ECU: Honors Projects and Theses

To graduate with Honors (Departmental or University Honors) from ECU, students must complete two semesters of upper-division Honors work. This work may come in the form of a two-semester Honors thesis or it can come as two separate semesters of Honors Projects. For both Projects and Theses, students must submit a proposal for the Honors Board to evaluate and approve. For both Projects and Theses, students must make a brief presentation (usually Power Point) at the Honors Showcase, which is held in the final week of the fall semester and the penultimate week of the spring semester. Presentation rehearsal that include the faculty mentor and the Honors Director must be scheduled during the week prior to the Showcase or by Tuesday of the week of Showcase, if Showcase is scheduled to take place on Thursday.

How to Get a Proposal Form
Students seeking to complete an Honors Project or Thesis must submit a proposal to the Honors Board for review.  Email the Honors Director to get a proposal form (sbenton@ecok.edu)/

How to Submit a Proposal

All proposals should be emailed to the Honors Director by the faculty member who is sponsoring the student's project or thesis.  This email serves as the faculty mentor's "signature," affirming their approval of the proposal and their commitment to mentoring the student's work. The proposal itself should be crafted by the student in consultation with their faculty mentor. 

Due Dates
Project proposals should be submitted no later than Wednesday of the third week of the semester in which the Project is to be completed.

Thesis proposals should be submitted no later than Tuesday of the thirteenth week prior to the semester in which the Thesis is to be initiated.

Proposals for fall and spring semester internships should be submitted no later than the third week of the semester in which the internship is to be initiated.

Projects
The faculty mentor for an Honors project must be the instructor of an upper-division course in which a student is enrolled. The project must be completed before the end of the semester. Students who complete Honors projects must present their project to an off-campus audience. Typically, this is done at an undergraduate research conference. They may also submit their projects for publication, at an undergraduate research journal, typically. The faculty mentor must notify the Honors Director that the paper is ready to submit for publication.

Project proposals must be submitted ato the Honors Board by the third Wednesday of the semester when the Project will be completed (they may also be submitted by the 13th week of the previous semester).  The Board may approve the proposal “as is” or request modifications before approval is granted.

Students working on Projects must be enrolled in a class with the instructor who is supervising the Project at the time the Project is completed. At the end of the semester, the student is retroactively placed into an “Honors” section of the course and their grade in that course reflects successful completion of a project associated the course.

Students working on Projects must make a Showcase presentation of their work at the end of the semester in which they are doing the work.

To graduate with Honors, student need to do either 2 projects or 1 Thesis (which is two semesters of work). If a student does 2 projects, we expect that at least one will be in their major field.  You can choose to do a second project in a related field or in their minor field, but they can also do both projects in their major field.

Theses
Students who enroll in Honors Thesis work must enroll in two consecutive semesters of independent study under the direction of the faculty mentor. Thesis proposals should be submitted early enough for the Honors Board to review the proposal before the student enrolls in classes. At the end of the first semester, the student must email a memo to the faculty mentor and the Honors Director that includes an update on the student’s progress as measured by the schedule submitted along with the proposal. Faculty mentors will give students a letter grade for their work in each semester.

For students who are not planning to graduate at the end of the semester, the thesis defense needs to be completed before the end of finals week.

For students who are planning to graduate at the end of the semester, the thesis defense needs to be completed at least a month before the end of finals weeks so that the student will have time to make any changes to the thesis requested by the Thesis committee.

In both cases, the student should submit the completed thesis to the committee in digital form at least a week before the defense.

Students should only enroll in the second semester of thesis hours if they and their mentors agree that they will finish the thesis that semester.  If they are not sure that they will finish this semester, it would be better to enroll in the second semester of thesis hours in a subsequent semester.

Should I Do Two Projects or One Thesis?
If there is no scheduled course related to a subject in their major that a student is particularly interested in, the student is advised to find a faculty member who may want to supervise a thesis in that area. Students may also choose to do thesis work if they have done some preliminary work in an area that they would like to explore more deeply. If a student does not have interest in a particular subject, the student may find it easier to do an Honors Project which is rooted in the syllabus of a course in their major. Students who complete Honors Projects do not currently incur any additional fees. Students who complete Honors Theses pay for the independent study course as they would for any other course at ECU. This course work may count as an elective or it may count towards upper-division work in the student’s major, depending on the requirements of individual departments and programs.

Lab Work, Library Work, Creative Work, Service Work—making it all work for Honors
Projects and Theses should be work that the faculty mentor and the Honors Board consider to be valuable with respect to the student’s major or the student’s future career goals. For some students, that work may focus on library research. For others, it may focus on work in a lab. For others, it may be primarily creative in nature or it may serve a very practical purpose.

How Much is Enough?
Project work may be considered the equivalent of an additional course-credit, although students do not pay for an additional credit hour. An “H” will be added to the course number on a student’s transcript to signify that a course was an “Honors” section. The "H" may be thought of as an additional credit hour (but it won't be countted as that on the transcript. nor will the student be asked to pay extra for the course). Thesis work should be considered the equivalent of 6 credit-hours spread over 2 semesters. The kinds of work done by students may vary widely according to the student’s major. It is the job of the Honors Board to compare apples and oranges, so to speak, when they evaluate the proposals.