Option 1: Complete an Honors thesis

Honors Programs offered:
Honors in [Name of Discipline] (TU)

As a student in the Honors program, you’ll develop your own independent project, while learning how your interests relate to relevant disciplinary discourse, other academic disciplines and the world beyond academia. The ultimate goal of the Honors program experience is to complete and defend an Honors thesis. You’ll do this by working closely with a faculty member over the course of your education at Oglethorpe. You’ll be required to present your thesis at the annual Symposium in the Liberal Arts and Sciences. As an Honors program graduate, you’ll be particularly prepared to pursue graduate study.

If you’re interested in the Honors program, the first step is to learn about the program from section 9 of the University Bulletin. You may then apply for admission to the program at the end of your sophomore year or the beginning of your junior year. Acceptance into the program allows you to register for HON 301, the first course in the Honors series. Complete and submit the Honors program application below when you’re ready to begin!

Option 2: Convert any course into an Honors course

If you have a strong interest in a particular area of study, you can apply to convert any course for which you’ve already registered into an Honors course. Upon successful completion, the the class will be marked with an “H” designation on your transcript to indicate that honors-level coursework was completed. This option is open to students at all grade levels. You’ll need to go above and beyond what is normally required for the course, and get your plans approved by the Honors Committee. First, learn about this option in section 9.23 of the University Bulletin. Then review the information in the Honors credit conversion guide for assistance in completing and submitting an Honors credit conversion application. This process must be repeated for every course you wish to convert to Honors.

Application for Psychology majors includes completion of all university honors requirements and

• Development of a novel research hypothesis (i.e., not previously conducted) that would make a contribution to the psychological literature
• A written project proposal outlining the study rationale, proposed method, and hypothesized results
• Completion of an oral defense of the proposed research (attended by the honors committee – thesis advisor and two secondary faculty readers)
• Submission and acceptance of the research by the Oglethorpe Internal Review Board (IRB)
• Data collection
• Data analysis using SPSS
• A final thesis paper outlining the background literature, study rationale, method, results, and discussion
• Completion of an oral defense of the completed research (attended by the honors committee – thesis advisor and two secondary faculty readers)

Timeline for Honors in Psychology

Junior Year

Fall:

• Secure a thesis supervisor
• Complete a Psychology Department Application for Honors
• Take HON 301 (can be taken in the Fall or Spring of Junior year)
• Begin reading literature and refining ideas

Spring:

• Take HON 301 (can be taken in the Fall or Spring of Junior year)
• Write project proposal
• Submit to IRB
• Complete oral defense of proposal

Senior Year

Fall:

• Take HON 401
• Collect data

Spring:

• Take HON 402
• Finish data collection
• Analyze data
• Write final thesis paper
• Complete oral defense of research

PLEASE NOTE: The psychology department will attempt to accommodate as many honors students as possible, but there is no guarantee that all requests for honors supervision will be accommodated. There is a limit to how many honors projects a professor can supervise while still maintaining a high level of integrity and quality.