Message to the Advisors
Thank you for serving as a thesis advisor for a student
in the Honors College! Your investment of time and
effort is very much appreciated by all of us associated
with Honors. Your guidance will deeply enrich the
academic experience for the Honors student and help him
or her complete a project that many alumni say was a
very productive and memorable part of their WSU
baccalaureate progam.
To make your job easier, we have defined and documented
theses procedures and processes, including what your
role as a thesis advisor might entail. Please know that
the collective input from hundreds of successful
advisors before you as well as input from many Honors
students has gone into the thesis program. We hope that
by outlining the program for you here your involvement
will be as enjoyable as it is rewarding. We are always
available to answer your questions and assist you in
any way that you need.
--Carol Anelli
Coordinator of the Honors Thesis
Guidelines for Mentoring Honors Students for the Thesis Requirement
Completion of an Honors thesis is a graduation requirement for the Washington State University Honors College. This requirement may involve library research, bench research the field or laboratory, a creative project in the arts, or even a research project conducted while abroad. However, in all cases, the written thesis must embody a significant piece of writing couched within an academic framework. The student must synthesize the relevant scholarly literature and analyze his or her work within that context. Students who choose a creative project, such as composing music or creating a film, may submit a shorter written thesis (10-12 pages) which places their work in an appropriate context. In addition to the written document, students present their work orally to a public audience that includes two evaluators from the WSU academic community and you.
One to three credits of UH 450 are to be completed, depending upon the college in which the thesis is performed.
Responsibilities of the Thesis Advisor
Assisting with Proposal Development
Students have the primary responsibility for identifying a suitable topic and arranging a series of meetings with you to discuss the feasibility of the topic and a plan of action. The student (with your input) will develop a proposal (3-5 pages long, double-spaced) that describes the project to be done. This proposal requires your approval and signature and is submitted to the Honors College for final approval before the project is begun. You will find proposal format guidelines on the Honors College website. The proposal must include a clear research question or hypothesis, one that relates to an existing body of knowledge. For example, "How have the flute and flute repertoire evolved throughout the history of music and how does this evolution benefit today's flutists?" or "Expression of prostate-specific membrane antigen is positively correlated with prostate cancer.” The student's proposal should discuss the research question and include several (5-6) annotated scholarly sources , including some from the primary literature, that clearly relate to the question under investigation. UH 398 is a one-credit required Honors College course that assists the student in preparing the research question and thesis proposal.
Sample Thesis Proposals and other Documents
Mentoring Throughout the Thesis Project
Regular interactions
We urge advisors and students to meet on a regular basis. A schedule of at least semi-monthly meetings is appropriate to discuss the progress of the student's work. For students who are completing a project off campus (e.g., a laboratory internship or study abroad), email communication is satisfactory. These regular interactions are key to ensuring the completion of a strong paper and the intellectual growth of the student. We encourage you to establish a timeline of meetings that you will have with your student to avoid student procrastination and inevitable rushing at the last minute. Oral presentations are scheduled before the end of the semester (in either the 7th or 11th week), and students should allow sufficient time for final editing before they submit their thesis to the Honors College.
Thesis Paper
Each student is responsible for completing a paper (a minimum of 20 pages long, double-spaced) written in a scholarly format that corresponds to the guidelines appropriate for your academic discipline. A student who completes a creative project, such as composing a piece of music or making a film, may submit a shorter paper of 10-12 pages. Reference citations and a bibliography are required.
Deadlines
The final, spiral-bound version of the thesis is due Monday of the week prior to the week that oral presentations are given (two weeks prior in the spring if the 11th week option is chosen). This schedule provides thesis reviewers sufficient time to evaluate the paper before the oral presentation. Oral presentations are scheduled for the seventh week and eleventh week of both the fall and spring semesters, and with rare exceptions on an ad hoc basis during summer. (In order to facilitate theses scheduling during Week 7 and 11, the specific time and date of the presentation should be chosen preferably two weeks in advance of the week of presentation. In choosing a time, the student must coordinate his or her own calendar, your calendar, and that of the thesis reviewer from your discipline (see below).
Oral Presentation
Each student will give a 20-minute oral presentation of the work completed. As faculty mentor and thesis advisor, your presence at this presentation is required. Some students will need coaching on how to give an effective presentation of their work. All faculty are encouraged to mentor their students in their presentations, just as you would any graduate student you have trained. For instance, several practice presentations of the student's work is good mentoring for the student, as he or she will learn how faculty prepare presentations of their scholarly work.
To enhance the student’s thesis experience, we ask the student presenter and the thesis advisor to identify one other faculty member from the same or a related department who is willing to read the thesis and attend the oral presentation. The Honors College will also choose a reviewer who may or may not be in the student’s discipline.
Most presentations are made in Honors Hall, where all necessary presentation technology will be available to the student. However, students should test their presentations ahead of time to ensure that their software is compatible and performs as expected. The thesis reviewer from your department and the thesis reviewer chosen by the Honors College will have read the thesis and will be prepared to ask questions of the student. They will also complete an evaluation rubric for the written and oral parts of the thesis, indicating the student's strengths and weaknesses in the final written thesis as well as the oral presentation. The public is invited to all presentation.
Final Grade
You will be given the Final Grade Form for your student at the time of the oral presentation. Although this is a pass/fail requirement, students will receive feedback from the two reviewers that will indicate whether their work was excellent, passing, in need of minor or major revision, or failing. The Honors College will enter the grade for the thesis.
Pass with Distinction
Thesis advisors may decide to nominate exemplary theses for Pass with Distinction. Papers that merit the Pass with Distinction status reflect scholarly writing (i.e., couched in the relevant literature) and are analytical, synthetic, well-argued, well-written, and exhibit the potential for publication. The oral presentation must also be exemplary. If you and the two thesis reviewers wish to nominate your student for Pass with Distinction, you must submit a typed statement after the oral presentation indicating why, in specific terms, you think this student's work deserves this designation. The Honors Council makes the final determination on this designation. Examples of theses earning Pass with Distinction are available for review.
Thesis Handbook
Procedures and timelines, along with answers to frequently asked questions, are in the Thesis Handbook.