Honors Thesis Proposal Form
Open to senior philosophy majors only
Please register for 3 credits both semesters 

Students should submit a detailed proposal form to the Undergraduate Program Coordinator along with the name of the faculty advisor they wish to work with. The Undergraduate Program Coordinator will review the proposal and send it directly to the faculty advisor. Upon receiving the faculty advisor's permission, the Undergraduate Program Coordinator will send the student a SPN to register for the Honors Thesis. 

The department offers students the opportunity to graduate in philosophy with departmental honors. The requirements to achieve this distinction are as follows:

  1. At the time of graduation, the student must have an overall grade point average of at least 3.0; a grade point average within philosophy of at least 3.5; and grades of B+ or higher in four 400-level courses.
     
  2. The student must write a Senior Honors Thesis of 25-45 pages (double-spaced, 12 pt. font) in order to be considered for honors:
    • The student must enroll in two semesters of the Honors Thesis course (Fall 01:730:495 and Spring 01:730:496) of their senior year. At the time of registration for the Fall Honors Thesis course, the student must meet the grade point requirements outlined in 1.
    • The thesis must be supervised by a tenured or tenure-track faculty member of the department or affiliated member of the department who will approve the topic and work with the student in developing their thesis.
    • The thesis may be a new project or based on the student's own prior research or written work for an upper-division philosophy course. If the student chooses to write a thesis based on prior written work, it is expected that the Senior Honors Thesis be a very substantial enhancement of this prior work.
    • The student's thesis advisor will help evaluate the thesis and assign a standard letter grade. Then the program coordinator along with the Undergraduate Director will consider the thesis and GPA to determine the level of honors to be received at graduation. Students must receive a 'B' or higher on the final thesis to receive this designation. 
    • For January graduates: This pertains to students who will be completing their thesis during a fall semester. In such cases, your thesis is due, without exception, to the thesis advisor, Undergraduate Director, and Undergraduate Program Coordinator in electronic form by the last day of fall classes.
    • For May graduates: All theses, without exception, are due to the thesis advisor, Undergraduate Director, and Undergraduate Administrator in electronic form by April 1st of the graduating year or on the last Friday of March if April 1st falls on a weekend.