Guidelines for A&S Honors Thesis

Eligibility to Graduate Summa or Magna Cum Laude
Thesis Initiation Form and Proposal
Senior Honors Thesis Oral Examination
Notification of Thesis Approval
Archival Copies of Honors Thesis
Library Resources
Defense of a Senior Honors Thesis

The nature of the senior honors thesis may vary from department to department. In all cases honors theses shall reflect a significant investment of intellectual effort, and greater originality, scope and quality than is normally expected in an upper-division course in the major department. The standards of scholarship of the discipline apply, and the written portion of the thesis should conform to the style and format of the discipline. The following paragraphs outline the general procedures for the college honors thesis. Call the Honors office (502-852-6293) for a current schedule of deadlines, forms and further information.

Eligibility to Graduate Summa or Magna Cum Laude

To be considered for graduation with college honors, you must have earned a minimum of 60 hours of degree credit in residence in the College of Arts and Sciences, and completed all requirements of a degree program in the College of Arts and Sciences. Graduation summa cum laude requires an university g.p.a. and an expanded university g.p.a. of 3.75 or higher and successful completion of a departmental or independent thesis approved by the Honors Advisory Committee. Your final semester's grades are calculated in both g.p.a.s. The EXPANDED UNIVERSITY G.P.A. takes into account ALL grades earned at the university level, including grades that have been replaced through the "repeat" option or eliminated through bankruptcy, as well as work done at other institutions (even courses in which you may have earned a D or an F).

You may consider completing a senior honors thesis even if you are relying on your final year's grades to achieve averages of 3.75 or higher. If your university and your expanded university g.p.a. will both fall between 3.65 and 3.75, you may graduate magna cum laude if you also complete an honors thesis successfully. If you are currently in this category, follow the procedures listed below.

Thesis Initiation Form and Proposal

You must submit the thesis initiation form with your proposal to the Honors Office during the second month of your senior year. Your departmental honors adviser will assist you in identifying a professor to supervise your honors thesis. The form must be signed by your department chair OR the department honors director after he or she has read and approved your thesis proposal and by the chairperson of your major department.

The proposal can be one to five pages long and must include a bibliography or other appropriate indication of your thesis's research base. The proposal must state clearly the objective of the thesis and the method(s) you will use to accomplish that objective. Organize your proposal to provide answers to the following questions: What is your topic? Why does this topic merit further study? What is the context for your investigation of this topic (in other words, what's already been done by others)? How are you going to investigate this topic? What conclusions do you anticipate? Essentially, you are developing a topic, a tentative thesis, a line of argument, and a methodology. The bibliography should contain 10-12 specific sources, using the documentation style relevant to your subject. Your proposal will be reviewed by the Honors Advisory Committee, and may be returned to you with suggestions for revision. When your proposal is approved, the Honors Office will notify you of the committee's action.

Two helpful tips: First, be sure that you understand the difference between a topic (defined area of study) and a thesis (a statement of the argument you intend to make). Proposals that address topic only are unlikely to be approved. Second, take advantage of the services offered by the reference librarians in Ekstrom Library. You may make an individual research appointment with one of them to identify sources applicable to your topic. You will find their advice extremely helpful as you begin your research.

Senior Honors Thesis Oral Examination

You will be examined on your completed thesis by a committee of three faculty members who shall be: 1) your supervising professor, 2) a college faculty member assigned from the Honors Advisory Committee, and 3) a college faculty member knowledgeable in the subject, agreed upon by you, your supervising professor and the Honors Program. At least one member of your committee (generally the representative of the Honors Advisory Committee) must be based in a department other than your major. During your final semester, you must submit three copies of the completed thesis to the members of your examining committee (see Calendar for specific deadlines).

If members of the committee judge the honors thesis to be of sufficient merit, you will then need to arrange a meeting with you and the committee to examine your thesis. This meeting generally takes place before the last month of your final semester (see Calendar). Be sure to bring a copy of the thesis evaluation form with you to your oral examination.

Any special arrangements for the review of the thesis (such as an art exhibition or theater performance) will be handled by the student.

Notification of Thesis Approval

The examining committee will evaluate your thesis and determine whether you will receive the level of college honors you are seeking. The decision of the examining committee must be unanimous. If the thesis is approved, the members of the committee will sign the thesis evaluation form. Once this form is completed, you must return this to the offices at the Etscorn Honors Center. After you have submitted the final version of your thesis (revised if necessary), this information will be submitted to the Arts and Sciences Deans Office, so that your graduation honors will be noted on your permanent record, diploma and in the commencement bulletin.

If you have been asked to make significant revisions based on the comments you received during your oral examination, you must resubmit your thesis to your thesis supervisor, and obtain his or her signature of approval on the final copy.

Archival Copies of Honors Thesis

After successfully defending your thesis, your final task is to provide the Honors office with two complete, corrected copies of your thesis as soon as possible after the oral examination. One copy will be deposited in the university archives; the other will remain on file in the Honors office. In addition, submit a copy of your thesis on either a floppy disk, zip disk or a CD.

Please note: if you do not submit the final version of your thesis before the deadline for printing the commencement bulletin, your level of honors may not be designated appropriately. Instead, you will be listed as receiving the level of honors you would have earned on the basis of your university and expanded university GPAs only.

Library Resources

When you are working on a college honors thesis, you may receive an assignment to a closed carrel in the Ekstrom Library during the semester(s) you are completing your research. Carrels will be assigned through the Honors office subject to availability; see Melissa Stordeur to apply.

You may also receive one-to-one research help by making an appointment with a reference librarian. In addition, the University Writing Center on the third floor of Ekstrom Library can provide you with an objective reader, as well as help with editing and documentation.

Defense of a Senior Honors Thesis

Students are required to seek out room reservations at least two weeks in advance of their purposed defense date. Honors also encourages students to seek spaces in their major departments to hold their defenses before they consult Honors for room availability. There are only two classrooms available to students to use for defenses: Honors House, room 204 and the Etscorn Honors Center, room 132. Defenses are limited to hours during which the Honors Program operate (8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. during the semester) and during which classes are not taking place in the room. Room 108, the Conference Room, can be used by only in instances where the student does not need technology as the conference room is not equipped for multimedia presentations.

Please send your request to honors@louisville.edu, along with your purposed date and time and a subject line 'Thesis Defense Request'. You will receive a confirmation or a rejection of this reservation in a timely fashion to your U of L e-mail address.