Sophomore or Junior Year
The student should enroll in Independent Research (or conduct an Excel project) with a faculty mentor in their sophomore or junior year. The possibility of an honors thesis should be discussed with your research mentor by spring of your junior year. The student should then begin to develop a research plan for the thesis work in consultation with the faculty mentor and obtain the department head's permission to enroll in Thesis.
Fall Semester of the Senior Year
1) The student enrolls in Thesis (Biol. 495) and begins the research project. Usually the first few weeks consists of performing a thorough search of the scientific literature, getting experiments underway and in researching and writing the thesis proposal (See Appendix 2: Departmental Standards for Written Work; Appendix 3 Sample Thesis Proposals). You should expect to meet weekly for discussions on the project and to produce several drafts of the proposal.
2) A thesis committee for the student will be formed. The committee will be formed at the first regularly scheduled department meeting of the semester. The committee will consist of two department members plus the mentor. An additional committee member from outside the department may be appointed at the department's discretion. The committee will be formed through discussion, but the department head will have final say on the committee composition. The responsibilities of the thesis committee are as follows:
3) An honors thesis proposal must be submitted for departmental comment and approval by 5 p.m. of the Friday of the fourth week of classes in the Fall semester. This proposal must contain the following elements:
Sample honors thesis proposals are included in Appendix 3. The proposal will be circulated to departmental faculty for their comments. Honors candidates should approach faculty members for further discussion and clarification of their comments if necessary before their committee meeting. The student should carefully consider faculty comments and how they may affect the design and conduct of the research project and the interpretation and validity of data to be taken.
4) The student will meet with his/her thesis committee to discuss the proposal and the faculty comments. At this time any changes to the planned research can be discussed. The committee will also make some judgment as to the suitability of the proposal for an honors thesis and the acceptability of the proposal as a whole. If the student and mentor chose to deviate significantly from the proposed experiments during the year they should consult with the other members of the thesis committee at that time.
5) If required by the mentor, the student will write and submit a progress report by the end of classes in the Fall semester. The student also registers for Biol. 496 during the registration period for Spring classes.
6) The committee's review of the proposal, a progress report (if required) and an evaluation of student's conduct as an investigator by the mentor will be the basis for the grade given in Thesis for the fall semester. The student must earn an "A" in order to enroll in Thesis in the spring semester; a grade of "A-" or lower will mean that the student may not continue in the honors program.
Interim Session
It is strongly urged that, with the permission of the mentor, the student should choose to return to campus to continue their research during the Interim Session. Although this is not required, it has the advantage of allowing more time for experimental work at a time of year when the student is free from the competing demands of other coursework.
Spring Semester of the Senior Year
1) The student enrolls again in Thesis (Biol. 496) and continues the research project. As the semester wears on, curricular matters other than research will rear their heads (midterm examinations, term papers and final examinations in other courses) and planning of the final experiments to be done will become very important. For this reason it is prudent to schedule the experiments to be done so that more than half of them are completed before the end of the fall semester. No later than six weeks before the end of classes the student should have a very good idea of the final form of the honors thesis, including the figures (graphs, diagrams or photographs) and tables which it will contain.
2) The student and mentor must complete and submit a Notice of Candidacy for Graduation With Departmental Honors form to the Academic Progress Committee by the end of the second week of classes.
3) No later than six weeks before the end of classes the thesis should be well outlined and work on the figures and data tables should be well under way. Appendix 4 presents the format for honors theses in biology.
4) By 5 pm., the Monday of the 13th week of classes, the candidate will submit a near-final draft of the honors thesis to the Department Head for faculty comment. This draft will be a close approximation of the final thesis. This draft will also be sent to outside examiners from other departments on campus and from other institutions. Again, the comments from faculty and outside reviewers should be carefully considered by the student and further discussion with the faculty mentor may again be necessary. Comments made by faculty and reviewers at this stage are often the basis for questions asked during the thesis defense and they must be seriously considered.
5) At the beginning of the last week of classes the thesis committee will meet with the honors candidate to review the thesis and comments made by the faculty. At this time, the committee will make a judgement on the quality and suitability of the thesis as a credential for graduation with honors and make a recommendation to the department about whether the candidate should defend the thesis in a public presentation. If the thesis is approved, the committee also will determine what changes, if any, must be made in the final draft of the thesis.
6) During the final examination period honors candidates will publicly present and defend their thesis research (see below). If the thesis and defense are acceptable, the thesis committee will move that the thesis be accepted and the department will vote to recommend the candidate for graduation with honors in Biology.
7) The candidate and mentor must submit a completed "Approval of Thesis" form to the Academic Progress Committee as soon as possible after the presentation;
8) Two final copies of the thesis, incorporating any changes as noted in "5" above, are submitted to the Department Head before the end of the final examination period; a third copy is submitted to the mentor.
Presentation of the Thesis
During the final examination period all Thesis students will present their theses to the Biology faculty, one or more outside examiners and any students and guests who are asked to attend the presentations. Students must keep in mind that many in the audience will not be familiar with the research jargon which is peculiar to their area of investigation and should make every attempt to clearly and simply present their results and conclusions. The thesis presentation is not just a reading of a scientific paper in a format suitable for publication, but is aimed more broadly at a scientifically literate audience.
Typically, 20 minutes are allowed for presentation of theses and 5-10 additional minutes are allowed for questions and answers. After the thesis is presented, Biology faculty, the outside examiner(s) and other members of the audience will ask questions which the student must answer in such a way as to demonstrate that she or he has a thorough knowledge of the research area, the methods employed and how the particular research findings fit into the larger body of knowledge in the research area. Here is a sample PowerPoint thesis defence slide show.
Having presented the thesis, the student must also be able to defend it against reasonable criticism in the form of questions from the audience. This is a very important part of the thesis presentation. Do not forget that one of your tasks is to convince the biology faculty and outside examiners that you are worthy of graduation with honors in biology! Admission of ignorance is never a sin and if the answer to a question will not come to you, do not despair. Faculty are noted for their gentle attempts to lead thesis students toward a correct or, at least, acceptable response to a difficult question.
Successful presentation of the thesis by the student, submission of an acceptable final draft of the thesis during the final examination period and earning grades of A in Thesis (Biol. 495/496) will complete the departmental requirements for graduation with honors in Biology. During the last faculty meeting of the academic year, the Academic Progress Committee moves that the faculty recommend to the Board of Trustees that all successful honors candidates be allowed to graduate with departmental honors and, unless there are objections, the faculty passes the motion. When the trustees accept this recommendation at their last meeting of the academic year, a notation of "Graduation with Departmental Honors" is made on the transcript of each student so designated; students graduating with departmental honors are also noted on the commencement program.
NEXT: Departmental standards for written work.
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