Honors Theses

What is an honors thesis?

An undergraduate thesis is a traditional mechanism to provide a capstone experience for undergraduates pursuing honors. In many instances, this experience is a opportunity to showcase the knowledge and skills one has acquired in their respective degree program, culminating in a written document, called a thesis.

Honors theses may differ substantially across disciplines but typically in the Bumpers College Honors Program, students complete a research or creative honors thesis. All honors thesis types typically involve developing an introduction, literature review, methodology section or development plan, results or a design process and creative works section, and conclusions and recommendations. 

Honors theses which address topics or concerns for local, national, or global communities could qualify for service learning designation! If you believe that your honors thesis qualifies for a service learning designation on your transcript, you can visit the Service Learning Initiative website.

Requirements for Honors Thesis Proposals and Finished Honors Theses

Students are required to develop an honors thesis proposal by taking AFLS 341H3 - Honors Proposal Development and Research Methods, a course dedicated to teaching academic and scientific writing. Following this course, all students are required to hold a proposal meeting with their committee to gain approval to conduct their project. After holding a proposal meeting, students will conduct their project and write their final sections. Research, creative, and group/team honors theses all have unique requirements:

 

Although the specific formatting may be geared toward discipline-specific content, student theses should follow a general formatting pattern that includes the following:

  • All honors theses should be at a minimum 12-15 pages of text (excluding the cover page, table of contents, and project summary, citations, tables, figures, and appendices). The page count measures from the first page of the Introduction to the final page of the Conclusions/Implications/Recommendations.
  • All documents should utilize Times New Roman 12-point font, double-spaced, with 1 inch margins. 
  • We recommend students follow the APA 7 Student guidelines. If a mentor prefers a different citation style, we ask that each mentor ensure the accuracy of the student's work and provide  the student with resources for that citation style.

 

The research honors thesis represents a scholarly report on the research conducted by an honors student. In cooperation with a faculty mentor, the student will design, research, execute, analyze, critique and report on a project that is relevant to their respective major or research interests. Although research projects may differ substantially across disciplines, they typically involve a literature review, hypothesis development, research, data collection, data analysis, and thesis preparation.

Bench Sciences

The research honors thesis proposal within the bench sciences should include the cover page, headings for the table of contents and abstract, the introduction, literature review, methodology, and references.  The finished honors thesis should include all of the required sections listed below.

  • Cover Page with the student's title, the student's name and university name
  • Table of Contents 
  • Project Summary, Abstract, or Executive Statement 
  • Introduction (Begin page numbers here)
    • Background and Need
    • Problem Statement
    • Purpose Statement
    • Research Objectives and/or Hypotheses
  • Literature Review
    • Thematic or chronological organization is encouraged, using subheadings to clearly label various subsections. 
  • Materials and Methods (or Methodology)
    • Data Collection and Analysis (further subheading organization is encouraged, but may differ by project/discipline).
  • Findings/Results
  • Discussion/Conclusions/Implications/Recommendations
  • References
  • Appendices as needed (Tables, Figures, Charts, Graphs, Sketches)

Social Sciences

The research honors thesis proposal within the social sciences should include the cover page, headings for the table of contents and abstract, the introduction, literature review, and methodology.  The finished honors thesis should include all of the required sections listed below.

  • Cover Page with the student's title, the student's name and university name
  • Table of Contents 
  • Project Summary, Abstract, or Executive Statement 
  • Introduction (Begin page numbers here)
    • Background and Need
    • Problem Statement
    • Purpose Statement
    • Research Objectives and/or Hypotheses
  • Literature Review
    • Thematic or chronological organization is encouraged, using subheadings to clearly label various subsections. 
  • Materials and Methods (or Methodology)
    • Research Design
    • Rigor
    • Population and Sampling
    • Instrumentation
    • Data Collection and Analysis
  • Findings/Results
  • Discussion/Conclusions/Implications/Recommendations
  • References
  • Appendices as needed (Tables, Figures, Charts, Graphs, Sketches)

 

The creative honors thesis represents a scholarly report on the inspiration, process, and outcomes of the creative project constructed by the student. A creative thesis should include the design procedures and methodology the student used in carrying out the project. In addition, the student will describe the fabrication or materials used for the project's production. 

The creative honors thesis proposal should include the cover page, headings for the table of contents and abstract, the introduction, literature review, methodology, and references.  The finished honors thesis should include all of the required sections listed below. Although the specific formatting may be geared toward discipline-specific content, student theses should follow a general formatting pattern that includes the following:

  • Cover Page with the student's title, the student's name and university name
  • Table of Contents 
  • Project Summary, Abstract, or Executive Statement 
  • Introduction (Begin page numbers here)
    • Background and Need
    • Problem Statement
    • Purpose Statement
    • Research Objectives and/or Hypotheses
  • Literature Review
    • Thematic or chronological organization is encouraged, using subheadings to clearly label various subsections. 
  • Development Plan
    • Further subheading organization is encouraged but may differ by project. Suggested subsections include describing motivations for the project, describing preparation, implementation, or evaluation project phases, and/or describing the necessary materials.
  • Design Process and Creative Works
  • Discussion (regarding value of the project)
  • Conclusions/Implications/Recommendations
  • References
  • Appendices as needed (Tables, Figures, Charts, Graphs, Sketches)

 

Students may, upon approval by their common mentor, work on a group project subject to the following minimum terms.

  • There shall be 2-3 students in a group with justification required for more than 3.
  • There shall be multiple project objectives and each student must be responsible for at least one unique objective.
  • An expectation agreement prepared by the mentor that clearly outlines the roles and responsibilities of each student for the completion of the overall project must be in place at the beginning of the project.
  • Students must meet with the mentor a minimum of 2 times per semester, times and dates to be established by the mentor.
  • Each member of the group will complete an individual thesis in accordance with the existing college honors guidelines for research and creative honors theses.
  • The group will present their project together at the proposal and final defense with each member responsible for their individual objectives of the project.

Forming your Honors Thesis Committee

A student's honors thesis committee must have a minimum of three members consisting of the Honors Thesis Mentor and two additional members. The Honors Departmental Representative is required to sign Form #2 and Form #3 to confirm that the proposal meeting and defense meeting have taken place, but is not required to be an active committee member. 

Students are encouraged to select members for their committee who can provide insight to their honors thesis project and who can be used a resource throughout the research or creative process. Additional committee members can include but are not limited to University appointed teaching faculty, non UARK faculty (including faculty from overseas or from a different University), or a business professional in the students honors projects area of study. 

A student’s honors thesis committee must be determined by the student and their Honors Thesis Mentor before the completion of 90 credit hours. All committee members are required to attend the proposal meeting, review the student's honors thesis proposal, and sign Form #2 - Honors Thesis Proposal Meeting and Committee Selection and indicate their approval or disapproval of the student's honors thesis proposal.

Committee members are also required to attend the defense meeting, review the student’s final honors thesis, and sign Form #3 - Honors Thesis Defense Meeting and Examination and indicate their approval or disapproval of the student's final honors thesis.

Seeking Funding for your Honors Thesis

Bumpers College Honors Program students and their Honors Honors Thesis Mentor may apply for research awards to support students' honors thesis project expenses as described in their grant proposal. Potential funding sources include the Bumpers College Undergraduate Research and Creative Project Grants which are awarded in the fall and spring, SURF grants which are awarded during fall semesters, and Honors College Research Grants which are awarded in the fall and spring.

For more information please visit:

Submitting your Honors Thesis to the UA Library 

All honors students are required to submit a copy of their honors thesis to the UA library to be entered into the catalog of information. These theses are searchable through the library information system and available world wide to anyone using the UA library system.  Students should submit their honors thesis to the library only after it has been approved by their committee and Honors Thesis Mentor, and undergone a formatting review by a Bumpers College Honors Program staff member.

Prior to submitting:

  1. Save your honors thesis as a Word or PDF document (Save as a PDF by using the "save as" function in your word processor and try to avoid scanning your thesis.)  Use CTRL+F to ensure that your PDF is searchable. 
  2. Have your Title, Abstract, Keywords, relevant Disciplines and any additional files ready.
  3. Follow the instructions for submitting your honors thesis electronically. 

Published Honors Thesis Examples

Submitting an Article to the Discovery Journal

Undergraduates conducting research in cooperation with a faculty mentor are encouraged to submit a journal article to the Discovery Journal. All submissions must follow Discovery Journal article guidelines. Note:  Unedited honors thesis will not be accepted. Students who have received a Bumpers College Undergraduate Research Grant are expected to submit an article based on their project.

Instructions for submitting your research or creative article to the Discovery Journal