undergraduate honours thesis

Honors Theses

What this handout is about.

Writing a senior honors thesis, or any major research essay, can seem daunting at first. A thesis requires a reflective, multi-stage writing process. This handout will walk you through those stages. It is targeted at students in the humanities and social sciences, since their theses tend to involve more writing than projects in the hard sciences. Yet all thesis writers may find the organizational strategies helpful.

Introduction

What is an honors thesis.

That depends quite a bit on your field of study. However, all honors theses have at least two things in common:

• They are based on students’ original research.
• They take the form of a written manuscript, which presents the findings of that research. In the humanities, theses average 50-75 pages in length and consist of two or more chapters. In the social sciences, the manuscript may be shorter, depending on whether the project involves more quantitative than qualitative research. In the hard sciences, the manuscript may be shorter still, often taking the form of a sophisticated laboratory report.

Who can write an honors thesis?

In general, students who are at the end of their junior year, have an overall 3.2 GPA, and meet their departmental requirements can write a senior thesis. For information about your eligibility, contact:

• UNC Honors Program
• Your departmental administrators of undergraduate studies/honors

Why write an honors thesis?

Satisfy your intellectual curiosity This is the most compelling reason to write a thesis. Whether it’s the short stories of Flannery O’Connor or the challenges of urban poverty, you’ve studied topics in college that really piqued your interest. Now’s your chance to follow your passions, explore further, and contribute some original ideas and research in your field.

Develop transferable skills Whether you choose to stay in your field of study or not, the process of developing and crafting a feasible research project will hone skills that will serve you well in almost any future job. After all, most jobs require some form of problem solving and oral and written communication. Writing an honors thesis requires that you:

• ask smart questions
• acquire the investigative instincts needed to find answers
• navigate libraries, laboratories, archives, databases, and other research venues
• develop the flexibility to redirect your research if your initial plan flops
• master the art of time management
• hone your argumentation skills
• organize a lengthy piece of writing
• polish your oral communication skills by presenting and defending your project to faculty and peers

Work closely with faculty mentors At large research universities like Carolina, you’ve likely taken classes where you barely got to know your instructor. Writing a thesis offers the opportunity to work one-on-one with a with faculty adviser. Such mentors can enrich your intellectual development and later serve as invaluable references for graduate school and employment.

Open windows into future professions An honors thesis will give you a taste of what it’s like to do research in your field. Even if you’re a sociology major, you may not really know what it’s like to be a sociologist. Writing a sociology thesis would open a window into that world. It also might help you decide whether to pursue that field in graduate school or in your future career.

How do you write an honors thesis?

Get an idea of what’s expected.

It’s a good idea to review some of the honors theses other students have submitted to get a sense of what an honors thesis might look like and what kinds of things might be appropriate topics. Look for examples from the previous year in the Carolina Digital Repository. You may also be able to find past theses collected in your major department or at the North Carolina Collection in Wilson Library. Pay special attention to theses written by students who share your major.

Choose a topic

Ideally, you should start thinking about topics early in your junior year, so you can begin your research and writing quickly during your senior year. (Many departments require that you submit a proposal for an honors thesis project during the spring of your junior year.)

How should you choose a topic?

• Read widely in the fields that interest you. Make a habit of browsing professional journals to survey the “hot” areas of research and to familiarize yourself with your field’s stylistic conventions. (You’ll find the most recent issues of the major professional journals in the periodicals reading room on the first floor of Davis Library).
• Set up appointments to talk with faculty in your field. This is a good idea, since you’ll eventually need to select an advisor and a second reader. Faculty also can help you start narrowing down potential topics.
• Look at honors theses from the past. The North Carolina Collection in Wilson Library holds UNC honors theses. To get a sense of the typical scope of a thesis, take a look at a sampling from your field.

What makes a good topic?

• It’s fascinating. Above all, choose something that grips your imagination. If you don’t, the chances are good that you’ll struggle to finish.
• It’s doable. Even if a topic interests you, it won’t work out unless you have access to the materials you need to research it. Also be sure that your topic is narrow enough. Let’s take an example: Say you’re interested in the efforts to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and early 1980s. That’s a big topic that probably can’t be adequately covered in a single thesis. You need to find a case study within that larger topic. For example, maybe you’re particularly interested in the states that did not ratify the ERA. Of those states, perhaps you’ll select North Carolina, since you’ll have ready access to local research materials. And maybe you want to focus primarily on the ERA’s opponents. Beyond that, maybe you’re particularly interested in female opponents of the ERA. Now you’ve got a much more manageable topic: Women in North Carolina Who Opposed the ERA in the 1970s and 1980s.
• It contains a question. There’s a big difference between having a topic and having a guiding research question. Taking the above topic, perhaps your main question is: Why did some women in North Carolina oppose the ERA? You will, of course, generate other questions: Who were the most outspoken opponents? White women? Middle-class women? How did they oppose the ERA? Public protests? Legislative petitions? etc. etc. Yet it’s good to start with a guiding question that will focus your research.

Goal-setting and time management

The senior year is an exceptionally busy time for college students. In addition to the usual load of courses and jobs, seniors have the daunting task of applying for jobs and/or graduate school. These demands are angst producing and time consuming If that scenario sounds familiar, don’t panic! Do start strategizing about how to make a time for your thesis. You may need to take a lighter course load or eliminate extracurricular activities. Even if the thesis is the only thing on your plate, you still need to make a systematic schedule for yourself. Most departments require that you take a class that guides you through the honors project, so deadlines likely will be set for you. Still, you should set your own goals for meeting those deadlines. Here are a few suggestions for goal setting and time management:

Start early. Keep in mind that many departments will require that you turn in your thesis sometime in early April, so don’t count on having the entire spring semester to finish your work. Ideally, you’ll start the research process the semester or summer before your senior year so that the writing process can begin early in the fall. Some goal-setting will be done for you if you are taking a required class that guides you through the honors project. But any substantive research project requires a clear timetable.

Set clear goals in making a timetable. Find out the final deadline for turning in your project to your department. Working backwards from that deadline, figure out how much time you can allow for the various stages of production.

Here is a sample timetable. Use it, however, with two caveats in mind:

• The timetable for your thesis might look very different depending on your departmental requirements.
• You may not wish to proceed through these stages in a linear fashion. You may want to revise chapter one before you write chapter two. Or you might want to write your introduction last, not first. This sample is designed simply to help you start thinking about how to customize your own schedule.

Sample timetable

Avoid falling into the trap of procrastination. Once you’ve set goals for yourself, stick to them! For some tips on how to do this, see our handout on procrastination .

Consistent production

It’s a good idea to try to squeeze in a bit of thesis work every day—even if it’s just fifteen minutes of journaling or brainstorming about your topic. Or maybe you’ll spend that fifteen minutes taking notes on a book. The important thing is to accomplish a bit of active production (i.e., putting words on paper) for your thesis every day. That way, you develop good writing habits that will help you keep your project moving forward.

Make yourself accountable to someone other than yourself

Since most of you will be taking a required thesis seminar, you will have deadlines. Yet you might want to form a writing group or enlist a peer reader, some person or people who can help you stick to your goals. Moreover, if your advisor encourages you to work mostly independently, don’t be afraid to ask them to set up periodic meetings at which you’ll turn in installments of your project.

Brainstorming and freewriting

One of the biggest challenges of a lengthy writing project is keeping the creative juices flowing. Here’s where freewriting can help. Try keeping a small notebook handy where you jot down stray ideas that pop into your head. Or schedule time to freewrite. You may find that such exercises “free” you up to articulate your argument and generate new ideas. Here are some questions to stimulate freewriting.

Questions for basic brainstorming at the beginning of your project:

• What do I already know about this topic?
• Why do I care about this topic?
• Why is this topic important to people other than myself
• What more do I want to learn about this topic?
• What is the main question that I am trying to answer?
• Where can I look for additional information?
• Who is my audience and how can I reach them?
• How will my work inform my larger field of study?
• What’s the main goal of my research project?

Questions for reflection throughout your project:

• What’s my main argument? How has it changed since I began the project?
• What’s the most important evidence that I have in support of my “big point”?
• What questions do my sources not answer?
• How does my case study inform or challenge my field writ large?
• Does my project reinforce or contradict noted scholars in my field? How?
• What is the most surprising finding of my research?
• What is the most frustrating part of this project?
• What is the most rewarding part of this project?
• What will be my work’s most important contribution?

Research and note-taking

In conducting research, you will need to find both primary sources (“firsthand” sources that come directly from the period/events/people you are studying) and secondary sources (“secondhand” sources that are filtered through the interpretations of experts in your field.) The nature of your research will vary tremendously, depending on what field you’re in. For some general suggestions on finding sources, consult the UNC Libraries tutorials . Whatever the exact nature of the research you’re conducting, you’ll be taking lots of notes and should reflect critically on how you do that. Too often it’s assumed that the research phase of a project involves very little substantive writing (i.e., writing that involves thinking). We sit down with our research materials and plunder them for basic facts and useful quotations. That mechanical type of information-recording is important. But a more thoughtful type of writing and analytical thinking is also essential at this stage. Some general guidelines for note-taking:

First of all, develop a research system. There are lots of ways to take and organize your notes. Whether you choose to use note cards, computer databases, or notebooks, follow two cardinal rules:

• Make careful distinctions between direct quotations and your paraphrasing! This is critical if you want to be sure to avoid accidentally plagiarizing someone else’s work. For more on this, see our handout on plagiarism .
• Record full citations for each source. Don’t get lazy here! It will be far more difficult to find the proper citation later than to write it down now.

Keeping those rules in mind, here’s a template for the types of information that your note cards/legal pad sheets/computer files should include for each of your sources:

Abbreviated subject heading: Include two or three words to remind you of what this sources is about (this shorthand categorization is essential for the later sorting of your sources).

Complete bibliographic citation:

• author, title, publisher, copyright date, and page numbers for published works
• box and folder numbers and document descriptions for archival sources
• complete web page title, author, address, and date accessed for online sources

Notes on facts, quotations, and arguments: Depending on the type of source you’re using, the content of your notes will vary. If, for example, you’re using US Census data, then you’ll mainly be writing down statistics and numbers. If you’re looking at someone else’s diary, you might jot down a number of quotations that illustrate the subject’s feelings and perspectives. If you’re looking at a secondary source, you’ll want to make note not just of factual information provided by the author but also of their key arguments.

Your interpretation of the source: This is the most important part of note-taking. Don’t just record facts. Go ahead and take a stab at interpreting them. As historians Jacques Barzun and Henry F. Graff insist, “A note is a thought.” So what do these thoughts entail? Ask yourself questions about the context and significance of each source.

Interpreting the context of a source:

• Who wrote/created the source?
• When, and under what circumstances, was it written/created?
• Why was it written/created? What was the agenda behind the source?
• How was it written/created?
• If using a secondary source: How does it speak to other scholarship in the field?

Interpreting the significance of a source:

• How does this source answer (or complicate) my guiding research questions?
• Does it pose new questions for my project? What are they?
• Does it challenge my fundamental argument? If so, how?
• Given the source’s context, how reliable is it?

You don’t need to answer all of these questions for each source, but you should set a goal of engaging in at least one or two sentences of thoughtful, interpretative writing for each source. If you do so, you’ll make much easier the next task that awaits you: drafting.

The dread of drafting

Why do we often dread drafting? We dread drafting because it requires synthesis, one of the more difficult forms of thinking and interpretation. If you’ve been free-writing and taking thoughtful notes during the research phase of your project, then the drafting should be far less painful. Here are some tips on how to get started:

Sort your “evidence” or research into analytical categories:

• Some people file note cards into categories.
• The technologically-oriented among us take notes using computer database programs that have built-in sorting mechanisms.
• Others cut and paste evidence into detailed outlines on their computer.
• Still others stack books, notes, and photocopies into topically-arranged piles.There is not a single right way, but this step—in some form or fashion—is essential!

If you’ve been forcing yourself to put subject headings on your notes as you go along, you’ll have generated a number of important analytical categories. Now, you need to refine those categories and sort your evidence. Everyone has a different “sorting style.”

Formulate working arguments for your entire thesis and individual chapters. Once you’ve sorted your evidence, you need to spend some time thinking about your project’s “big picture.” You need to be able to answer two questions in specific terms:

• What is the overall argument of my thesis?
• What are the sub-arguments of each chapter and how do they relate to my main argument?

Keep in mind that “working arguments” may change after you start writing. But a senior thesis is big and potentially unwieldy. If you leave this business of argument to chance, you may end up with a tangle of ideas. See our handout on arguments and handout on thesis statements for some general advice on formulating arguments.

Divide your thesis into manageable chunks. The surest road to frustration at this stage is getting obsessed with the big picture. What? Didn’t we just say that you needed to focus on the big picture? Yes, by all means, yes. You do need to focus on the big picture in order to get a conceptual handle on your project, but you also need to break your thesis down into manageable chunks of writing. For example, take a small stack of note cards and flesh them out on paper. Or write through one point on a chapter outline. Those small bits of prose will add up quickly.

Just start! Even if it’s not at the beginning. Are you having trouble writing those first few pages of your chapter? Sometimes the introduction is the toughest place to start. You should have a rough idea of your overall argument before you begin writing one of the main chapters, but you might find it easier to start writing in the middle of a chapter of somewhere other than word one. Grab hold where you evidence is strongest and your ideas are clearest.

Keep up the momentum! Assuming the first draft won’t be your last draft, try to get your thoughts on paper without spending too much time fussing over minor stylistic concerns. At the drafting stage, it’s all about getting those ideas on paper. Once that task is done, you can turn your attention to revising.

Peter Elbow, in Writing With Power, suggests that writing is difficult because it requires two conflicting tasks: creating and criticizing. While these two tasks are intimately intertwined, the drafting stage focuses on creating, while revising requires criticizing. If you leave your revising to the last minute, then you’ve left out a crucial stage of the writing process. See our handout for some general tips on revising . The challenges of revising an honors thesis may include:

Juggling feedback from multiple readers

A senior thesis may mark the first time that you have had to juggle feedback from a wide range of readers:

• your adviser
• a second (and sometimes third) faculty reader
• the professor and students in your honors thesis seminar

You may feel overwhelmed by the prospect of incorporating all this advice. Keep in mind that some advice is better than others. You will probably want to take most seriously the advice of your adviser since they carry the most weight in giving your project a stamp of approval. But sometimes your adviser may give you more advice than you can digest. If so, don’t be afraid to approach them—in a polite and cooperative spirit, of course—and ask for some help in prioritizing that advice. See our handout for some tips on getting and receiving feedback .

Refining your argument

It’s especially easy in writing a lengthy work to lose sight of your main ideas. So spend some time after you’ve drafted to go back and clarify your overall argument and the individual chapter arguments and make sure they match the evidence you present.

Organizing and reorganizing

Again, in writing a 50-75 page thesis, things can get jumbled. You may find it particularly helpful to make a “reverse outline” of each of your chapters. That will help you to see the big sections in your work and move things around so there’s a logical flow of ideas. See our handout on  organization  for more organizational suggestions and tips on making a reverse outline

Plugging in holes in your evidence

It’s unlikely that you anticipated everything you needed to look up before you drafted your thesis. Save some time at the revising stage to plug in the holes in your research. Make sure that you have both primary and secondary evidence to support and contextualize your main ideas.

Saving time for the small stuff

Even though your argument, evidence, and organization are most important, leave plenty of time to polish your prose. At this point, you’ve spent a very long time on your thesis. Don’t let minor blemishes (misspellings and incorrect grammar) distract your readers!

Formatting and final touches

You’re almost done! You’ve researched, drafted, and revised your thesis; now you need to take care of those pesky little formatting matters. An honors thesis should replicate—on a smaller scale—the appearance of a dissertation or master’s thesis. So, you need to include the “trappings” of a formal piece of academic work. For specific questions on formatting matters, check with your department to see if it has a style guide that you should use. For general formatting guidelines, consult the Graduate School’s Guide to Dissertations and Theses . Keeping in mind the caveat that you should always check with your department first about its stylistic guidelines, here’s a brief overview of the final “finishing touches” that you’ll need to put on your honors thesis:

• Honors Thesis
• Name of Department
• University of North Carolina
• These parts of the thesis will vary in format depending on whether your discipline uses MLA, APA, CBE, or Chicago (also known in its shortened version as Turabian) style. Whichever style you’re using, stick to the rules and be consistent. It might be helpful to buy an appropriate style guide. Or consult the UNC LibrariesYear Citations/footnotes and works cited/reference pages  citation tutorial
• In addition, in the bottom left corner, you need to leave space for your adviser and faculty readers to sign their names. For example:

Approved by: _____________________

Adviser: Prof. Jane Doe

• This is not a required component of an honors thesis. However, if you want to thank particular librarians, archivists, interviewees, and advisers, here’s the place to do it. You should include an acknowledgments page if you received a grant from the university or an outside agency that supported your research. It’s a good idea to acknowledge folks who helped you with a major project, but do not feel the need to go overboard with copious and flowery expressions of gratitude. You can—and should—always write additional thank-you notes to people who gave you assistance.
• Formatted much like the table of contents.
• You’ll need to save this until the end, because it needs to reflect your final pagination. Once you’ve made all changes to the body of the thesis, then type up your table of contents with the titles of each section aligned on the left and the page numbers on which those sections begin flush right.
• Each page of your thesis needs a number, although not all page numbers are displayed. All pages that precede the first page of the main text (i.e., your introduction or chapter one) are numbered with small roman numerals (i, ii, iii, iv, v, etc.). All pages thereafter use Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.).
• Your text should be double spaced (except, in some cases, long excerpts of quoted material), in a 12 point font and a standard font style (e.g., Times New Roman). An honors thesis isn’t the place to experiment with funky fonts—they won’t enhance your work, they’ll only distract your readers.
• In general, leave a one-inch inch margin on all sides. However, for the copy of your thesis that will be bound by the library, you need to leave a 1.25-inch margin on the left.

How do I defend my honors thesis?

Graciously, enthusiastically, and confidently. The term defense is scary and misleading—it conjures up images of a military exercise or an athletic maneuver. An academic defense ideally shouldn’t be a combative scene but a congenial conversation about the work’s merits and weaknesses. That said, the defense probably won’t be like the average conversation that you have with your friends. You’ll be the center of attention. And you may get some challenging questions. Thus, it’s a good idea to spend some time preparing yourself. First of all, you’ll want to prepare 5-10 minutes of opening comments. Here’s a good time to preempt some criticisms by frankly acknowledging what you think your work’s greatest strengths and weaknesses are. Then you may be asked some typical questions:

• What is the main argument of your thesis?
• How does it fit in with the work of Ms. Famous Scholar?
• Have you read the work of Mr. Important Author?

NOTE: Don’t get too flustered if you haven’t! Most scholars have their favorite authors and books and may bring one or more of them up, even if the person or book is only tangentially related to the topic at hand. Should you get this question, answer honestly and simply jot down the title or the author’s name for future reference. No one expects you to have read everything that’s out there.

• Why did you choose this particular case study to explore your topic?
• If you were to expand this project in graduate school, how would you do so?

Should you get some biting criticism of your work, try not to get defensive. Yes, this is a defense, but you’ll probably only fan the flames if you lose your cool. Keep in mind that all academic work has flaws or weaknesses, and you can be sure that your professors have received criticisms of their own work. It’s part of the academic enterprise. Accept criticism graciously and learn from it. If you receive criticism that is unfair, stand up for yourself confidently, but in a good spirit. Above all, try to have fun! A defense is a rare opportunity to have eminent scholars in your field focus on YOU and your ideas and work. And the defense marks the end of a long and arduous journey. You have every right to be proud of your accomplishments!

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Atchity, Kenneth. 1986. A Writer’s Time: A Guide to the Creative Process from Vision Through Revision . New York: W.W. Norton.

Barzun, Jacques, and Henry F. Graff. 2012. The Modern Researcher , 6th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Elbow, Peter. 1998. Writing With Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process . New York: Oxford University Press.

Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein. 2014. “They Say/I Say”: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing , 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton and Company.

Lamott, Anne. 1994. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life . New York: Pantheon.

Lasch, Christopher. 2002. Plain Style: A Guide to Written English. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Turabian, Kate. 2018. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, Dissertations , 9th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

Examples of honors theses written by economics undergraduate students.

Posted with permission of the author. © 2019-2022 by the individual author. All rights reserved.

• "The Causal Effect of ACA Subsidies on Insurance Coverage Status Among California Adults"  - William Vereyken
• "Economic Impacts of Immigration Detention Centers Built Between 1990-2016 on U.S. Commuting Zones"  - Ekaterina Yudina

Spring/Summer 2022

• "The Impact of Indiv. Mandate on High-Income, Non-elderly Indiv. Health Insurance Coverage Rates and Racial/Ethnic Disparities"  - YeJin Ahn
• "An Economic Analysis of the 1997 Amhara Land Redistribution in Ethiopia"  - Ezana Anley
• "Affirmative Action's Effect on Educational and Wage Outcomes for Underrepresented Minorities"  - Vishnu G. Arul
• "Are the Effects of Racism Really That Black and White? A Study on the Effect Racism Has on the Productivity of Black   Footballers in the Premier League"  - Advik Banerjee
• "An Empirical Analysis of Industrial Concentration and Prices: Can We Blame Inflation on Corporate Greed?"  - Anton Bobrov
• "Tax Revenue Cyclicality and Income Inequality: Evidence from U.S. Counties From 1989 to 2019"  - Yiyang Chen
• "The Impact of Economic Opportunities on African American Migration Patterns in Oakland"  - Fernando Cheung
• "Impact of Tech Companies on Wages in the Local Economy"  - Niki Collette
• "Warm Welcome: Evidence for Weather-based Projection Bias in College Choice"  - Maria Cullen
• "Impact of the Belt and Road Initiative on Bilateral Trade with China"  - Pedro de Marcos
• "Renaissance of the Black Homeowner: Impact Evaluation of Michigan's Renaissance Zones"  - Rupsha Debnath
• "Lockdown Blues: The Effect of Social Norms on the Psychological Cost of Unemployment During the COVID-19 Pandemic"  - Dylan Hallahan
• "How Education Affects Health Outcomes Across Genders"  - Jessica Li
• "Is Increasing Diversity Inclusion Effective in Improving Companies' Performance in the Financial Services Industry?"  - Miranda Li
• "The Future Financial Status of the Social Security Program"  - Chloe Manouchehri
• "Does Recreational Marijuana Legalization Affect Hard-Drug Use? - Evidence from Cocaine Prevalence and Treatment Admissions"  - Arthur Weiss
• "Relationship Between Economic Status and Money Spent on Private Education Leading to Economic Inequality in South Korea"  - Jiho Lee
• "The Impact of Migrant Remittances on Rural Labor Supply: Evidence from Nepal"  - Amanda Wong
• "Confirmation Bias: The Role of Messages and Messengers"  - Hongyu (Randol) Yao

Spring 2021

• "Gender Equality and Economic Growth: Solving the Asian Puzzle"  - Zoya Ali
• "Women in STEM: Moving Up or Falling Off the Academic Career Ladder?"  - Sophia J. Bai
• "Time Dependence in Okun's Law at the State Level" - Sarah Baig
• "Labor Regulation and the Impact on Firm Behavior in India" - Vatsal Bajaj
• "Gender Representation in Academia: Evidence from the Italian Education System Reform" - Oyundari Batbayar
• "Money & Marriage on the Elementary Mind: A High-Level Analysis of Inequitable Child Development in LA County" - Matthew J. Chang
• "Unanticipated Unemployment Rate News on the Stock Market" - David Chi
• "Should Physicians Be More Collaborative? Determining the Relationship Between Patient Participation and Treatment Plan Confidence Across a Spectrum of Illness Severity in the State of California" - Saif Chowdhury
• "Modeling Optimal Investment and Greenhouse Gas Abatement in the Presence of Technology Spillovers" - Sabrina Chui
• "Understanding the Influence of Marginal Income Tax Rates on Retirement Investment Habits"  - Daniel Cohen
• "Infrastructure in India's Internal War: A District-Level Analysis of the Naxalite-Maoist Conflict" - Krunal Desai
• "Do Eucalyptus Trees Increase Wildfires?"  - Lila Englander
• "Understanding the Labor Outcomes of Hurricane Sandy" - Kevin Fang
• "Does TikTok Show Viewers the Content Relevant to them?" - Ekaterina Fedorova
• "The Impact of the Affordable Care Act Dependent Care Provision on Long-term Young Adult Labor Market Choices" - Anne Fogarty
• "Orchestra Sex Disparity: Experimental Evidence from Audience Members" - Richard Gong
• "The Big Three Medical Price Indexes: A Comparative Review and Analysis"  - Robert Hovakimyan
• "Effect of Value-Added-Services on Customer Reviews in a Platform Marketplace" - Shankar Krishnan
• "COVID19 Recession: Gender Layoff Gap Explodes" - Ember Lin-Sperry
• "The Gender Wage Gap in China: Learning from Recent Longitudinal Data" - Donghe Lyu
• "Local Graduation Policies as a Tool for Increasing College Eligibility: Evidence from Los Angeles" - Dan L. Ma
• "Trust in Government and Lockdown Compliance in Sub-Saharan Africa" - Charles McMurry
• "I Do (or Don't): The Impact of Same-Sex Marriage Laws on International Tourism" - Oliver McNeil
• "International Shipping Consequences of a Navigable Arctic" - Jack Melin
• "Investigating Dollar Invoicing Trends Using United Kingdom Export Data" - Aneesh Nathani
• "Micro-Level Impact of Initial Public Offerings on Bay Area Housing Inflation" - Mina Nezam-Mafi
• "Explaining EU's Oil Dependency Through the Response of the Portuguese Sector Indexes to Brent Oil Prices Fluctuations" - Pedro S. Nunes
• "Dynamic Incentives and Effort Provision in Professional Tennis Tournaments" - Ruiwen Pan
• "Examining the Effects of Minimum Wage Laws on Part-Time Employment" - Odysseus Pyrinis
• "The Great Indian Identity Crisis? Exclusions & Intersectionality in the Indian Aadhaar System" - Aditi Ramakrishnan
• "The 'Clutch Gene' Myth: An Analysis of Late-Game Shooting Performance in the NBA"  - Can Sarioz
• "Estimating the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Jobs Within the Healthcare Industry" - Sidharth Satya
• "Factors Influencing Telehealth Utilization: Evidence from California" - Emily Schultz
• "Cash and Conflict: Evidence from the Indian Banknote Demonetization" - Nachiket Shah
• "Determinants of the Number of Anti-Government Demonstrations: Evidence from OECD Countries" - Nina Singiri
• "Hygiene Heroes: A Process Evaluation of Promoting Hygiene Practices in Tamil Nadu Schools" - Malika Sugathapala
• "Exploring the Labour Patterns of Women and Mothers Through the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Impact of School Closures and a New Kind of Recession"  - Renee Isabel Utter
• "How Have Socioeconomic Achievement Determinants Changed in the Past Decade for First-Generation Chinese Immigrants in the U.S." - Haolin Wang
• "The Impact of Quarantining on School Enrollment: Evidence from the Ebola Epidemic in Sierra Leone" - David Willigrod
• "Weeding out Needy Households and Welcoming the Better Off? Impacts of Transactional Barriers on SNAP Participation Rates" - Kevin Woo
• "Are Soccer Teams Being Inefficient? An Analysis of Sunk Cost Fallacy and Recency Bias Using Transfer Fee" - Junru Lyu
• "The Effects of Access to Family Planning Facilities on Female Labor Market Outcomes"  - Marcus Sander
• "Macroeconomic Volatility at the Zero Lower Bound: Evidence from the OECD" - Anthony Swaminathan
• "How are Society's Conditions and Demographics Related to the Popularity of Chief Executive Carrie Lam  and the Hong Kong Government"  - Peter To

Spring/Summer 2020

• "Parental Involvement: The Differential Impacts of Consent and Notice Requirements for Minors' Abortions" - Angela Ames
• "Examining Local Price Levels and Income Distribution Over Time" - Josh Archer
• "Estimating the Effect of Grandparent Death on Fertility" - Jason Chen
• "Democracy in the Face of COVID-19: Have Less Democratic Countries Been More Effective at Preventing the Spread of This Pandemic ?" - Yi Chen
• "Understanding the Effects of Conditional Cash Transfers on Indigenous People in Mexico" - Arushi Desai
• "Microfinance and Payday Lending: Are they Solving a Problem or Creating One?" - Sophia Faulkner
• "The Risk-Taking Channel of Monetary Policy and Foreign Banks" - Noah Forougi
• "Ride of Die? Metropolitan Bikeshare Systems and Pollution" - Sean Furuta
• "Internet's Important Involvement in Information Industry Integration in Idaho, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana (and others): How the emerging internet affected the economic geography of the information industry" - Keming (Alex) Gao
• "The Relationship between Economic Crises and Long-Run Wealth Inequality" - Renuka Garg
• "Voter Bias in the Associated Press College Football Poll : Reconducting a 2009 study with new data in a $1 Billion-dollar industry that has seen significant changes in the past decade"  - Brent Hensley
• "Monopsony Exploitation in Major League Baseball: Using Wins Above Replacement to Estimate Marginal Revenue Product" - Jacob C. Hyman
• "The Relationship Between Currency Substitution and Exchange Rate Volatility" - Jewon Ju
• "Efficiency, Bias, and Decisions: Observations from a Sports Betting Exchange" - Alexander Kan
• "The Effect of Medicaid Expansion on Substance Use Disorder Treatment Utilization: Evidence from the Affordable Care Act" - Christy Kang
• "Analyzing the Relationship between Personal Income Tax Progressivity and Income Inequality" - Gevorg Khandamiryan
• "The Effects of Occupancy Taxes on the Short-Term Rental Market: Evidence from Boston" - Alan Liang
• "Corporate Types and Bank Lending in Contractionary Era: Evidence from Chinese Listed Companies" - Zishen Liu
• "Financial Constraints on Student Learning: An Analysis of How Financial Stress Influences Cognitive Function in Children" - Simone Matecna
• "The Effect of Workplace Inspections on Employment and Sales - A Regression Discontinuity Analysis" - Jeseo Park
• "Lending Sociodynamics, Economic Instability, and the U.S. Farm Credit Crisis" - Erfan Samaei
• "The Effect of Intangible Assets on Value Added: Evidence from microdata across small and large firms in Europe" - Tamara Sequeira
• "Price Efficiency Differences Between Public and Private Utilities: An Empirical Analysis of US Electric Utilities" - Yechan Shin
• "Effect of Campus Shootings on Academic Achievement: Examination of 2014 Isla Vista Killings" - Min Joo (Julie) Song
• "First-Degree Price Discrimination: Evidence from Informal Markets in India" - Rishab Srivastava
• "Who Benefits From Gentrification? A Case Study of Oregon Public High Schools" - Namrata Subramanian
• "Estimating the Economic Impacts of Wealth Taxation in France" - Jeffrey Suzuki
• "Transit-Oriented Development or Transit-Oriented Displacement? Evaluating the Sorting Effect of Public Transportation in Los Angeles County" - Yeeling Tse
• "How State Abortion Policy Restrictiveness is Associated with Unintended Pregnancy Outcomes in the United States from 2014-2018" - Ruhee Wadhwania
• "Global Food Security and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation"  - Aidan Wang
• "The Relationship Between Pharmaceutical R&D Spending and NME Development" - Taylor Wang
• "The Role of Individual Risk Attitude in Occupational Inheritance" - Yi Wang
• "Labor Market Segmentation: Evidence from U.S. Janitorial Jobs Advertised in English and Spanish" - Zijun Xu
• "Bias on the Brain: How Patient Gender Influences Use of Emergency Room Diagnostic Imaging" - Abigail Zhong
• "Age Effects, Irrationality and Excessive Risk-Taking in Supposedly Expert Agents" - William Aldred
• "Pricing Disparities for Minority Communities in Chicago: Rideshares and Taxis" - Matthew Cleveland
• "Where My Negros At? Evaluating the Effects of Banning Affirmative Action on Black College Enrollment" - Ellie Koepplinger
• "Race and Recession: How Minorities May Affect Downturns" - Alexander Szarka
• "Understanding the Effects of Canadian International Food Aid on Production and Trade" - Patrick D. Tagari
• "Urban Property Rights and Labor Supply in Peru: Heterogeneity Analysis by Gender and Educational Attainment" - Juan Sebastián Rozo Vásquez
• "Effect of High-Speed Rail on City Tourism Revenue in China: A Perspective on Spatial Connectivity" - Lingyun Xiao

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All Honors Students end their program with an Honors Thesis: a sustained, independent research project in a student’s field of study. Your thesis must count for at least 4 credits (some majors require that the thesis be completed over 2 semesters, and some require more than 4 credits). The thesis is an opportunity to work on unique research under the guidance of a faculty advisor. It often provides a writing sample for graduate school, and is also something you can share with employers to show what kind of work you can do. 

What is an Honors thesis?

Most of your work in college involves learning information and ideas generated by other people. When you write a thesis, you are engaging with previous work, but also adding new knowledge to your field. That means you have to know what's already been done--what counts as established knowledge; what's the current state of research; what methods and kinds of evidence are acceptable; what debates are going on. (Usually, you'll recount that knowledge in a review of the literature.) Then, you need to form a research question that you can answer given your available skills, resources, and time  (so, not "What is love?" but "How are ideas about love different between college freshmen and seniors?"). With your advisor, you'll plan the method you will use to answer it, which might involve lab work, field work, surveys, interviews, secondary research, textual analysis, or something else--it will depend upon your question and your field. Once your research is carried out, you'll write a substantial paper (usually 20-50 pages) according to the standards of your field.

What do theses look like?

The exact structure will vary by discipline, and your thesis advisor should provide you with an outline. As a rough guideline, we would expect to see something like the following:

1. Introduction 2. Review of the literature 3. Methods 4. Results 5. Analysis 6. Conclusion 7. Bibliography or works cited

In 2012 we began digitally archiving Honors theses. Students are encouraged to peruse the Honors Thesis Repository to see what past students' work has looked like. Use the link below and type your major in the search field on the left to find relevant examples. Older Honors theses are available in the Special Collections & Archives department at Dimond Library. 

Browse Previous Theses

Will my thesis count as my capstone?

Most majors accept an Honors Thesis as fulfilling the Capstone requirement. However, there are exceptions. In some majors, the thesis counts as a major elective, and in a few, it is an elective that does not fulfill major requirements. Your major advisor and your Honors advisor can help you figure out how your thesis will count. Please note that while in many majors the thesis counts as the capstone, the converse does not necessarily apply. There are many capstone experiences that do not take the form of an Honors thesis. 

Can I do a poster and presentation for my thesis?

No. While you do need to present your thesis (see below), a poster and presentation are not a thesis. 

How do I choose my thesis advisor?

The best thesis advisor is an experienced researcher, familiar with disciplinary standards for research and writing, with expertise in your area of interest. You might connect with a thesis advisor during Honors-in-Major coursework, but Honors Liaisons  can assist students who are having trouble identifying an advisor. You should approach and confirm your thesis advisor before the semester in which your research will begin.

What if I need funds for my research?

The  Hamel Center for Undergraduate Research  offers research grants, including summer support. During the academic year, students registered in credit-bearing thesis courses may apply for an  Undergraduate Research Award for up to $600 in research expenses (no stipend).  Students who are not otherwise registered in a credit-bearing course for their thesis research may enroll in INCO 790: Advanced Research Experience, which offers up to $200 for research expenses.

What if I need research materials for a lengthy period?

No problem! Honors Students can access Extended Time borrowing privileges at Dimond Library, which are otherwise reserved for faculty and graduate students. Email [email protected] with note requesting “extended borrowing privileges” and we'll work with the Library to extend your privileges.

Can I get support to stay on track?

Absolutely! Thesis-writers have an opportunity to join a support group during the challenging and sometimes isolating period of writing a thesis. Learn more about thesis support here .

When should I complete my thesis?

Register for a Senior Honors Thesis course (often numbered 799) in the spring and/or fall of your Senior year.

This “course” is an independent study, overseen by your Thesis Advisor. Your advisor sets the standards, due dates, and grades for your project. It must earn at least a B in order to qualify for Honors.

What happens with my completed thesis?

Present your thesis.

All students must publicly present their research prior to graduation. Many present at the  Undergraduate Research Conference  in April; other departmentally-approved public events are also acceptable.

Publish your thesis:

Honors students are asked to make their thesis papers available on  scholars.unh.edu/honors/ . This creates a resource for future students and other researchers, and also helps students professionalize their online personas.

These theses are publicly available online. If a student or their advisor prefers not to make the work available, they may upload an abstract and/or excerpts from the work instead.

Students may also publish research in  Inquiry , UNH's undergraduate research journal.

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Honors Undergraduate Thesis

Honors Undergraduate Thesis (HUT) is UCF's most advanced undergraduate research program. It is designed to assist juniors and seniors to develop their own independent research project under the direction of a thesis advisor and faculty thesis committee. Students do not need to be Honors students to take advantage of the HUT program; it is available to all qualified UCF students. Over two to four semesters, students work closely with a faculty committee to research, write, defend, and publish an original thesis that serves as an honors capstone product of their undergraduate career. This thesis is published through the university library,  UCF's STARS Repository , and is available to researchers worldwide through electronic databases.

The Burnett Honors College partners with all colleges in sponsoring HUT Scholarships. These $1,000 scholarships are awarded every fall and spring on a competitive basis within each college and are available to all students who are enrolled in HUT credit hours.

• Visit The Burnett Honors College Honors in Undergraduate Thesis for additional information including deadlines.
• Join our Facebook group.
• Contact Dr. Sherron Killingsworth Roberts for additional information.
• Learn about the benefits of participating in HUT.
• First, find out if you are eligible and meet the basic requirements by visiting the Honors Undergraduate Thesis admissions page. If you have questions or you almost meet the requirements, stop in and see the great folks in the Office of Honors Research (OHR), now relocated in Trevor Colbourn Hall, Suite 248 (Phone: 407-823-0851). Email [email protected] with any questions. The HUT Coordinator will help you (1) apply for the Honors Undergraduate Thesis program and then (2) help get you registered. Remember you will be taking the Honors in Undergraduate Thesis project credit hours in the following semesters. You need a minimum of two semesters to complete the program. Additionally Dr. Padmini Coopamah Waldron, Director, is a valuable resource to your thesis chair and you.
• You will need to gain the permission of a professor to serve as your thesis chair and work with you weekly as part of an independent study or Directed Readings . By the end of the semester of Directed Readings, you should have a 15-20 page proposal (with 15-20 references) outlining the Honors in Undergraduate Thesis project that is approved by your thesis chair, a committee of one additional person, and the Honors in Undergraduate Thesis Coordinator, Dr. Sherron Roberts . If you need help identifying a chair, Dr. Roberts can help.
• Obtain all the necessary signatures on your application form and get the ball rolling. Even though you can now use HelloSign to obtain your chair's and Dr. Robert's signature electronically, please go introduce yourself to Dr. Roberts (ED 315T) in person, and seek her help to get started. Congrats!

For resources, videos, and PowerPoints, visit our Student Learning & Licensure (SLL) .

Requirements

Honors in Undergraduate Thesis (HUT) is the oldest and most prestigious undergraduate research program at UCF and provides students from all disciplines the opportunity to engage in independent and original research as principal investigators. Over the course of at least two semesters, students work closely with a faculty committee to research, write, defend, and publish an original Honors thesis. Upon successful completion of the program, students earn Honors in Undergraduate Thesis distinction on their diplomas and transcripts. Contact Dr. Sherron Roberts.

At a minimum, the following criteria must be met for admission into the Honors in the Major program:

• Sixty (60) completed hours of college credit
• Twelve (12) completed upper division hours of college credit
• At least a 3.4 UCF or Overall GPA
• At least two semesters remaining prior to graduation

This GPA is calculated based on all college-level course work regardless of the institution. For the Honors in Undergraduate Thesis program, all GPA's are calculated without rounding.

If you are close to the above requirements, contact Dr. Sherron Roberts .

Application deadlines are typically three weeks prior to the beginning of a semester to give students time to obtain faculty signatures .

HUT Thesis Titles

Briand, C. S. (2016). A grounded theory study of the impact of Florida school report cards on high school English Language Arts teachers’ self-efficacy and perceptions of student writing .

Foresman, D. B. (2016). Representations and impacts of transgender and gender nonconforming ideals in children’s literature for young children.

Greuel, A. L. (2016). Exploring preservice teacher attitudes toward black students.

Parsons, C. (2017). Metacognitive coaching as a means to enhance college and career success for students with executive function disorders.

Quintero, A. M. (2016). A qualitative assessment of preservice teachers’ perceptions of the at-risk student.

Rawles, L. S. (2017). Introspections of an African American preservice teacher’s growth: An autoethnography.

Rusoff, B. G. (2016). Exploring attachment behaviors in urban mothers and their infants.

Shimada, M. M. (2017). Third grade science teachers’ perspectives on implementing sentence frames and word banks during science lectures to increase the writing levels of English Language Learners.

Smith, D. (2017). The integration of music in an ELA classroom: Creating pedagogical parodies for elementary education.

Van Westering, J. (2016). Implementing Growth Mindset principles for girls in STEM elementary classrooms through the creation of a children’s book.

To access more thesis titles, search the STARS Digital Repository.

FAQs about Honors in Undergraduate Thesis

Honors Theses

Honors Thesis

Main navigation, honors programs.

Honors programs are organized by departments and programs. They allow students to engage in advanced, independent research, analysis and articulation with faculty guidance, usually in the senior year. Engaging in original research on a topic of a student’s own devising is one of the most exciting experiences of a college education. Working closely with a faculty advisor allows the teacher-student dynamic to become far more collegial. In the most satisfying experiences, students can make genuine contributions to knowledge, challenging the way scholars in the field think about the topic.

Learn more about Planning for Honors

Home > Theses and Dissertations > Honors Theses

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The Honors Undergraduate Thesis Program provides students from all disciplines the opportunity to engage in original and independent research as principal investigators. Over the course of two to four semesters, students work closely with a faculty committee to research, write, defend and publish an Honors thesis that serves as the capstone product of their undergraduate career. This thesis is published through the university library and is available to researchers worldwide through electronic databases. Please visit the Honors Undergraduate Thesis website for compete information.

This collection contains records for Honors theses completed at UCF. Links to electronic versions are included when available. If your Honors thesis is only in print, you can help us make it available online for use by researchers around the world by downloading and filling out the distribution consent form here .

For additional assistance locating an HUT or HIM thesis, please contact the Digital Collections Project Coordinator, Kerri Bottorff , or check out the FAQ .

Theses from 2023 2023

Role of Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Response in Parainfluenza Virus Acute to Persistent Infections , Lauren L. Abbitt

Exploring the Impact of Cultural Background Among Asian and Non-Hispanic White Populations on Organ Donation , Doyoung Ahn

Split Catalytic Probes for the Detection of Monkeypox Virus , Jaehyun Ahn

Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on College Student Brain Health , Asia Alegre

The Effect of L-Citrulline Supplementation on Blood Pressure: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials , Vraj Amin

Constructing Higher Order Conformal Symplectic Exponential Time Differencing Methods , Lily S. Amirzadeh

The Joint Effect of Mindsets and Consequence Awareness on Task Performance , Melinda F. Ammon

Examining the Association Between COVID-19 and Anxiety in College Students With Varying Personality Traits , Ridha Anjum

Design And Validation Of A Variable, Speed-Dependent Resistance Training Method For Muscle Hypertrophy , Alvaro Andres Aracena Alvial

Relapse: An Exploration of the Symbiotic Nature of Sponsorship in the Sober Community , Jack Auger

Defining Creativity and Its Role in Marx's Philosophy , Carlos Avila

How Calorie Restriction and Fasting Support Cancer Treatment: A Systematic Review , Nii Nettey Baddoo

Factors that Lead to Poor Oral Health in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder , Jaskiran Kaur Bains

Nursing-Related Interventions to Obstetric Violence: A Literature Review , Annaliece M. Balensiefen

Advocacy with Context: The Role of Pediatricians in Breastfeeding Success , Sanya Bansal

Tomiccama Tomiccanacayo: A Feminist/Spatial Analysis of flesh to bone by ire'ne lara silva , Alyssa B. Bent

"It's Still Easy To Get": An Anthropological Analysis Of Nicotine Activist Efforts And User Perspectives In Central Florida , Saoulkie Bertin

Evolution of Density and Velocity Perturbations in a Slowly Contracting Universe , Olivia R. Bitcon

Binge Drinking And Non-Consensual Drug Intoxication , Jake Blendermann

Examining Direct Load Control Within Demand Response Programs , Maria Bonina Zimath

Nursing Interventions for Families of Children with Down Syndrome Evaluating Coping Mechanisms and Community Resources , Ashley M. Brophy

The Relationship Between Task-Induced Stress and Time Perception , Annamarie Brosnihan

Examining Academic Challenges and Mental Health Among First-Generation and Non-First-Generation Students , Cecilia Q. Bui

Tort Reform in Florida: The Impact of HB837 , Kara E. Burns

Diverse Expressions of the Black Identity in Jackson, Mississippi: Stories , Elisabeth Campbell

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Undergraduate Thesis Leading to Graduation with Honors Research Distinction

There are three options for honors students in the College of Arts and Sciences (ASC) interested in pursuing graduation with honors research distinction or with honors distinction :

• The graduation honor with honors research distinction in [the major field] recognizes those students who demonstrate excellence in the study of a discipline both through major course work and by completing an independent research project culminating in an undergraduate thesis.
• Students majoring in mathematics may choose the graduate-level course work option to graduate with honors distinction in Mathematics .
• The graduation honor with honors research distinction recognizes those students who complete and successfully defend an undergraduate thesis in a discipline other than the major.

Students majoring in the arts may pursue a creative project or thesis that leads to graduation with distinction .

For information about the thesis option for students not in an honors program, please see the Research Thesis web site .

To graduate with honors research distinction , you must satisfy the following requirements:

• Identify an Ohio State faculty member to serve as your project advisor. The project advisor will provide guidance to you throughout the research process.
• Submit the Thesis Application to the ASC Honors Office by the deadline noted below.
• Students must register for at least 4 credit hours of thesis research from the College of the Arts and Sciences, using course number 4999H. (Note: Psychology requires enrollment in a 4999H course sequence.) These 4 credit hours may be divided and taken over the course of multiple semesters. 
• Successfully defend the thesis during an oral examination.
• Meet any department-specific requirements, which may include honors course work and/or a minimum grade point average within the field of distinction.
• Graduate with a minimum 3.4 cumulative grade point average on at least 60 graded Ohio State semester credit hours. 
• In order to graduate with honors research distinction , you must be enrolled in the ASC Honors Program , which requires completion of the honors course work requirement (fulfilled by completion of an approved Honors Curriculum ).

*** Thesis Option for students not in the ASC Honors Program ***

If you are planning to graduate with honors research distinction , you should submit the Thesis Application to the ASC Honors Office upon enrolling in 4999H research credit and no later than the following deadlines:

• Students defending  Spring 2024 :    Applications were due to  ASC Honors  by Friday,  September 8, 2023
• Students defending  Autumn 2024 : Applications are due to  Rebecca Sallade  by Friday,  January 26, 2024

Questions about the application may be directed to Rebecca Sallade, the Undergraduate Research, Honors Thesis, and Honors Project Coordinator.

• If you are working toward a thesis, it is your responsibility to register for 4999H . In some cases (e.g., in the Department of Psychology), the 4999H research hours are actual courses in a sequence and will require prior planning to make sure you are able to register in a timely fashion.
• The number of research credit hours you take in a given semester will depend on the amount of time you plan to spend on your research during that term. You should plan to discuss this with your thesis project advisor.  Keep in mind that you will need to take at least 4 credit hours of 4999H to meet the requirements for a thesis.
• Your thesis project advisor will need to provide written permission for you to register for 4999H. Permission to enroll in 4999H can be documented on a Course Enrollment Permission form [pdf] . You should submit the signed form to the Arts and Sciences Honors Office no later than the second Friday of the semester to have the hours added to your schedule.  (Late registration for research hours will result in a $100 Late Course Add Fee and may only be added by petition.)
• Students must register for at least 4 credit hours of thesis research from the College of the Arts and Sciences, using course number 4999H. (Note: Psychology requires enrollment in a 4999H course sequence.) These 4 credit hours may be divided and taken over the course of multiple semesters.

Students who have submitted a Thesis Application for approval will be contacted by the ASC Honors Office with oral examination instructions early in the semester in which they plan to defend the thesis (usually around the third or fourth week of the semester).

Abstracts and copies of past undergraduate theses completed for graduation with research distinction are available for examination online through the Ohio State Libraries' Knowledge Bank and in the Mortar Board Room (room 202) of the Thompson Library . They are valuable not only as examples of research undertaken in various disciplines but also as sources of information.

• ASC Honors General Research Information
• Office of Undergraduate Research & Creative Inquiry
• ASC Undergraduate Research Scholarship
• Denman Undergraduate Research Forum

Honors & Theses

The Honors Thesis: An opportunity to do innovative and in-depth research.  

An honors thesis gives students the opportunity to conduct in-depth research into the areas of government that inspire them the most. Although, it’s not a requirement in the Department of Government, the honors thesis is both an academic challenge and a crowning achievement at Harvard. The faculty strongly encourages students to write an honors thesis and makes itself available as a resource to those students who do. Students work closely with the thesis advisor of their choice throughout the writing process. Approximately 30% of Government concentrators each year choose to write a thesis.

Guide to Writing a Senior Thesis in Government  

You undoubtedly have many questions about what writing a thesis entails. We have answers for you. Please read  A Guide to Writing a Senior Thesis in Government , which you can download as a PDF below. If you still have questions or concerns after you have read through this document, we encourage you to reach out to the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Dr. Nara Dillon ( [email protected] ), the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies, Dr. Gabriel Katsh ( [email protected] ), or the Undergraduate Program Manager, Karen Kaletka ( [email protected] ).  

Home > Arts and Sciences > Philosophy > PHILOSOPHYHONORS

Philosophy Undergraduate Honors Theses

Honors theses from 2023 2023.

On Conditional Reasons , Preston Budd

Exploring Moral Saints , Ruyu (Evelyn) Wang

Honors Theses from 2022 2022

Cultural Evolution and the Intuitionist Paradigm in Ethics: Ethics as Creation , Nickolas J. Boylan

Free Speech and Its Limits: An Exploration of Tolerance in the Digital Age , Jamie Forte

Negation & Acosmism: Hegel's Acosmist Reading of Spinoza , Jared Jones

On Certain Antinomies of Freedom: Divine Foreknowledge and Immutability , Tanja T. Rounds

Indeterminacy, Disagreement, and Reasonable Reference Magnetism , Jaocb (Hengyun) Yang

Honors Theses from 2021 2021

Gender in Time , Jake Beardsley

A Neopragmatist Understanding of Mathematics , Yuan Dong

Weight of Words: Moral Responsibility and Freedom of Speech , Sihan Feng

The Metaphysics of Sexual Orientation: A Pluralist Account , Neal J. Going

Addressing Systemic Harms Through Restorative Justice Principles , Elissa Gosling

WELCOMING THE GAME CHANGER OF HUMAN SOCIETY: A DEFENSE OF THE MORAL PERMISSIBILITY AND OBLIGATIONS OF HUMAN GENETIC ENGINEERING , Yongkang Li

Theories of Responsibility and Punishment in a Causally Determined World , Brett Restrick

Honors Theses from 2020 2020

Euthyphro, Non-Conditional Valuing, and the Possibility for Evaluative Error: A Humean Approach to Animal Ethics , Elisabeth Holmes

Honors Theses from 2019 2019

Egoism and the Repugnant Conclusion , Nathaniel Anderson

Ghosts of the Anthropocene , Riley Covert

'Poverty of Particularity:' Reconciling Divine Transcendence and Imminence Using Gregory Palamas' Essence-Energies Distinction , Luke Erdahl

On the Divergence of Schopenhauerian and Schweitzerian Ethics-of-Will , Bryce Herndon

The Methodological Puzzle of Phenomenal Consciousness: What it is, and Why it is Still Unsolved , Qiuyang Shen

Individual Responsibility for Structural Injustice , Taro Shirakawa

Difference without Deference: An Individualistic Theory of Group Accommodation , Will Siegmund

Honors Theses from 2018 2018

Perceptual Experiences Cannot Be an Inference’s Conclusion , Yuanchen Lu

Towards an Interactionist Dualism , Yonghao Wang

Citizenship and Partiality: Group Membership and the Bounds of Morality , Hannah Winckler-Olick

Honors Theses from 2017 2017

A Threefold Defense of Perceptual Dogmatism , Hunter R. Gentry

A Defense of Retributivism as a Theory of Punishment , Samantha Kim

Honors Theses from 2016 2016

On Animal Rights, Speciesism, and the Nature of Social Change , Delaney Berman

A Psychological Approach to the Special Composition Question , Connor Drake Dantzler

Addressing the Problems in American Drug Policy: A Case for the Legalization of Drugs , Jackson A. Eskay

Political Liberalism and a Theory of Justice: Recasting Justice as Fairness as a Political Conception of Liberal Justice , George Eric Rudebusch

Honors Theses from 2015 2015

A Battle for Rights Justification: Millian Utilitarianism vs. Scanlonian Contractualism , Jose A. Lopez Jr.

Honors Theses from 2013 2013

Mozi: the Man, the Consequentialist, and the Utilitarian , Grace H. Mendenhall

Honors Theses from 2012 2012

Rehabilitating the Consequentialist View of Moral Responsibility , Adam Jared Lerner

Honors Theses from 2011 2011

All Heads Gently Nodding: How Naturalism Dissolves the Problem of Other Minds , Devin Sanchez Curry

Honors Theses from 2010 2010

Clarifying Intuitions about Moral Responsibility and the Self , Daniel Carl Homer

Honors Theses from 2009 2009

"Turning the Fly Around" The Relationship between Wittgenstein's Discussion of Meaning and the Self: An Exegesis and Defense , Sean W. Dalby

Honors Theses from 2008 2008

Harmful Offense to Others: A New Liberty-Limiting Principle and the 'New' Child Pornography , Devin DeBacker

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Home > Affiliates > Huron University College > Psychology > PSYCH_UHT

Undergraduate Honours Theses

Students enrolled in Psychology 4880 complete independent research under the direction of a faculty member. For undergraduate theses completed prior to 2014 please consult the Catalogue.

Submissions from 2022 2022

The Influence of Environmental Sounds on Cognition and Mood , Huda Ahmed

The Impacts of Researcher Attire on Participant Performance in Psychological Experiments , Jesse S. Basi

ABSTRACT VS. CONCRETE MINDSETS IN MORAL INJURY , Paige J. Hallman

The Effects of Peer Connectedness and Popularity in Predicting Adolescent E-Cigarette and Binge Drinking Patterns Across the COVID-19 Pandemic , Kyla N. Lamb

Exploring Parent and Peer Support as a Predictor of Adolescent Adjustment During the COVID-19 Pandemic , Madeleine M. MacDonald

The Cross-Modal Relationship Between Language and Mathematics: A Bi-Directional Training Paradigm , Urvi Maheshwari

Mismatched Music: How Conflicting Musical Information Impacts Emotional Judgements , Matthew W. Tiplady

Mindsets for Goal Attainment and Experiences of Unethical Transgressions , Hallie Wiltzer

Are Conspiracy Beliefs Induced by Thinking Disposition and Economic Uncertainty? , Sean E. Yilmaz

Submissions from 2021 2021

Interactions between Brief Virtual Exposure to Natural Environments and Psychological Well-Being , Giuliana GN Brancato

Values Affirmation in The Treatment of Moral Injury: A Pilot Study , Eve G. Chapnik

To Sing Or To Speak: Closeness Between Mother-Infant Dyads In Different Contexts , Aislinn M. Connor

Examining the role of Diverted Attention on Musical Motion Aftereffects , Hannah D. Cormier

Defining Mother-Infant Synchrony in a Speech and Song Context , Roisin A. Delaney

Social Media as a Predictor of Depression Rates Among Male Versus Female Adolescents During the COVID-19 Pandemic , Kaylee A. Fishback

Do Social Media Usage and The Endorsement of Collective Values Predict Loneliness? , Caoyu Cy Pan

Submissions from 2020 2020

A Nature Walk a Day, Keeps Unhappiness Away: Restorative Campus Environments and Student Well-Being , Justine Albert

DOES WATCHING OTHER PEOPLE PLAY VIDEO GAMES PROMOTE AGGRESSION , Kimberly M. Clarke

The Relationship Between Extracurricular Activities and the Well-Being of Undergraduate Students , Angelica C. Galluzzo

Evaluating Success in Addictions Treatment , Cole G. Granger

Parental Marital Status and Perceived Parental Marital Stability as Predictors of Avoidant Attachment Style in Young Adult Romantic Relationships , Eden G. C. Jacobson

“Send Me Your Location”: Examining Cyber Dating Abuse Victimization and Self-Esteem in Adolescents , Grace K. Millett

Conformity and Persuasion: The Moderating Roles of Interpersonal Closeness and Interaction Partner Sex , Christianne Morrison

There is More to Snapchat than Snapping: Examining Active and Passive Snapchat Use as Predictors of Anxiety in Adolescents , Nicole A. Orlan

Narcissism and Attachment Anxiety Predicting the Impact of Hiding Instagram “Likes” In Canada , Madeleine T. Visca

Who's to Blame? How Attributions of Blame Impact Perceptions of Effective Leaders , Emily M. Wildeboer

DEPTH PERCEPTION IN VIRTUAL PERIPERSONAL SPACE: AN INVESTIGATION OF MOTION PARALLAX ON PERCEPTION- VS ACTION-ESTIMATIONS , Hongyao Zhu

Submissions from 2019 2019

Moral Perceptions in the Workplace , Leonid V. Beletski

Influences on Early Creativity: Examining the Role of Affect, Movement and Autonomy During Play on Divergent Thinking Skills of Preschool Children , Taylor S. Boyd

A Safe Place for Morally Corrupt Judgements: The Effect of Trust on Moral Decision Making , Robin C. Doyle

"Challenge Accepted": Exploring Predictors of Risky Online Behaviour in Emerging Adults , Shannon Ward

The Role of Extraversion, Sensitivity to Music Reward, and Music Tempo on Word Recall , Mingyang Xu

Submissions from 2018 2018

Examining the Effects of Framing on Probability Discounting , Owen M. Chevalier

The Effects of Aromatherapy on Stress in a University Population , Theresa L. Flagler

The Effects of Fantasy Role-Play on Bravery, Motivation, and Physiological Fear Responses While Playing Horror Video Games , Paul A. Giulietti

Every Other, Every Time - Rat Imitative Pattern Learning , Peter A. Khouri

Me or We? The Effect of Team and Individual Sports Activity on Executive Functioning , Alexander I. McKenzie

Snapchat and its Relationship to Alcohol Consumption and Associated Behaviours , Kellie S. Thomas

The Impact of Age and Social Media Preference on Facebook and Instagram Users Reactions to Social Media , L. E. Taylor Trelford

Submissions from 2017 2017

Cognition and Commerce: The Impact of Intuitive Judgment and Rational Analysis on Business Decisions , Bridget A. Bicknell

The Relationship Between Self Perceived Versus Peer Perceived Popularity and Alcohol Consumption in University Students , Dayna A. Blustein

Improving Workplace Commitment to Change: A Test of Impact Reflection and Motivation on Perceived Commitment Constructs , Trenton J. MacDuff

Attention to Melodic versus Phonetic Cues in 8-Month-Old Infants , Alexandra M. Ryken

The Effects of Interpersonal Relations in the Workplace on Cognitive Performance: Does Working with Irritating People Decrease your Performance? , Kristin Skritek

The Effects of Conformity on Eyewitness Testimony and Confidence , Kaitlyn B. Sluys

Submissions from 2016 2016

Stress Interventions for First-Year Undergraduate Students , Shawna N. Allen

Speech to the Beat: Infants' Processing , Alix Altow

Peer Group Belonging, Group Norms and Alcohol Consumption in Emerging Adulthood , Angelica Bell

The Effects of Video Feedback on Public Speaking Anxiety , Nicole M. Donovan

The Effect of Past Experiences on Forgiveness Intentions in Romantic Relationships , Morgane E. Lashkari-Moghaddam

Guilt as a Mediator in the Relationship between Transgression Severity and Transgressors’ Feelings of Forgiveness in Romantic Relationships , Laura Matias

Effects of Visual and Geometric Cues in Rat Foraging , Kyle Rubini

The Effects of Self-Care Meditation Behaviour on Undergraduate Students’ Reported Stress , Anna Smallwood

Resting State fcMRI in the Social Cognition Network as a Predictive Measure for Scores of Socialization of Preterm Neonates , Angela Westgate

Submissions from 2015 2015

Do Our Perceptions Affect Our Decision Making in Legal Contexts? , Scott Benedict

Infants' Memory for Melody and Words in Sung Songs , Leanna De Lucia

The Effects of Visual Cue Facilitation in Spatial Pattern Learning in Rats , Sachia M. Grogan

Infants' Sensitivity to Fine Durational Cues in Speech Perception , Alyssa K. Kuiack

Rhyming versus Repetition in Children's Stories: The Role of Reading Strategies in New Word Recognition , Katherine Stover

Submissions from 2014 2014

Observational Pattern Learning In Rats , Tristan J. Bell Knowlton

Reach-to-Grasp Actions Under Direct and Indirect Viewing Conditions , Ashley C. Bramwell

The Role of Future Time Perspective on Forgiveness: A Study of Transgressions Among Undergraduate University Students , Emily B. Briggs

The Effects of Arousal Induction on Infants' Tempo Preferences , Erin G. Eisen

The Role of Native Language Acquisition in Infant Preferences of Speech and Song , Emma J. Fogel

Working Memory and Music Perception and Production in an Adult Sample , Keara L. Gillis

Singing Competency and Language Abilities in Children , Rebecca Herbert

The Effect of Mood Context on the Accuracy of Eyewitness Testimony , Ashley R. Lanys

Music-induced mood improves retention in visuomotor adaptation , Kristina Waclawik

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Undergraduate Honors Theses

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Undergraduate Honors Theses

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This community contains Collections of the honors theses of Cornell University undergraduates in each of the university's colleges and schools in which they may enroll.

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Honors Colleges and Programs: What to Know

Students in honors colleges and programs often receive more individualized resources and learning, among other benefits.

Honors Colleges and Programs

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A characteristic of many honors colleges is the use of small class sizes for more individual attention from professors.

Key Takeaways:

• Honors colleges are most common at large public universities.
• Schools often require an additional application process for acceptance.
• Honors students usually have smaller class sizes and more individual attention from instructors.

For students wanting to be challenged more academically and experience an intimate learning environment in college , many institutions have an honors college or honors program.

"I think in a day and age in which so many students, especially high-ability students, are coming in to college feeling rootless or feeling as though they can't connect very easily with other people, an honors college provides a space in which students who are serious about their studies, but also might be serious about their other passions as well, can find common cause and common community with other students," says Zeb Baker, founding executive director of the Miami University Honors College in Ohio.

Here's what students should consider before applying to be an honors student.

Honors College vs. Honors Program

Honors colleges – most commonly seen at large public flagship universities – are designed to serve high-achieving students through a rigorous interdisciplinary curriculum and co-curricular experiences, such as research, mentorship, leadership, civic engagement, professional development and study abroad , experts say.

"From the perspective of the university, it's an opportunity to recruit, retain, challenge and support students who might otherwise not be interested in the university, fundamentally," says Zofia Burr, founding dean of George Mason University's Honors College in Virginia.

Students in honors colleges typically take accelerated general education courses, in addition to honors-specific classes that may be taught by designated faculty members. An honors college's curriculum may have different areas of focus, depending on the college. California State University, Sacramento, for instance, has a Black Honors College that is set to enroll its first cohort of students in fall 2024.

"In a normal academic program, you've got to take your writing class, you've got to take stats class, you've got to take political science class," says Luke Wood, the university's president. "So imagine taking each one of those classes, but it's with a focus on Black history, life and culture. They are having that as a thematic element with faculty members with their own space."

Many honors colleges also require students to complete a research project or thesis to graduate. There are also social aspects, experts say, including options to live with other honors students in a living-learning community .

In addition to or instead of an honors college, some schools offer honors programs, although that term sometimes is used interchangeably with honors colleges. However, there can be differences between the two.

Honors programs "are much looser in terms of the experience that students can have," Wood says. "It can range between students who are taking an entire general education pathway to students who are taking just a couple classes. Honors programs are usually smaller in scale and typically don't have the same level of resources. They may not have dedicated space. ... An honors college is when you take that and you truly create your own institution within the institution – your own infrastructure."

Phame Camarena, dean of the William Conroy Honors College at New Mexico State University , says the goal "isn't necessarily to offer harder and faster work. It's to provide enrichment."

"Both a college and a program really are there to help students do more with their education," he says. "All college students, of course, have exceptional potential. (But) not every student is equally motivated or desires something more in terms of what they are going to do for their education. So for students that just want to check off the boxes for the major , honors is probably not for them."

Requirements to Be an Honors Student

Schools often require an additional application process for acceptance to an honors college or program. They typically have different expectations for the two, and applicants may need to meet certain GPA or test score requirements as well as submit supplemental writing samples.

However, "a common misperception is that honors programs are only for the very most academically talented students and that you shouldn't apply unless you have a 4.0 GPA and a huge number of extracurriculars," Bethany Cobb Kung, director of the George Washington University Honors Program in Washington, D.C., wrote in an email. "While it is true that some programs may be very restrictive, many programs are designed to welcome and support any student who wants to push themselves academically and who is willing to dedicate the time and energy required to be a truly engaged learner and scholar."

There are often certain requirements to maintain honors status, such as upholding a certain GPA. At GW, for instance, students must "maintain a GPA sufficient to graduate with a 3.0."

"This ensures students are making appropriate academic progress while not being anxiety-provoking and, most importantly, it allows students who are tackling the most challenging courses the freedom to focus on their learning, rather than on their final grade," Cobb Kung says.

Why Apply to Be an Honors Student?

Honors colleges and programs often create a smaller community within a larger university, experts say, which means smaller class sizes and more individualized attention from faculty members.

Honors students "get a bit more attention earlier on in those first couple of years," Burr says. "Oftentimes when students are in their major, as they progress along, they have opportunities to be in smaller classes. But from the get-go, in the honors college, they have that opportunity."

Honors students may also receive priority course registration, individualized academic advising and formal mentorship. There are also financial benefits, as many colleges offer scholarships or grants specifically for honors students.

Virginia Tech 's Honors College, for instance, offers awards such as the Honors Discovery Grant, which provides up to $6,000 to current honors college students. The money can be used to pay for living expenses during an unpaid summer internship; program or living fees for a faculty-led summer or winter study abroad experience; fees related to attending academic or professional conferences; or costs of a formal visit to an industry, governmental or nonprofit work site.

Is Being an Honors Student the Right Fit for You?

While being part of an honors college or honors program comes with advantages, it's not for everyone.

"I think there are a lot of students whose parents want them to be in an honors college, but they themselves (students) don't want to do this," Baker says. "They don't want that kind of pressure. They don't want that kind of responsibility or obligation. They really just want to come to college and explore what's available. And I think that if you are a student who's in that sort of a situation, then I think maybe you need to really consider whether or not an honors college is a good place for you."

Cobb Kung advises students to consider whether an honors program's curriculum aligns with their personal and academic goals.

"If a student does not enjoy taking courses in areas outside their major, then they might not want to engage in an honors curriculum designed to expose them to a wide variety of course topics," she says. "Students must also be sure that they aren't taking on too many endeavors all at once to avoid undue stress or burnout."

Students also shouldn't just do it for the credential, Baker says, or designation on their diploma.

"For students who only want ... to say 'I'm in an honors college' or 'I'm an honors student,' those are the students who probably don't belong in an honors college to start with because they are not coming in with the right mindset," he says. "They have all this talent, all of this curiosity and all this ambition but it needs to be directed in ways that help everyone, that advance the public good. It's not just about advancing them and their own self-interest."

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Acadia Theses

Locate an acadia thesis.

Acadia theses are located in Special Collections on level B1. Theses are non-circulating, but can be viewed in the Kirkconnell Room. Please consult the Kirkconnell Room hours for information about when access is possible.

If you are not on campus, Acadia theses on microfiche may be requested through interlibrary loan .

In Electronic Format

You can access our electronic theses via our Institutional Repository, Acadia Scholar . Not all of our theses have been submitted electronically. You can find a thesis that has not been digitized by searching the library catalogue from our home page.

Locate Theses from Other Institutions

The Vaughan Memorial Library provides an interlibrary loan service that allows students and faculty to order print or microfiche copies of theses from other institutions. The ability to borrow a thesis is dependent on the lending library and some institutions do not lend their theses. All Canadian Master's and Ph.D. level theses are available in microfiche format from the Library and Archives Canada through our interlibrary loan service.

Digital Dissertations : As a visitor, you can search the citations and abstracts for the current year in the Dissertation Abstracts database and purchase copies of theses. If you need to search against the full database, please consult the librarian for your subject area.

Theses Canada : Electronic theses available on the Theses Canada Portal were submitted to the Theses Canada program between 1998 and August 31, 2002.

Write a Thesis at Acadia

• Undergraduate Honours Thesis information from the Research Office
• Master's Thesis information from Graduate Studies
• Thesis templates from Learning Technologies & Instructional Design
• Information for binding your thesis . Visit the Wallaceburg Bookbinding website for pricing and to submit your thesis for binding electronically.
• Submit your thesis to the Library

Specialized Academic Programs

Tufts offers undergraduates several specialized academic programs that provide focused mentoring and a supportive community shaped around students’ academic interests.

Senior Honors Thesis

The Thesis Honors Program allows Tufts seniors to pursue a year-long independent program of study, to delve into a focused area of research within your major, and to produce an outcome that demonstrates exceptional undergraduate achievement. The senior honors thesis is a capstone experience for undergraduates in a  Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science  degree program.

Explore a Senior Honors Thesis

Tufts ROTC Support Program

The Tufts ROTC program trains students to become commissioned officers in the Army, Air Force, and Navy through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Through a combination of a traditional college curriculum and specialized leadership training, students can take advantage of unique opportunities that prepare them for success in any career path.

Explore the ROTC Support Program

Bridge Programs, Undergraduate Education

Tufts is proud to sponsor two bridge programs to help undergraduate students make a successful transition from high school to Tufts. There is one bridge program for each school:  Bridge to Engineering Success at Tufts (BEST)  for students admitted to the School of Engineering, and  Bridge to Liberal Arts Success at Tufts (BLAST)  for students admitted to the School of Arts and Sciences. Both bridge programs require a six-week academic semester over the summer prior to matriculation, and feature dedicated advising staff and ongoing advising support, social events, and scholarly development over the course of your career at Tufts. Admission to the bridge programs is by invitation only.

The REAL Program: Resumed Education for Adult Learning

For over 50 years, Tufts’  REAL Program  has provided a path to attain a college degree from a selective university for veterans, students from community colleges, people over the age of 24, and parents who interrupted their education to raise families. REAL students are “real students,” enrolled in the regular undergraduate program, but Tufts provides resources to help meet the unique needs of adults returning to or beginning their college education. 

Postbaccalaureate Premedical Program

Tufts’  Postbaccalaureate Premedical Program  is a well-respected, well-established program for college graduates who want to prepare for entrance into a health care profession but have not yet taken the majority of required science courses. This is a concentrated program of study with rigorous courses taught by renowned Tufts faculty, supplemented with personalized advising and support that gives you the needed advantage when applying to competitive medical schools and other graduate programs for the health professions.

Combined Degree Program: Fine Arts Combined with Liberal Arts BA/BS

For students who wish to pursue their artistic and academic interests to the fullest extent, Tufts offers a program resulting in a BA or BS degree combined with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.

Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts BA/BFA Program

Combined Degree Programs: BS/MS and BA/MA

Tufts Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and School of Engineering  Combined Degree Programs  allow Tufts undergraduate students to earn both their bachelor’s degree and their master’s degree within five years. Requirements vary by program and certain programs allow students to count certain courses for both degrees or reserve undergraduate courses to count towards their graduate degree. Most programs require students to apply during the spring semester of their junior year. Tufts undergraduate students who are interested in these programs should contact the Director of Graduate Studies in the department for more information.

Biology and Psychology SSP

Humans and other animals have more in common than you might think. From neurological systems to patterns of behaviour, this four-year Subject of Specialization Plan fuses core elements from Biology and Psychology and allows considerable opportunity for upper year specialization and independent study. With an emphasis on cross-disciplinary interaction and integration, the “BioPsych” SSP explores both commonalities and uniquely human features of brain, behaviour and cognition.

The BIPS-P-BSH plan, with sufficient electives to total of 120.0 units, will lead to a Bachelor of Science Honours Degree. The full calendar description can be found @ Faculty of Arts & Science Calendar .

Department of Biology, Queen's University

Biosciences Complex 116 Barrie St. Kingston ON K7L 3N6 Canada

Undergraduate

Queen's University is situated on traditional Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe territory .

• South Carolina Honors College
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New language-learning app hits all the right notes

Top photo: College of Engineering and Computing seniors: (l to r) Siri Avula, Ashley Bickham, Tanvi Singh, Mahi Patel and Vivian D'Souza.

What if your Spotify playlist could help you learn another language? Thanks to the Lyraquist app, developed by five College of Engineering and Computing seniors, that possibility will soon be a reality.

At the South Carolina Honors College Thesis Symposium on Friday, April 12, Siri Avula, Ashley Bickham, Vivian D’Souza, Mahi Patel and Tanvi Singh unveiled their CEC capstone project: the Lyraquist app. The five women, four of whom—Avula, D’Souza, Patel and Singh—are Honors students, designed Lyraquist to sync with a user’s Spotify Premium playlist. As users listen to songs in French, German and Spanish, the app utilizes Google translate to offer word-for-word English translations of the lyrics.

“Anyone can be a lyrical linguist.”

The Lyraquist logo, an LP record emblazoned with a world map, offers some insight into the inspiration and ethos behind the project.

D’Souza, who studied abroad in Ireland, has fond memories of connecting with students from around the world through music. She and her classmates would gather in common areas in the evenings and share songs with lyrics in a variety of languages. D’Souza mentioned how this practice helped her learn more about her classmates, their cultures and the languages they spoke.

Four of the five Lyraquist team members studied abroad during their time at USC, and all team members grew up in multilingual households. Using the knowledge gleaned from their computer science classes, the team sought to create an app that would emulate their language-sharing experiences and provide insight into other cultures.

“Our budget was zero dollars.”

The team, who met through their computer science classes, worked together for two semesters to develop, code and test the app. D’Souza and Patel mentioned that, initially, the team progressed in perfect sync. But as coding began and each member took on their own portion of the project, the team had some non-technical bugs to work out.

This inspired the team to implement weekly stand-up meetings, a common practice in professional tech teams, providing time for each member to give a progress update. This approach, combined with the project management program Trello, helped the team stay on track as they navigated platforms and software such as React Native, Javascript, Expo and the Musixmatch lyrics database to create Lyraquist.

Above all, the team strove for the app to abide by music copyright laws and ethical guidelines. Though they had no funding, they utilized open-access sources to provide users with the best in-app experience possible.

Dr. Jose Vidal, who served as the team’s capstone project director, attested to the team’s quality work. He was impressed by “how they were able to combine all the various third-party APIs [application program interfaces]: Spotify, Musicmatch, Google Translate, Lexicala, Expo Speech, into one cohesive and fun to use app.” 

“Customize their own learning journey.”

Within the app, users take charge of their learning experience. Unlike many language-learning apps that are lesson-based, Lyraquist allows users to choose the songs that they want to hear. As they listen, they can click on words in the lyrics to learn their definitions. Users can then add vocabulary to in-app workbooks, save songs for later study and “star” particular languages that they want to focus on.

If users are unsure of where to start, the Lyraquist team has thought that through, too. The team curated language playlists of varying difficulty levels to help users get started. Users can also find out what songs are trending in languages and countries around the world.

“Beyond just the vocabulary.”

At the Thesis Symposium presentation, USC German faculty member Dr. Yvonne Ivory was among the first to express excitement about the app’s possibilities. Lyraquist could be used in K-12 and college classrooms, allowing students to experience language learning outside of a textbook. The Lyraquist team has also added an in-app feedback function, allowing users to spot Google Translates errors and send corrections to the team.

The conversation surrounding Lyraquist is just beginning. More users, voices and languages will soon be included in the dialogue: the team is seeking approval from Spotify for the app’s public release.

Interested in viewing a demo of Lyraquist? Here’s a sneak peek.

Challenge the conventional. Create the exceptional. No Limits.

University of South Florida

Judy Genshaft Honors College

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USF Freshman Jo Barringer Harnesses Research for Addiction Advocacy

• April 23, 2024

Community , Teaching and Learning

Become fluent in Spanish. Build a ship in a bottle. Travel to Colombia to study non-combat related post-traumatic stress disorder ... While many students are still trying to determine their summer plans, first-year Judy Genshaft Honors College student Jo Barringer already has her long-term goals clearly mapped out.   Currently enrolled in a three-year, fully-funded program that allows her to enter a Ph.D. program after graduation, Barringer plans to leverage her major in psychology and minor in Spanish into a future in drug research through which she can better advocate for people suffering with addiction.   From her first moments at the University of South Florida (USF), Barringer has engaged in activities to help her reach her goals. While writing her Honors freshman thesis on addiction, Barringer studied Dr. Brené Brown’s research on shame, which inspired her to pivot her career plans from health care provider to researcher and advocate. Conducting a literature review allowed her to gain increased background knowledge on many of the social and emotional issues surrounding addiction.   Following the advice of her Honors Foundations peer mentor, she reached out to the local Veterans Hospital and various labs on campus to gain hands-on experience with these issues. She then followed-up on an email from the Honors College offering research opportunities to students, which ultimately connected her to research opportunities on drug abuse with Dr. Micah Johnson and Dr. Kimberly Johnson.

Under their guidance, Barringer helps investigate the effects of abuse on drug use in adolescents as part of the Substance Misuse and Addictions Research Traineeship (SMART) lab housed in USF’s College of Behavioral and Community Sciences. 

“Always check your email, reach out, be outgoing. Talking gets you very far,” said Barringer. "Make the most of the resources available to you, by connecting with your peer mentor, Honors advisor, faculty, and staff." 

Jo's Research Advice

1. Don’t be afraid to initiate conversations with professionals, regardless of your experience. Expressing genuine interest forges strong connections and makes a great first impression. Simply sending an email can open the door to new prospects.   2. Always be on the lookout for new opportunities and take advantage of USF’s many resources such as the undergraduate research portal , Honors advisors, the Office of National Scholars (ONS), and the Office of High Impact Practice and Undergraduate Research .   3. Engage with your Honors community by attending events, connecting with your peers, and contributing to an enriched class environment. This will help you feel more at home in the Honors College and will also help you learn about potential research and internship opportunities.

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Committed to intellectual curiosity, global citizenship, and service across three unique Tampa Bay campuses, Honors News shares the exceptional stories of the Judy Genshaft Honors College.

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OSU Mindfulness Lab Seeking Undergraduate RAs

The OSU Mindfulness lab led by Dr. Anthony King is looking for motivated undergraduate students interested in gaining experience with clinical psychology research. The lab primarily focuses on mindfulness-based interventions for persistent distress, post-traumatic stress disorder, and depression.

The lab currently has several projects ongoing and starting soon, including but not limited to:

• Pilot study examining neural and clinical outcomes of Ketamine-assisted Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy.
• Large-scale multi-site neuroimaging data analysis project (ENIGMA-meditation) focused on studies examining the neural effects of meditation.
• Mental health equity project for underserved communities in Columbus.
• Collaboration with the State of Ohio Action for Resilience (SOAR) project.

Opportunities for undergraduates include:

• Self-report and biospecimen data collection from clinical populations
• Experience with fMRI and EEG
• Administration of screening questionnaires
• Data analysis
• Poster presentations and thesis projects

We are looking for undergraduate students in good academic standing majoring in psychology, neuroscience, pre-med, or related sciences. We prefer undergraduates who can commit to working in our lab for at least 2 years. Opportunities exist for graduating with distinction in research. 

If interested, please e-mail  [email protected] with a brief description of your experiences, interests, and your resume/cv attached.

Posted: 4.26.24