Honors Thesis
Each and every Honors Student is required to complete an Honors Thesis as part of their Honors Curriculum. The Honors Thesis is the culmination of a University Honors Program student’s time at LMU and it stands as one of the concrete representations of all that you have accomplished throughout your time in the Honors Program. In addition, the thesis stands as part of your legacy - to LMU in general and to the University Honors Program in particular.
Your Honors Thesis requirement is fulfilled through the completion of two separate Honors courses: Honors 5000 (Honors Thesis) and Honors 4000 (Portfolio & Assessment).
Honors 5000
You will first conduct and compile your research (and thus complete Honors 5000) through either an individualized Honors 5000 section, or a thesis-equivalent project or course within your major. In either case, you are expected to produce an artifact that reports on or represents the work performed for the option that applies to you. Examples include a scholarly paper, a screenplay, a recital or other live performance, a work of art, or an open source hardware/software project.
This work is mentored and graded by a faculty advisor who is formally identified prior to starting your project. For your own individualized Honors Section, this faculty member serves as the instructor for your individualized section of that course. For thesis-equivalent projects within your major, this faculty member served as the instructor for that course. In either case, your faculty advisor is asked to grade and sign off on the final version of your thesis.
Honors 4000
After conducting your research you will then enroll in HNRS 4000: Portfolio & Assessment, which is a placeholder for fulfilling Honors requirements that are not part of a specific class. This course tracks fulfillment of the following:
- Completion of Senior Exit Survey
- Thesis Completion
- Submission of Honors Thesis to Digital Commons
- Including accompanying Signed Thesis Release Form
- Evidence of dissemination of your Honors Thesis
With the submission of your Honors Thesis being one of the final steps to graduating from the Honors Program you should only be enrolled in Honors 4000 in the same semester that you plan to graduate.
Despite the numbering of the courses, seniors typically enroll in Honors 4000 in their last semester before graduating and Honors 5000 in the second to last semester before graduating because Honors 5000 is the course in which you conduct and compile your research and Honors 4000 is when you actually submit your final thesis.
For more information on starting your Honors Thesis, or submitting your final Honors Thesis, please see the tabs below.
- Starting Your Thesis Work
- Submitting Your Final Thesis
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How to Start Your Thesis Work
As you enter your graduating year, you need to answer the following questions about your Honors thesis:
- Does my major have a thesis-equivalent course?
- If your major has its own thesis-equivalent course, then a thesis project can be completed through this course. Note that simply completing a term paper or final paper in a capstone course does not constitute fulfilling your thesis requirement. Your project must generate original undergraduate scholarly work as defined by your discipline. If your major does not have such a course, then you will need to enroll in an individualized HNRS 5000 section.
- In which semester will I be completing my thesis work?
- It is highly recommended that graduating seniors complete their thesis work in the fall semester. However, under some circumstances (such as a course within the major), the work will need to be finished in the spring semester. Try as much as possible to finish your work in the fall, to allow for spring as a wrap-up period in case unforeseen delays are encountered. (For students who plan to graduate in the fall, the schedule shifts ahead by a semester: aim to do most of your thesis work in the spring prior, then finalize/submit all closing requirements in the fall.)
- Who is my thesis advisor?
- If you are fulfilling the Honors thesis requirement through a thesis-equivalent project course in your major, then your thesis advisor is the instructor for that course. If you are taking an individualized HNRS 5000 section, you need to identify and “sign on” a thesis advisor on your own. This thesis advisor must be an LMU faculty member. Once identified, this professor becomes the instructor who is assigned to your HNRS 5000 section, and is thus responsible for guiding your work and giving you a grade.
Before each semester, the Research Advisor of the University Honors Program will contact you and ask for this information. However, you need not wait for this contact; you can send the information as soon as you know it:
- Whether you have a thesis-equivalent course in your major or need an HNRS 5000 section
- Semester for thesis completion (fall of your senior year, as much as possible; spring of junior year if graduating in the fall)
- Course number of your thesis-equivalent course (if going that route)
- Thesis advisor (i.e., the professor who will guide and grade your work)
If you have any questions or need guidance in answering these questions, please contact the Research Advisor of the University Honors Program at honorsresearch@lmu.edu
- Does my major have a thesis-equivalent course?
Congratulations! Your undergraduate career is coming to a close, and your Honors thesis stands as one of the concrete representations of your accomplishment.
These instructions are meant to ensure that you complete the requirements of HNRS 4000: Portfolio & Assessment and that your thesis is properly presented and archived as part of the University Honors Program Thesis Library. Please follow them precisely. Issues with submitting your thesis may delay or impede your graduation.
Disseminating Your Work
To “close the loop” on your research or creative work and to receive full credit for HNRS 4000: Portfolio & Assessment, you are required to seek dissemination of your thesis work by submitting an abstract to the annual Undergraduate Research Symposium. Abstract acceptance is not required—just submission. By doing this, you will have modeled the full process of scholarly or creative work, from the determination and initiation of an inquiry to its documentation and finally dissemination, all under the mentorship of a faculty advisor.
Presenting your work at a broader academic venue, such as a regional or national conference, is also highly encouraged, and, if achieved, can substitute for the aforementioned abstract submission to the Symposium. In this case, you may also apply for an [Honors Ambassadorial Grant] to help fund your travel, lodging, and other costs of presentation.Submission to the Digital Commons
Thesis submission to your advisor or thesis-equivalent course instructor for evaluation and grading is separate and determined by the faculty member. These instructions pertain to thesis submission to the University Honors Program.
Upon completion, your thesis will consist of a collection of deliverables. For example, this can be: a final research paper; a recital program and a recording of the performance; or photographs of a project and related document or design files. The University Honors Program requires that you submit these items to the Hannon Library Digital Commons Honors Thesis collection.
Submission to Digital Commons comprises one of the requirements for attaining credit for Honors 4000: Portfolio & Assessment. Upon completion of your thesis project, go to the Digital Commons Honors Thesis website and upload your work to that site. The work does not appear right away, but will be “published” after the end of the school year following one last round of review. Additional detailed instructions are available at the Digital Commons site.
Thesis Cover Sheet
For uniformity of presentation, your thesis submission should include a thesis cover sheet. A template for this sheet is available as a public Google Doc, here.
Access the template with a web browser, choose File > Make a Copy… to create your own editable copy of the file, then enter the information that is specific to your thesis. Append this to your uploaded submission.
Signed Permission Letter
The signed permission letter allows the Hannon Library to distribute your work to the web at large, as opposed to just making it available within the campus network. This permission letter is specifies the level of sharing that you permit, ranging from Internet-wide distribution to archival only (i.e., no distribution).
The permission letter is available as this Adobe Sign PDF. Fill out and sign the form, and it will then go to your thesis advisor. After your advisor fills out their portion, a link to the final version will be emailed to you. Please upload that final version to your HNRS 4000 Brightspace page.
When to Submit Your Thesis
Your thesis must be submitted to both your thesis adviser and Digital Commons before the end of the semester, so that it can be evaluated and graded. A more specific deadline may be set by your adviser, whether for HNRS 5000 or for a thesis-equivalent course in your major. The Digital Commons submission, which is required for Honors Portfolio & Assessment credit, must be provided by the Friday of finals week at the latest.
Due to the university grading deadline, thesis materials that are not received by the immediate end of the semester will appear as an Incomplete under the Honors Portfolio & Assessment course in the Honors core curriculum. This incomplete is updated as soon as the thesis materials have been received.
If you have any questions about your thesis submission, please direct them to the Research Advisor of the University Honors Program as soon as possible.