Leadership Academy: Thesis
Purpose of the Honors Thesis
The Honors Thesis serves three main objectives: 1) to provide students with opportunities to pursue individually tailored areas of study; 2) to provide students with capstone experiences which draw upon the students’ previous studies in their majors; 3) to provide students with opportunities to pursue in-depth research and/or carry through substantive projects to appropriate points of closure.
Expectations of Thesis Students
The Honors Thesis is the capstone of the Honors Program. It is a six-credit project divided into two semesters of work: Honors Thesis Research (3 credits) and Honors Thesis Writing (3 credits). The work load rule for Honors Thesis Research and Honors Thesis Writing is expected to conform to the Carnegie Rule of 45 hours of work per credit earned (approximately 9 hours per week for 135 hours per semester; 270 hours for the project total).
Logistically, students are expected to do the following (for more specific scheduling see sample timeline):
- Enroll for Honors Thesis Research/Directed Study during registration in the spring of their junior year
- Complete a Preliminary Abstract form (word) with their chosen Faculty Advisor in the Spring of their junior year or first week of the Fall semester of their senior year
- Meet with their faculty advisors on a regular basis (typically weekly or biweekly) during their senior year
- Select, with the help of their main faculty advisor, a second reader for the project
- Present their research proposals/prospectus at a group meeting at the end of the fall semester
- Enroll for Honors Thesis Writing/Directed Study for the spring semester and complete an updated Directed Study form
- Submit an abstract to and attend the Undergraduate Research Conference
- Present their work at a group Honors Project Presentation/Defense meeting
- Submit a final project to their Research Committee and the Thesis Coordinator
Pedagogically, it is expected that students’ projects and/or the processes of constructing their projects will:
- Demonstrate changes/development in their ways of thinking
- Show originality in project selection/project development
- Demonstrate skills and knowledge they have gained from their projects
Samples of Previous Abstracts
Click on the links below to review abstracts of previous thesis projects organized by topic area:
Biology Abstracts
Business/Management/Marketing Abstracts
Communication Media Abstracts
Computer Science Abstracts
Criminal Justice Abstracts
Education Abstracts
English Abstracts
Exercise Science Abstracts
History Abstracts
Industrial Engineering Abstracts
Linguistics Abstracts
Nursing Abstracts
Psychology Abstracts
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