Honors-In-Major Requirements

PROGRAM GUIDELINES FOR ADVISORS AND STUDENTS

Introduction

The Biology Honors Program is designed to provide an opportunity for motivated students, often with plans for post-baccalaureate training, to take their education beyond the requirements for the major and thereby prepare themselves more thoroughly for these opportunities. Honors students are not required to take more courses than non-honors students, but they will complete different assignments and will be expected to take more initiative in completing requirements like BIOL 799, Honors Research/Thesis.

Participating in the Biology Honors Program provides an opportunity to develop your own research project, to experience the satisfaction of doing original research, and to work more closely with a faculty member than is otherwise likely as a non-honors student. It will challenge you and provide some of the experiences of graduate study while you are an undergraduate. Completing a Biology Honors degree is a worthwhile endeavor if you are planning on graduate study in the biological sciences, or are seeking admission to a competitive post-graduate professional program.

Eligibility

Admission to the Biology Honors Program requires an overall GPA of 3.20 and in courses required by the major. Biology majors wishing to join the Honors-In-Major program must consult with the Biology Program Director, preferably before the beginning of the junior year. To be eligible to graduate with Honors-In-Major:

Students must maintain an overall GPA of 3.20 and 3.20 in required courses in the major.
Students must complete 16 credits of Honors courses* in the biological sciences at the 500 level or higher (at least two of which must be at the 600 or 700 level) in one or more of the biological sciences, including up to 8 credits in BIOL 799.
Students must complete BIOL 799, Honors Research/Thesis for a minimum of 4 credits. This course consists of an individually designed research project supervised by a biological sciences faculty member. A written proposal and thesis, and a public presentation of the research results are required for successful completion to this requirement.

Contact: Biology majors wishing to be admitted to the Honor-In-Major program must first consult with the Biology Program Director, (Kendall - 509; phone: 2-3475) preferably before the beginning of the junior year.

* You may complete the 16 credits of honors course work by one of two methods. You may either enroll in honors courses offered by any of the biological sciences departments, or, with the agreement of the course instructor, you may complete additional assignments (research papers, complementary readings, etc.) that will constitute an honors experience in any 600 or 700 level biological science course in which you are enrolled. If the latter method is chosen the additional course work must be agreed to in writing by both you and the instructor before the beginning of the term. To complete the process and receive honors credit for the course, you must notify the Registrar's Office with a "Change of Honors Designation Form" (available in the Time and Room Schedule) signed by you and the instructor. The deadline for notification is shortly after beginning of each semester, generally coinciding with drop/add deadlines.

Practice

In practice the following guidelines should be followed in order to successfully complete the Biology Honors Program in a timely way:

Plan ahead! Many 600 and 700 level courses are offered only in alternate years. If there is a particular course you wish to take, your only opportunity may be in the junior year. In addition, scheduling conflicts may prevent you from completing this requirement if you wait until the last semester of your senior year. If you don't complete this requirement you will be unable to graduate on time with Honors, despite having fulfilled all other requirements.
It is advisable to complete at least one of the 600/700 level Honors courses before the senior year, since the senior year will normally include research and thesis writing.
It is strongly recommended that the final 600/700 level Honors course be taken no later than first semester senior year to free up more time for thesis writing in the second semester.

BIOL 799, Honors Research/Thesis

Typically one registers for BIOL 799 in the first semester senior year. In some cases research may be initiated in the summer preceding the senior year. As with course work, the emphasis should be on planning ahead.

The Honors Research/Thesis requirement is designed to introduce you by experience to all of the aspects of planning and executing a research project, and communicating the results of your research to colleagues. Part of what you are meant to learn from this experience is the absolute necessity of allowing enough time for this complex process. Original research is an adventure into the unknown which frequently leads to unexpected events that may require reassessment of your methods and repetition of experiments. Planning a project that is do-able in the time available is itself a skill to be learned. Your advisor will be a valuable consultant in this part of the process.

You will need sufficient time to write a proposal, complete and interpret the research, write your thesis, and present or defend your work. The proposal is completed before beginning research, typically early in the first semester senior year. Thesis writing should begin early in the second semester senior year and be done on a schedule that allows your advisor sufficient time to comment and critique, and for you to assimilate his or her critique into your final draft. You must have enough writing time to produce two or three drafts of your work, with each successive draft informed by the comments of your advisor. A copy of your thesis, signed by the research supervisor, should be submitted to the Biology Program Director before the final grade is assigned.

The exigencies of such a project suggest the following procedural guidelines and time-frame:

Choosing an advisor: This is best done during your junior year. You may choose an advisor based on your own interests and your knowledge of the research interests of faculty members, or consult with your academic advisor or the Biology Program Director to determine possible areas of research. Many faculty members are engaged in supervising several researchers at many different levels, consequently the faculty member of your choice may not be available to supervise your project. In this case the Biology Program Director will assist you in finding another suitable Research/Thesis advisor.

Bear in mind that for your thesis advisor, supervising your proposal writing, research, and thesis writing involves a great amount of work, over an extended time. You will therefore need to approach a potential advisor appropriately, asking if he or she will be available and willing in the following year to work with you on an Honors Research/Thesis project. Because a potential advisor may not be available, or simply may believe that another faculty member would be a more appropriate advisor for your project, the process of securing an advisor may take some time and should be completed before the beginning of senior year.

Research funding: Research consumes supplies, uses specialized equipment, and requires labor. For this reason faculty members spend significant amounts of time writing grant proposals in hopes of securing financial support for their research. Undergraduate research projects similarly consume these resources. All faculty members who supervise undergraduate research subsidize the student's experience to some extent with resources secured for their own projects. Securing funds to partially subsidize your research project has two advantages; it is attractive to potential advisors who may not have sufficient funds, or the freedom to fully subsidize undergraduate research, and writing a proposal to secure funding for your own ideas is a valuable real-life learning experience.

The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) is a good source of funding for an Honors Research/Thesis project. UROP offers two programs that partially fund undergraduate research. UROP Expense Awards and Stipend Awards typically support undergraduate research during a regular academic semester. Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF) typically provide expense and stipend awards for nine weeks of summer research. Deadlines for SURF and UROP proposals are in the spring for the following summer and academic year, respectively. The UROP office is located in Hood House, room 209.

Presenting your research: You may choose one of three methods for presenting your research results. You can present a paper or poster at a research conference, like the Annual COLSA Undergraduate Research Conference held each April/May, or you can make a similar presentation at a regional or national professional research conference, should the opportunity arise. You can present a seminar to an audience of faculty and students in an appropriate department. You can defend your thesis before a committee of three faculty members, one of whom will be your advisor. Scheduling of any of the above will most likely occur late in the first semester or early in the second semester senior year, probably before you have completed all of your research and certainly before you have finished your thesis. Your advisor will help you plan for and schedule the best method for presentation of your research.

Once you have secured an advisor you must contact the Biology Program Director for permission to register for BIOL 799.