1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. INTRODUCTION TO THE HONORS PROGRAM
A. Aims
B. Curriculum
C. Eligibility
D. Opportunities
II. HONORS DIRECTOR AND HONORS COMMITTEE
A. Honors Director
B. Honors Committee
III. FRESHMAN AND SOPHOMORE YEARS
- Honors 1500: Critical Spirit
- Honors 2000-level: Inquiry and Society
C. AP, IB, and Transfer Credits
IV. JUNIOR YEAR: JUNIOR HONORS SEMINAR
A. Honors 3500: Thesis Writers Seminar
B. Choosing a Faculty Thesis Advisor
C. Thesis Proposal
D. Thesis Topics
V. SENIOR YEAR: HONORS THESIS PROJECT
A. Senior Honors Thesis
B. Honors 4500
C. Thesis Schedule
VI. FACULTY THESIS ADVISOR
A. Duties of the Faculty Thesis Advisor
B. Progress Reports to the Honors Director
VII. SUBMISSION OF HONORS THESIS
A. Format of the Thesis
B. Copies of the Thesis
VIII.ORAL DEFENSE OF HONORS THESIS
A. Oral Defense Committee
B. Scheduling the Oral Defense
C. Results of the Oral Defense
IX. PRESENTATION OF HONORS THESIS TO THE OTTERBEIN
COMMUNITY
- Senior Reporting Day
- Honors Banquet
C. Graduation
X. HONORS THESIS AWARDS
XI.ETHICAL REVIEW BOARDS
XII. STUDENT RESEARCH FUNDS
XIII. OXFORD STUDY ABROAD PROGRAM
XIV.INTERNSHIPS AND EXCHANGE PROGRAMS
XV. HONORS AND THE SENIOR YEAR EXPERIENCE
APPENDICES
HONORS COMMITTEE MEMBERS
JUNIOR HONORS PROPOSAL COVER SHEET
SAMPLE SENIOR THESIS TITLE PAGE
SAMPLE SENIOR THESIS TABLE OF CONTENTS
SENIOR THESIS EVALUATION FORM
INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD (IRB) FORM
ANIMAL CARE AND USE COMMITTEE FORM
LIBRARY INSTRUCTIONS
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FUND GUIDELINES
THE HONORS PROGRAM
I. INTRODUCTION TO THE HONORS PROGRAM
A. Aims
The Honors Program Curriculum is a progression of intellectually challenging seminars and advanced individual study designed for students with high academic ability and strong personal motivation. Honors students pursue independent research and creative projects and participate in a community of shared academic and professional commitment. The Honors course sequence culminates in the Honors Thesis. Each course in the sequence explores its particular theme and subject from a unique perspective. At the same time, the sequence as a whole offers sustained study of principles and practices of research, writing, and creative work that apply across disciplines.
Honors students will also gain a sense of independence and sense of community participation through Honors organizations and activities both on and off campus. Such opportunities include an Honors residence hall and center, service experiences, travel, and study abroad.
B. Curriculum
The Honors curriculum sequence begins in the Freshman year with HNRS 1500: The Critical Spirit. Here students explore the process of research and writing as crucial to acquiring a sense of intellectual independence and establishing communication and cooperation across disciplines. Throughout the four-year Honors Program, students will present the progress and results of their work to fellow students and faculty outside their immediate areas of interest, putting into repeated practice the knowledge and skills acquired in HNRS 1500.
In the Sophomore year, Honors students enroll for two seminars at the HNRS 2000 level: Inquiry and Society. The choice of courses ranges across the natural sciences, humanities, arts, and social sciences. By taking two seminars at this level, students encounter how members of separate disciplines conceive crucial issues, questions, and responsibilities within their fields of inquiry and how they define their roles within wider spheres of society, culture, and education.
In the Junior year, Honors students take the year-long seminar, HNRS 3500: Thesis Writers Seminar, in which students decide the topics of their independent Honors projects, write formal proposals for those projects, and begin to work closely with a thesis advisor who has expertise in the student’s area of interest. Throughout the year, students have readings in common that examine the personal, intellectual, and social inspirations to new inquiry and creative work.
In the Senior year, students complete their written Honors thesis in HNRS 4500: Senior Thesis. The final thesis must have a form and length that the student determines with the thesis advisor and that meets the standards of the project’s discipline. Creative artworks or performances fulfill the requirements of the Honors project, but must include a written essay that reflects upon the conception and execution of the artwork or performance. Each Honors student will complete an oral defense of the project before a faculty committee and will present a summary of the thesis to the campus community on Honors Reporting Day. At the end of Reporting Day, each student receives formal recognition for completing the Honors program.
B. Eligibility
Students can earn eligibility for the Honors Program in several ways and at several points in the Freshman and Sophomore years.
Students can enter Otterbein as Honors students by meeting one of the following criteria:
1. ACT scores (of 25 and above) and graduating in the top 10% of their high school class
2. SAT scores (1100 and above) and graduating in the top 10% of their high school class
3. Designation as Presidential Scholars.
Entering Freshmen that do not meet the above criteria may request entrance into the program based upon demonstrated academic ability and faculty recommendations.
Sophomore students may request admission into the program when they have reached a GPA of 3.5. Requests for admission into the program should be submitted to the Honors Director.
C. Opportunities
The Honors Program provides students with diverse and unique opportunities in residence, registration, service, and study abroad.
Residence:
Freshman students have the opportunity to live in Mayne Hall, the Honors residence hall. Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors are eligible to live in the independent Honors House.
Registration:
All Honors students in good standing are eligible for priority registration.
Service:
All Honors students are encouraged to participate in our “Kneading Minds” program—a project designed to integrate service into the Honors experience. Several times a term, Honors students come together to bake bread in the Honors dorm kitchen. Loaves are sold to faculty and staff with proceeds given to a local community partner.
Activities and Travel:
The Honors program sponsors on-campus events for all Honors students, including films, receptions, and seminars. Honors travel away from campus provides students with the chance to visit significant cultural events and locations. In previous years, such trips included the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, the Chicago Symphony, and the Frank Lloyd Wright house at Falling Water.
Oxford Study Abroad:
As a part of the Honors program of study, all Honors students in good standing are eligible for the Oxford Study Abroad Program (OSAP).
II. HONORS DIRECTOR AND HONORS COMMITTEE
A. Honors Director
The Honors Program operates under the aegis of the Office of Academic Affairs. The Academic Vice President appoints the Honors Director, who administers the Honors program.
The Honors Director is Dr. Cynthia Laurie-Rose, Department of Psychology (ext. 1465, ).
The responsibilities of the Director include: staffing Honors courses; receiving applications to the Honors program; reviewing transcripts for course waivers; chairing Honors Committee meetings; administering subcommittees of the Honors Committee; maintaining the Honors Blackboard site; overseeing the Honors residence hall, Honors center, and Honors House; arranging informational meetings and workshops for Honors students; administering the Junior Thesis Writers Seminar; assigning Honors representatives to the oral defense committees of thesis students; administering the schedule of oral defenses; organizing Senior Reporting Day; planning and organizing Honors trips and events; and serving as the academic coordinator for Oxford study abroad.
B. Honors Committee
The Honors Director administers the Honors program in consultation with the Honors Committee. Faculty who comprise the Honors Committee represent diverse disciplines from the humanities, natural sciences, professional studies, social sciences, and fine arts. The responsibilities of the committee include: serving as Honors representatives for Honors thesis defenses; staffing the Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior seminars; and participating in Senior Reporting Day and other Honors Program activities. (See Appendices for a list of current faculty members.)
III. FRESHMAN AND SOPHOMORE YEARS
A. HONORS 1500: The Critical Spirit
This requirement emphasizes the student's emerging identity as both an independent researcher and a member of a wider community of scholars and researchers. In these sections students will explore the critical function and spirit of inquiry as a source of intellectual and creative identity. The course will develop advanced expository writing and research skills and begin to prepare students for independent projects.
B. HONORS2000-level: Inquiry and Society
Through the Honors 2000-level seminars, students explore the activities and responsibilities of researchers as participants in their communities and a global society. Honors students examine perspectives and questions that connect disciplines and cultures, explore the freedom and responsibility of researchers, and examine the nature of creativity as a process of inquiry into the self and the world.
HONORS 2000: Inquiry and Society: Social Sciences
These sections examine how theories and inquiries about politics and society have developed across history and across cultures. They will explore transformations in concepts of the state, law, justice, and human rights.
HONORS2200: Inquiry and Society: Humanities
These sections explore the goals and methods of free inquiry within contemporary culture and education. It examines how society defines, promotes, or constricts research and innovation in the humanistic disciplines.
HONORS2400: Inquiry and Society: Natural Sciences
These sections explore scientific inquiry as both an individual and social process. They examine the intellectual and social demands on science within the contemporary world.
HONORS2600: Inquiry and Society: Fine Arts
These sections examine art as a method of self-exploration and social inquiry. They analyze creative works as raising questions and defining problems that continue to demand the attention of researchers.
C. AP, IB, and Transfer Credit
If a student has received AP, IB, or transfer credits for either the Freshman or Sophomore course, that course will be waived from the Honors requirements. If a student has received AP, IB, or transfer credit for two Sophomore-level courses, Honors will accept one. The other credit may be applied to an INST requirement.
IV. JUNIOR YEAR: THESIS WRITERS SEMINAR
A. HONORS 3500: Thesis Writers Seminar
The Junior Thesis Writers Seminar is a year-long course offered in the Fall and Spring semesters. Students explore research methods across disciplines and write proposals for their Honors thesis projects. Members of the Honors Committee lead the seminar and guide students through the process of exploring previous work in their fields and framing their thesis proposals. During the seminar, Honors students will identify a faculty thesis advisor who will help to determine the subject, nature, and length of the thesis project and will continue to work with the student in the Senior year. Junior Honors students are advised to enroll in their departmental methodology courses whenever course schedules permit.
The faculty for the seminar come from members of the Honors Committee and the course content reflects the diverse interests of the committee members. Students themselves contribute questions, perspectives, and information from their own disciplinary backgrounds and interests as part of the interdisciplinary nature of the course.
All students who intend to graduate with Honors must register for both the Fall and Spring semesters of the Junior seminar. The Honors Program encourages students to study abroad and participate in internships. We recommend that students use the Spring semester of the Junior year as an ideal time to participate in programs away from Otterbein. We realize that this may not always be possible and we will assist students to remain on track with Honors Program requirements regardless of the semester away from campus.
B. Choosing a Faculty Thesis Advisor
During the Fall semester of the Junior Seminar, the Honors student selects a faculty thesis advisor who works with the student during that semester to design an Honors thesis proposal. (See Section VI, Faculty Thesis Advisor for faculty and student responsibilities.)
It is important for the student to select an advisor who understands the concept of the thesis and who can help to guide the project to completion in the Senior year. The student must learn whether the advisor will be on a sabbatical leave during the period of thesis work and must determine how best to maintain contact with the advisor throughout the thesis project.
As the Junior year progresses, students work closely with their selected thesis advisors. The faculty members in charge of the Junior Thesis Writers Seminar supervise students throughout the year to monitor the progress of their thesis proposals. It remains, however, the responsibility of each student and thesis advisor to arrange regular meetings for discussion of the thesis.
During the Junior year, students will also select a second reader for the thesis project. The thesis advisor and the second reader, along with an Honors Committee representative, will compose the committee to hear the student’s thesis defense in the Senior year. (See Section VIII, Oral Defense of Honors Thesis for details on the oral defense.)
C. Thesis Proposal
In the Junior year, students submit their thesis proposals to the instructor of the Thesis Writers seminar and to the Honors Director. Faculty thesis advisors must sign the proposals. The advisor’s signature on the cover sheet of the proposal indicates that the student has discussed the Honors thesis project with the faculty member, that the faculty member has read the proposal and considers it a productive starting-point for a thesis project, and has agreed to serve as the student’s advisor for the project. (A sample copy of the cover sheet is included in the Appendices of this handbook.)
The proposal submitted during the Junior Honors Seminar is a formal document which describes in approximately five pages the project that the student plans to undertake for the Honors thesis. This proposal must:
include the Cover Sheet on which a brief abstract of the project and the signature of the faculty thesis advisor appear (see the Appendices for a copy of the cover sheet)
identify the chief goals of the thesis and discuss the significance of the thesis topic within the discipline of choice
clearly define the methodology that will be used to accomplish the project
provide a list of resources and a significant working bibliography for the project
explain the timeline to accomplish the project
submit a working budget, if appropriate
In the Spring semester, students will work with the instructor of the Thesis Writers Seminar and their faculty thesis advisors to revise, expand, or develop in greater detail their plans for the thesis.
Honors students who intend to undertake human subject research or who intend to pursue projects that include animal care and use must in their Junior year submit their thesis proposals to the appropriate ethical review board, either the Institutional Review Board (IRB) or the Animal Care and Use Committee. (See Section XI, Ethical Review Boards for information on submitting applications to the review boards.)
D. Thesis Topics
Honors thesis topics reflect the varied disciplines and interests of the students in the Honors Program. The Honors Blackboard site and the Honors Webpage have a complete list of thesis titles.
V. SENIOR YEAR: HONORS THESIS PROJECT
A. HNRS 4500: Senior Thesis Project
Having designed their Honors theses in the Junior year, Honors students devote the entire Senior year to in-depth work with their thesis advisors and completion of their thesis projects. Completion of the Honors thesis allows students to achieve independent scholarly and creative goals within their own academic or professional fields and confers on them a unique sense of accomplishment and confidence. All thesis projects require the writing of a final paper.
The student will determine the subject, nature, and length of the thesis project in consultation with the faculty thesis advisor and the Honors Director. The final paper must conform to the standards and expectations of the student’s discipline. Projects that center on creative exhibits or performances will include a written thesis portion that explains the conception and research behind the project and that discusses the links between the project and the student’s discipline.