Students in the Dean's Scholars and many Health Science Scholars write departmental theses.
Quick Links and Resources
Getting Started
Before beginning your thesis, read all our guidelines and check in with the Honors Advisor for your department. Find advisors’ names and contact information.
- Please be sure to let your advisor know when you are planning to graduate.
- Make sure that both you and your research supervisor understand the process and deadlines.
Read the information below for more details on the Departmental Honors Thesis and general instructions for the format.
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Supervision
The supervising professor will generally be a faculty member in the department granting the degree. Students may do thesis research in another department in our college, in another department outside our college, or even at another institution. In those cases, however, the department in which the degree is earned must have a faculty member willing to co-supervise the work and co-sign the thesis.
There should be at least two faculty members approving the thesis. One will be the supervising professor and the other is the department Honors Advisor. The co-supervising professor must also approve the thesis, if the primary supervisor is not a member of the department.
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Level
Most departments have guidelines for the honors thesis. Talk with the Honors Advisor in your department before you begin writing the thesis to be certain you understand the requirements and expectations. In general, the thesis should be a scholarly work that shows the writer’s knowledge of the relevant scholarship in the field and contributes to that scholarship. The project being described should define an unresolved problem in the field, and you should indicate what you have done to push towards resolution of the problem.
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Elements
- Abstract: The abstract, which briefly defines the problem and summarizes your results is generally 1 – 2 pages and is written at a level readable by almost any undergraduate in the College.
- Background: This section defines the problem, including the importance and background, and provides a scholarly review of the relevant literature in the field. This section should be readable by any Dean’s Scholar.
- Results: This section describes your work. The format for this will differ, depending on the field, and should satisfy your supervising professor.
- Discussion: You should provide a discussion of your results and how they fit into the bigger picture. This should not be a repetition of the results. Instead, you should focus on the interpretation and significance of your data. If there were unexpected results or approaches that were unsuccessful, you can explain that in the discussion. You may also describe additional experiments or approaches that you would use if you were to continue with the project. This section should be readable by any Dean’s Scholar.
- Bibliography: An alphabetized list of all published information referred to in the body of the thesis.
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Length
This is area-dependent. Some documents may have many pages of data or software (perhaps in appendices) and others may not. Talk with your supervising professor or the Honors Advisor in your department to ascertain their expectations.
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Format
A hard copy will be given to the supervising professor(s) for approval. The cover page will have a place for the supervising professor’s signature, indicating that the thesis meets the department’s requirements for the honors degree. A copy of the signed cover page and a hard copy or PDF of the thesis should be given to the Honors faculty advisor by the stated deadline.
UT maintains a website with all theses to serve as a guide for future students and to show the outstanding research that is being done by our students. Unless you object to having your thesis available online or your supervising professor does not want the data made available prior to formal publication, please complete the permission sheet and turn it in to Texas ScholarWorks along with a PDF of your thesis.
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Presentation
A publicly announced oral presentation or participation in the College of Natural Sciences Undergraduate Research Forum is expected.
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Deadlines
The presentations should be prior to exam week, and the final documents are due by the dates indicated on the department guidelines. Check with your readers to determine their deadlines for reading and signing the document, but plan to turn in your thesis to your readers in time to allow them at least 2 weeks to read and approve the thesis. The PDF or hard copy and a copy of the signed cover page should be given to the Honors faculty advisor by the date indicated on the department guidelines.