implications for your conclusions?
• Do your findings corroborate those in the published literature?

V. Conclusions

What, briefly, did you learn or discover? What are the larger ramifications of your work?

VI. References Cited

VII. Appendix (optional)

Supplemental material such as pictures, figures, survey instruments, interview questions, and tables should be included in the Appendix.

Your thesis will be evaluated by your thesis advisor and a thesis evaluator selected by you and your advisor. The evaluator may or may not be from your discipline, so critical factors for your success are a very clear précis, a well-written introduction and discussion of your work, and an oral presentation that explains to an educated lay audience the significance of your thesis.

The reviewers will use the Thesis Evaluation Rubric and Oral Presentation Rubric to score both your written thesis document and your oral presentation. Review each rubric and become aware of how your work will be evaluated.

Your advisor and the evaluator will evaluate both your written and oral presentation/poster. Students’ work is graded as “excellent,” “satisfactory/pass,” “needs significant or minor revision,” or “fail.” Students whose thesis is…

• judged exemplary may have their theses nominated for “Pass with Distinction” designation
• graded “needs revisions” have approx. two weeks to make all corrections, get approval of the changes, and resubmit a new electronic copy of the thesis
• graded “fail” will need to redo the thesis to the satisfaction of the advisor and the Honors College, and submit a revised electronic copy of the thesis

What is pass with distinction and will I be eligible?

Exemplary theses may be nominated for “Pass with Distinction.”

Papers that merit “Pass with Distinction” reflect scholarly writing that is couched in the relevant literature and is analytical, synthetic, well-argued, well-written, and possibly publishable. Members of the Honors Council make the final determination on this designation.

The thesis advisor and evaluator must be in agreement before a thesis can receive a “Nomination for Pass with Distinction” designation. The thesis advisor then formally nominates the thesis in a written letter submitted to the Honors College. The letter must state why, in specific terms, the advisor believes the work deserves this designation.

If your thesis is nominated for Pass with Distinction, you will be asked permission to publish your paper on the Honors College website and in the Library’s Research Exchange Project. You and your advisor must both sign approval forms.

Important Note : Exceptions to regularly scheduled thesis weeks will be considered on a case-by-case basis and require a petition from the student supported by the thesis advisor. No thesis may be presented in the same semester in which the proposal was submitted and approved . Only students presenting during the scheduled periods may be eligible to receive a nomination for Pass with Distinction which will be reflected on their WSU transcript.

Most of the Frequently Asked Questions below will be answered during the 1-unit HONORS 398 course, the Thesis Preparation Course. The Honors College encourages you to take this class as soon as you have earned 45 units.

When do I do my thesis?

You should plan to initiate your thesis work as early in your academic career as you can. Thesis proposals should be submitted no later than the second semester of your junior year.

Can I do a thesis while studying abroad?

Yes, a thesis can be either initiated or completed during your time studying abroad. In this case you might wish to complete your Certificate of Global Competencies as well. Meet with an Honors College advisor to discuss your options.

How do I find an academic advisor?

An academic advisor is chosen by you. The request to advise may be based on your positive interaction with a specific professor, the professor’s expertise in the area of your research, or your interest in a professor’s teaching. You and your advisor will also pick a thesis reviewer from your department or a similar field of research. Please direct your advisor to online information “For Thesis Advisors” on the Honors College website.

Does the advisor need to be from WSU?

Yes, the principal advisor needs to be a tenure-track faculty member or senior instructor at WSU, but a co-advisor from another academic institution or the world at large can be arranged with the agreement of the Honors College at WSU.

How do I choose an academic question for my thesis?

Your academic question or hypothesis should reflect your interest or major field of study. The question may be one to which you have always wanted to know the answer, or it may reflect a question you identified from one of your classes or discussions with a professor. Ultimately you should have a passion or deep interest in the question you research. You may also choose to complete a creative project, such as creation of an art piece or musical composition, a short story, or a film. However, your thesis must include a relevant scholarly examination of its context as described above.

What is an academic question?

An academic question is one which asks the “how” or the “why” of some topic. It invites further research and deeper curiosity about an answer by engaging the relevant scholarly literature.

What is a thesis proposal?

A thesis proposal is a document that provides the necessary background and scholarly literature for your topic. It clearly identifies the question being asked, the hypothesis being tested, or the creative project to be completed. It provides the methodology you will use to answer that question or complete the project, notes what the expected results might be and what these results mean within the context of what is known. An annotated scholarly bibliography of five or six key references is needed. An appendix is required if you have human or animal studies approval, graphs, figures or charts of preliminary data, or rubrics that you will use for analysis, questionnaires or interview questions you will use. Annotating a bibliography means preparing a short commentary on each reference you use in the proposal. If you complete a creative project, your proposal will describe your work, explain how you will execute your project, the time you expect it to take, and you will place your effort in the larger context of others who have completed similar work. It will also have an annotated bibliography.

How long must the thesis proposal be?

Normally, the body of the proposal, including the literature review, the question being asked, the methodology and the expected results and conclusion sections, will not exceed five, double-spaced typewritten pages. The thesis proposal should be long enough to clearly explain what you wish to do, in language that an educated academic can understand, even if the proposal is not in his or her academic discipline.

When should the thesis proposal be completed and submitted to the Honors College for review and approval?

An electronic thesis proposal submitted by the 5th day of any month will be reviewed and the status communicated to the student via email by the last working day of that month. Reviews of proposals submitted after the 5th day of the month may take until the last working day of the following month.

Can I start my thesis research before the proposal is approved?

The thesis proposal can be turned in to the Honors College whenever it is ready, but must be approved by the Honors College before you begin the main focus of your research, and before you will be officially enrolled in HONORS 450 (Honors Thesis or Project).

Who evaluates the proposal?

The Honors Thesis Proposal Committee will review all proposals.

Are proposals accepted without alteration?

Yes, many proposals are accepted without alteration, while others may require further explanation and revision. If revision is required, the Thesis Director will inform you of specific changes or clarifications they would like to see in the revised proposal.

Are any proposals rejected? If so, why are they rejected and what does this mean?

Yes, a proposal can be rejected, but that is rare. It is much more likely that a proposal will be returned to a student for revision and explanation of critical points identified by the Proposal Committee. When the student responds to those questions with cogent answers, the revised submitted proposal will be approved and the research can begin.

May I do my research in collaboration with a fellow Honors student?

Yes, but each student’s contribution to the thesis must be stated in the proposal and be very clear to all reviewers of the thesis.

May I compile a journal and use that for my thesis?

Yes, you may compile a journal of your experiences, but you must ask and answer an academic question to fulfill the Honors Thesis requirement.

When is my completed thesis due in Honors?

There are numerous opportunities to present each semester. An electronic copy of your thesis (including the Thesis Advisor Signature Page), will be due on the Monday of the week prior to your presentation date.

When will I give my oral presentation?

Oral presentations are held during various weeks through the fall and spring semesters. You will choose a date that works for you, your thesis advisor, your chosen discipline evaluator, and the Honors College. Dates will be advertised each semester. Summer presentations are scheduled only in exceptional cases depending on the availability of the Honors faculty and WSU faculty who serve as evaluators.

What style and format do I use for my thesis?

The style (e.g. APA, MLA) should reflect that used by the major academic journals in your disciplinary area. You and your advisor will agree on which style you will follow. However, all theses must follow a specific format. See “Formatting Your Completed Thesis” on this website.

Who will attend my thesis presentation?

Anyone may attend your presentation. We encourage you to invite your family and/or friends, but that is up to you. Your thesis advisor, your chosen discipline thesis evaluator, one evaluator selected by the Honors College, and you are required to attend your presentation. The Honors-chosen reviewer may or may not be from your disciplinary area, so you must prepare an oral presentation that is accessible to the whole academic community.

How will I know if I have passed?

At the end of your 20-minute oral presentation, you can be asked questions by anyone present. When there are no more questions, you will be asked to step outside the room. Only an Honors representative, your thesis advisor, your discipline thesis evaluator, and the Honors-chosen evaluator will stay to discuss your thesis. In five to ten minutes, you will be invited to return to the room and be told whether you have passed. The total time allotted for each presentation is one hour.

What if I receive a pass contingent upon making revisions?

You will have two to three weeks to make all corrections, get your thesis advisor’s approval of the changes, and submit one new, corrected, electronic copy to the Honors College.

What if I do not pass?

All students must complete the thesis to the satisfaction of their thesis advisor and the Honors College. A “do not pass” rating may reflect a lack of effort, content, or overall performance. Each case will be dealt with on an individual basis. A completely revised thesis must be submitted electronically to the Honors College. In the case of a satisfactorily revised thesis, another oral presentation is not required. An altogether different thesis will require a new oral presentation.

What is “Pass with Distinction?”

A “Pass with Distinction” designation is considered when the major professor and the two evaluators believe the thesis and oral presentation breaks significant new ground or represents an unusual amount of care and effort by the student. Thesis evaluators and the advisor must be unanimous in their evaluation of the thesis, and a nomination letter from the advisor is forwarded to the Honors Council for final review and determination of this award.

Thesis Examples

Copies of several Honors students’ theses are online at Libraries’ Research Exchange.

Or, follow this link to view the Honors College Theses Collection.

Proposal Examples

Colville, WA, and the 1918 Influenza Pandemic

Prostate-Specific Antigen in Cancer Diagnostics*

Lake Osoyoos Investments

Awareness of Hemochromatosis*

*Final theses available in the Research Exchange.

What is an honours thesis? For whom is it written? How should it be written?

The structure., introduction., literature review., materials and methods., discussion., conclusions and suggestions for further work., references., appendices (if any)., general notes:, how much detail, make it clear what is yours., presentation..

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4th Annual Honours Thesis Presentations

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Honours Thesis (PSYCH 499)

Psychology is a scientific approach to understanding mind and behaviour. Honours Psychology students all learn about the body of knowledge that exists in Psychology as well as the scientific procedures for making new discoveries. The honours thesis (PSYCH 499A/B/C) is an optional course for those who have a strong interest in conducting original research and wish to gain greater experience in research design, data analysis and interpretation. Students carry out the honours thesis project under the supervision of a faculty member and present the findings in a scholarly paper.

Read  the  honours thesis handbook which is the PSYCH 499 course outline, effective Fall 2016.

Attend oral presentations by other students. Nick will email all honours thesis students when there are presentations open for viewing.

Read  Honours thesis samples which may be found on the Learn shell or you can email Nick Fuller ([email protected]) for access. 

Attend a PSYCH 499 orientation meeting

Course enrolment for PSYCH 499

PSYCH 499 deadlines and important dates:

• Winter 2024
• Spring 202 4

Oral Presentation Schedule

PSYCH 499 contact information

PSYCH 499A enrolment prior to Fall 2016

For a copy of the corresponding course outline (i.e., the thesis handbook) for the term of PSYCH 499A enrolment, please contact Nick Fuller ([email protected])

2024 Economics Honours Thesis Presentations schedule

April 10, 2024

We are very pleased to invite you to the thesis presentations of this year’s honours class. The schedule is below. We look forward to seeing you there. The presentations will be taking place on April 25th, 2024 from 9:30-3:00pm in DSB C122 .

Tentative Schedule

9:30-10:00 a.m. Energy Price Pass Through to Food Prices

Presenter: Tessa Peer (G. Voss)

10:00-10:30 a.m. The Financial Constraints to Youtube Success: Is Patreon the Solution

Presenter: Sam Shipley (P. Courty)

10:30-11:00 a.m . Coffee Break

11:00-11:30 a.m. Evaluating the Flipped Classroom Model: A Randomized Control Trial on Student Performance and Experience

Presenter: Sophia Scarcella (B. Comish-Trimble and P. Schure)

11:30-12:00 p.m.   Housing Prices and Fertility: Evidence from the United Kingdom

Presenter: Harlan Hofmann-Miller (M. Farnham and E. Gugl)

12:00-1:00 p.m. Lunch Break

1:00-1:30 p.m. Burning Questions: Evaluating the Impact of BC's Wildfires on Carbon Storage

Presenter: Nathaniel Hope Tucker (C. Salemi)

1:30-2:00 p.m. Greenspace Proximity, Mental Health, and Perceived Rental Values for Rohingya Refugees in Kutupalong Bangladesh

Presenter: Obleo Demandre (C. Salemi)

2:00-2:30 p.m. Students for Hire? The Employment Effects of a Student Minimum Wage in Alberta

Presenter: Thomas Magdall (J. Wiltshire)

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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 August 14 th 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 August 14 th 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 - 2022-2023

L'effet d'une stimulation du système endocannabinoide de l'hypothalamus latéral de rats pubères sur le comportement alimentaire.  Vincent Francoeur Supervisors: Dr. Hélène Plamondon and Emmanuelle Person

Award for the Best Honours thesis in English - 2022-2023

Who Feels Happier Right Now?: The Impact of Temporal Distance on Children's Judgements of Emotional Intensity.  Mohamed Ebeid Supervisors: Dr. Cristina Atance and Bronwyn O'Brien

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]  

Hélène Plamondon , PhD School of Psychology University of Ottawa VNR 2082, 136 Jean-Jacques Lussier Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5 Canada Tel: 613-562-5800 (4098) [email protected]

Checklist for Submission of Honours Dissertations

Your thesis must include certain information and content to be considered for marking. There is a degree of choice about what order certain entries are compiled, but generally speaking the following is a checklist (italicised items are optional) and standard guide for submission. Check with your supervisor if you are unsure about ANYTHING.

• Title Page with all the necessary information (see below)
• Table of Contents
• Statement of Sources (see wording below)
• Acknowledgements  (if any)
• List of Illustrations  (if any)
• List of Tables  (if any)
• Abbreviations  (if any)
• Abstract (see below)
• Introduction
• Chapters (see below)
• Appendix  (if any, see below)
• List of Works Consulted

Standard Guide

Word Length: Your thesis should be 15,000 words (+/- 10%). For further details on what is included in the overall wordcount, please consult Section 5.5 of your thesis code's Course Profile.

Title Page : 

Your title page should contain the following information:

• [Title of thesis]
• [Your Name]
• This statement: "A dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor of (either) Arts, Communication or Journalism with Honours in [Subject Area]"
• Supervised by [Supervisor's Title and Name]
• University of Queensland, [Year]
• Word count: [word count]

Table of Contents: Your table of contents should list everything contained within your submission, and the relevant page numbers for each should also be included.

Statement of Sources: "The work presented in this thesis is, to the best of my knowledge and belief original, except as acknowledged in the text, and has not been submitted either in whole or in part, for a degree at this or any other university." 

[add the following if relevant]

"However, some sections of the thesis – namely [specific which] – expand on previous work submitted for assesment during my Honours program, because these courses are designed to inform the development of the thesis."

[Student to sign and print name]

Abstract: Include a 300 word abstract. It doesn't need a title.

Chapters of Thesis: Name chapters rather than simply designating them by number.

Appendices: If you have appendices (supporting materials, interview transcripts, diagrams, etc.), title them and place them in the same order as listed on your contents page.

Submit two copies of a bound thesis to the School of Communication and Arts office, 6th Floor, Michie Building. Upload an electronic version to TurnItIn via Blackboard. If you have difficulties uploading via TurnItIn, please email an electronic copy to the Administration Officer at  [email protected] . After grades have been finalised, the electronic copy will be converted to a pdf for loan to future honours or postgraduate students. You can request that your thesis is NOT loaned for this purpose.

The thesis should be in 1 1/2 or double line spacing, on A4 paper and printed on both sides of the paper.

Submission Dates

Theses are to be submitted by no later than 4.00pm, at the School of Communication and Arts office.

For the year 2024 the due dates are  as follows:  Students finishing Semester 1: 20 May 24 Students finishing Semester 2: 21 October 24

Access to Honours Theses

At the Academic Board meeting of 19 May, 1997, the following guidelines were formulated regarding Honours theses housed in Schools.

• Honours theses should be retained by Schools for a period of at least three years as a record of scholarly activity.
• Theses will normally be accessible, except where exceptional circumstances (e.g. intellectual property considerations, restrictions relating to the gathering of confidential data, particularly controversial author or course matter) apply.
• Where exceptional circumstances apply, the Head should consult the author. In such exceptional cases the Head should not release the thesis without the author's consent.
• Students should be informed that their theses are subject to FOI legislation and that the University will in all but exceptional cases make theses available without recourse to the provisions of the Act.

If a request for access is made under FOI legislation the normal FOI procedures will be followed.