WE CREATE
You sought new ideas, perspectives, and experiences; you learned, you grew, and you explored new interests; you connected with faculty, peers, community members, and industry partners—now what?
You create.
The Honors Thesis is a large final project that brings together those experiences and incorporates the knowledge and investigative techniques you gained during your undergraduate career, taking that learning and development in exciting new directions.
Depending on your program of study, your Honors Thesis might take the form of a capstone, design project, research paper, or creative work—we’ve even had students start podcasts. No matter the final format of your thesis, the thesis is a personalized experience that serves as a stepping stone toward the next stage of your academic or professional trajectory. It allows you to work one-on-one with a faculty member to create a long-term, in-depth project in an area that you’re passionate about.
You may complete an Honors Thesis and graduate with honors in your major or minor.
Passionate about research? It is also possible to graduate with honors in more than one major or minor by completing two distinct theses.
Just keep in mind that an Honors Thesis is a two-semester commitment that demands a minimum of six units of work. Six units = about 270 hours of work.
Preparing for Your Honors Thesis
Follow this year-by-year guide to set yourself up for success.
Finding a Faculty Mentor
Your faculty mentor will help you outline your goals and develop a plan of action.
Prospectus
The Prospectus must be completed the end of semester BEFORE you begin your thesis.
Format
What form will your final project take?
Pinnacle
This spring event showcases Franke Honors projects, including Honors Theses.
Submitting Your Thesis
Stay on track to graduate by following submission processes.
Honors Thesis Repository
View previous students’ completed work.
Thesis Resources Sent to You
Get Honors Thesis resources emailed straight to your inbox!
Why do an Honors Thesis?
The Honors Thesis is customizable and differs from student to student, so it’s benefits differ too, but trust us when we say they are many!
When we ask grads from Franke Honors what they got out of their Honors Thesis processes, they cited many boons, including the following:
The Honors Thesis brings together your previous learning. You can make connections across disciplines and utilize all the skills you’ve developed throughout your undergraduate experience.
It's an opportunity to learn about something that interests you! You can treat the Honors Thesis as a passion project and explore a topic or research question that is meaningful to you.
You can contribute to academic knowledge in your field and add your voice to the scholarly discourse. Some students even publish their thesis research in academic journals to share their findings with other academics!
The chance to work one-on-one with your faculty thesis mentor is invaluable. Think of all you can learn from them! Not only is a mentor an expert in your field, but they could be a great connection to have when you’re looking for recommendation letters later.
The process can hone your abilities in research, composition, planning, collaboration, organization, and so much more.
The skills you develop are, of course, going to vary, but this is an opportunity work on them—whether those are in writing, data analysis, film-making, podcasting, marketing, graphic design, human subjects research, data collection, or other areas.
You can add your thesis and newly developed skills to your resume/CV/LinkedIn!
Check out the Franke Honors Resume Guide for ideas about how to do that. Hint: If your work is published or if you share it in the honors thesis repository, you can link directly to it in your professional online profiles and resumes.
The Honors Thesis is great prep for grad school!
Graduate programs are going to require a lot more research. The Honors Thesis is a fantastic way to prepare for that level of research and start working on your research techniques now, so your master's thesis and doctoral dissertation come a bit easier.
Want to keep everything in one place?
Get thesis resources emailed directly to your inbox.
Questions about the Honors Thesis? Attend an upcoming virtual info session!
Wednesday, January 29 | 3:00 - 3:45 PM | RSVP
Tuesday, February 11 | 3:00 - 3:45 PM | RSVP
Thursday, February 27 | 4:00 - 4:45 PM | RSVP
Tuesday, March 25 | 5:00 - 5:45 PM | RSVP
Monday, April 14 | 5:00 - 5:45 PM | RSVP