Sociology and Anthropology
Honors Program

Synopsis  

Some majors may wish to complete an honors thesis and work outside the four course load with set syllabi. The Department’s honors program is designed to enable qualified students an opportunity to devote a substantial portion of their senior year’s course work to a research project, culminating in the writing of a thesis and the completion of an oral presentation, much in the style of a conference-paper presentation to an audience of faculty and students. Under the direction of their thesis advisors, Honors students pursue an original research question developed in consultation with faculty. It is a significant undertaking during the senior year. Thesis projects may vary from highly theoretical to heavily empirical; every thesis is expected to provide a critical overview of the relevant literature and engage in a rigorous analysis of the research question.

The program will likely be limited to a small number of students annually. Admission is competitive, and requires an application, transcript, and the thesis proposal. Decisions are made by the Department Honors Selection & Review Committee, most often following interviews. Working with a faculty advisor in the last semester of the junior year, the accepted honors student will enroll in an independent study (Sociology 492/Anthropology 492) in the fall of the senior year and receive course credit while developing a thesis proposal and at least one chapter of the thesis. Alternatively, a student participating in a senior seminar during the fall of the fourth year as preparation for the next semester’s thesis writing may petition the Department for late inclusion in the Honors Program.

A faculty advisor and a secondary reader must agree by the end of the fall that the student has made sufficient progress toward completing the thesis to continue in the Honors Program. Throughout the academic year the student’s thesis advisor and reader will jointly mentor. The student will present her/his thesis work to a colloquium of faculty and students in mid-April and submit the approved written honors thesis no later than May 1. The Department Honors Selection & Review Committee will vote to award the student departmental honors for graduation.