Honors Thesis Program

Challenge by Choice: The Honors Thesis Project

What is the Honors Thesis Project?

The Honors Thesis Project allows students to devote time, energy, and imagination to independent research under the guidance of a faculty member. This can be a passion project. Something you have always wanted to do. This is also an important and unique opportunity to pursue individual research interests and to really dig into a topic and understand it deeply. It is a chance to create knowledge and add to what we know (and don’t know) about a topic. And finally, it can serve as a splendid example of your work, creativity, and potential, especially if you are interested in going to graduate school or exploring other post-college opportunities. Every honors student should take advantage of this program.

The Keys to A Successful Honors Thesis Project

Interdisciplinary

The Honors Thesis Project is similar to, but different from a capstone essay or the honors track within the major. (Note, lots of majors have their own honors thesis program and that might be right for you. Talk to the Honors staff about options.)

The Honors Thesis Project is specifically intended to be interdisciplinary and give students the chance to pull together the different strands from their majors and minors, their courses in the sciences and the humanities, education and business, into one carefully conceived and deeply researched project. For instance, a double major in English and Theater might decide to stage a production dramatizing and updating a poem about love from the Middle Ages. A GUS and Biology double major might do a project about environmental change and energy efficient public toilets. Or a political science major might produce a podcast on voter-turn-out efforts in suburban counties in Presidential elections.

With this interdisciplinarity in mind, the final product can, in other words, be a carefully written (and re-written) paper with lots of footnotes, a film, a podcast, or whatever makes sense for your project and your intellectual interests--there is no one-size-fits-all approach!

Mentorship

The Honors Thesis Project is designed for Honors students who want to complete an advanced research project in addition to their other Honors Program requirements. (See below, you can get for one upper-level honors class.) Students will work closely with the Honors Academic Chair, a faculty mentor, and a second reader to research, write, revise, create, and present their work prior to graduation. Your faculty mentor will play a key role in your success with this project.  

Help Along The Way

Of course, your mentor will help with your project, but so will the Honor Thesis Program. It is structured as a step-by-step process to get you on the right track to start the thesis and to keep you on the right path while you do your research and think of how to share your results. During the Spring Semester (typically of your junior year), you will enroll in a class that will meet once a week and help you to shape your topic, fashion a research question, build an extensive bibliography, think about methods, and create a research design. Over the summer, students can do additional reading and research. During the fall semester, students will write up or film or stage their results. Along the way, there will be plenty of opportunities to share your work and get engaged feedback and participate in research/writing accountability groups.

Benefits of the Project

The benefits of completing an Honors Thesis Project start with getting to work on a project that you are excited about, really excited about. But they also include upper-level honors credit. Even more important, the thesis will enhance your preparation for graduate school and professional studies. It is a good line on your resume and definitely something you can talk about during job interviews. Plus, all projects are listed in the Temple University Card Catalog – forever. That means you can look yourself up on the Temple Library Webpage and show your friends what you have done.

Required Courses:

HNRS 4901: Creating Knowledge: Honors Thesis Project Design (one credit) - This is a one-credit pass/fail class that will help you to develop your thesis topic. To be taken spring semester of Junior Year. (If students are studying abroad and cannot take this class, exceptions will be made.)
HNRS 4999: Honors Thesis (two credits) - This is an asynchronous course to give you the time and space to write up your research results. To be completed fall semester of Senior Year.

Together these two classes count for three credits and an upper-level Honors Credit.

SEE PREVIOUS PROJECTS IN THE HONORS THESIS DIGITAL REPOSITORY.

Timeline & Process

Below is a timeline of the 3-semester process with both academic and administrative goals for each semester. For most students, this process starts in spring of their junior year. For students graduating early or who are engaged in study abroad, the timeline can be amended, please contact Bryant Simon, University Honors Academic Chair, at brysimon@temple.edu.


Semester	Academic Goals
First Year in Honors	Buy a notebook. Keep track of the ideas and topics that interest you. Write them down in your notebook. Ask your professors about your ideas. Ask them about their research and about doing undergraduate research.
Second Year in Honors	Circle the ideas in your notebook that interest you the most. Start to narrow down your interests. Search for research in that area. What has been written about the topic? Keep talking to your professors. Keep sharpening your ideas.
Spring Semester - Junior Year	Enroll in Honors 4901, and bring your ideas to class. Get to know your subject area librarian!  Develop a clear thesis topic and research question. Choose an advisor. Build a bibliography, and a research plan. End the semester with a research proposal. Find a lab. Apply for research funding, including the Diamond Research Scholars Award and the Caras Award.
Summer - Junior/Senior Year	Research. Read. Research. Read. And do more research. Begin to carefully review the literature for your project. Find out where your research sits among what is currently available about your topic. Do more research.
Fall Semester - Senior Year	Enroll in Honors 4999. Finish a draft of your thesis by April 1. Identify a second reader. Schedule your thesis defense by May 1.
Spring Semester - Senior Year	Present your work at the Symposium for Undergraduate Research and Creativity. Attend the Honors Celebration of Undergraduate Research.