Thinking About an Honors Thesis—Carpe Diem!!!
Dear Major,
We hope you'll take a few minutes to read this memo about doing an honors thesis. We welcome students interested in pursuing theses, and believe it is an excellent capstone for a Smith education. However, we want to insure that people who are interested in pursuing thesis work understand the process, from application to completion..
Becoming an honors student involves engaging in a year-long research process, culminating in a substantial final thesis paper or project. Honors thus requires having a clear research agenda, with a specific question, a grasp of the relevant literature in that addresses your question, and a specific research plan. We believe that the best way to engage a thesis project is to prepare for it well in advance of your senior year. We encourage you to seek out a prospective advisor for your project and begin a discussion of a proposed thesis topic in your junior year. Please remember that as a small department we have a limited range of expertise. Our commitment is to work with you to craft a research question that addresses your intellectual interests and our competencies. It is very difficult, however, for any of us to advise you in an area in which we have limited or no knowledge. Therefore, as you consider a possible research question, please keep the expertise of department members in mind.
A good way to prepare for a thesis in your senior year is to engage a faculty member in a special studies on the topic in your junior year (generally the Spring semester). In the special studies you will work with a faculty member who will become your advisor, examine relevant literatures for your topic, and perhaps do a pilot study to refine your methodology and the scope of your project. We find that doing a preparatory special studies give students an excellent foundation for the thesis.
Whether or not you decide to pursue a special studies we urge you to talk to a department member in your junior year. The department considers all honors requests during our first meeting in September, which is the second week. We do this because completed thesis proposals are due to the Committee on Honors by the third week of the term. Some students who wait to initiate the application project in the beginning of senior year find that two weeks simply is not enough time to complete the process. You need to find an advisor (and a second reader) for the thesis. A series of meetings usually needs to be held with her to discuss research questions, hash out ideas, review drafts of the honors proposal and compile a list of the significant works in the literature. Some professors have already committed to theses or special studies with other students, and find it necessary to decline taking on additional requests. Sometimes a student finds it necessary to approach a professor with whom she has little familiarity, and it can take a bit longer to establish a working relationship. And even if you can get this all accomplished in a mad rush in two weeks, who needs the stress and the headaches?!!!
If you are considering study abroad for part or all of your junior year please keep in mind how it might affect your ability to prepare and apply for honors. In the age of global communications it is certainly possible for you to be in regular contact with a faculty member while you are away to plan your thesis proposal. However, this does mean that you should initiate contact before you leave, and be in consistent communication with the faculty member while you are abroad.
You will find a description of the honors program and the proposal necessary to apply for it on pp. 26-27 of the Departmental Handbook . Please note specifically the sections on “The Proposal” and “Application Deadlines” on p. 27. The proposal is a document of around five pages that clearly states the specific research to be pursued, the theoretical and empirical issues the research addresses, the methods use for the research, a brief review of the most critical literature on the topic, and a working bibliography of the most significant sources addressing it. This proposal is to be distributed to all departmental members prior to the first departmental meeting, which is usually the second week of the term. The proposal is reviewed by the department, and if accepted, is sent on to the Committee on Honors by September 20.
The departmental director of Honors will be happy to talk to you about the nature of the thesis and the mechanics, and to discuss possible advisors and readers. You might also wish to approach a professor whom you are considering to be an advisor. A meeting with her to begin a discussion toward a research question, and a reading list to prepare for your research can provide you with a great edge on the Fall.