honours research thesis

Honors Theses

What this handout is about.

Writing a senior honors thesis, or any major research essay, can seem daunting at first. A thesis requires a reflective, multi-stage writing process. This handout will walk you through those stages. It is targeted at students in the humanities and social sciences, since their theses tend to involve more writing than projects in the hard sciences. Yet all thesis writers may find the organizational strategies helpful.

Introduction

What is an honors thesis.

That depends quite a bit on your field of study. However, all honors theses have at least two things in common:

• They are based on students’ original research.
• They take the form of a written manuscript, which presents the findings of that research. In the humanities, theses average 50-75 pages in length and consist of two or more chapters. In the social sciences, the manuscript may be shorter, depending on whether the project involves more quantitative than qualitative research. In the hard sciences, the manuscript may be shorter still, often taking the form of a sophisticated laboratory report.

Who can write an honors thesis?

In general, students who are at the end of their junior year, have an overall 3.2 GPA, and meet their departmental requirements can write a senior thesis. For information about your eligibility, contact:

• UNC Honors Program
• Your departmental administrators of undergraduate studies/honors

Why write an honors thesis?

Satisfy your intellectual curiosity This is the most compelling reason to write a thesis. Whether it’s the short stories of Flannery O’Connor or the challenges of urban poverty, you’ve studied topics in college that really piqued your interest. Now’s your chance to follow your passions, explore further, and contribute some original ideas and research in your field.

Develop transferable skills Whether you choose to stay in your field of study or not, the process of developing and crafting a feasible research project will hone skills that will serve you well in almost any future job. After all, most jobs require some form of problem solving and oral and written communication. Writing an honors thesis requires that you:

• ask smart questions
• acquire the investigative instincts needed to find answers
• navigate libraries, laboratories, archives, databases, and other research venues
• develop the flexibility to redirect your research if your initial plan flops
• master the art of time management
• hone your argumentation skills
• organize a lengthy piece of writing
• polish your oral communication skills by presenting and defending your project to faculty and peers

Work closely with faculty mentors At large research universities like Carolina, you’ve likely taken classes where you barely got to know your instructor. Writing a thesis offers the opportunity to work one-on-one with a with faculty adviser. Such mentors can enrich your intellectual development and later serve as invaluable references for graduate school and employment.

Open windows into future professions An honors thesis will give you a taste of what it’s like to do research in your field. Even if you’re a sociology major, you may not really know what it’s like to be a sociologist. Writing a sociology thesis would open a window into that world. It also might help you decide whether to pursue that field in graduate school or in your future career.

How do you write an honors thesis?

Get an idea of what’s expected.

It’s a good idea to review some of the honors theses other students have submitted to get a sense of what an honors thesis might look like and what kinds of things might be appropriate topics. Look for examples from the previous year in the Carolina Digital Repository. You may also be able to find past theses collected in your major department or at the North Carolina Collection in Wilson Library. Pay special attention to theses written by students who share your major.

Choose a topic

Ideally, you should start thinking about topics early in your junior year, so you can begin your research and writing quickly during your senior year. (Many departments require that you submit a proposal for an honors thesis project during the spring of your junior year.)

How should you choose a topic?

• Read widely in the fields that interest you. Make a habit of browsing professional journals to survey the “hot” areas of research and to familiarize yourself with your field’s stylistic conventions. (You’ll find the most recent issues of the major professional journals in the periodicals reading room on the first floor of Davis Library).
• Set up appointments to talk with faculty in your field. This is a good idea, since you’ll eventually need to select an advisor and a second reader. Faculty also can help you start narrowing down potential topics.
• Look at honors theses from the past. The North Carolina Collection in Wilson Library holds UNC honors theses. To get a sense of the typical scope of a thesis, take a look at a sampling from your field.

What makes a good topic?

• It’s fascinating. Above all, choose something that grips your imagination. If you don’t, the chances are good that you’ll struggle to finish.
• It’s doable. Even if a topic interests you, it won’t work out unless you have access to the materials you need to research it. Also be sure that your topic is narrow enough. Let’s take an example: Say you’re interested in the efforts to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and early 1980s. That’s a big topic that probably can’t be adequately covered in a single thesis. You need to find a case study within that larger topic. For example, maybe you’re particularly interested in the states that did not ratify the ERA. Of those states, perhaps you’ll select North Carolina, since you’ll have ready access to local research materials. And maybe you want to focus primarily on the ERA’s opponents. Beyond that, maybe you’re particularly interested in female opponents of the ERA. Now you’ve got a much more manageable topic: Women in North Carolina Who Opposed the ERA in the 1970s and 1980s.
• It contains a question. There’s a big difference between having a topic and having a guiding research question. Taking the above topic, perhaps your main question is: Why did some women in North Carolina oppose the ERA? You will, of course, generate other questions: Who were the most outspoken opponents? White women? Middle-class women? How did they oppose the ERA? Public protests? Legislative petitions? etc. etc. Yet it’s good to start with a guiding question that will focus your research.

Goal-setting and time management

The senior year is an exceptionally busy time for college students. In addition to the usual load of courses and jobs, seniors have the daunting task of applying for jobs and/or graduate school. These demands are angst producing and time consuming If that scenario sounds familiar, don’t panic! Do start strategizing about how to make a time for your thesis. You may need to take a lighter course load or eliminate extracurricular activities. Even if the thesis is the only thing on your plate, you still need to make a systematic schedule for yourself. Most departments require that you take a class that guides you through the honors project, so deadlines likely will be set for you. Still, you should set your own goals for meeting those deadlines. Here are a few suggestions for goal setting and time management:

Start early. Keep in mind that many departments will require that you turn in your thesis sometime in early April, so don’t count on having the entire spring semester to finish your work. Ideally, you’ll start the research process the semester or summer before your senior year so that the writing process can begin early in the fall. Some goal-setting will be done for you if you are taking a required class that guides you through the honors project. But any substantive research project requires a clear timetable.

Set clear goals in making a timetable. Find out the final deadline for turning in your project to your department. Working backwards from that deadline, figure out how much time you can allow for the various stages of production.

Here is a sample timetable. Use it, however, with two caveats in mind:

• The timetable for your thesis might look very different depending on your departmental requirements.
• You may not wish to proceed through these stages in a linear fashion. You may want to revise chapter one before you write chapter two. Or you might want to write your introduction last, not first. This sample is designed simply to help you start thinking about how to customize your own schedule.

Sample timetable

Avoid falling into the trap of procrastination. Once you’ve set goals for yourself, stick to them! For some tips on how to do this, see our handout on procrastination .

Consistent production

It’s a good idea to try to squeeze in a bit of thesis work every day—even if it’s just fifteen minutes of journaling or brainstorming about your topic. Or maybe you’ll spend that fifteen minutes taking notes on a book. The important thing is to accomplish a bit of active production (i.e., putting words on paper) for your thesis every day. That way, you develop good writing habits that will help you keep your project moving forward.

Make yourself accountable to someone other than yourself

Since most of you will be taking a required thesis seminar, you will have deadlines. Yet you might want to form a writing group or enlist a peer reader, some person or people who can help you stick to your goals. Moreover, if your advisor encourages you to work mostly independently, don’t be afraid to ask them to set up periodic meetings at which you’ll turn in installments of your project.

Brainstorming and freewriting

One of the biggest challenges of a lengthy writing project is keeping the creative juices flowing. Here’s where freewriting can help. Try keeping a small notebook handy where you jot down stray ideas that pop into your head. Or schedule time to freewrite. You may find that such exercises “free” you up to articulate your argument and generate new ideas. Here are some questions to stimulate freewriting.

Questions for basic brainstorming at the beginning of your project:

• What do I already know about this topic?
• Why do I care about this topic?
• Why is this topic important to people other than myself
• What more do I want to learn about this topic?
• What is the main question that I am trying to answer?
• Where can I look for additional information?
• Who is my audience and how can I reach them?
• How will my work inform my larger field of study?
• What’s the main goal of my research project?

Questions for reflection throughout your project:

• What’s my main argument? How has it changed since I began the project?
• What’s the most important evidence that I have in support of my “big point”?
• What questions do my sources not answer?
• How does my case study inform or challenge my field writ large?
• Does my project reinforce or contradict noted scholars in my field? How?
• What is the most surprising finding of my research?
• What is the most frustrating part of this project?
• What is the most rewarding part of this project?
• What will be my work’s most important contribution?

Research and note-taking

In conducting research, you will need to find both primary sources (“firsthand” sources that come directly from the period/events/people you are studying) and secondary sources (“secondhand” sources that are filtered through the interpretations of experts in your field.) The nature of your research will vary tremendously, depending on what field you’re in. For some general suggestions on finding sources, consult the UNC Libraries tutorials . Whatever the exact nature of the research you’re conducting, you’ll be taking lots of notes and should reflect critically on how you do that. Too often it’s assumed that the research phase of a project involves very little substantive writing (i.e., writing that involves thinking). We sit down with our research materials and plunder them for basic facts and useful quotations. That mechanical type of information-recording is important. But a more thoughtful type of writing and analytical thinking is also essential at this stage. Some general guidelines for note-taking:

First of all, develop a research system. There are lots of ways to take and organize your notes. Whether you choose to use note cards, computer databases, or notebooks, follow two cardinal rules:

• Make careful distinctions between direct quotations and your paraphrasing! This is critical if you want to be sure to avoid accidentally plagiarizing someone else’s work. For more on this, see our handout on plagiarism .
• Record full citations for each source. Don’t get lazy here! It will be far more difficult to find the proper citation later than to write it down now.

Keeping those rules in mind, here’s a template for the types of information that your note cards/legal pad sheets/computer files should include for each of your sources:

Abbreviated subject heading: Include two or three words to remind you of what this sources is about (this shorthand categorization is essential for the later sorting of your sources).

Complete bibliographic citation:

• author, title, publisher, copyright date, and page numbers for published works
• box and folder numbers and document descriptions for archival sources
• complete web page title, author, address, and date accessed for online sources

Notes on facts, quotations, and arguments: Depending on the type of source you’re using, the content of your notes will vary. If, for example, you’re using US Census data, then you’ll mainly be writing down statistics and numbers. If you’re looking at someone else’s diary, you might jot down a number of quotations that illustrate the subject’s feelings and perspectives. If you’re looking at a secondary source, you’ll want to make note not just of factual information provided by the author but also of their key arguments.

Your interpretation of the source: This is the most important part of note-taking. Don’t just record facts. Go ahead and take a stab at interpreting them. As historians Jacques Barzun and Henry F. Graff insist, “A note is a thought.” So what do these thoughts entail? Ask yourself questions about the context and significance of each source.

Interpreting the context of a source:

• Who wrote/created the source?
• When, and under what circumstances, was it written/created?
• Why was it written/created? What was the agenda behind the source?
• How was it written/created?
• If using a secondary source: How does it speak to other scholarship in the field?

Interpreting the significance of a source:

• How does this source answer (or complicate) my guiding research questions?
• Does it pose new questions for my project? What are they?
• Does it challenge my fundamental argument? If so, how?
• Given the source’s context, how reliable is it?

You don’t need to answer all of these questions for each source, but you should set a goal of engaging in at least one or two sentences of thoughtful, interpretative writing for each source. If you do so, you’ll make much easier the next task that awaits you: drafting.

The dread of drafting

Why do we often dread drafting? We dread drafting because it requires synthesis, one of the more difficult forms of thinking and interpretation. If you’ve been free-writing and taking thoughtful notes during the research phase of your project, then the drafting should be far less painful. Here are some tips on how to get started:

Sort your “evidence” or research into analytical categories:

• Some people file note cards into categories.
• The technologically-oriented among us take notes using computer database programs that have built-in sorting mechanisms.
• Others cut and paste evidence into detailed outlines on their computer.
• Still others stack books, notes, and photocopies into topically-arranged piles.There is not a single right way, but this step—in some form or fashion—is essential!

If you’ve been forcing yourself to put subject headings on your notes as you go along, you’ll have generated a number of important analytical categories. Now, you need to refine those categories and sort your evidence. Everyone has a different “sorting style.”

Formulate working arguments for your entire thesis and individual chapters. Once you’ve sorted your evidence, you need to spend some time thinking about your project’s “big picture.” You need to be able to answer two questions in specific terms:

• What is the overall argument of my thesis?
• What are the sub-arguments of each chapter and how do they relate to my main argument?

Keep in mind that “working arguments” may change after you start writing. But a senior thesis is big and potentially unwieldy. If you leave this business of argument to chance, you may end up with a tangle of ideas. See our handout on arguments and handout on thesis statements for some general advice on formulating arguments.

Divide your thesis into manageable chunks. The surest road to frustration at this stage is getting obsessed with the big picture. What? Didn’t we just say that you needed to focus on the big picture? Yes, by all means, yes. You do need to focus on the big picture in order to get a conceptual handle on your project, but you also need to break your thesis down into manageable chunks of writing. For example, take a small stack of note cards and flesh them out on paper. Or write through one point on a chapter outline. Those small bits of prose will add up quickly.

Just start! Even if it’s not at the beginning. Are you having trouble writing those first few pages of your chapter? Sometimes the introduction is the toughest place to start. You should have a rough idea of your overall argument before you begin writing one of the main chapters, but you might find it easier to start writing in the middle of a chapter of somewhere other than word one. Grab hold where you evidence is strongest and your ideas are clearest.

Keep up the momentum! Assuming the first draft won’t be your last draft, try to get your thoughts on paper without spending too much time fussing over minor stylistic concerns. At the drafting stage, it’s all about getting those ideas on paper. Once that task is done, you can turn your attention to revising.

Peter Elbow, in Writing With Power, suggests that writing is difficult because it requires two conflicting tasks: creating and criticizing. While these two tasks are intimately intertwined, the drafting stage focuses on creating, while revising requires criticizing. If you leave your revising to the last minute, then you’ve left out a crucial stage of the writing process. See our handout for some general tips on revising . The challenges of revising an honors thesis may include:

Juggling feedback from multiple readers

A senior thesis may mark the first time that you have had to juggle feedback from a wide range of readers:

• your adviser
• a second (and sometimes third) faculty reader
• the professor and students in your honors thesis seminar

You may feel overwhelmed by the prospect of incorporating all this advice. Keep in mind that some advice is better than others. You will probably want to take most seriously the advice of your adviser since they carry the most weight in giving your project a stamp of approval. But sometimes your adviser may give you more advice than you can digest. If so, don’t be afraid to approach them—in a polite and cooperative spirit, of course—and ask for some help in prioritizing that advice. See our handout for some tips on getting and receiving feedback .

Refining your argument

It’s especially easy in writing a lengthy work to lose sight of your main ideas. So spend some time after you’ve drafted to go back and clarify your overall argument and the individual chapter arguments and make sure they match the evidence you present.

Organizing and reorganizing

Again, in writing a 50-75 page thesis, things can get jumbled. You may find it particularly helpful to make a “reverse outline” of each of your chapters. That will help you to see the big sections in your work and move things around so there’s a logical flow of ideas. See our handout on  organization  for more organizational suggestions and tips on making a reverse outline

Plugging in holes in your evidence

It’s unlikely that you anticipated everything you needed to look up before you drafted your thesis. Save some time at the revising stage to plug in the holes in your research. Make sure that you have both primary and secondary evidence to support and contextualize your main ideas.

Saving time for the small stuff

Even though your argument, evidence, and organization are most important, leave plenty of time to polish your prose. At this point, you’ve spent a very long time on your thesis. Don’t let minor blemishes (misspellings and incorrect grammar) distract your readers!

Formatting and final touches

You’re almost done! You’ve researched, drafted, and revised your thesis; now you need to take care of those pesky little formatting matters. An honors thesis should replicate—on a smaller scale—the appearance of a dissertation or master’s thesis. So, you need to include the “trappings” of a formal piece of academic work. For specific questions on formatting matters, check with your department to see if it has a style guide that you should use. For general formatting guidelines, consult the Graduate School’s Guide to Dissertations and Theses . Keeping in mind the caveat that you should always check with your department first about its stylistic guidelines, here’s a brief overview of the final “finishing touches” that you’ll need to put on your honors thesis:

• Honors Thesis
• Name of Department
• University of North Carolina
• These parts of the thesis will vary in format depending on whether your discipline uses MLA, APA, CBE, or Chicago (also known in its shortened version as Turabian) style. Whichever style you’re using, stick to the rules and be consistent. It might be helpful to buy an appropriate style guide. Or consult the UNC LibrariesYear Citations/footnotes and works cited/reference pages  citation tutorial
• In addition, in the bottom left corner, you need to leave space for your adviser and faculty readers to sign their names. For example:

Approved by: _____________________

Adviser: Prof. Jane Doe

• This is not a required component of an honors thesis. However, if you want to thank particular librarians, archivists, interviewees, and advisers, here’s the place to do it. You should include an acknowledgments page if you received a grant from the university or an outside agency that supported your research. It’s a good idea to acknowledge folks who helped you with a major project, but do not feel the need to go overboard with copious and flowery expressions of gratitude. You can—and should—always write additional thank-you notes to people who gave you assistance.
• Formatted much like the table of contents.
• You’ll need to save this until the end, because it needs to reflect your final pagination. Once you’ve made all changes to the body of the thesis, then type up your table of contents with the titles of each section aligned on the left and the page numbers on which those sections begin flush right.
• Each page of your thesis needs a number, although not all page numbers are displayed. All pages that precede the first page of the main text (i.e., your introduction or chapter one) are numbered with small roman numerals (i, ii, iii, iv, v, etc.). All pages thereafter use Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.).
• Your text should be double spaced (except, in some cases, long excerpts of quoted material), in a 12 point font and a standard font style (e.g., Times New Roman). An honors thesis isn’t the place to experiment with funky fonts—they won’t enhance your work, they’ll only distract your readers.
• In general, leave a one-inch inch margin on all sides. However, for the copy of your thesis that will be bound by the library, you need to leave a 1.25-inch margin on the left.

How do I defend my honors thesis?

Graciously, enthusiastically, and confidently. The term defense is scary and misleading—it conjures up images of a military exercise or an athletic maneuver. An academic defense ideally shouldn’t be a combative scene but a congenial conversation about the work’s merits and weaknesses. That said, the defense probably won’t be like the average conversation that you have with your friends. You’ll be the center of attention. And you may get some challenging questions. Thus, it’s a good idea to spend some time preparing yourself. First of all, you’ll want to prepare 5-10 minutes of opening comments. Here’s a good time to preempt some criticisms by frankly acknowledging what you think your work’s greatest strengths and weaknesses are. Then you may be asked some typical questions:

• What is the main argument of your thesis?
• How does it fit in with the work of Ms. Famous Scholar?
• Have you read the work of Mr. Important Author?

NOTE: Don’t get too flustered if you haven’t! Most scholars have their favorite authors and books and may bring one or more of them up, even if the person or book is only tangentially related to the topic at hand. Should you get this question, answer honestly and simply jot down the title or the author’s name for future reference. No one expects you to have read everything that’s out there.

• Why did you choose this particular case study to explore your topic?
• If you were to expand this project in graduate school, how would you do so?

Should you get some biting criticism of your work, try not to get defensive. Yes, this is a defense, but you’ll probably only fan the flames if you lose your cool. Keep in mind that all academic work has flaws or weaknesses, and you can be sure that your professors have received criticisms of their own work. It’s part of the academic enterprise. Accept criticism graciously and learn from it. If you receive criticism that is unfair, stand up for yourself confidently, but in a good spirit. Above all, try to have fun! A defense is a rare opportunity to have eminent scholars in your field focus on YOU and your ideas and work. And the defense marks the end of a long and arduous journey. You have every right to be proud of your accomplishments!

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Atchity, Kenneth. 1986. A Writer’s Time: A Guide to the Creative Process from Vision Through Revision . New York: W.W. Norton.

Barzun, Jacques, and Henry F. Graff. 2012. The Modern Researcher , 6th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Elbow, Peter. 1998. Writing With Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process . New York: Oxford University Press.

Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein. 2014. “They Say/I Say”: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing , 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton and Company.

Lamott, Anne. 1994. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life . New York: Pantheon.

Lasch, Christopher. 2002. Plain Style: A Guide to Written English. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Turabian, Kate. 2018. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, Dissertations , 9th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Honors & Theses

The Honors Thesis: An opportunity to do innovative and in-depth research.  

An honors thesis gives students the opportunity to conduct in-depth research into the areas of government that inspire them the most. Although, it’s not a requirement in the Department of Government, the honors thesis is both an academic challenge and a crowning achievement at Harvard. The faculty strongly encourages students to write an honors thesis and makes itself available as a resource to those students who do. Students work closely with the thesis advisor of their choice throughout the writing process. Approximately 30% of Government concentrators each year choose to write a thesis.

Guide to Writing a Senior Thesis in Government  

You undoubtedly have many questions about what writing a thesis entails. We have answers for you. Please read  A Guide to Writing a Senior Thesis in Government , which you can download as a PDF below. If you still have questions or concerns after you have read through this document, we encourage you to reach out to the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Dr. Nara Dillon ( [email protected] ), the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies, Dr. Gabriel Katsh ( [email protected] ), or the Undergraduate Program Manager, Karen Kaletka ( [email protected] ).  

Senior Honors Thesis

Completing a year-long Senior Honors Thesis is one of the most rewarding, time-consuming and challenging endeavors a Psychology major can undertake. The process requires designing, executing, and analyzing the data from an original empirical research investigation, writing a comprehensive APA-format report, and presenting and defending this work before a committee of two faculty members (one of whom, the committee chair, must be from the Psychology Department). Because chairing a Senior Honors Thesis requires a great deal of time and effort on the part of faculty members, only a small number of seniors can complete a thesis in a given year. Students are therefore encouraged to contact potential thesis chairs  no later than the end of their junior year , and preferably even earlier. Because of the high demand for thesis supervision, some faculty may only agree to supervise theses for students who have spent multiple previous semesters working in their lab.

Students interested in independent study (including Senior Honors Thesis) must find a supervising faculty member before registering for the course via  SIS . Those registering for a Senior Honors Thesis (PSY 199) must also fill out and submit by early October the  Thesis Honors Candidate form .

Undergraduate research assistants and students completing a senior honors thesis in all labs that are conducting human subjects research are required to take the Collaborative IRB Training Initiative (CITI). Please contact the faculty supervisor of the lab for more details.

Per Tufts policy, students must appear on the Dean's List for at least two semesters in order to be eligible to complete a thesis. As mentioned above, our faculty often have additional requirements for thesis students, including previous experience in their research lab (PSY 91/92 or PSY 191/192). For students already registered to complete a thesis, additional information regarding expectations for your project and the bases on which it will be evaluated are best obtained from your committee chair.

Students who complete an honors thesis receive a letter grade for their two semesters of work in PSY 199, as well as a determination of thesis honors. The letter grade is not assigned until the end of the second semester and is determined by the thesis chair; students are therefore encouraged to discuss their progress with their chair at various points during the year. This grade is intended to reflect a student's lab performance and consistency of effort over the course of seeing a research project through to completion. The thesis committee makes the determination of thesis honors, choosing from among the following designations: no honors, honors, high honors, and highest honors. This assessment is based on the final written product and oral defense, and is intended to reflect the quality, originality, independence, and potential impact of the work.

Review the departmental rubric for evaluating  senior honors theses .

Honours Thesis Handbook

This handbook,  effective September 1, 2016 , is the course outline for PSYCH 499A/B/C (Honours Thesis) from Fall 2016 and onward.

Table of contents

• What is an honours thesis ?
• Who should do an honours thesis ?

Prerequisites for admission to PSYCH 499

Selecting a topic for the honours thesis, finding a thesis supervisor.

• Research interests of the Psychology faculty and recent honours thesis supervised

Class enrolment for PSYCH 499A/B/C

Warnings regarding a decision to discontinue psych 499.

• Course requirements for PSYCH 499A progress report and thesis reviewer nominations
• Course requirements for PSYCH 499B - oral presentation of the thesis proposal

Course requirements for PSYCH 499C - completing the thesis and submitting it for marking

Obtaining ethics clearance for research with human or animal participants, evaluation of the honours thesis, honours thesis award, annual ontario psychology undergraduate thesis conference, avoid academic offences, computing facilities, honours thesis (psych 499a/b/c), what is an honours thesis.

Psychology is a scientific approach to understanding mind and behaviour. Honours Psychology students all learn about the body of knowledge that exists in psychology as well as the scientific procedures for making new discoveries. The honours thesis course (PSYCH 499A/B/C) is an optional course for those who have a strong interest in conducting original research and wish to gain greater experience in research design, data analysis and interpretation.

Students carry out the honours thesis project under the supervision of a faculty member and present the findings in a scholarly paper. An honours thesis can be an empirical research project or more rarely a thesis of a theoretical nature. For an empirical project, the student develops a testable hypothesis and uses scientific procedures to evaluate the hypothesis. For a theoretical project, the student integrates and evaluates existing evidence to offer new interpretations and hypotheses. The difference between the two types of projects is basically the same as the difference between an article in Psychological Review or Psychological Bulletin , and an article in any of the experimental journals. A regular journal article typically reports the result of some empirical investigation and discusses its significance. A Psychological Review paper on the other hand, offers a theoretical contribution (e.g., suggesting a new theoretical approach or a way of revising an old one and showing how the new approach may be tested). A Psychological Bulletin article usually offers a review of an evaluative and integrative character, leading to conclusions and some closure about the state of the issue and future directions for research.

Students who plan to apply for admission to graduate school in psychology are typically advised to do an empirical research project for the honours thesis. Students who choose to do a theoretical paper should discuss their decision with the PSYCH 499 coordinator  (see below) early in the PSYCH 499A term.

The topic of investigation for the honours thesis will be based on a combination of the student's and the supervisor's interests .

Students in year two or three who are considering whether or not they want to do an honours thesis can learn more about what is involved in doing an honours thesis by doing any of the following:

• attending an honours thesis orientation meeting. The meeting is typically the first week of classes each academic term. The official date and time of the meeting will be posted on the PSYCH 499 website .
• attending PSYCH 499B oral presentations by other students. 
• reading a few of the honours thesis samples that are available  online PSYCH 499 SharePoint site  (site only accessible to students currently enrolled in PSYCH 499) or via our Learn shell (only available when enrolled).

In addition to the student's honours thesis supervisor, another resource is the PSYCH 499 course coordinator . The PSYCH 499 coordinator conducts the thesis orientation meeting at the start of each term and is available to discuss any course-related or supervisor-related issues with potential students and enrolled students . If students have questions or concerns regarding the procedures for doing an honours thesis that cannot be answered by their thesis supervisor, they should contact the PSYCH 499 coordinator.

The honours thesis course (PSYCH 499A/B/C) is worth 1.5 units (i.e., 3 term courses). The final numerical grade for the thesis will be recorded for each of PSYCH 499A, 499B, and 499C.

Who should I do an honours thesis?

Honours Psychology majors are not required to do an honours thesis.

Good reasons for doing an honours thesis include:

• An honours thesis is a recommended culmination of the extensive training that honours Psychology majors receive in research methods and data analysis (e.g., PSYCH 291, 292, 389, 390,  492). PSYCH 499 is a good choice for students who have a strong interest in, and commitment to, conducting original research and wish to gain greater experience in research design, data analysis and interpretation.
• An honours degree in Psychology that includes a thesis is typically required for admission to graduate programs in Psychology.
• Thesis supervisors are able to write more meaningful reference letters for students' applications for further studies, scholarships, or employment.

The prerequisites for PSYCH 499 are all of the following:

• enrolment in honours Psychology or make-up Psychology
• successful completion of PSYCH 291, 292, 391, and at least one of: PSYCH 389, 390, 483, 484
• 60% cumulative overall average
• 82% cumulative psychology average

* calendar descriptions as well as course outlines

The course prerequisites for enrolment in PSYCH 499A are strictly enforced because the courses provide essential background for success in PSYCH 499, and it is necessary to restrict the number of students enrolling in PSYCH 499. Appeals to enrol in all 3 of the following courses concurrently will not be accepted:

• Advanced research methods course (PSYCH 389, 390, 483, 484)

In addition to the above formal prerequisites, we assume that all students who are enrolling in PSYCH 499 will have completed at least 4 of the "discipline core courses" (i.e., PSYCH 207, 211, 253, 257, 261) prior to the PSYCH 499A enrolment term.

See " Class enrolment for PSYCH 499A/B/C " below for further details regarding course enrolment, and the PSYCH 499 Application for students without the course prerequisites (e.g., PSYCH average between 81%-81.9%).

The topic of the honours thesis will be based on a combination of the interests of the student and his/her thesis supervisor. One approach for selecting an honours thesis topic is for the student to first find a thesis supervisor who has similar interests to his/her own, and then for the student and the thesis supervisor to develop an honours thesis proposal which compliments the faculty member's current research. Alternatively, some students have more specific research interests and will seek an appropriate thesis supervisor. Students are advised against developing an honours thesis project in too much detail before securing a thesis supervisor.

Review some of the honours thesis titles recently supervised by our faculty members.

See research interests of individual faculty members in the next section.

Each student who enrols in PSYCH 499 must find their own supervisor for his/her honours thesis project. A thesis supervisor must be finalized by the eighth day of classes for the PSYCH 499A term.

Full-time faculty members in the UW Psychology Department, and the four Psychology faculty members at St. Jerome's are all potential thesis supervisors. Think carefully about what you want to tell faculty members about yourself before making contact (think 'foot-in-the-door'). For example, inform a potential supervisor of the following:

• for which school terms you are seeking a thesis supervisor (If not planning to do PSYCH 499 over back-to-back school terms, please explain why, e.g., co-op work term).
• why you are interested in doing an honours thesis
• the program that you are enrolled in (e.g., BA versus BSc, co-op versus regular stream)
• your year of study and target date for graduation
• when you will complete the prerequisites for enrolment in PSYCH 499A
• your cumulative overall and psychology average (highlight improvement if applicable)
• your grades for research methods and statistics courses
• your educational and career goals
• your volunteer/work experience that you have had previously and with whom
• Did you work in his/her lab as a volunteer or paid research assistant?
• Did you take a course with him/her previously?
• Have you read articles that he/she wrote?
• Do his/her interests relate to your interests for studies at the graduate level and/or future employment?
• Were you referred by someone and why?

The search for a thesis supervisor will be easier if you establish rapport during second and third year with faculty members who are potential thesis supervisors. Ways to network with faculty members include the following:

• get involved in the faculty member's lab. See ' Research experience ' on the Psychology undergraduate website for further details
• the Associate Chair for Undergraduate Affairs - currently Stephanie Denison
• faculty members who attended the school(s) you are interested in applying to in the future. See the Psychology Department's Faculty listing for details
• faculty members who have interests that relate to your future plans. See Research interests of faculty members in our department.
• faculty members whose labs you worked or volunteered in
• be an active participant in the class discussions for the advanced research methods courses (PSYCH 389, 390) and honours seminars (PSYCH 453-463).
• enrol in a directed studies course (PSYCH 480-486) where you will receive one-on-one supervision from a faculty member. See the course application form for further details
• read articles that the faculty member has written and discuss the material with him/her
• attend departmental colloquia and divisional seminars where students can engage in discussions with faculty members about the material presented. Postings appear on the right sidebar of the Psychology Department home page

You may find that some faculty members that you approach will have already committed to supervising as many honours thesis projects as they feel able to handle for a given year. Be persistent in your search for a thesis supervisor and do not feel discouraged if you need to approach several (i.e., six or eight) people.

If you are unable to obtain a thesis supervisor, please speak to the PSYCH 499 coordinator .

Faculty members other than the thesis supervisor can also be very useful resources during the course of the thesis project. Feel free to discuss your thesis work with any relevant faculty (or graduate students).

Research interests of the faculty members in the Psychology Department and recent honours theses supervised

For research interests of faculty members please refer to the "Our People" page in the main menu and click on the faculty member's name. You can sort the list by "Name" or "Area of Study". Note that faculty members may not be available to supervise honours theses during sabbatical dates indicated on the web site.

For recent honours theses supervised by individual faculty members please refer to the honours theses supervised website.

Refer to the course enrolment information/instructions on the PSYCH 499 website.

The honours thesis (PSYCH 499A/B/C) is worth 1.5 units (i.e., 3 term courses). Students may not enrol for all of PSYCH 499A/B/C in one term. Students should consult with their thesis supervisor regarding the appropriate class enrolment sequence for PSYCH 499. Students can spread the class enrolment for PSYCH 499A, 499B, and 499C over three terms beginning in the 3B term or over two terms beginning in 4A. Those choosing to do the honours thesis over two terms will enrol in PSYCH 499A/B in 4A and PSYCH 499C in 4B. Alternative sequencing (e.g., 499A/B/C over three terms) should be discussed with the thesis supervisor. Although students can start an honours thesis in any term, the Fall term is typically recommended.

Factors that students should consider when deciding which terms to enrol for PSYCH 499A/B/C:

• When will the prerequisites for PSYCH 499 be completed? For example, Honours Psych & Arts and Business Co-op students will not enrol in PSYCH 499A until the 4A term because the prerequisites for PSYCH 499 won't be completed until the 3B term.
• Will the thesis supervisor be available to supervise the project during the terms that the student proposes to enrol for PSYCH 499A/B/C (e.g., is the supervisor planning a sabbatical leave or to retire)?
• For co-op students, how will the work/school sequence interfere with the project?
• The amount of time necessary to obtain ethics clearance varies depending on the participants required and research design.
• When is the optimal timing for data collection? For example, if PSYCH 101 students will be participants for the study, one has to consider the ratio of PSYCH 101 students to researchers that are available in a given term. The Fall term is typically the best time to collect data from this population, Winter term second best, and the Spring term the poorest.
• What other responsibilities does the student have (e.g., course selections, personal circumstances) in a given term?
• The thesis supervisor requires a sufficient amount of time to get to know the student before he/she is asked to write the student reference letters (e.g., for applications for graduate school, scholarships, or employment).

Details are provided in the next 3 sections regarding the course requirements for each of PSYCH 499A, 499B, and 499C.

Students should be diligent about their responsibilities for the honours thesis. Procrastination leads to delays in firming up the research proposal, doing the oral presentation, obtaining ethics clearance, and beginning data collection. Ultimately procrastination can lead to poor quality work and/or a postponement of graduation.

Students should consult with their thesis supervisor and the Psychology undergraduate advisor before dropping any of PSYCH 499A, 499B, or 499C.

• If a student wants to drop any of PSYCH 499A, 499B, and 499C in the current term, the individual course requests are governed by the same course drop deadlines and penalties (e.g., WD and WF grades) as other courses. Refer to important dates on Quest.
• Dropping PSYCH 499B and/or PSYCH 499C in the current term does not remove PSYCH 499A or PSYCH 499B from earlier terms.
• If a student does not complete the honours thesis, any INC (incomplete) grades for PSYCH 499A/B/C will be converted to FTC (Failure to Complete = 32% in the average calculations). Further, any IP (In Progress) grades for PSYCH 499A/B/C will be converted to FTC (=32%).
• Honours students with INC and/or IP grades will be unable to graduate (e.g., with a General BA in Psych) until those grades are replaced by a final grade(s) (e.g., 32%) and the grade(s) has been factored into the average calculation. In such cases, the student must meet all graduation requirements, including overall average, Psychology average and minimum number of courses required.
• Those who want any grades (e.g., INC, IP, WD, WF, FTC, 32%) for PSYCH 499 removed from their records are advised to submit a petition to the Examinations and Standings Committee. Before doing so, they should consult with the Psychology undergraduate advisor.

Course requirements for PSYCH 499A - progress report and thesis reviewer nominations

Students should attend the honours thesis orientation meeting during the PSYCH 499A term even if they attended a meeting during second or third year. The meeting is usually the first week of classes each academic term. The official date and time will be posted on the PSYCH 499 website . At the meeting, the PSYCH 499 coordinator will describe what is involved in doing an honours thesis and answer questions. Students will also receive information regarding library resources and procedures for obtaining ethics clearance.

Students must report the name of their thesis supervisor to the PSYCH 499 course administrator in the Psychology Undergraduate Office by the eighth day of classes for the PSYCH 499A term. During the PSYCH 499A term, students must

• conduct background research on the thesis topic (e.g., formulate a research question, review relevant literature, formulate major hypotheses)
• nominate potential thesis reviewers
• submit a progress report to the PSYCH 499 coordinator .

Progress reports

Progress reports are due the last day classes for the PSYCH 499A term. The thesis supervisor must sign the progress report before it is submitted to the PSYCH 499 coordinator . Submit the progress report directly to the course coordinator's mailbox in PAS 3021A or via email, cc'ing the course administrato r and your supervisor to give confirmation that they have "signed off" on your progress report (this can pose as the signature). Students should keep a copy of their progress report because the reports will not be returned. The PSYCH 499 coordinator will contact individual students by email if there is a problem with their progress report.

The progress report should be about 5-10 pages in length and include the following information:

• a title page identifying the document as a "PSYCH 499A Progress Report", with the proposed title of the project; student's name, address, telephone number, and email address; the student's ID number, the name of the honours thesis supervisor; and the signature of the supervisor indicating that he or she has read the report and approved it;
• a statement of the general topic of the proposed research;
• a brief account of the background literature the student has read, together with a brief explanation of its relevance for the project;
• a clear statement of the research questions and/or the major hypotheses that the study will address;
• a brief statement of the further steps that will be necessary to complete (e.g., settling on a research design, etc.) before the student will be ready to submit a research proposal and do an oral presentation.

PSYCH 499A students who are not concurrently enrolled in PSYCH 499B typically do not have a fully developed research proposal by the end of the first term of PSYCH 499. The progress reports should be submitted on time and should include as much detail regarding the research proposal as possible (see next section for further details).

Some PSYCH 499A students who are not concurrently enrolled in PSYCH 499B will firm up their research proposals earlier than expected and will want to do, and are encouraged to do, the oral presentation of the research proposal in the first term of PSYCH 499 (see next section for further details). In these cases, the IP (In Progress) grade for PSYCH 499B will be applied to the academic term in which the student formally enrols for PSYCH 499B.

Students who submit progress reports will receive an IP (In Progress) grade for PSYCH 499A; those who do not will receive an INC (Incomplete) grade for PSYCH 499A. INC and IP grades for PSYCH 499 do not impact on average calculations and students with either of these grades can be considered for the Dean's honours list. However, students with INC grades are not eligible for scholarship consideration. Note that INC grades convert to FTC (failure to complete = 32%) after 70 days.

Thesis reviewer

The thesis reviewer is due by the last day of classes for the term for students who enrol in PSYCH 499A only and they are due by the end of the third week of the term for students who enrol concurrently in PSYCH 499A/B.  You will work with your supervisor to decide who would be a strong reviewer and will plan this out with that reviewer. Once your reviewer is determined, please email the course administrator . The thesis reviewer’s duties will include reading the thesis proposal and attending the oral presentation in the PSYCH 499B term and reading and grading the final thesis at the end of the PSYCH 499C term.

Full-time faculty members in the UW Psychology Department and the four Psychology faculty members at St. Jerome's are all potential thesis reviewers. (Note: the student’s thesis supervisor cannot be the thesis reviewer). Students may consult with their thesis supervisors for advice about which faculty members to request as potential thesis reviewers. Several types of considerations might guide whom students seek as potential reviewers. For example, a student may seek a reviewer who has expertise in the topic they are studying, or they may seek breadth by requesting a reviewer with expertise in a quite distinct area of study, or they may seek a reviewer who has expertise in a relevant type of statistical analysis. It is up to the student, in consultation with their supervisor, to determine what factors to prioritise in selecting potential reviewers.

Course requirements for PSYCH 499B - oral presentation of the thesis proposal

During the PSYCH 499B term, students must finalize the research proposal for their honours thesis project and present this information orally to their thesis reviewer and the student’s thesis supervisor. Although the presentation is not graded, it is a course requirement that must precede the completed thesis. The presentation gives the student an opportunity to discuss their research proposals with a wider audience and to receive feedback regarding their literature review and the scope, design, testing procedures, etc., for their projects.

It is also essential that students who are doing an empirical research project involving human or animal participants formally apply for ethics clearance, and that they receive ethics clearance before beginning data collection (see 'Obtaining Ethics Clearance for Research with Human or Animal Participants' for further details).

Students should contact the   PSYCH 499 course administrator in the Psychology Undergraduate Office early in the PSYCH 499B term to book the date and time for their oral presentation. When booking, students are asked to indicate if they will be presenting virtually, or in-person and should mention if the presentation is open to other students to attend. Students are asked to book their presentation as early as possible to ensure space is available The thesis reviewer will attend and conduct the presentation. Presentations occur during the first three months of each term (available dates/times and current presentation schedule are posted on the PSYCH 499 website ). The presentation should be 25 minutes in length followed by a 25 minute period for discussion and questions. Students are encouraged to attend other students' presentations when available.

A written version of the research proposal must be submitted to the mailbox or email of the thesis reviewer at least two business days prior to the scheduled date of the student's oral presentation of the proposal (meaning no later than 4:30pm Thursday for a Tuesday presentation). For empirical research projects, the proposal must include the following: a title page identifying the document as a "PSYCH 499B Research Proposal"; a brief review of the relevant scientific literature; a clear statement of the research question and major hypotheses to be examined; the planned method, including the number and types of participants, the design, the task or tests to be given, and the procedure to be used; the statistical tests and comparisons that are planned; and the expected date for beginning data collection. For a theoretical research project, the proposal must include a clear review of the issues, theories, or constructs to be analyzed; a description of the scholarly database to be used (including a list of important references); and a clear account of the intended contribution of the work (i.e., how it will advance understanding).

The research proposal must be approved and signed by the student's thesis supervisor before the proposal is submitted to the thesis reviewer . Students can get a better idea of the content and format required for the research proposal by referring to the methods section of completed honours theses. Students should keep a copy of their research proposal because the copy that is submitted to the  thesis reviewer will not be returned.

All PSYCH 499 students must complete the ' TCPS 2 Tutorial Course on Research Ethics (CORE) ' before the research ethics application on which they are named is submitted for approval. In addition, all PSYCH 499 students must complete a "Researcher Training" session with the REG Coordinator .

Students who have completed the oral presentation requirement will receive an IP (In Progress) grade for PSYCH 499B; those who have not will receive an INC (Incomplete) grade for PSYCH 499B. INC and IP grades for PSYCH 499 do not impact on average calculations and students with either of these grades can be considered for the Dean's honours list. However, students with INC grades are not eligible for scholarship consideration. Note that INC grades convert to FTC (failure to complete = 32%) after 70 days.

Students who enrol in PSYCH 499A and 499B in the same term and satisfy the oral presentation requirement that term will not be required to also submit a progress report.

On-line surveys

Honours thesis students who require assistance regarding research software and the development of on-line surveys, beyond advice from the honours thesis supervisor, may wish to seek advice from Bill Eickmeier (Computer Systems Manager and Research Programmer; PAS 4008; ext 36638; email  [email protected] ). Students are expected to manage much of this process independently and will be given access to a self-help website. Most students will be able to work independently using a Qualtrics account provided by the thesis supervisor, or using the  web form template notes  Bill has posted on the web. However, Bill is available to provide additional guidance if he is given at least three to four weeks advance notice.

Caution regarding off-campus data collection

If you are planning to collect data off-campus, please read carefully the " Field Work Risk Management " requirements provided by the University of Waterloo Safety Office. "Field Work" refers to any activity undertaken by members of the university in any location external to University of Waterloo campuses for the purpose of research, study, training or learning.

We assume that insurance for private vehicles is up to the owners and that insurance for rental vehicles, if applicable, would be through the rental company. Further details of University of Waterloo policies regarding travel .

Please discuss your plans for off-campus data collection with your thesis supervisor and the  PSYCH 499 coordinator in advance to ensure that all bases are covered with regards to waivers, insurance, etc.

In the PSYCH 499C term, students will complete the data collection for their project (see the previous paragraphs if using on-line surveys or doing off-campus data collection), analyze/evaluate the data, and finish writing the honours thesis. The honours thesis must be written in the form indicated by the American Psychological Association (APA) Publication Manual (available at the Bookstore), but may be more abbreviated than a regular journal article. Sample honours theses can be found in the Learn shell.

For an empirical research project, the following sections are required in the thesis:

• introduction (literature review and the hypothesis)
• methods (participants, design, task or test to be given, testing procedures, measures)

It is not necessary to append ORE application forms to the completed honours thesis. However, a copy of the formal notification of ethics clearance is required.

The sections and subsections required for theoretical papers will be slightly different than for empirical research projects, and will vary according to the topic being studied. If possible, students should plan the layout for the theoretical paper in the PSYCH 499B term because the plan may guide their literature review. Students should consult with their thesis supervisor and the  PSYCH 499 coordinator  about the layout.

Normally students will receive feedback from their thesis supervisor on at least one or two (and often more) drafts of the thesis before the final paper is submitted for marking. Be sure to leave adequate time for this process.

Submitting the thesis for marking

The final version of the thesis is due the last day the class period for the PSYCH 499C term.  However, due dates do change each term dependent on grade submission deadlines held by the registrar’s office, so it is important to follow the due date on our official due date page.  See 'Extensions on the thesis submission deadline' below regarding requests for extensions.

In order for the Psychology Department to track theses that are submitted for marking and ensure that marks are forwarded to the Registrar's Office as quickly as possible, students must submit an electronic copy of the honours thesis to  the PSYCH 499 course administrator  who will coordinate grading by the thesis supervisor and the thesis reviewer , and will submit PSYCH 499 grades to the Registrar's Office. The honours thesis does not need to be signed by the thesis supervisor. The marking process is as follows:

• Receipt of the thesis will be recorded and an electronic copy of the thesis will be forwarded to the student's thesis supervisor and reviewer with a grading form for comments.
• The thesis supervisor will return the grading form with comments and a grade recommendation to the PSYCH 499 course administrator and the thesis reviewer.
• The thesis reviewer will be responsible for assigning the final grade and will return the completed grading form to the PSYCH 499 course administrator .
• T he PSYCH 499 course administrator will notify the student and the Registrar's Office of the final grade. The final numerical grade for the thesis will be recorded for each of PSYCH 499A, 499B, and 499C.
• Page 2 of the grading form will be returned to the student.

Extensions on the thesis submission deadline

We will do our best to ensure that students graduate at the preferred convocation date; however, we cannot guarantee that students who submit honours theses for marking after the deadline will be able to graduate at the preferred convocation date.

Students should refer to the PSYCH 499 website on a regular basis for information regarding PSYCH 499 deadlines that may affect the target date for submitting the honours thesis for marking (e.g., for getting one's name on the convocation program, for sending transcripts and/or letters regarding completion of the degree to other schools for admission purposes, to be considered for awards, etc.).

We strongly advise that students submit the thesis for marking at least four to six weeks prior to the date of convocation. Further, they should confirm that their thesis supervisor will be available to grade the thesis within a few days following submission of the thesis.

Students who do not submit an honours thesis for marking by the end of the examination period for the PSYCH 499C term require approval for an extension from their thesis supervisor. After speaking with the thesis supervisor, the student must report the revised date of completion to the PSYCH 499 course administrator . They will be given an IP (In Progress) grade for PSYCH 499C if they have done the oral presentation for PSYCH 499B and if they are making reasonable progress on the thesis. Otherwise, an INC (Incomplete) grade will be submitted for PSYCH 499C. INC and IP grades for PSYCH 499 do not impact on average calculations and students with either of these grades can be considered for the Dean's honours list. However, students with INC grades are not eligible for scholarship consideration. Note that INC grades convert to FTC (failure to complete = 32%) after 70 days.

Notes: 1. Honours students with INC and/or IP grades for PSYCH 499ABC will be unable to graduate (e.g., with a General BA in Psychology) until those grades are replaced by final grades (e.g., 32%) and the grades have been factored into the average calculation. In such cases, the student must meet all graduation requirements, including overall average, Psychology average, and minimum number of courses required. 2. If IP grades for all of PSYCH 499ABC remain on the record for 12 months following the PSYCH 499C term, the Registrar's Office will convert the IP grades to FTC (failure to complete = 32%). If this occurs, consult with the Psychology undergraduate advisor regarding your options.

Capture your thesis on video!

As of Fall 2012, we are asking honours thesis students if they'd like to take part in a voluntary "video snapshot" of their work. This is a great way to tell others about your thesis, and your experience at the University of Waterloo.

Upon completion of your thesis and submission of your 499C document, we are asking students to arrange for someone from their supervisor's lab to take a short 1-2 minute video clip of you the student.  In that video, we'd like to hear a 'grand summary of what you researched, and what you found out'. We'd also love to hear about 'what you learned in the honours thesis course'.

These video clips can be taken with a smartphone (or other video camera), then emailed to the PSYCH 499 coordinator  or the PSYCH 499 course administrator . Alternatively you can arrange a time to be videotaped by the course administrator (ideally when handing in your 499C final thesis document).

Completing a video is optional, and should be done ideally within two weeks of submission of your thesis. Whether or not you choose to capture your thesis on video will in no way affect your grade in the 499 honours thesis course. Once we have reviewed the video we will upload it to our Psychology website for general viewing by the public. Permission forms to release your photo/video on the Department of Psychology’s website will be available from the  PSYCH 499 coordinator . The Model Release Form can also be found on Waterloo's Creative Services website.

Convocation awards

Each year the Psychology Department nominates a student(s) for the following awards: Governor General Silver Medal (university level), the Alumni Gold Medal (faculty level), and the Psychology Departmental convocation award. These awards are only given at the June convocation. Typically, only honours students who have final grades for all course work, including the honours thesis, by the first week of May can be considered for these awards. Students whose overall and Psychology averages fall in the 88-100% range are strongly encouraged to adhere to the thesis submission deadlines noted above.

The Office of Research Ethics (ORE) at the University of Waterloo is responsible for the ethics review and clearance of all research conducted on and off-campus by University of Waterloo students, staff, and faculty that involves human and animal (live, non-human vertebrates) participants.

Research involving human or animal participants must not begin until notification of full ethics clearance has been provided by the ORE.

Information regarding the application and ethics review process for research involving human participants is available on the Office of Research Ethics web site. However, specific information regarding the ethics application process for Honours thesis research is provided below.

Information regarding the application and ethics review process for research involving animals is also available on the Office of Research Ethics web site.

For individual contacts in the ORE, see 'Contacts' in this handbook.

Ethics Application: Once the rationale and hypotheses for the thesis project have been formulated and basic design and procedures have been determined, the student may submit the project for ethics review and clearance.

In order to ensure that students have a good understanding of the ethics review process and guidelines they are required to complete the TCPS2 -2022 CORE Tutorial (described below) prior to preparing your ethics application.

Upon completion of the CORE Tutorial, the student may begin the ethics application by signing onto the Kuali System for Ethics located at UWaterloo Ethics either starting the application on their own, or having the Thesis Advisor begin it. Please note that the student will need to have accessed the Kuali system in order for the Advisor to add them to the protocol. The advisor should be listed as the Principal Investigator and the level of research should be Senior Honours Thesis.

All Thesis projects require new ethics unless alternative arrangements have been made to make use of a currently running project. This should be discussed with the thesis advisor and approval should be obtained from the department to create an amendment for the project.

Upon receipt of Full Ethics Clearance, and if the student and supervisor are sure that there will be no revisions to the design or procedures, then data collection may begin. Whenever possible though, we encourage you to complete the Research Proposal and Oral Presentation before you begin data collection.

Note that procedures for applying for ethics clearance vary according to the type of sample -- for example, university students versus children in the Early Childhood Education Centre, etc. Further details are provided below.

Study Modifications: Based on feedback provided at the student’s Oral Presentation, the student and thesis supervisor may decide to make some modifications to the research plans. If the ethics application has not yet been submitted for review, then the changes can be incorporated into the application. If you have received ethics clearance, then you will need to submit an amendment by logging into Kuali and selecting the amendment option from the right hand side.

Human Participants in Research

Honours Thesis students must read and be familiar with the University of Waterloo guidelines and procedures for conducting research with human participants before submitting their applications for ethics clearance to conduct research.

The following is an excerpt from the guidelines:

“The ethics review process is intended to offer a level of assurance to research participants, the investigators and the University that research participants will be involved in ethically sound and well-designed research, and will be engaged in a prior consent process that is fully informed and voluntary. The ethics review process also ensures adequate protection of individuals’ privacy as well as confidentiality of information they provide. In addition, the ethics review process increases the probability that all known and anticipated risks associated with the research are identified and adequately communicated to participants prior to participation. Moreover, it ensures that the known and potential risks are judged to be outweighed by potential benefits from conducting the research. Procedures used to recruit participants are examined to ensure they are free of explicit or implicit coercion and enable participants to withdraw their consent at any time without fear of reprisal.”

Research conducted in the Psychology department follows the ethical guidelines set out in the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans, 2nd edition (TCPS 2 - 2022).

Please note that effective January 1, 2024 you will need to be up to date with your TCPS to include the 2022 version. If you have only completed the TCPS2 you will need to renew your certification.

Associated with the TCPS 2-2022 is an online tutorial called Course on Research Ethics (CORE). CORE is comprised of 9 modules, is self-paced and includes interactive exercises and multi-disciplinary examples. A certificate of completion is provided. CORE replaces and updates the earlier TCPS Tutorial. In order to ensure that you have a better understanding of the ethics review guidelines you are required to complete the CORE Tutorial prior to submitting your ethics application. Please note that if you have already completed the CORE Tutorial as an RA for example, you are not required to complete it again. Upon completion of the CORE Tutorial please send a copy of the Completion Certificate to the DERC Officer . The link to CORE is: http://pre.ethics.gc.ca/eng/education/tutorial-didacticiel/

The particular procedures for applying for ethics clearance for research with human participants depends on the population from which participants are obtained; however, all projects require the submission of an application form to the Office of Research Ethics (ORE).

Note : All research ethics applications must include:

• REG (Sona Description), PSYCPool (email/phone scripts), SLC (Flyer/Poster)
• Information/Consent Letter (+ Post-debriefing Consent if deception)
• Feedback/Appreciation Letter (+ Oral Debriefing if deception)
• Survey/Questionnaire/Interview items/Stimulus Appendices
• Research Proposal

Thesis supervisors and reviewers are given the following guidelines when they are asked to recommend a final grade for the honours thesis:

Each year, the Psychology Department recognizes the achievement of a small number of students who have produced the most outstanding honours theses. Theses will be considered for a thesis award if the thesis supervisor nominates the student and the thesis receives a final grade of 93 or above. Theses submitted for marking after the second Friday in May will not be considered for a thesis award. Nominated theses will be reviewed to select the award recipients and the recipients will be notified by the Psychology Undergraduate Office.

The thesis conference is an informal forum for students to present (orally or in poster format) a summary of their honours thesis to a friendly and enthusiastic audience of their peers and to discuss their work with others who have similar interests.

Registration is required. There is no registration fee for presenters or thesis supervisors and lunch is provided. Participants report that the event is very worthwhile and enjoyable. Clearly a great way to end fourth year!

The conference is typically held at the end of April or early May. If you will be presenting at the conference, data collection for the thesis should be completed by March. You are not required to present a complete analysis of your thesis results at the conference.

Further details about the thesis conference

Failing to adhere to established standards in the conduct of research is a serious offence. Please refer to "Obtaining ethics clearance for research" above for further details.

Students should also familiarize themselves with Policy 71 (Student Academic Discipline Policy) as well as the advice from the Faculty of Arts regarding avoiding academic offences .

Please check the Information Systems & Technology (IST) Department website for information regarding setting up your University of Waterloo computer account, accessing the internet, costs for printing, accessing your account from off-campus, etc. If you are enrolled in the Faculty of Arts, please also check the Arts Computing Office website for information.

The University of Waterloo computer accounts give students free access to applications such as word processing, statistical and graphics packages, spreadsheets, and electronic mail. Students also have access to the internet which allows them to use Waterloo's Electronic Library including the electronic journal article databases. Students are charged for printing and can put money for printing on to their resource account at various locations across campus including PAS 1080 using their WatCard.

It is critical that the University (e.g., administration, instructors, academic advisors, etc.) can reach you reliably by email (e.g., regarding academic standing, degree requirements, deadlines, etc.). If you are using a web email account such as Hotmail or Yahoo, we strongly encourage you to consider using a more reliable email account such as your Waterloo account. Your Waterloo account is just as easy to use from off-campus as other free web accounts but is more secure. You can access your Waterloo account from the " mywaterloo " website.

If you are using an email address other than your Waterloo email address you should do one of the following two things:

• change the email address that you want posted on the university directory, or
• activate your Waterloo account and arrange for the email from your Waterloo account to be forwarded to your alternate email address. The alternate email address will not appear on the university directory.

Intent to Graduate Forms and general convocation information is available on the Registrar's Office website. Students who want to graduate in June must submit an Intent to Graduate Form to the Registrar's Office before March 1. The deadline to apply for  October convocation is August 1. Students who apply to graduate, but do not complete their honours thesis in time to graduate at the preferred convocation must submit another Intent to Graduate Form for the next convocation.

Those who submit their thesis for marking beyond the end of the final examination period for the PSYCH 499C term should refer to " Extensions on the thesis submission deadline " for further details regarding graduation deadlines.

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Honors Theses

Sample Honors Proposals and Theses

Sample honors proposals.

The following represent a sampling of outstanding English honors project proposals.

Disrupting Stereotypes: A Usability Report on Inclusive Design for Invisible Disabilities, including ADHD and Anxiety (PDF)

Author: Abby Wing Thesis Type: Independent Thesis Approved By: Janine Solberg, English Department Published: Spring 2023

Sir Lancelot Portrayed in Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur , Chretien de Troyes's Lancelot du Lac and T.H. White's The Once and Future King (PDF)

Author: Taylor Wise Thesis Type: Independent Thesis Approved By: Jenny Adams, English Department Published: Expected Spring 2017

Jane Austen’s Male Characters Through A Feminist Critical Lens (PDF)

Author: Anastasia Armstrong Thesis Type: Independent Thesis Approved By: Heidi Holder and Suzanne Daly, English Department Published: Expected Spring 2017

Sample Honors Theses

The following represent a sampling of outstanding English honors thesis projects.

Author: Abby Wing Thesis Type: Independent Thesis Approved By: Janine Solberg, English Department Published 2023

Abstract: In the Spring 2023 semester, I recruited students and faculty members with disabilities to test the usability of UMass Amherst financial aid web pages. The purpose of my testing was to learn more about the accessibility needs of people with disabilities. I conducted six remote usability tests with participants using Zoom. Each participant completed five tasks and shared their responses to a series of open-ended questions at the end of each test. These tasks involved finding information related to the cost of attending UMass Amherst for prospective students (i.e., total cost of attendance, net cost of attendance, housing costs, dining costs, and scholarships). Afterward, I generated inclusive personas that reflected the diverse characteristics of the participants. These personas, which are further discussed in the conclusion, offer insights into the accessibility needs of students with disabilities.

What I found: while participants are able to complete all tasks, they wished that information was more consolidated for greater navigability. Most of the time participants spent completing tasks involved trying to locate the appropriate pages to complete the tasks. Participants also wished that there was a stronger information hierarchy on cost pages for improved readability.

“This Is Hardly the Happy Ending I Was Expecting”: NIER ’s Rejection of the Heteronormative in Fairy Tales (PDF)

Author: Emily Cerri Thesis Type: Independent Thesis Approved By: Caroline Yang and TreaAndrea Russworm, English Department Published 2019

Abstract: Despite the perception they are just entertainment, video games have the potential to present criticisms on aspects of culture such as race, gender, and sexuality. Games such as Gone Home and The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories subvert stereotypes of gender and sexuality or highlight the struggles of sexually marginalized groups in a heteronormative society. However, games often miss the opportunity to subvert expectations or represent racially marginalized communities. The game NIER both creates and overlooks critiques of this lack of attention through its use of the fairy tale genre. NIER ’s destabilization of binaries and refusal to conform to gender roles and performance present a critique of heteronormativity and the gender binary of the fairy tale canon. And yet, NIER also misses the opportunity to fully present criticisms on the topics of race, gender, and sexuality. The game’s presentation of race is especially lacking, particularly through its tacit assumption of whiteness as the “unmarked” race. Though attempts to it dismantle some stereotypical racial imagery, it shuts out the possibility of nonwhite people persisting through the apocalypse. Furthermore, while its portrayal of nonheteronormative characters destabilizes the stereotypes of these characters in other media, censorship and pandering to the male gaze ultimately hinder the representation of these marginalized characters. That is, the localization explicitly alters characters’ identities in favor of heteronormativity and the game uses clothing and camera angles to hypersexualize the female protagonist. Its use of fairy tales, which are typically European tales, sometimes highlights their normalized gender and sexual stereotypes and expectations and sometimes subvert them. In other cases, it misses the opportunity to destabilize these notions and instead maintains the status quo. In such ways, NIER also fails to completely queer the fairy tale canon even as it tries to subvert the genre. Nonetheless, while NIER falls short of being a queer critique, it provides the opening for the critical player to do so.

Using Genre Theory to Understand the Way Opinion Journalism is Changing in Today’s Digital World (PDF)

Author: Tess Halpern Thesis Type: Independent Thesis Approved By: Donna LeCourt and Janine Solberg, English Department Published 2019

Abstract: As an editor of opinion journalism during my college years, I have always struggled to not only articulate but also determine which texts constitute opinion journalism and which are simply opinion. As opinions become more ubiquitous with the rise of the digital era, and as they can now be published on platforms like blogs, podcasts, and social media with no regulation or editorial review, this distinction has become even harder to make. Unfortunately, the blurring of the line between opinion journalism and opinion has happened at the precise moment that the legitimacy of journalism has also begun to be questioned more than ever before in my lifetime. The purpose of this research was to definitively draw that line, separating opinion journalism from opinion. To do this, I first determined the genre norms of opinion journalism by studying the texts, the writers, and the publications that define the genre. Following, I then determined where the genre set of opinion journalism ends by studying articles written for non-reputable, digital-only platforms, and platforms that were self-publishing or otherwise had minimal editing and regulation processes. A total of 63 articles from The New York Times , The Wall Street Journal , The Washington Post , The Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, Odyssey Online , and personal blogs were analyzed for this research. The results of this study allowed me to track the transformation that opinion journalism, and journalism in general, is currently undergoing. Additionally, it clarified the distinction between opinion journalism and ordinary opinion, allowing me to better understand the genre and the texts that are excluded from that genre.

"You Can Be Useful to Us in a Hundred Different Ways”: A Study of Stage and Screen Adaptations of Dickens’s Nicholas Nickleby (PDF)

Author: Emma Piscia Thesis/Project Type: Independent Honors Thesis Approved By: Heidi Holder and Suzanne Daly, Department Of English Published 2016

Abstract: Charles Dickens’s Nicholas Nickleby has been adapted since 1839, when it was still in the midst of its initial serialized publication. It has since been adapted into plays, films, and television miniseries over 250 times, and the number continues to grow. This thesis investigates the history of Nickleby as adapted for stage and screen from 1838 to the present. While there has been much scholarly consideration of adapted Dickens, there has been little in the way of examination of any particular work across periods and genres; Nickleby, with its varied history on stage and screen, certainly merits such critical examination. Works discussed here range from Edward Stirling’s early farce Nicholas Nickleby: or, Doings at Do-The-Boys Hall (1838), through David Edgar’s marathon stage adaptation The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (Royal Shakespeare Company 1980), to David Innes Edwards’s and Joy Wilkinson’s The Life and Adventures of Nick Nickleby (a 2012 miniseries). This thesis explores the cultural uses and revisions of Dickens’s text. Key topics of discussion include the highly varied representation of the orphan Smike; the portrayal of physical, sexual, and financial violence; and the sociopolitical and economic themes of the novel that allow it to resonate with contemporary audiences down through the centuries. Using reviews, historical context, literary and film criticism, performance history, and gender theory, this thesis endeavors to explain the persistence of an early Victorian novel in popular culture.

Eye on Research (PDF)

Author: Alexandra Foley Thesis/Project Type: Capstone Thesis Approved By: David Toomey and Janine Solberg, Department Of English Published 2012

Abstract: A collection of the newest discoveries and breaking edge research taking place on the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus. Here is a list of some of the research published in this thesis: a new synthetic material called “Geckskin” which mimics the adhesion power of Gecko feet developed in Polymer Science department; UBot, a robot designed by UMass’s Laboratory for Perceptual Robotics, can learn by interacting with its environment; Gregory Tew, of the Polymer Science department, has found a way to look inside their previously impenetrable membranes of T cells; and Dr. Caitlyn Shea Butler of the Environmental Engineering department has designed a “Microbial Fuel Cell Latrine” that purifies human waste and produces electricity at the same time.

“How could the body politic be made to work in the absence of its head?”: Beheadings, Gender, and Power In Malory’s Morte Darthur (PDF)

Author: Kerry Ditson Thesis/Project Type: Independent Honors Thesis Approved by: Jen Adams, English Department and Sonja Drimmer, Art History Program Published: 2015

Abstract: The Wars of the Roses were without a doubt one of the most transformative and traumatic events of medieval England. This bloody conflict called into question commonly accepted notions of nobility, masculinity, kingship, governance, and violence. The deposition of Richard II in 1399 set into motion aftershocks that would be felt half a century later, as the notion of divinely anointed kingship was called into question—in a world where kings could be gotten rid of, who had the right to rule? The answer came down, in many ways, to one issue: blood.

Closets and Transylvanian Castles: Vampires and Queerness in the Nineteenth-Century Literature and Beyond (PDF)

Author: Maxwell Heath Thesis/Project Type: Independent Honors Thesis Approved by Heidi Holder and Jenny Spencer of the Department of English Published 2015

Abstract: My thesis examines how vampires have been used in literature to depict queer people and explore issues of queerness. Focusing primarily on the nineteenth century with a brief foray into the twentieth, I analyze seven key texts, both well known and relatively obscure, from John Polidori’s groundbreaking “The Vampyre” (1819) to G.S. Viereck’s The House of the Vampire (1907). This wide range is significant: previous work in the field has tended toward individual studies. I track how the depictions of vampirism and queerness evolved over time, focusing especially on the tropes of disorientation of space and narrative structure, complex patterning of relationships between characters, and conflict between humans and vampires for control of narrative. To this end ideas drawn from theorists such as Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick have been deployed in my analysis. I have discovered that from the first there is a degree of sympathy for queerness which is often occluded by gothic tropes. While the vampires themselves only begin to shift from villains towards more ambiguous figures at the end of the nineteenth century, their victims are often figured as queer and portrayed sympathetically. This suggests that vampires have been used as a way to mask queerness in metaphor so that it could be explored and discussed during a time when any explicit examination was forbidden.

Transplanted (PDF)

Author: Michael Sirois Thesis/Project Type: Independent Honors Thesis Approved by John Hennessy, Department of English Published May 2015

Abstract: My honors thesis project is a manuscript consisting of twenty-four poems. This collection of poetry reflects my transition from a working-class upbringing to completing my degree at the university. The many years I spent working in agriculture influence my poetry significantly, so natural settings and elements serve as a prism for my themes of work, the working-class, and the family. The introduction to my thesis project is included to show the departures from my literary influences.

For more information, see  499Y Honors Research (Part I) or  499T/P Honors Research (Part II) .

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Undergraduate Thesis Leading to Graduation with Honors Research Distinction

There are three options for honors students in the College of Arts and Sciences (ASC) interested in pursuing graduation with honors research distinction or with honors distinction :

• The graduation honor with honors research distinction in [the major field] recognizes those students who demonstrate excellence in the study of a discipline both through major course work and by completing an independent research project culminating in an undergraduate thesis.
• Students majoring in mathematics may choose the graduate-level course work option to graduate with honors distinction in Mathematics .
• The graduation honor with honors research distinction recognizes those students who complete and successfully defend an undergraduate thesis in a discipline other than the major.

Students majoring in the arts may pursue a creative project or thesis that leads to graduation with distinction .

For information about the thesis option for students not in an honors program, please see the Research Thesis web site .

To graduate with honors research distinction , you must satisfy the following requirements:

• Identify an Ohio State faculty member to serve as your project advisor. The project advisor will provide guidance to you throughout the research process.
• Submit the Thesis Application to the ASC Honors Office by the deadline noted below.
• Students must register for at least 4 credit hours of thesis research from the College of the Arts and Sciences, using course number 4999H. (Note: Psychology requires enrollment in a 4999H course sequence.) These 4 credit hours may be divided and taken over the course of multiple semesters. 
• Successfully defend the thesis during an oral examination.
• Meet any department-specific requirements, which may include honors course work and/or a minimum grade point average within the field of distinction.
• Graduate with a minimum 3.4 cumulative grade point average on at least 60 graded Ohio State semester credit hours. 
• In order to graduate with honors research distinction , you must be enrolled in the ASC Honors Program , which requires completion of the honors course work requirement (fulfilled by completion of an approved Honors Curriculum ).

*** Thesis Option for students not in the ASC Honors Program ***

If you are planning to graduate with honors research distinction , you should submit the Thesis Application to the ASC Honors Office upon enrolling in 4999H research credit and no later than the following deadlines:

• Students defending  Spring 2024 :    Applications were due to  ASC Honors  by Friday,  September 8, 2023
• Students defending  Autumn 2024 : Applications are due to  Rebecca Sallade  by Friday,  January 26, 2024

Questions about the application may be directed to Rebecca Sallade, the Undergraduate Research, Honors Thesis, and Honors Project Coordinator.

• If you are working toward a thesis, it is your responsibility to register for 4999H . In some cases (e.g., in the Department of Psychology), the 4999H research hours are actual courses in a sequence and will require prior planning to make sure you are able to register in a timely fashion.
• The number of research credit hours you take in a given semester will depend on the amount of time you plan to spend on your research during that term. You should plan to discuss this with your thesis project advisor.  Keep in mind that you will need to take at least 4 credit hours of 4999H to meet the requirements for a thesis.
• Your thesis project advisor will need to provide written permission for you to register for 4999H. Permission to enroll in 4999H can be documented on a Course Enrollment Permission form [pdf] . You should submit the signed form to the Arts and Sciences Honors Office no later than the second Friday of the semester to have the hours added to your schedule.  (Late registration for research hours will result in a $100 Late Course Add Fee and may only be added by petition.)
• Students must register for at least 4 credit hours of thesis research from the College of the Arts and Sciences, using course number 4999H. (Note: Psychology requires enrollment in a 4999H course sequence.) These 4 credit hours may be divided and taken over the course of multiple semesters.

Students who have submitted a Thesis Application for approval will be contacted by the ASC Honors Office with oral examination instructions early in the semester in which they plan to defend the thesis (usually around the third or fourth week of the semester).

Abstracts and copies of past undergraduate theses completed for graduation with research distinction are available for examination online through the Ohio State Libraries' Knowledge Bank and in the Mortar Board Room (room 202) of the Thompson Library . They are valuable not only as examples of research undertaken in various disciplines but also as sources of information.

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Thesis Structure

This page outlines the stages of an honours thesis and provides links to other pages that will give you more information and some examples from past theses.

Stages of a thesis (in order)

Write this last. It is an overview of your whole thesis, and is between 200-300 words.

See writing abstracts for honours theses for what to include in your abstract or see some example abstracts .

Introduction

Usually longer than an abstract, and provides the following:

• background to the topic;
• brief review of current knowledge (Can include literature review in some schools);
• indicates gap in knowledge, states aim of your research and how it fits into the gap;
• can include hypotheses; can include an outline of the following chapters.

See thesis introductions exercises for more information.

• Literature review

Often part of the Introduction, but can be a separate section. It is an evaluation of previous research on your topic, where you show that there is a gap in the knowledge that your research will attempt to fill. The key word here is evaluation.

See literature reviews for more information and examples to get you started on your literature review.

Often the easiest part of the thesis to write. Outlines which method you chose and why (your methodology); what, when, where, how and why you did what you did to get your results.

Here are some sample methods .

Outlines what you found out in relation to your research questions or hypotheses, presented in figures and in written text.

Results contain the facts of your research. Often you will include a brief comment on the significance of key results, with the expectation that more generalised comments about results will be made in the Discussion section. Sometimes Results and Discussion are combined: check with your supervisor and with highly rated past theses in your School.

Here are some suggestions for writing up results .

The Discussion section:

• comments on your results;
• explains what your results mean;
• interprets your results in a wider context; indicates which results were expected or unexpected;
• provides explanations for unexpected results.

The Discussion should also relate your specific results to previous research or theory. You should point out what the limitations were of your study, and note any questions that remain unanswered. The Discussion CAN also include Conclusions/Future Research. Check with your supervisor.

See our theses in discussion page for more information or try these exercises .

• Conclusions

Very important! This is where you emphasise that your research aims/objectives have been achieved.

You also emphasise the most significant results, note the limitations and make suggestions for further research.

Conclusions can include Future Directions. Check with your supervisor.

For more information see conclusions in honours theses or sample conclusions .

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Understanding honours

Honours is an additional qualification where you can build on your undergraduate studies by completing a supervised research project and disciplinary or research-focused coursework. This may be embedded in your undergraduate degree or require an additional year of study.

Overview and types of honours

• Eligibility and preparing for honours
• Honours awards and classes

You can undertake honours through an appended honours degree after your undergraduate degree. Some professional or specialist degrees also have embedded honours study options.

Honours provides an opportunity to work on an independent but supervised research project and is usually completed as one year full-time study (some disciplines offer part-time options).

Under the guidance of an academic supervisor, you will choose a thesis topic, create a reading list and identify your method of research.

Academics in your faculty or school will provide supervision as you write your thesis. This thesis will document your research from proposal through to conclusion.

Why study honours?

Completing honours shows you have achieved high academic standards and gives you a Bachelor (Honours) qualification. 

An honours degree can open the door for further research study, equipping you with the prerequisite research skills to undertake a research degree such as the PhD.

Alternatively, if you decide to complete an honours degree without pursuing further research, you will graduate with a robust set of transferrable skills including:

• time management and research skills
• project management and delivery
• showing future employers that you can investigate independently and achieve more complex goals.

What’s involved

Generally, honours will consist of two components:

• an independent research project, under the supervision of an academic staff member
• additional honours units in research design and technical training.

You will usually complete a dissertation or thesis and attend regular meetings with your supervisor to discuss your research.

Once you complete the requirements for your honours, you will graduate with a Bachelor (Honours) degree.

You can contact the faculty or school honours coordinator from the area of interest you are considering, for more information about honours. We also hold honours information sessions (usually in September) where you can discuss your options.

Types of honours

The type of honours you undertake depends on your individual study circumstances.

Appended honours

Appended honours is an additional qualification that you complete after you have finished your undergraduate degree. Generally, appended honours is available to both current University of Sydney students and external applicants. You’ll find information and eligibility criteria for most appended honours degrees in Find a course .

As a current student, often you'll need to apply through Find a course in the same way that external applicants apply, but may also need to submit an additional application form to your school or discipline. When searching for these on Sydney Courses (Find a course) these degrees will look like the Bachelor of Arts (Honours).

If you enrolled in a combined Bachelor of Advanced Studies program prior to Semester 2, 2024, and plan to apply for honours, we will advise you during your candidature of your appended honours degree options.

Embedded honours

Some bachelor’s degrees have an honours program embedded within them. You will complete your honours study during your current undergraduate degree by completing specific units. Honours will not increase the overall time taken to complete your studies.

Joint honours

Joint honours is when you complete one honours thesis in two subject areas closely related to each other. A special program of study is designed that allows you to complete the course concurrently in one year.

To apply for joint honours, you need to meet the eligibility requirements for both honours.

Contact the honours coordinator in your faculty or school to discuss your options.

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Thesis Proposal Examples

The Honors Undergraduate Thesis program requires students to submit a research proposal to the Office of Honors Research prior to advancing to the Thesis semester.

Generally, a scientific research proposal will include a brief introduction to the research topic, a literature review, and a methodology that will explain how the student plans to meet the objectives of the research. A proposal in the Arts and Humanities will generally include an introduction and a creative work (e.g. screenplays, short stories, artwork) or theoretical analysis.

Students will create a signature cover page for the thesis proposal that will list the entire committee and HUT Liaison. The Thesis proposal cover page template can be found here .

The following are examples of substantially researched, properly formatted research proposals and their respective signature pages. These examples should be used for reference only and not necessarily as templates. Students should his or her Thesis Chair and committee regarding the structure of the proposal, information that should be present, and documentation style.

What is a Thesis Proposal?

A thesis proposal is a document that outlines the thesis topic, defines the issues that the thesis will address, and explains why the topic warrants further research. It should identify a problem and provide a proposed solution to that problem.

Proposals representative of the sciences (both hard sciences and social sciences) should generally include the following:

• A brief introduction, which will define the thesis topic and explain the purpose of the thesis.
• A literature review that outlines the most relevant readings and theories which pertain to the thesis topic.
• A methodology section, which should include the research questions, hypotheses, participants, materials, and procedures.
• A bibliography or reference list. Most of the sources should be from peer reviewed articles or books. As with other academic papers, the use of internet sources should be limited.

For students conducting more theoretical or comparative analyses, the structure could also take the form of chapters that define and specify each concept, and a concluding chapter that brings all of these ideas together.

For students in the arts, a proposal and thesis may take the form of a creative project. In this instance, the proposal may include:

• A brief introduction, which includes the thesis statement, general intent of project, what the project should accomplish, and justification for considering the project a legitimate endeavor.
• A literature review, which includes any supporting literature that justifies the intention of the project.
• A method for accomplishing the project. Include any necessary background or equipment needed for the project, where the project will be conducted, and a proposed timeline for completion.
• A bibliography or reference list.

An alternative structure would be for students who are writing their own short stories, novellas, or screenplays.

Here, the thesis should include a clear mastery of the skill set by producing chapters of the novella, poetry selections, or the working/final screenplay. [/accordion-item][/accordion]

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Examples of Previous Research Theses

• Thesis Example 1
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• Thesis Example 4
• Thesis Example 5

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.

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What is the Honors Thesis

The Honors thesis provides a culmination to an Honors student’s academic career. The Honors thesis should be an outgrowth of the student’s academic work, rooted in their chosen discipline, in most cases in the student’s major or minor. In cases where a student has multiple majors, minors, or interdisciplinary interests that are not captured in a major or minor, the student should work with their Honors academic advisor to identify an area that is supported by their academic work and direct them to relevant faculty. 

The Honors thesis offers an opportunity - along with the responsibility - for a student to work with a faculty member on a research or creative project that integrates and expands on previous work. The Honors thesis will incorporate relevant, current research/previous work and demonstrate experience with design, execution, analysis, and presentation. An Honors thesis proposal must be submitted and approved by the faculty member advising the project and by the Lewis Honors College (proposals and the finished work needs to be submitted to your Honors academic advisor). Students with specific questions are asked to contact their Honors advisor. 

The Honors thesis may take different forms based on the student’s field of study. The product/output of the Honors thesis may take the form of a paper developed out of independent research done in a lab, a creative project with research into an artistic movement or period, an engineering design report outlining an original solution to a significant problem, or another similarly academic, discipline-specific project. 

A major goal of an Honors thesis is for the student to demonstrate a command of the relevant research/discipline/creative area and to document their own personal contributions to the area in a discipline appropriate manner. Typically, the product/output of the Honors thesis is a written report and a public presentation, where the length and level of detail will vary depending on the discipline. For example, in fine arts the final performance or artwork would serve as the presentation and the written document would provide an explanation of or reflection on the creative process followed, demonstrating the information literacy of the student. With a full recital, the written document could be program notes, while a lecture recital would require a more extended paper. 

Requirements

An Honors thesis will consist of a written document and a public presentation and must be associated with a graded, 3 credit course, such as HON 491 (starting Fall 2020, pending senate approval) or a departmental equivalent. Students are asked to reach out to their Honors academic advisor to find out if their major has a departmental equivalent or a suggested path for completing an Honors thesis in that major. Some departments have courses that require a significant individual project, including both a written component and an oral presentation (e.g., BIO 398). With departmental approval, this course may fulfill the Honors thesis requirement. All departments are encouraged to create their own courses to meet this requirement.  

One year prior to thesis completion students should submit a Thesis Agreement Form, securing their faculty mentor. The Honors Thesis Proposal is due in the second week of the semester in which a student completes their thesis. Finally, theses should be submitted with the signed cover page for certification of completion.

Next Steps and Timeline

Step 1 - one year before you graduate.

Submit an Honors Thesis Plan.

Step 2 - In Fall or Spring of Your Graduating Year

Complete your Honors Thesis through HON 491 - Senior Honors Thesis or appropriate departmental course. Submit your completed Honors Thesis Proposal within the first two weeks of the course.

Step 3 - By the Last Day of Classes in Your Thesis Semester

Turn in your completed thesis with a cover page using the thesis cover page template.

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Honours Thesis Research​

Honours Thesis Research ( CHEM/BCHM 4000 )  

What are these courses?  

These are Research Project courses carried out under the supervision of a faculty member, normally involving laboratory research; Computational work or pedagogical research can also qualify. 

Details on the conduct of these courses is provided in the  course outlines .  These courses provide valuable technical experience, as well as fostering scientific literacy in the field of work, personal organization, group work and communication skills. The supervisor will be in a good position to provide letters of recommendation.  A successfully completed Research Project is often expected of students applying for graduate studies. Students can expect to spend about 16 hours a week over eight months or 32 hours a week over 4 months.  

Full course information appears on the course eClass page. 

Who are they for?  

These courses are mandatory for the Specialized Honours programs and are optional for Honours Major students. As such, enrollment priority is given to Specialized Honours students.  

When do these courses run?  

The eight-credit CHEM 4000 is available in FW (part-time) and SU terms (full-time).  The eight-credit BCHM 4000 is available in WS, SF and FW terms (part-time), as well as the SU term (full-time).   The four-credit CHEM 4000 can be undertaken in any term. 

Who is the supervisor?  

The supervisor is a full-time faculty member of your choice, if they are willing. Even so, they face constraints of funding, space and timing. While they accept that these courses have a strong training component, all supervisors expect a return on their investment of time and resources, and so want their students to work diligently and with care so as to obtain reliable and useful results.  It is the student’s responsibility to identify the supervisor and we provide advice on finding a supervisor . It is highly advisable to do this at least six months before the desired term. The Course Director can assist in this for Specialized Honours students. 

Note : Potential supervisors for BCHM4000 span several departments (Chemistry, Biology, and Kinesiology). 

Do I have to pick the research topic?  

Usually not. Upper-level undergraduate students usually are not experienced enough nor familiar enough with scientific research to conceive of a research project topic. Supervisors often have their priority fields of endeavour and so may propose a few topics from which the student can choose.  

Who is eligible?  

Honours and Specialized Honours students with at least 84 credits at the start of the course are eligible. If lab work is to be involved, it is always preferable for Chemistry majors to have completed CHEM 3000 and 3001 and for Biochemistry majors to have completed BIOL 2070 and BCHM 3140 before the start of the course, and for all students to have completed WHMIS II training within the prior three years.  

How do I  enrol ?  

Enrollment is by permission of the Course Director only. The process of getting permission should be started a few months before the intended enrollment. The first step is to  complete the online application form . 

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Original research article, experiences of honours research students and supervisors during the covid-19 pandemic: a pilot study framed by self-determination theory.

• 1 School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW, Australia
• 2 School of Psychology, Faculty of Science, University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW, Australia

This study evaluated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in a sample of Honours students ( n = 21) and Honours supervisors ( n = 41) at a major Australian university. Data were collected from voluntary, online, anonymous surveys, which included ratings of the pandemic’s impact on their 1) experience of Honours research activities, and 2) sense of relatedness, competence, autonomy, and wellbeing. Self-determination theory (SDT), which posits that the psychological needs of relatedness, competence, and autonomy lead to a sense of wellbeing, provided a theoretical framework for understanding student and supervisor experience during the pandemic. Both students and supervisors indicated significant impact of the pandemic on the students’ research projects, and the degree of perceived impact did not differ between students and supervisors. There was no relationship between the severity of impact and student or supervisor wellbeing. Student wellbeing was low, but the hypotheses that student SDT needs would not be met were only partly supported. Overall, the extent to which Honours students’ SDT needs were met predicted wellbeing; the outcome was similar for supervisors. Our hypothesis that SDT needs and wellbeing would be higher for supervisors than for students was supported. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed, including recommendations for Honours programs as we move through the current pandemic.

Introduction

The aim of this research was to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the experiences of Honours degree students and research supervisors. Prevalent in Commonwealth countries, the one-year Honours degree in Australia is the primary pathway to doctoral studies and subsequent careers in research and academia. It also serves to better prepare graduates for a diverse range of careers where critical thinking and research skills are highly valued ( Zeegers and Barron, 2009 ; Kiley et al., 2011 ; Backer and Benckendorff, 2018 ).

The Australian Qualifications Framework (2013) states that Honours graduates should display “a coherent and advanced knowledge of the underlying principles and concepts in one or more disciplines and knowledge of research principles and methods” (p.16). Whilst the amount of prescribed coursework varies ( Kiley et al., 2009 ; Martin et al., 2013 ; Backer and Benckendorff, 2018 ), the primary goal of the 4 th -year undergraduate Honours year is research training. The research component is an intensive period, beginning with the development of a research question and culminating in the submission of the research thesis. The expected assessable output is usually a minimum of a draft journal manuscript, and often includes a substantial literature review ( Kiley et al., 2009 ).

Each Honours candidature constitutes independent, inquiry-based learning but the individual student experience is influenced by multiple factors. For example, the degree of independence during research project design and implementation varies. Science projects (the focus of this paper) usually involve less student autonomy than do Arts and Social Sciences projects, given the constraints on laboratory resources ( Kiley, et al., 2009 ). Even within the sciences, the nature of the research may vary from online surveys to rigorously controlled experimental manipulations that may involve complex measurement techniques. The supervision experience for the Honours student may also vary across disciplines. For example, there may be a supervisory arrangement of at least two active supervisors whereas in other instances there may only be one supervisor. Similarly, the physical research setting itself may be solitary or social with other research students and personnel.

Prepandemic, studies have suggested that students typically experience lack of confidence, and increased stress, and time management challenges ( Cruwys et al., 2015 ). Compared to the preceding Bachelor’s degree, the Honours degree program typically involves transition from course-work based study to a self-directed research project, a mentor-mentee relationships, and can be a relatively isolating experience ( Johnston and Broda, 1996 ). Student-supervisor interactions impact the Honours student experience and subsequent motivation for postgraduate research ( Kiley and Austin, 2000 ). The research environment, supervisor availability, and a sense of belonging to a community within an institution are important factors promoting support and encouragement, and countering any feelings of isolation ( Lovitts, 2005 ). Despite the challenges, at least one study indicated that students rate the Honours experience highly, especially in terms of the research skills gained and the high levels of support by fellow Honours students ( Martin et al., 2013 ).

The Honours supervisor role confers resource, thesis writing, and research running and management support. Supervising Honours students may be perceived as more difficult than supervising doctoral candidates due to the short timeframe (9 months) during which supervisors are expected to provide intensive and time-consuming research training and supervision. These factors and a dearth of Honours supervisor training (compared to doctoral supervisor training), have the potential to lead to additional stress for the supervisor.

The beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted everyday life (e.g., Dawel et al., 2020 ), including higher education (e.g., Jung et al., 2021 ). Both students and staff have been affected, mostly adversely (e.g., through disruption to studies/work due to university campus closure, sudden transition to online educational delivery or reduction or termination of employment) as reflected by reported psychological distress, although occasionally positive aspects have been reported (e.g., advantages to studying/working remotely; e.g., Chirikov et al., 2020 ; Ye et al., 2020 ). In one of the few academic-focused studies, academics indicated that their research programs had been adversely affected by university campus and laboratory closures ( Abbott et al., 2020 ). One of the few studies on research students indicated that both collaborative research training and professional relationship building has been negatively impacted ( Wang and DeLaquil, 2020 ). Researchers have yet to study the impact of the pandemic on Honours students and Honours supervisors, and this paper seeks to address that gap.

The Present Study

At the authors’ university, staff and students were requested to work from home to the greatest extent possible. When campus attendance was necessary and permitted, all government restrictions needed to be adhered to, for example, physical distancing and limiting in-person meetings to no more than 2 people. This reduced opportunities for supervisors to train their students on research techniques. Honours projects involving laboratory training, teamwork in close proximity or clinical client contact were impracticable to support. This transition necessarily occurred very rapidly in mid-March 2020, 1 month after the beginning of Honours candidature. Given that the physical restrictions applied to both students and supervisors, it was expected that both samples would give similarly high ratings of the impact of the pandemic on the research project and experience. We predicted that severity of impact would be significantly associated with wellbeing for students, but not for supervisors, because Honours research is paramount to the student experience. Moreover, given that student’s would expect significant face-to-face interaction during course-work, as in their undergraduate years, it was predicted that most students would prefer to go back to in-person coursework.

We propose that Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Ryan and Deci, 2000 ) provides a useful theoretical framework for understanding the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Honours experience and wellbeing of students and supervisors. SDT has received extensive empirical support in a variety of contexts, including higher education contexts (e.g., Niemiec and Ryan, 2009 . Baik et al., 2017a ; Baik et al., 2017b ). A central aspect of SDT is that there are core psychological needs, the satisfaction of which leads to increased psychological wellbeing (e.g., Sheldon and Elliot, 1999 ; Ryan et al., 2008 ). These needs are: relatedness , the feeling of being understood and cared for by others; competence , the feeling of being effective (able to get valued things done); and autonomy , the feeling of being “in control” of one’s own behaviours (i.e., one is not being constrained by external forces in one’s choice of behaviour; Ng et al., 2012 ). For the remainder of this article, we will refer to these as “SDT needs.”

The pandemic and related government restrictions were likely to have had several consequences for Honours students, including decreased face-to-face interaction with supervisors, fellow students, and other research staff ( Wang and DeLaquil, 2020 ). The rapid uptake of video-conferencing technologies may not have fully compensated for this, leaving Honours students with low feelings of relatedness. We were interested in measuring three aspects of “Honours Relatedness”: relatedness with fellow students (given the findings of Martin et al., 2013 ), relatedness with staff members (given the increased importance of interactions with supervisors during Honours), and relatedness with the university (given the key importance to the student experience of the concept of “belonging”; Van Gijn-Grosvenor and Huisman, 2020 ). We predicted low levels of relatedness on all three aspects, given the impact of the pandemic on face-to-face interaction and the need to work from home. We predicted low feelings of competence because of: 1) the disconnection from face-to-face guidance by supervisors and other senior members within the research group ( Wang and DeLaquil, 2020 ); and 2) required learning of different knowledge and skills, which may have left some students feeling less than competent to plan and manage changes to the research project. We predicted low feelings of autonomy if the nature of the research project, or of coursework assessments, needed to be changed due to COVID-19. It was expected that Honours SDT need satisfaction would predict student’s wellbeing, and that such wellbeing would be low.

It was expected that Honours supervisors would also be experiencing decreased face-to-face interactions with both colleagues and students, thus experiencing a low sense of relatedness. We were interested in measuring two aspects of relatedness: relatedness with work colleagues and students, and relatedness with the university. We predicted that academic staff could be experiencing a decreased sense of competence given potential disruption of their normal work activities. We predicted that the restrictions imposed by governments and university leadership would also bring about a feeling of low autonomy regarding their student’s Honours projects. It was expected that SDT need satisfaction would predict supervisor wellbeing and that such wellbeing would be low. However, given that the Honours experience is usually perceived as highly demanding for the student—more so than for the supervisor—it was expected that overall, supervisors would exhibit higher SDT need satisfaction and wellbeing than would students.

Both students and supervisors were asked open-ended questions regarding their experiences of the 2020 Honours year, and basic exploratory thematic analyses were undertaken to better inform recommendations for post-2020 Honours degree procedures. Additional exploratory analyses were undertaken of participant’s responses to 1) a statement regarding equity during the Honours experience, and 2) a general wellbeing scale.

Participants

Ethics approval was obtained from the UNSW Human Research Ethics Committee (approval number: HREAP 3403), and participants gave their informed, written consent to take part in this study.

Participants were School of Medical Sciences and School of Psychology Honours students at the University of New South Wales (UNSW, Sydney), who commenced full-time on-campus study in mid-February 2020. Out of a maximum number of 147 students (19 Neuroscience Honours, 43 School of Medical Sciences Honours, 85 Psychology Honours), a total of 21 responses were recorded; a response rate of 14.19%. Two responses were subsequently excluded from analyses for not listing degree details, so there was a total of 19 responses included in the final analyses. Participants were predominantly male (Male = 42.11%, Female = 31.58%, Not specified = 26.32%), and had a mean age of 24.64 (SD = 6.27; N = 14). The majority of students were domestic/local (Local = 73.68%, International = 5.26%, Not specified = 21.05%) who spoke English as their first language (English = 63.16%, Cantonese = 10.53%, Hebrew = 5.26%, Not specified = 21.05%). Students were from the following programs: Bachelor of Science (36.84%), Bachelor of Psychological Science (26.32%), Bachelor of Psychology (21.05%), Bachelor of Advanced Science (15.79%). Students had the following specialisations: Psychology (63.16%), Medical Science (15.79%), Pathology (10.53%), Pharmacology (5.26), Neuroscience (5.26%). All students reported that they were at the end of their candidature.

Supervisors

Participants were research academics with a Faculty appointment and currently supervising Honours students at the University of New South Wales (UNSW, Sydney). Out of a possible 168 supervisors (37 Neuroscience, 88 School of Medical Sciences, 43 Psychology), a total of 43 supervisor responses were recorded, a response rate of 25.60%. Two responses were subsequently excluded from analyses for not listing degree supervision details, so that 41 responses were included in the final analyses. Supervisors were predominantly female (Female = 41.46%, Male = 39.02%, Not specified = 19.51%), and had a mean age of 46.12 (SD = 13.31, n = 33). At the time of survey participation, supervisors were supervising students from the following degrees: Bachelor of Science (26.83%), Bachelor of Psychological Science (21.95%), Bachelor of Psychology (21.95%), Bachelor of Advanced Science (9.76%), not specified (19.51%). Students supervised were from the following specialisations: Psychology (49%), Medical Science (17%), Pharmacology (2%), Neuroscience (32%). Supervisors had supervised students for a mean of 12.94 years (SD = 10.33, range = 1–40). The mean number of students being supervised by an individual supervisor, at the time of the survey, was 1.91 (SD = 0.90, range = 1–4).

Survey Participation Procedure

Students were invited to participate in the voluntary, anonymous online survey via an announcement posted on their Honours course page in the learning management system platform Moodle. Supervisors were invited by receiving an email from a shared administrative mailbox for the Honours degree. All invitees were reminded to participate in the survey 1 week after the initial invitation. All participants were provided with a Participant Information Statement, Consent form, and web link to access and complete the survey using the Qualtrics platform.

Participants were asked to identify with an Honours degree and specialisation (as a student or supervisor) before completing 9 quantitative and 6 qualitative (open-ended) questions about the impact of COVID-19 on their Honours research project(s) and experience. The detailed wording of the impact questions can be found in the Supplementary Material . They also rated their agreement with key Honours-relevant SDT relatedness, competence, autonomy, and wellbeing statements, and this is detailed below. Participants reported key demographic information, and completed the 15-item general wellbeing scale which was used to determine their Wellbeing Profile (WB-Pro15; Marsh et al., 2020 ). The details and results of the WB-Pro are reported in the Supplementary Material .

Measures of Honours Relatedness, Competence, Autonomy, and Wellbeing

All participants rated their extent of agreement with several statements associated with SDT needs, using a 9-point scale, with the range: 1 (completely disagree), 2 (strongly disagree), 3 (disagree), 4 (somewhat disagree), 5 (neither agree nor disagree), 6 (somewhat agree), 7 (agree), 8 (strongly agree), and 9 (completely agree).

For students, the relatedness-to-students statement was “I was able to form positive professional relationships with other students in this program,” the relatedness-to-staff statement was “I was able to form positive professional relationships with the staff (e.g., Honours convenors, Honours committee members, teachers) in this program,” the relatedness-to-university statement was “This program built my feeling of belonging to university communities,” the competence statement was “This program built my feeling that I have the capacity to undertake what is required to reach my goals for my Honours year,” the autonomy statement was “This program allowed me to have some choice and to pursue my specific interests in the subject matter,” and the wellbeing statement was “This program built my feeling of wellbeing as a university student.” In addition, the equity statement was “Students are equitably supported to achieve their academic goals in this program.”

For supervisors, the relatedness-to-students/staff statement was “I was able to form positive professional relationships with students and staff (e.g., Honours convenors, Honours committee members, teachers) in this program,” the relatedness-to-university statement was “This program built my feeling of belonging to university academic communities,” the competence statement was “This program built my feeling that I have the capacity to undertake Honours supervision,” the autonomy statement was “This program allowed my Honours students flexibility in revising their research plan in response to COVID-19,” and the wellbeing statement was “This program built my feeling of wellbeing as an Honours supervisor.” In addition, the equity statement was “Honours supervisors are equitably supported to achieve their research supervision goals in this program.”

Because we were interested in whether participants, overall, “agree” or “disagree” (or are neutral) toward the questions, we also collapsed the response distribution into 3 bins, where scores of 1-4 constituted “agree,” a score of 5 constituted “neither agree nor disagree,” and scores of 6-9 constituted “disagree.”

Coding of Participant Responses to Open-Ended Questions

For the qualitative analysis of this research, we incorporated themes derived from common quotes from participant’s open-ended written responses represented in aggregate by the survey data. To explain patterns in participant responses, we used the systematic process of content analysis modelled by Lune and Berg (2016) . For “Impact of COVID-19 on research” questions, participant’s responses in each analytic category were read and themes were identified. Then each response was re-read and coded to indicate the presence or absence of each theme (0 = absent, 1 = present). A single participant response could contain multiple themes. For each of the themes, we report the number or proportion of all participant response samples that made relevant statements. All items were rated by a primary coder (ES, in consultation with NK) and a second independent coder blind to the study hypotheses. The majority of Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC) were >0.70, indicating that interrater reliability was good (see Supplementary Material : Interrater Reliability, for more specific statistics). ICCs were calculated using SPSS 27, all other analyses were conducted using Statistica (TIBCO Statistica version 13.3.0).

Student Results and Discussion

Impact of covid-19 on original research project, assessments, and honours experience.

All students ( N = 19) reported that COVID-19 had impacted their original research project in some capacity. The reported impacts were: Minimum impact (6.67%), Moderate impact (20.00%), Significant impact (40.00%), Total impact (33.33%). When asked to elaborate on changes to their research projects due to COVID-19 circumstances ( n = 16), students mentioned the need to amend projects ( n = 12), the need to take time off ( n = 3), work remotely/online ( n = 12), concerns about the quality of their theses ( n = 2) and issues with resource availability ( n = 1). When outlining contingency plans if the university shut down, the majority of students reported changes to the type of data being collected; students also reported on different aspects of their planned and actual research projects, and of impact on course work and living conditions (see Supplementary Material : Additional Responses).

When asked if they would prefer to go back to face-to face coursework ( n = 15), the majority of students reported yes ( n = 12), and the remaining students reported that this question was not applicable to them ( n = 3). This result supports the hypothesis that the majority of students would prefer to go back to face-to-face coursework.

When asked about the best part of their Honours year, students ( n = 15) mentioned gaining new skills and/or knowledge ( n = 5), being in the lab or interacting with lab members ( n = 4), feeling accomplished after finishing ( n = 3), the period before COVID-19 ( n = 2), receiving feedback/learning from their supervisor ( n = 2), and specific Honours level coursework subjects ( n = 2). When asked about the worst part of their Honours year, students ( n = 15) mentioned separation from support networks (e.g., family, friends, Honours cohort, lab members; n = 8), project changes ( n = 4), issues communicating with supervisors ( n = 2), uncertainty ( n = 2), COVID-related delays ( n = 2), and struggles with motivation ( n = 2). Additional survey responses are reported in the Supplementary Material .

Honours Psychological Needs and Wellbeing

See Table 1 for a breakdown of means and response distributions for items regarding Honours needs (relatedness, competence, autonomy), wellbeing, and equity. The highest number of students “agreed” with the statement for autonomy, competence, relatedness-students, relatedness-staff, and equity. Thus, our hypotheses that student ratings on these variables would be low, were not supported. The highest number of students disagreed with the statements for relatedness-to-university and for wellbeing. Thus, our hypotheses that relatedness-to-university and wellbeing would be low were supported. Contrary to our expectations, ratings of the severity of the impact of COVID-19 on student’s research projects was not significantly associated with Honours-related wellbeing (Spearman’s Rank r = −0.10). The highest number of students agreed with the statement that they had been equitably treated in the program, with quality of the supervisor-student relationship being the most common “agree” comment (see Supplementary Material : Additional Responses).

TABLE 1 . Means and response distributions for student agreement with honours SDT needs and wellbeing statements.

Regression Analysis

To test the hypothesis that student’s SDT needs would predict their wellbeing, we conducted simultaneous multiple regression. The overall model was significant R 2 = 0.67, F (5,9) = 3.66, p = 0.044, indicating that the hypothesis was generally supported. However, neither relatedness-students (b* = −0.01, t (9) = −0.02, p = 0.987), relatedness-staff (b* = −0.07, t (9) = −0.24, p = 0.819), relatedness-university (b* = 0.05, t (9) = 0.17, p = 0.872), autonomy (b* = 0.20, t (9) = 0.68, p = 0.511), nor competence (b* = 0.75, t (9) = 2.08, p = 0.068), significantly predicted role-related wellbeing.

Supervisor Results and Discussion

Impact of covid-19 on original research project.

Supervisor’s ( n = 41) reported impact of COVID-19 on their student’s original research project was: Minimum impact (14.63%), Moderate impact (41.46%), Significant impact (29.27%), Total impact (14.63%).

When asked to “elaborate on changes to research projects,” the small subset that reported minimum impact ( n = 6) elaborated that face-to-face testing of human subject volunteers switched to online testing ( n = 3), the lab remained open ( n = 1), lab closed but managed to test off campus ( n = 1) or did not comment ( n = 1). The remaining supervisors ( n = 35) stated that the “lab closed” ( n = 15), the planned experiments were halted/delayed/rescoped ( n = 26) or their Honours students were prevented/banned from conducting research on campus ( n = 5). When asked to outline their contingency plan ( n = 36), the main themes of supervisor responses were: Working remotely ( n = 10), running online studies ( n = 9), analysing other/existing datasets ( n = 8), conducting literature reviews and/or meta-analyses ( n = 4), and having no plan or adapting as they went ( n = 4). When asked to share the specific problems their Honours students encountered in 2020 ( n = 38), supervisors mentioned student’s lack of interaction/connectedness with students and staff ( n = 10), mental health concerns (stress, anxiety, loneliness, isolation; n = 10), difficulties surrounding remote supervision ( n = 7), practical issues collecting data ( n = 6), less time to conduct research and gain experience in the lab ( n = 16) and lack of motivation ( n = 2).

Supervisors ( n = 25) reported little change in the type of research subjects used for their students projects pre-pandemic compared to during the pandemic (see Supplementary Material : Additional Responses).

When asked about the best part of their Honours supervisor experience, supervisors ( n = 32) mentioned seeing their students grow and master new skills ( n = 9), their student’s resilience ( n = 9), and meeting and working with their students ( n = 8). When asked about the worst part of their Honours supervisor experience, supervisors ( n = 30) reported increased time commitment ( n = 6), lack of face-to-face interaction including having provided guidance on how to perform data analysis online ( n = 8), concerns for wellbeing of both staff and students including stress and burnout ( n = 8), increased use of technology and associated technological issues ( n = 4), and student’s negative perception of the academic profession due to stress and strain during COVID-19 ( n = 1).

When asked to provide suggestions about how Honours could be improved in the future, supervisors ( n = 25) reported the need for better communication—both between the university and faculties/supervisors, and between supervisors and students ( n = 7); need for greater flexibility around data collection ( n = 3); and the need for a more consistent response across Faculties from the University ( n = 2). Individual responses (i.e., n = 1) included eliminating coursework, flexibility for individual research clusters to manage their own response to the pandemic, broader range of thesis methodologies such as systematic reviews and meta-analyses and granting students initial access to a broader range of IT programs and digital support.

When invited to make comments that may help to understand how COVID-19 impacted their capacity to supervise, supervisors ( n = 24) reported ( n = 1 in each case): Simultaneous increase in personal and professional demands (e.g., parenting responsibilities, editorial work); academics were not alone in facing challenges; inability to predict changes in Honours marking criteria limited their ability to advise students; ongoing budgetary concerns including salary and research funding; regular meetings are essential to determine where support is needed; humans need human interaction, online meetings are challenging to run; supervising in 2020 was more stressful; contingency plans should be encouraged for supervisors taking on Honours students. Additional survey responses are reported in the Supplementary Material .

Supervisor ratings of the severity of the impact of COVID-19 on student’s research projects was not significantly associated with Honours-related wellbeing.

Honours-Related Psychological Needs and Wellbeing

See Table 2 for a breakdown of supervisor response distributions and means for items regarding supervisor SDT needs, wellbeing, and equity. The highest number of participants agreed with all statements suggesting that our hypotheses predicting supervisor SDT need satisfaction and wellbeing would be low, were not supported. As expected, supervisor ratings of the severity of the impact of COVID-19 on student’s research projects was not significantly associated with wellbeing (Spearmans Rank r = −0.10).

TABLE 2 . Means and response distributions for supervisor agreement with honours SDT needs and wellbeing statements.

The highest number of supervisors “agreed” that Honours students were equitably supported to achieve their research supervision goals in the program. When supervisors were asked if students were equitably supported to achieve their academic goals, of the supervisors that responded to this question ( n = 35), 77.14% responded “yes,” 5.71% responded “no,” and 17.14% responded “not sure.” When asked to explain their answer to this question, supervisors that responded “yes” ( n = 27) reported: Students were well supported by staff, lab members, and the University ( n = 7); while students missed some opportunities, they gained others ( n = 4); and that sufficient compensatory adjustments were made, including adjustments to thesis marking ( n = 8). Supervisors who responded “no” ( n = 2) reported: Differences in individual circumstances (both student and supervisor; n = 1); research progress at time of shutdown ( n = 1); and lack of face-to-face experience (reliance on Zoom; n = 1). Supervisors that responded “not sure” ( n = 6) reported: Not knowing other’s circumstances (n = 1); thesis marking adjustments ( n = 1); and that inherent differences in research topic, supervisor’s expertise etc. mean that all students likely don’t receive the same level of support ( n = 2), although this was consistent with previous years ( n = 1) .

To test whether supervisor’s needs would predict their wellbeing, we conducted simultaneous multiple regression. The overall model was significant R 2 = 0.49, F (4,29) = 7.03, p < 0.001, indicating that the hypothesis was generally supported. Competence was a significant positive predictor of wellbeing (b* = 0.51, t (29) = 2.85, p = 0.008). However, neither relatedness-staff/students (b* = 0.09, t (29) = 0.63, p = 0.513, autonomy (b* = −0.01, t (29) = −0.07, p = 0.948), nor relatedness-university (b* = 0.22, t (29) = 1.27, p = 0.215) significantly predicted wellbeing.

Between-Group Analyses

Impact on research project.

As expected, a chi-square test of independence found no significant association between role (student, supervisor) and self-reported impact of COVID-19 on their original research projects, X 2 (3, N = 60) = 5.03, p = 0.170.

As expected, independent samples t-tests found relatedness-to-staff/students was significantly greater for supervisors (M = 7.79, SD = 0.91) compared to students (M = 5.60, SD = 1.77; note that relatedness ratings were averaged for this comparison), t (47) = −5.75, p < 0.001). Relatedness-to-university communities was significantly greater for supervisors (M = 6.35, SD = 1.43) compared to students (M = 4.67, SD = 2.16), t (47) = −3.23, p = 0.002. Competence was significantly greater for supervisors (M = 7.09, SD = 1.44) compared to students (M = 5.60, SD = 2.20), t (47) = −2.82, p = 0.007. Autonomy was significantly greater for supervisors (M = 7.5, SD = 1.42) compared to students (M = 6.07, SD = 1.67), t (47) = −3.09, p = 0.003, and wellbeing was significantly greater for supervisors (M = 6.33, SD = 1.90) compared to students (M = 4.20, SD = 1.43), t (47) = -4.33, p < 0.001.

General Discussion

Impact and wellbeing.

The specific measure of impact on Honours student’s research projects indicated that there was significant impact. As expected, there was no difference between student’s and supervisor’s impact ratings. The most common impacts reported by students were needing to amend projects and to work online, and by supervisors was that planned experiments were halted/delayed/re-scoped. Unexpectedly, this impact measure was not associated with student wellbeing, even though such wellbeing was, as expected, low, and lower than supervisor wellbeing. It may be that by the time students answered this survey—toward the end of their candidature–they had come to terms with the pandemic-induced changes, regardless of the extent of impact on their research program. As expected, the association between impact and wellbeing for supervisors was not significant. It should be noted that the reliability and validity of the measures used to test these hypotheses have not been established, and thus conclusions are tentative, and further research is needed. For example, the “Impact” question assumes negative impact; respondents may not have interpreted the valence of the impact in that assumed way.

The qualitative data for students (see Supplementary Material : Additional Responses) highlight other aspects of the impact of the pandemic on their research project. For example, many students reported that the worst part of the Honours year was separation from support networks due to the remote nature of the year. Whilst fear of failure, time management, and increased workload intensity are typical concerns of Honours students (i.e., pre-pandemic; Allan, 2011 ), student concerns reported here reflect the novel pandemic context. These concerns were likely more difficult for Honours students to cope with and seek support for, due to the rapidly evolving nature of the pandemic and lack of appropriate support resources. Supervisors reported themes of burnout and increased time commitment (i.e. increased workload) as the worst part about the year. These themes were not apparent in student responses, further suggesting that students’ lived reality of Honours was not more intense or challenging compared to their preCOVID-19 expectations. Professional support networks are usually important for experience and wellbeing of Honours students. However, during the pandemic, the student-supervisor relationship was crucially important. Overall, the need for independent learning was challenging for students due to separation from support networks, project disruptions, and lack of prior research experience.

Complementary qualitative data for supervisors highlighted other aspects of the impact of the pandemic on their research. Novel issues included the increasing need to balance practical and administrative demands with the increased needs of their students, and the transition from face-to-face research project planning and coordination to the challenge of overseeing the research project remotely. While managing such issues is not necessarily novel for Honours supervisors, the sudden and significant increase in demand for supervisors’ time and attention likely led to increased feelings of distress and burnout. Finally, although the pandemic altered mechanisms for providing supervisory support, these were perceived as equitable by most supervisors surveyed.

Need Satisfaction and Wellbeing: Theoretical Implications

According to SDT ( Ryan and Deci, 2000 ), it was expected that students’ Honours-related psychological need satisfaction would be low. This was the case for relatedness-to-university (average “disagree” rating), but not for the other SDT needs. As expected, student wellbeing was low and lower than that for supervisors. These findings, plus the fact that overall, the needs significantly predicted wellbeing, suggest support for SDT as applied in this context. However, the finding that the needs were not individually associated with wellbeing suggests that more work needs to be done (e.g., the creation of a scale with multiple items for each SDT need).

For supervisors, it was expected that Honours needs and wellbeing would be low, however, this was not the case—ratings were most frequently within the “agree” range. Because these ratings occurred at the end of the Honours year, this finding may be reflective of supervisor’s relief in supporting their students to completion. As with the student data, although there is some support for SDT being usefully applied to this specific educational context, more work needs to be done (e.g., improving measurement validity and reliability).

The relatedness-university statement was not endorsed by students and was the least endorsed SDT need for supervisors. Note that most Honours students in this cohort would have undertaken their Bachelor degree at the same institution, and most supervisors would have been employed by the institution for many years. Thus, the stress of the pandemic experience may have contributed to these ratings.

The majority of students and supervisors agreed that students were equitably supported (for detailed summaries, see Supplementary Material ). Students noted that equitable support was contingent on the quality of the student-supervisor relationship. Access to resources (including facilities and staff), and agency in assessment changes were also important. Similarly, supervisors noted that although there are likely differences in student experiences, on average these differences remained consistent despite the pandemic. Regarding the pandemic context, supervisors noted that students were well supported, and appropriate adjustments were made.

Wellbeing Profile

Our participants completed the WB-Pro ( Marsh et al., 2020 ) as part of the general survey. Please see the Supplementary Material for details of the WB-Pro responses and how they relate to both 1) the Honours SDT needs and wellbeing variables and 2) the original report regarding age differences ( Marsh et al., 2020 ). Findings relevant to understanding the Honours student and supervisor experience are briefly reported here.

Student average WB-Pro ratings appear to be lower than Marsh et al. (2020) sample (as reported by James Donald, personal communication, 15th March, 2021), while supervisor average WB-Pro ratings appear to be similar. Responses to the Honours wellbeing items correlated with the both student and supervisor average WB-Pro Average ratings. These WB-Pro Average ratings were higher for supervisors than for students.

Consistent with Marsh et al. (2020) , we observed age differences for some dimensional factors (e.g., supervisors had higher competence ratings than students; supervisors were on average 20 years older). However, compared to Marsh et al. (2020) , both students and supervisors in our sample appeared to provide lower ratings of optimism, and higher ratings of positive relationships. Amongst supervisors, the decreased lack of predictability regarding the future (e.g., job security) may have reduced optimism, whilst at the same time, there may have been an increased emphasis on positive relationships because isolation experiences highlighted the value of such relationships.

Limitations

Our conclusions are restricted by the following limitations. Firstly, the cross-sectional design administered close to research submission limits our ability to make strong causal inferences about the impact of the pandemic. Future studies could examine the longitudinal impact of the pandemic on research experience and wellbeing. Nevertheless, a potential strength of the paper is that the cross-sectional surveys were conducted toward the end of the candidature for most participants, rather than retrospectively. The data are of high validity since both students and supervisors were most acutely affected during the survey participation window.

Secondly, our measures could be improved, and validity better tested by considering standard student course satisfaction ratings and student academic grade data. Thirdly, selection bias should be considered, given the small sample size. The survey link was sent to all students and supervisors in participating Honours programs, allowing for selection of a random sample. However, it is possible our sample is non-random. For example, perhaps resilient students and supervisors were more motivated to participate. Alternatively, students and supervisors whose experience was more adversely impacted may have been more motivated to participate.

Whilst we surveyed students about their experiences transitioning from on-campus to conducting research from home, and how they coped with the absence of face-to-face academic support systems, these questions were not asked of supervisors. This is a limitation; however, open-ended written survey responses from supervisors provided an avenue to address supervisor concerns and assisted in providing recommendations for supervisors to manage their Honours related activities during the pandemic (see below). We recommend future survey questions address supervisors transition to working-from-home and whether supervisor were, for example, in a carer role, and how this impacted their Honours supervisor duties.

Our small sample also prevented us from performing Honours program (e.g., Medical Sciences vs. Psychology) specific analyses, or stratifying for sex, age, or cultural background. Additionally, we did not distinguish between the testing of human subjects online compared to face-to-face, or capture the duration of disruptions to Honours experience when measuring the impact of the pandemic.

Practical Implications and Recommendations

During 2020, Honours students and supervisors surveyed in this study were expected to rapidly adjust to new strategies for conducting research, including working remotely. Moving forward, research students around the world remain concerned about whether they will be able to initiate and complete their research lab work ( Blankstein et al., 2020 ; Elmer and Durocher 2020 ). In the lead up to survey participation, the College Crisis Initiative Data Dashboard (August 2020) indicated that only a quarter of the surveyed 2981 US universities and colleges planned to open their campuses in person, suggesting ongoing disruption to research training. Based on the outcomes of this study, we address practical implications for moving research projects forward and recommend strategies for addressing the situation of COVID-19 uncertainty. Explicit curricular and extracurricular environmental strategies can be put in place, including 1) online as well as face-to-face support mechanisms to strengthen relatedness with peers, supervisors, and the wider university community (note that many institutions offer totally online Honours programs; we could learn from their experience; see Rodafinos et al., 2018 , and 2) opportunities to further develop self-management, which is the capacity to effectively pursue meaningful goals and to be flexible in the face of set-backs ( Cranney et al., 2016 ), and includes skills such as time management and resilience (e.g, Stallman, 2011 ). Resilient individuals are more capable of dealing with uncertainty and seeking necessary social support ( Ozbay et al., 2007 ) which should mitigate against the psychologically adverse consequences of COVID-19 ( Labrague, 2021 ).

Based on the findings reported in this paper (including the detailed comments and suggestions provided by both students and supervisors, as reported also in the Supplementary Material ), we make the following specific recommendations:

• Preparing a contingency research plan, which is entirely executable remotely, is a recommended strategy to reduce the adverse aspects of COVID-19 restrictions on the project, including the associated stress response ( Ozbay et al., 2007 ). Key considerations in developing an appropriate contingency plan include acknowledging at the early stages that scientific research rarely goes exactly as planned, identification of possible challenges to the research methods and likely solutions, and instilling attitudes of perseverance and optimism to assist the research process.

• Prior to project commencement, discussion should occur between Honours students, supervisors, and Honours program convenors to determine if the planned research is feasible. Can the research questions be addressed, the hypotheses tested, and the experiments carried out in a COVID-safe way? If not, modifications to adjust the project questions and hypotheses could be effective in managing expectations. Strategies such as expanding the literature review to a systematic review or meta-analysis, that could comprise the entire research project if it becomes impossible to collect new empirical data, should be considered as a back-up plan, from the outset.

• Stringent accreditation standards maintained by the academic discipline may dictate the research requirements to achieve an Honours degree and the minimum requirement for further (Masters or PhD) study. Therefore, any revision of the proposed student project should be discussed with the program convenor to ensure that the student remains capable of achieving the relevant standard for degree completion.

• There are detrimental effects of working remotely, including limited ability to connect with others, and reliance on support networks external to the university for social connection and support. We recommend implementation of wellbeing interventions to ensconce students in a wider research community, including a digital platform to create a community environment, overcome the limited human interactions, and foster a social presence ( Chen and Jang, 2010 ; Kim et al., 2011 ; Fiock, 2020 ; Munoz et al., 2021 ; see also https://teaching.unsw.edu.au/healthyuni-main/cc-practical-examples .

• Until the pandemic eases, line managers should take measures to lighten the load of supervisors, for example by 1) monitoring supervisor’s teaching and administrative load, and finding creative solutions to provide institutional support for Honours students, and 2) encouraging prospective Honours students to take program leave if the project requires access to campus.

• Pre-pandemic, Honours supervisors had expertise in supervising in a face-to-face setting, but little experience of how to supervise remotely (see Thorpe, 2010 ). Furthermore, a lack of universal online teaching experiences meant Honours students and their supervisors were unprepared for remote learning and solely online communications. Major challenges to supervision include difficulty in connecting Honours students with academic support systems remotely, loss of incidental student learning through peers, and building relationships and communicating with students solely online. Therefore, strategies that closely replicate the organic traditionally on-campus experiences need to be sourced and built into online supervision communication strategies ( Fiock, 2020 ; Munoz et al., 2021 ). For example, use real-time online communication platforms such as Teams, or Slack.

• Honours supervisors could develop ways to engage and motivate students online, to reduce isolation (e.g., create an online community with synchronous e-meetings, for research collaboration), and promote self-directed learning and autonomy (e.g., gather specific feedback on a regular scheduled basis and provide avenues for students to seek additional assistance if required). Supervisors may need to provide more scaffolds for students who are less comfortable with autonomous learning, which is key to Honours progress. The long-term benefits of online reframing of the Honours supervisory approach during COVID-19 include enabling Honours supervision of a project internationally or during sabbatical leave.

To our knowledge, this is the first study to incorporate both student and supervisor perspectives on the impact of COVID-19. This dual data set provides a unique opportunity to compare student and supervisor impact perceptions and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, this study focuses specifically on the Honours program, which is an essential training ground for future researchers in a number of English-speaking countries. This is important because the Honours experience is distinct in many ways (predominantly research focussed, short timeline), although many of the same issues have been reported in doctoral training (e.g., Wang and DeLaquil, 2020 ). Despite the restricted conclusions drawn (e.g., due to small sample size), our findings provide interesting insights into the perceptions and wellbeing of Honours students and supervisors during the COVID-19 pandemic. If the recommendations are implemented, such measures should not only buffer the negative impact of future pandemic restrictions, but also facilitate a more constructive approach to, and productive result for the Honours experience for both students and supervisors, in both pandemic and non-pandemic times.

Data Availability Statement

The raw data supporting the conclusion of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Ethics Statement

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by the UNSW Human Research Ethics Committee (approval number: HREAP 3403), and participants gave their informed, written consent to take part in this study.

Author Contributions

NK, JC, and BS contributed to conception and design of the study. ES organized the database. ES performed the statistical analysis. JC, ES, NK, and BS wrote sections of the manuscript. All authors contributed to manuscript revision, read, and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the UNSW School of Medical Science’s Research Support Committee, and the UNSW School of Psychology for their generous support of this project. We also thank Catherine Viengkham for her assistance with qualitative coding, and Cristan Herbert for his helpful comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript.

Supplementary Material

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2021.758960/full#supplementary-material

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Keywords: COVID-19, wellbeing, honours, self-determination theory, research supervision, student experience

Citation: Kumar NN, Summerell E, Spehar B and Cranney J (2021) Experiences of Honours Research Students and Supervisors During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Pilot Study Framed by Self-Determination Theory. Front. Educ. 6:758960. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2021.758960

Received: 15 August 2021; Accepted: 16 September 2021; Published: 12 October 2021.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2021 Kumar, Summerell, Spehar and Cranney. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Natasha N. Kumar, [email protected]

This article is part of the Research Topic

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• Students should contact an appropriate HMKN faculty member to discuss a potential project, faculty expectations, completion date, and evaluation. It is highly suggested that this be done at least 3-4 months prior to the expected enrollment. Enrollment occurs in June of each year.
• Complete the Honour’s application form (see Student forms) should then be signed by the supervising faculty member and the student.
• Once the Contract has been signed, the student will be registered by emailing the signed contract (both supervisor and student) to the School Assistant ( [email protected] ).

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HES Undergraduate Office Email: [email protected] Office:  ARTS 360

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The Libraries hold all UCT masters and doctoral theses. Honours theses are kept by the academic departments to which they were submitted. Access UCT theses on the UCT institutional repository, Open UCT.

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The School honours the remarkable research work of 2023

Awards and prizes for the msc program and the phd program.

May 8, 2024

The MSc in Administration program and the PhD in Administration program presented the best doctoral thesis award, the best Master’s thesis award, and the Esdras Minville Award for 2023, during a ceremony held at Le Cercle on April 30.

3 awards were given for the best doctoral thesis defended in 2023:

• Best thesis in Human and Social Sciences : Théophile Demazure , under the co-supervision of Professors Pierre-Majorique Léger and Marc Fredette.
• Best thesis in Natural Sciences : Mehran Poursoltani , under the co-supervision of Professors Erick Delage and Angelos Georghiou.
• Best thesis written in French : Mireille Mercier-Roy , under the supervision of Professor Chantale Mailhot.

The best Master’s thesis award was presented to Laurie-Anne St-Pierre whose thesis entitled “ L’effet du quartier; une analyse de la microgéographie des processus d’échange de connaissances ” was co-supervised by Professors David Doloreux and Anthony Frigon.

Lastly, the 2023 Esdras Minville Award was presented to Xin Wang for an article that was accepted for publication in Transportation Science .

A $2,000 prize was awarded to the winner of the best Master’s thesis award, and a $3,000 prize was awarded to the other winners.

Théophile Demazure

Theophile Demazure’s PhD thesis is entitled: “ Dual Perspective on Mental State Inferences in Human-Computer Interaction: A three-essay thesis proposal ”.

It explores various methodologies for assessing mental state constructs of Information Systems users during Human-Machine Interaction (HMI).

Several challenges related to estimating these mental states were identified, by adopting the NeuroIS approach. This in-depth research proposes two distinct approaches for addressing them: the first one utilizes a data-driven methodology, employing advanced machine learning techniques for mental state decoding, and the second one takes a more hypothetico-deductive perspective and draws on the current understanding of multisensory integration and its interplay with attention.

By adopting both these methodologies, this thesis contributes to advancing the field of NeuroIS and the measure of mental state during IS use.

Consult Théophile Demazure’s thesis

From left to right: Pierre-Majorique Léger, Théophile Demazure, Camille Grange and Guy Paré

Mehran poursoltani.

Mehran Poursoltani’s thesis is entitled “ Regret Minimization in Multistage Decision Problems ” and explores the concept of regret minimization from a computational perspective for multistage decision contexts.

Through this research work, the author was able to develop novel modeling paradigms, advance solution methods and identify an interesting phenomenon in the contexts of inventory, routing, and financial portfolio management.

Despite computational challenges, this thesis proposes algorithmic approaches based on robust optimization to address these problems and apply them to various practical areas like inventory management, portfolio selection and the shortest path problem.

Consult Mehran Poursoltani’s thesis

From left to right: Erick Delage, Mehran Poursoltani and Guy Paré

Mireille mercier-roy.

Mireille Mercier-Roy’s thesis is entitled “ L’organisation des relations multiespèces au temps de l’Anthropocène – Une approche compositionniste ”.

Consisting of two scientific articles, this research work focuses on the organizational challenges linked to the involvement of other species, particularly animal species, which are conducive to the complexification of management efforts.

The author critiques the anthropocentric nature of conceptual frameworks in organizational studies. As a result, she relies on the work of philosophers Donna Haraway and Vinciane Despret to formulate a research approach that better accounts for the presence and participation of other species, particularly animal species, in organizational processes.

She thus develops a perspective that she calls “compositionist”. This considers organizations as multispecies communities and shifts the focus away from humans and their doings, thus offering an alternative for understanding and managing interactions between different living entities.

The author illustrates this approach by reconceptualizing grand challenges as processes of arbitration between modes of existence and by analyzing a controversy over the management of an urban park to highlight the political work and organizational dynamics and define the modalities of inclusion and exclusion of species in the shared space.

Consult Mireille Mercier-Roy’s thesis

From left to right: Chantale Mailhot, Mireille Mercier-Roy, Jean-François Soublière and Guy Paré

Laurie-anne st-pierre.

Laurie-Anne St-Pierre’s Master’s thesis is entitled “ L’effet du quartier; une analyse de la microgéographie des processus d’échange de connaissances ”.

This research deals with the role of microgeography in knowledge exchanges, focusing on two Montréal neighbourhoods, Mile-End and Chabanel. The comparative study seeks to understand the role of the neighbourhood and geographical proximity in bringing together different stakeholders and promoting exchanges. Its purpose is also to explore how third places in neighbourhoods promote knowledge exchanges between actors from different industries.

Consult Laurie-Anne St-Pierre’s Master’s thesis

From left to right: David Doloreux, Laurie-Anne St-Pierre, Charlotte Cloutier and Sihem Taboubi

The paper, which is co-authored by Xin Wang and Professors Erick Delage and Okan Arslan, is entitled “ Crowdkeeping in Last-mile Delivery ”. It was published in Transportation Science.

In order to improve the efficiency of the last-mile delivery system when customers are possibly absent for deliveries, the research team advocates the idea of employing the crowd to work as keepers and to provide storage services for their neighbours. Crowdkeepers provide extra flexibility, more availability, and lower costs than fixed storages such as automated lockers and improve the overall efficiency of the delivery system. A bi-level program is proposed to optimize the assignment, routing, and pricing decisions, while considering customer preferences, keeper behaviors, and operational efficiency.

Results based on a real-world dataset from Amazon show that the crowdkeeping delivery system has the potential to generate higher profits due to its ability to consolidate deliveries and to eliminate failed deliveries.

Consult Xin Wang’s article

From left to right: Erick Delage, Xin Wang and Guy Paré

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