Thesis/Project
The Honors Thesis/Project is the capstone of your Honors experience in the College of Education & Health Professions. Usually completed during the junior and/or senior year, the Honors Thesis/Project allows you to take a deeper look into the topics that interest you the most alongside one of our world-class faculty members. Completion of the Honors Thesis/Project is a significant milestone during your academic career and is required in order to graduate with Honors.
Due to the diverse nature of the majors in our College, we have developed different tracks for the Honors Thesis/Project, which you will select from in consultation with your faculty mentor. All tracks may not be available for all majors. Honors faculty mentors must approve the track of the honors student they are mentoring.
- This option is the "traditional" thesis or case study format.
- Your written product will take the reader through the path of your project from beginning to end, including hypotheses, literature review, methodology, data collection and analysis, results, and discussion.
- The written product will be detailed enough that another researcher could replicate your study without any additional information.
- Work with your faculty mentor to determine a research topic that is relevant and interesting to you.
- Examples include internships, service-learning, and clinical experiences.
- To qualify as an honors thesis/project, your experience must go above and beyond the general expectations for any internship/clinical/practicum courses required for or available to all students in your major.
- Students selecting this option will still be expected to create a written report and presentation.
- Begin by selecting a practice-based experience with your faculty mentor's assistance.
- Your written product will include a review of relevant scholarly literature that focuses on the type of experience in which you will be participating, which will allow you to develop a theory behind the benefits of the experience.
- Most importantly, you will write a reflection where you will summarize significant duties and responsibilities of your experience, significant challenges, lessons learned, and how the experience affects your future goals.
- A literature review is not an annotated bibliography, but a critical analysis of professional and scholarly literature above and beyond expectations for all students in the major.
- While similar to the research-based thesis/project, in this option you will not conduct
your own study, instead focusing on existing literature about your topic of interest.
- This review would be more extensive than that done for the research-based thesis/project.
- It is recommended that you include a minimum of 20-25 sources in your literature review, the majority of which should be primary sources.
- Through a thorough review of the literature, you will be able to discuss the history of your topic and its development, the results of various studies that have already been conducted regarding your topic, and the current status of scholarly discussion on your topic.
- You will also be able to identify flaws in the existing research and suggest possible solutions to these flaws.
For all options, you will be expected to include a list of references at the end of your thesis/project document. Your faculty mentor will advise you on which reference format to utilize.
Once you complete your Honors Thesis/Project, you must defend it for your Thesis/Project committee, which is composed of your faculty mentor and one additional faculty member. Conference presentations and poster presentations at our annual COEHP Honors Symposium can also serve as the defense. The final version of your thesis/project document must be submitted to your committee at least 2 weeks prior to your defense. The skills you gain while working on the Honors Thesis/Project are highly valued by employers and graduate/professional schools.
Big Picture Thesis/Project Timeline
Six Steps to your Honors Degree:
Step 1
Attend Sophomore Success Meeting:
Mandatory for sophomore COEHP Honors students.
Next meeting:
Spring 2025Step 2
Step 3
Enroll in Thesis / Project Tutorial (390H1):
Under the direction of your faculty mentor.
Step 4
Submit and Defend Proposal:
Must be completed by Reading Day the semester before graduation.
Step 5
Enroll in Thesis / Project Course (498HV):
Under the direction of your faculty mentor.
Once thesis/project document is completed, schedule defense and send to committee at least 2 weeks in advance.
Step 6
Defend Thesis / Project & Submit Final Copy:
Defense must be completed by Reading Day the semester of graduation.
Important tips:
- Start early.
- Apply for research funding.
- See examples of past COEHP Honors Theses/Projects here.