Honors

The Honors thesis requirement gives students the opportunity to participate in original research or creative work in the discipline of their major. Honors students typically complete the thesis requirement during their junior and senior years after they have obtained sufficient training in their major to conduct independent work in a specialized academic field. Each student chooses a faculty advisor in the department of his or her major and in consultation with the advisor chooses a thesis topic.

Students should complete significant course work within the subject area of the thesis (usually at least 30 credit hours, several of which are from 300- or 400-level major courses). The thesis is intended to acquaint students firsthand and in depth with the type of scholarly work that characterizes the field they intend to pursue professionally. For these reasons, only under rare circumstances is an Honors thesis topic outside the major area approved. (In most cases students who complete a thesis outside the major do so in fields cognate to their majors.)

Before students begin work on an Honors thesis, they must submit a written thesis proposal and have it approved by the Honors Program Office. Guidelines for writing the proposal are available in a packet entitled Thesis Proposal Guidelines. Additional guidelines by discipline are avalable here. Students can request financial support as a part of the thesis proposal. Many honors students obtain competitive undergraduate research grants from BYU's Office of Research and Creative Activities for Honors thesis work. Also, many professors and departments have research funding that can be devoted to research on an Honors thesis. Personnel in the Honors Program can help students explore the various opportunities available to support their work on an Honors thesis.

After completing thesis research and writing the thesis, each student must conduct a thesis defense. The defense committee consists of the thesis advisor, a faculty referee, and a representative of the Honors Program administration, who chairs the defense. After the thesis defense is completed and all final changes are incorporated into the thesis, the Honors Program will have the thesis bound and add it to the collection of Honors theses housed in the Harold B. Lee Library.

Deadlines

These dates are final deadlines. Plan to have your thesis proposals approved before the deadline, preferably more than two semesters before defending the thesis. Thus, those graduating in April should have their thesis proposal approved no later than the previous April. All materials should be turned in to the Honors Advisement Center, 102A MSRB--they will not be accepted if they do not have the proper submission forms and signatures, so please make sure they are complete.

For graduation in:	April	June*	August	December
Final draft of thesis and portfolio submitted to Honors Program by	February 1	May 1	June 1	October 1
Thesis defense completed by	March 1	June 1	July1	November 1
Four final copies of thesis on bond paper submitted to Honors Program for binding by	March 8	June 8	July 8	November 8

*June graduation is only allowed in special circumstances--check with your college advisement center for more information.

Download information on the thesis on the Downloadable Forms and Information page. Sample thesis proposals can be viewed in the Honors Advisement Center.