Honors Standards

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1. Defining the standards for honors, high honors, and highest honors

   We recommend that an honors thesis must contain all of the following elements:

   •  • a survey and critique of the relevant scholarly literature
   •  • a concise and clearly stated research question
   •  • a statement of the logic of the research, a justification of the approach, and a statement of the materials that will be used to answer the question (i.e., a statement of the method, if not "methodology")
   •  • coherently written chapters that address the research question
   •  • a conclusion that uses the research to answer the research question

   Theses that are deficient with respect to these components will be denied honors.

   For high honors, the thesis must also show:

   •  • evidence of research beyond the secondary political science literature
   •  • theoretical sophistication

   In essence, high honors are to be awarded to a thesis that offers something new to scholars with good knowledge of the secondary literature in the field.

   For highest honors, the thesis must meet the above requirement and in addition contain sufficient primary research and theoretical sophistication that, if rewritten and submitted to a peer-review journal would justify at least a "revise and resubmit" response. In short, highest honor should be given only to a thesis that could provide the foundation for publishable work.

2. Differentiation between honors and BA/MA theses

   We recommend that the requirement for a BA/MA thesis be that it meets the requirements for highest honors and should address a significant issue in political science.

   If a BA/MA student completes the required course work for the BA/MA program but fails to write a thesis meeting the standards of highest honors, the student will fail to get the master's degree. The student would in that case still graduate with honors or high honors.

3. Threshold for admission into the honors program

   Maintain current requirement of a GPA in politics of at least 3.20, or permission of the honors director (NOT undergraduate advisor).

4. Calendar of Benchmarks

   Each year the department will establish a set of deadlines for completion of each stage of the honors process. Continuation in the program will be contingent on students successfully meeting these deadlines.

5. Format and Style

   Theses must conform to the style guidelines in "A Manual for Writers: of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations," by Kate L. Turabian.