Completing the Honors Program for Students in the “New Track”

Students invited beginning in 2018

a. Overview of Requirements

Prior to successfully completing the O’Neill Honors Program, students engage in a variety of scholarly opportunities that not only prepare them for the type of professional research and writing that is needed in all careers, but also for graduate school. Honors Program Students in the New Track also benefit from regular attendance at Honors Program Activities and Events, which help create a community of engaged students here at the O’Neill School.

To complete the O’Neill Honors program and graduate with honors notation on your transcript, students:

• Complete the two-semester Honors Thesis Workshop, during which time you will write an Honors Thesis. The Workshop consists of two professor-taught courses, V491 Honors Research in Public & Environmental Affairs and V499 Honors Thesis, and it focuses on developing student research, writing, and presentation skills. Although the courses are taught by individual faculty, students also work one-on-one with a member of the O’Neill faculty who serves as their thesis mentor.
• Submit the Honors Thesis to O’Neill.
• Present research at a designated O’Neill research symposium or conference.
• Participate in at least two honors activities or events each semester, and a total of at least eight honors activities or events (not including the Workshop courses or any information and orientation sessions)

b. Required Activities and Events

Students will have the opportunity to engage in co-curricular activities and events through O’Neill and other academic units across campus. Each activity or event will help students better succeed in their research, writing or presentations, or they will otherwise help students with professional development and career planning. During or following many of the activities or events, students have the opportunity to engage in reflection and discussion with peers, faculty, or presenters to get the most out of the event.

Students are required to attend at least two activities or events per semester, and attend a total of at least eight activities.

Students will be given a list of events at the start of each semester, and attendance will be taken. Additional activities and events will also be announced as they arise.

c. Course Requirements: The Honors Workshop

The centerpiece of the “New Track” of the Honors Program is an intensive Honors Workshop. Lasting two semesters, the Workshop delivers rigorous instruction in how to properly design and implement research. The first course, V491 Honors Research in Public & Environmental Affairs, builds knowledge of how to conduct research. In it, students develop their research question, figure out how they plan to answer the question, and identify their faculty mentor. In the second course, V499 Honors Thesis, students develop academic writing and professional presentation skills while working to complete the thesis.

The Workshop should be taken in consecutive (meaning back-to-back) semesters, ideally at the end of a student’s undergraduate career.

Through these two courses of the Honors Workshop, students also have the opportunity to build a one-on-one relationship with a faculty member. Through this unique mentorship, a faculty member will advise students on his or her thesis subject matter from start to finish. Students should work to develop a relationship with a faculty member as early as possible in their academic career in order to develop this mentoring relationship.

Student in some of the O’Neill majors may count V491 Honors Research in Public & Environmental Affairs toward their major, and almost all students may count the thesis-writing course, V499 Honors Thesis, toward their O’Neill major, provided that the topic of the thesis is relevant to the major.

For V499 Honors Thesis to count toward a student’s major, the topic must be consistent with: 1) the topics of the major’s required courses; or 2) the topics of the major’s other component sections. Students should consult their AAR or an academic advisor to determine where V499 appears in their major. Students then work with the Honors Program director, in consultation with the V491 Honors Research in Public & Environmental Affairs instructor and their faculty mentor to ensure that the thesis topic is consistent with the major. In some cases, the Honors Program director may also consult with O’Neill’s major lead faculty mentor responsible for a major and Undergraduate Program Office, as appropriate.

 d. Honors Thesis

The honors thesis is a crucial part of the O’Neill Honors Program. It is intended to be a high-quality document of mutual interest to the student and to the thesis advisor, who must be a member of the O’Neill faculty. Completed theses are electronically published and accessible to students via login at the Current Students portal. Theses are generally the length of an academic article related to the field in which they are written, or roughly 8,000 to 12,000 words.

e. Presentation Requirements

O’Neill Honors Program participants must formally present their completed theses at a symposium held by O’Neill at the end of each semester. This event is open to family, friends, peers and faculty.

As members of a mutually supportive intellectual community, and in order to benefit from an important scholarly function of the O’Neill Honors Program, students are expected to attend their peers’ thesis presentations.

Completing the Honors Program for Students in the “Old Track”

Applicable to students invited prior to 2018

a. Basic Requirements

O’Neill’s Honors Program requires that students:

• Complete three O’Neill courses in the degree program at an honors level
• Complete and present an Honors Thesis
• Maintain both a O’Neill and a cumulative GPA of 3.500 or above

With careful advance planning and in consultation with an advisor, a student may be able to apply honors-level courses toward the degree requirements without delaying graduation.

b. Getting Honors Credit

There are three ways in which coursework is considered honors level:

1. Honors-only courses are listed in the schedule of classes with “SPEA-S” course codes. These courses are limited to O’Neill honors students and Hutton honors students only.
2. Combined courses (also called “track” courses) are listed in the schedule of classes with “SPEA-S” course codes. These courses have some seats reserved for honors students who can receive honors credit by completing advanced coursework as defined by the professor. Students should identify themselves as an honor’s student to the instructor on the first day of class.
3. Honors credit by special arrangement can be received by completing a SPEA course not designated with an “S” through a formal arrangement with the professor. The student must submit a completed Honors Credit Authorization Form to the Undergraduate Program Office (UPO) before the end of the second week of class. It is recommended that this process be completed during the preceding semester.

c. Honors Thesis Process

The honors thesis is a crucial part of the O’Neill Honors Program. It is intended to be a high-quality document of mutual interest to the student and to the thesis advisor, who must be a member of the O’Neill faculty. Students register for three credit hours of thesis work. With careful planning, the thesis may count toward degree requirements. 

Maintaining an appropriate timeline for thesis work is critical to success; students should carefully read and view the information provided on the Thesis Resources page. Students should submit the completed Honors Thesis Contract  to the UPO for approval no later than midway through the semester prior to the thesis semester. This means students must have a faculty thesis advisor and research idea well in advance of the thesis semester, ideally at the beginning of the preceding semester.

d. Presentations

O’Neill Honors Program participants must formally present their completed theses at a symposium held by O’Neill at the end of each semester. This event is open to family, friends, peers and faculty.

As members of a mutually supportive intellectual community, and in order to benefit from an important scholarly function of the O’Neill Honors Program, students are expected to attend their peers’ thesis presentations.

• Guidelines for the Honors Thesis
• Cover Page Template
• Timeline for the Thesis
• Student Reflection on the Thesis Process
• See past Honors Theses (behind password)

• The Presentation: Tips from the Hutton Honors College
• Sample PowerPoint Presentation
• Academic Research
• Center for Survey Research