GH 401: Honors Thesis

Why is GH 401 an Honors requirement?

GH 401 is intended to:

Provide you a significant research experience
Enable you to demonstrate your proficiency at research
Culminate your Honors College curriculum, linking elements of the Honors coursework with your larger degree program and/or interests.
Prepare you for professional writing, presentation and research activities and/or for graduate or professional school requirements.

What may I write about?

You may investigate any topic of interest where there are unknowns, questions to be answered, and where you may contribute by reviewing, analyzing and synthesizing literature and data. Ideally, the subject matter should be something with which you have initial familiarity, either through your program of study or sustained interest and investigation aside from your program.

What should the thesis accomplish?

The thesis must establish a background and context for its subject, pose one or more questions or statements to be tested in relation to the subject, bring evidence (e.g., logic, numeric data, literature, observations) to investigate the questions or statements (supporting, contradicting, affirming, refuting or otherwise “shedding light” on your thesis). The evidence must be presented, organized, compared and evaluated. The thesis must then summarize the extent to which the questions or statements have been answered or resolved.

As an Honors thesis, this work must also connect the immediate thesis problem to its developmental context in other fields, both in the introduction of the subject, and in the analytical discussion that follows. As graduates of the Honors College, you must demonstrate that you can relate your area of interest (and the subject of this thesis) to other fields, especially in terms of the history and development, but also in terms of implications and application.