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 mentors 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
Thesis Program Director and Faculty Fellow
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/laboratory research, a community service or internship project, a college-level teaching experience, or a study abroad research project. 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. In addition to the written document, students present their work orally to a public audience that includes evaluators from the WSU academic community and you.
One to four 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. After agreeing to serve as a faculty advisor, the student (with your input) will develop a proposal (3-5 pages long, double-spaced) that describes the project to be done. This proposal is signed by you and submitted to the Honors College for approval before beginning the project. There are specified proposal format guidelines. The proposal must include a clear research question, 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 "What are the analgesic effects of morphine against inflammatory pain in male and female rats?" The student's proposal should discuss the research question and include several (5-6) annotated scholarly sources that clearly relate to the question under investigation.
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 in order to discuss the progress of the student's work. For students who are completing a project off campus (e.g., an 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.
Thesis Paper
Each student is responsible for completing a paper (a minimum of 20 pages long, double-spaced) that is written in an appropriate academic format, corresponding to the academic guidelines of your discipline. Reference citations and a bibliography are required. The written thesis must follow specified format requirements.
Deadlines
The final, bound version of the thesis is due Monday of the week prior to the week that oral presentations are given. This time period provides thesis reviewers time to evaluate the paper before the oral presentation. Oral presentations are scheduled for the seventh week of both the fall and spring semesters, and with rare exceptions on an ad hoc basis during summer.
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 learns how faculty prepare presentations of their scholarly work.
Most presentations are made in Honors Hall, where all necessary presentation technology will be available to the student. Two thesis reviewers from the WSU academic community who have read the thesis 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 presentations.
Final Grade
You will be given the Final Grade Form for your student at the time of the oral presentation. Students are to be graded "excellent, pass, needs minor/major revision, or fail," with the option to nominate each student for Pass with Distinction status if his or her work is truly exemplary. The Honors College will submit grades for the thesis work.
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. 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.