Table of Contents

Introduction
Requirements
Getting Started
Finding a topic
The Project Proposal
Thesis Style Requirements
Title Page Format
Words of Wisdom
Guidelines for Honors Project Proposal
Honors Thesis/Project Proposal Form *PDF
Honors Thesis/Project Completion Form

Introduction
[Top]

Every honors student is required to complete an honors thesis or project worth at least 3 credits.  The nature of your project will depend on your major and interests.  For example, a chemistry major might perform a series of lab experiments in order to understand the nature of some reaction, while an art major might produce a portfolio of original works of art.  The purpose of this handbook is to outline the Honors Program project requirements and to offer some tips on getting started and carrying out the project.

Your honors project has the potential to be the most exciting and rewarding academic activity you undertake as a college student.  It offers you the chance to create something for yourself instead of simply responding to the work of others.  Working closely with a faculty member can itself be a rich learning experience.  A good honors project can also be a stepping stone to the next stage of your career, perhaps by catching the attention of a potential employer or of a graduate school admissions officer.  You will acquire valuable skills by planning and carrying out a project of this nature.

Requirements
[Top]

· At least 3 of your honors course credits must consist of an honors thesis or project.

· You must have a faculty advisor plus 1-2 other committee members for your project.

· You must file a project proposal and Project Proposal Form with the Honors Program Office (Southwick 320) as early as possible, but no later than the end of the second week of the semester in which you start your project. Proposal guidelines and a Project Proposal Form are included in this handbook. Additional copies of the Project Proposal Form are available at http://www.uml.edu/honors.

· You must turn in a copy of your final product (usually a thesis) and file an abstract and Project Completion Form when you have completed your project. A Project Completion Form is included in this handbook; additional copies are available at the Honors Program Office.

· You must give a public presentation of your project. You can do this by giving a presentation at the UML Student Research Symposium and/or at the Massachusetts Undergraduate Research Conference, or you and your advisor can arrange a presentation in your department.

Getting Started
[Top]

Finding a topic

The most important criterion for choosing a project is that it should greatly interest you.  If you have taken a course you really liked or if you have read or heard about a subject you would like to pursue further, consider doing a project in that area.  If you are having difficulty choosing a topic, talk to your academic advisor.

It is very important to get an early start on choosing your topic and your faculty advisor.  A hastily arranged project will probably not work out the way you would like.  If you plan to do your project in your senior year, you should start thinking about it in your junior year.  By the end of the second semester of your junior year you should have chosen a topic and found an advisor, and if possible you should have written your proposal.  It is difficult to finish a project in just one semester.  Therefore, if you intend to do a 3-credit project in your senior year rather than a 6-credit project, you should plan to do it in the fall semester to avoid problems with graduation in the event of a delay in the completion of your project.

Putting together a committee

In addition to your advisor, need to have one or two other faculty members on your project committee to provide additional guidance and information.

The Project Proposal
[Top]

You may find as you work on your project that you will not be able to do exactly what you said you would do in your proposal.  This is a common occurrence and should not worry you.  If major discrepancies arise between your proposal and your actual project, however, you should submit an amended proposal to the Honors Program Office.  Your advisor and the Honors Program Office can help you determine whether this is necessary.

Thesis Style Requirements
[Top]

The final product for most honors projects is a thesis.  In order to ensure some degree of uniformity among the honors theses, please follow the guidelines below when writing your thesis.  These guidelines were adapted from the dissertation requirements of the Graduate School.

Technical specifications

Your thesis should be done on 8 1/2 x 11 inch white paper.  It should be typed or printed on a letter-quality printer on only one side of the paper.  The text should be double-spaced.  The left margin should be 1.5 inches, and the other margins should be 1 inch.

Format

Your thesis should consist of the following components in the order shown:

•Title Page (including the thesis title, your name and signature, and your committee members’ names and signatures)

•Abstract

•Acknowledgments

•Table of Contents, with page references

•List of Tables, if any, with titles and page references

•List of Illustrations, if any, with titles and page references

•Text

•Literature Cited

•Appendices, if any

Title Page Format
[Top]
.....................................................................................................................................

The Use of Onomatopoeia in Melville’s Moby Dick

by

 John Q. Doe

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Honors Program

University of Massachusetts Lowell

(Year)

Faculty Advisor: Professor Jane J. Smith, Department of English

Author’s Signature:                                                                  Date:                                     

Advisor’s Signature:                                                                 Date:                                     

Signatures of other Committee Members (at least one): 

                                                                        Date:                           

                                                                         Date:                           

.....................................................................................................................................

The Abstract
[Top]

The abstract should give a succinct account of your thesis work, briefly summarizing your conclusions.  It should not exceed 150 words.  The table of contents should contain the list of tables (if any), the list of illustrations (if any), the major divisions (e.g. chapters) and first level of subdivisions, the literature citation page, and the appendices (if any).  A page number for each item in the table of contents should be shown in a column at the right margin.  The list of tables should be a complete list of all tables and the pages on which they appear. The list of illustrations should be a complete list of all illustrations (including photographs, maps, and charts) and the pages on which they appear.

Words of Wisdom

Your honors project can be one of your most exciting and rewarding college experiences.  To help ensure that this is the case, please keep the following suggestions in mind.

• Decide at the start of your project how many hours per week you will work on the project, and stick to that commitment.  Working at a steady pace will produce much better results than trying to do the whole project in two weeks.

• Schedule frequent (preferably weekly) meetings with your advisor to discuss your progress.  Remember that your advisor has the primary responsibility for approving your project.  S/he may decide not to approve your project if you have not had regular contact.

• When you are setting up the timetable for your project, remember that it always takes longer than you expect to complete a task.  A good rule of thumb is to estimate the maximum amount of time required to complete a task in the worst possible case, and then double your estimate.

• Reread your proposal from time to time to keep your focus.

• The reference librarians at O'Leary and Lydon libraries can be very helpful.

• Remember to have fun.

Guidelines for Project Proposal
[Top]

Your proposal should include the following components:

1. Basic project description.

What is the goal of your project? What do you hope to accomplish? Be specific.

2. Materials and methods.

Explain how you plan to carry out your project.  For example, if you plan to conduct experiments, explain what those experiments will entail; if you plan to do a critical study of a work of literature, explain what your approach will be; etc.  If your project involves the use of reference material, include a preliminary bibliography.  If your project involves any special materials (lab equipment, for example), explain what materials you will need and how you will procure them.

3. Product.

What will the final product of your project be?  In most cases it will be a thesis, but depending on your major it might be a collection of original poetry, a prototype of some machine, a computer program, etc.

4. Timeline.

You should include a tentative schedule for completing each part of your project, including the final product.  Your schedule should indicate how frequently you would meet your advisor to discuss your progress.  You will probably not be able to follow this tentative schedule exactly, but it will provide some structure for your work.