Honors Senior Theses

The Honors Senior Thesis serves as a culminating academic experience for students in the Drake University Honors Program. It provides an opportunity to delve deeply into a question of personal interest, potentially extending beyond one's major field of study, demonstrate the interdisciplinary learning fostered by the Honors Program, and showcase advanced research and critical thinking skills.

This capstone project offers students a specially designed time and structure to develop ideas prompted by coursework or those that have grown out of other learning experiences. It is an opportunity to do reading and pursue interests outside the structure of the classroom. The directed research involves a project that results in a product, such as a research paper, scientific experiment, or creative work. The interdisciplinary project, which is typically outside the student's academic concentration, is coordinated with the Honors Program and completed in conjunction with a Drake faculty adviser from outside of their major.

The thesis must be an original work, culminate in a tangible deliverable that adheres to professional standards of the chosen field(s), and be the result of work with a faculty mentor knowledgeable in the chosen field(s). Successful Theses address a question or issue that benefits from the integration of multiple disciplines (interdisciplinary) and demonstrate a level of intellectual intensity exceeding typical undergraduate work.  

Honors Senior Thesis students who fulfill all of the Honors Track requirements, maintain a minimum GPA of 3.2 by the end of their graduating year, and successfully complete Honors Senior Thesis earning a grade of "B" or higher are eligible to graduate with University Honors.

The Honors Senior Thesis process and requirements

1. Students register for HONR 199 (3 credits). Registration is limited to seniors in the Honors Program. In special circumstances, a student in their junior year may obtain approval from the Director to complete the thesis before their senior year. 
2. Prior to the semester in which a student intends to complete the Honors Senior Thesis, they will complete a Preliminary Honors Senior Thesis form that outlines the general idea, issue, and/or questions they intend to investigate or answer through their project.
3. Just before or during the first few weeks of the thesis semester, students will finalize plans with their thesis advisor and then complete the Honors Senior Thesis agreement. For this agreement, students to prepare a 1-2 page proposal summary of a broadly interdisciplinary topic for faculty project mentor and Honors Program Director signatures of approval and is due within two weeks of the start of the semester 
4. Students will then do the research and writing for their thesis project.
5. Approximately 4 weeks from the end of the semester, students will present their findings at a student/faculty forum (and students may invite friends and family, too).
6. Afterward, a copy of the presentation will be posted and made temporarily available to the Drake community so the wider Drake community can see the nature and depth of the interdisciplinary question(s) being studied. And they may learn from it, too. 
7. Students will then make revisions or continue to finalize their thesis. On a date arranged with their thesis advisors, students will submit their final "product" for their advisor to assess.