Senior Honors Thesis

What is it?

The Senior Honors Thesis is the culmination of a student's participation in The Honors College at the University of Arizona. It is intended to be a personalized research experience in which a student explores a concept while incorporating the knowledge or investigative techniques learned during his or her undergraduate career. The thesis may take any form appropriate to the student's discipline and approved by the thesis advisor (i.e. research paper, performance, video, artwork). The Honors College requires a written summary to accompany thesis work that involves a performance or product. Because Honors students are multi-talented, some theses combine interests through interdisciplinary topics.

It is expected that the student obtain a level of depth within the topic equivalent to a point between a large undergraduate research paper and a Master's thesis. Not only should the thesis synthesize and build upon existing scholarship, but it should also further the discipline's understanding of the subject in some way. As such a project, the thesis demands a minimum of six units of work -- three units of Departmental Honors 498H per semester usually taken in the senior year. (Please note: some colleges such as Engineering and Architecture use different course numbers.)

The student will receive a letter grade for each semester's work. The Honors College recommends that the work and the grading be partitioned so that all six units do not hinge upon the completed thesis.

The Thesis Resulting from a Group Project

If the thesis is the result of a group's collaborative effort, the Honors student must list the other contributors and describe the roles played by each group member. The Honors College expects that when an Honors student uses a group project for the Senior Honors Thesis, he or she will have more responsibility than other group members will and will play a leadership/coordinating role in the project.

Contents of the Senior Honors Thesis

Traditionally, the Senior Honors Thesis includes the following components:

1. statement of purpose
2. statement of relevance
3. methodology
4. literature review
5. results
6. analysis/conclusions

The Honors College also expects the student to provide a written statement accompanying other types of capstone experiences, such as performance art. This statement may include the following components:

1. statement of what has been learned
2. description of techniques or strategies employed
3. synthesis of traditions built upon
4. assessment of project success

Format and submission

The Honors College requires only an electronic copy of your thesis. The thesis should be a single integrated pdf file (except in the case of video or audio clips) .

The following elements are required:

• A title page with your professor's signature formatted as shown in the attachment
• A statement by author page signed that you have signed.
• An abstract of no more than 200 words.
• For group projects a statement of roles & responsibilities of the group members.
• A short written statement for performance or other non-text theses as discussed above under Contents.

Click here to view example or Title Page Format

The fonts, layout and other style sheet elements may follow any guidelines that are suitable for the discipline/content (for example MLA style for English). Your thesis advisor can suggest an appropriate style.

A computer with a scanner and Adobe Acrobat software is available for your use at the Honors College as well as other campus locations such as the OSCR labs and the library. Please check times and availabilities and plan ahead.

Send your thesis via email to thesis@honors.arizona.edu by the last day of classes the semester you are graduating.

Responsibility of the Thesis Faculty Advisor

We encourage the advisor to help students develop a research plan with goals and delineate which of the above components should be written during each of the two semesters, with the understanding that the effort put forth and the quality of work completed during each semester can receive a separate grade. It is also the responsibility of the advisor to set a deadline for a draft of the thesis so that the student will have enough time to make any necessary changes to the final document. Finally, we also encourage the departments to allow student presentation of the thesis during an informal function such as a brown-bag luncheon or a year-end departmental convocation.

Students can receive Honors in their major, minor, or area of concentration (for interdisciplinary studies). The department used for registration for the Senior Honors Thesis credits determines the Honors graduation designation on the diploma and transcript. Faculty who are affiliated with a department can serve as thesis advisors even if that is not their home department as long as they notify the department that they are working with a given Honors student. Students may also use more than one Honors advisor if they believe multiple fields of expertise are desirable. Advisors should encourage students to sign up in The Honors College for an Honors senior check one semester before they intend to graduate.

Recommended Timetable for the Senior Honors Thesis

Junior Year 2nd Semester: Select your topic and advisor, then draft your research plan for the first semester of your senior year. Next, elaborate on your research plan and conduct a literature review. Then gather and analyze data OR initiate the creation of your product, performance, artworks, etc.

Senior Year 1st Semester: Start by writing a draft of your statement of purpose, then write a draft of your methodology/capstone design and write a draft of your literature review.

Senior Year 2nd Semester: Revise your research plan, complete data analysis OR production, performance analyze, synthesize, and draw conclusions revise written version of thesis presented within department.