Guide Outline
Paper Guidelines | Submission to the Honors College | Submission to Scholar Commons | Thesis Binding
Paper Guidelines
Style and Length
Ultimately, details, such as length, style and format, are left to the discretion of the thesis director. Generally, the length of a research-based thesis should mirror the length of a chapter or journal manuscript in that field. Some typical page ranges might include:
- Humanities: 45 – 60 pages
- Social sciences: 30 – 40 pages
- Math, natural sciences, or pre-professional disciplines: 25 – 30 pages
- Critical introduction for project-based thesis: 7 – 10 pages (minimum)
Required Components
All thesis projects are required to have a written component, and the paper must include the following elements:
Use the template thesis title page provided online.
The thesis director and second reader must sign the title page for the thesis to be approved by SCHC. Electronic signatures are permitted. The title page should include a space for Dean Lynn’s signature, but students do not need to have him sign the title page before submission. Students can request a fully signed title page (including Dean Lynn’s signature) from the SCHC Thesis Director after the thesis has been approved.
For traditional, research-based thesis projects, an abstract is preferred. This is a brief description of your research aim or purpose, the methods used, key findings, and implications for research or practice. A summary written in less formal language than an abstract or introduction might be a more appropriate choice for creative or project-based theses.
List the major sections of your paper, beginning with the introduction. Include the beginning page number for each section.
For a research-based thesis, the paper may adopt the organization of a manuscript that could be submitted to an academic journal. For a project-based thesis, students will submit a critical introduction as the written component, a short essay (7 to 10 pages) that explores the various aesthetic, theoretical, social, or historical influences on the project. It identifies specific individuals, artifacts, or genres that shaped the approach and may describe pitfalls the student sought to avoid. The introduction describes the overall approach to creating the project and situates it within the context of the specific influences cited. The essay might also discuss a specific question the work explores or its purpose.
All thesis projects will engage some type of outside source material. As such, students must appropriately cite all work not their own that has informed the development of the thesis project. Students should choose the citation style that is most appropriate for the discipline in which they are working.
In addition to the thesis paper, students completing a project-based thesis are also required to submit evidence of the project. This might include products such as scripts, links to audio and video files, physical or electronic portfolios, print or pdf books/booklets, screenshots from apps or video games, links to websites housing the project.
Depending on the type of project, students may choose to include appendices or supplementary information (e.g., documentation of a creative or applied project, plan set for engineering capstone) in their thesis submission. These can be incorporated into the primary thesis submission or uploaded as a separate file. Supplementary files can be DOCX, PDF, JPG, or MP3; however, file size is limited. Large supplementary files should be stored on an accessible cloud server with a link embedded in the thesis paper.
To sum up, all thesis projects must include a signed thesis title page in the appropriate format, an abstract or summary, a table of contents, and a paper (either the project itself or the introduction to the project. Students completing a project-based thesis must also submit evidence of work completed during the project.
Submission to the Honors College
The thesis is due to the Honors College on the last class day of the major semester in which a student completes the final thesis credits, even if the student plans to graduate in a future submission. Students should upload their thesis to the Senior Thesis Submission form.
Preparing the submission file
Your thesis submission should include all required components in a single document (i.e., signed title page, summary or abstract, table of contents, body of paper, works cited or references). Appendices may be included in the submission file or uploaded separately. Adobe Acrobat Pro allows students to insert, delete, and reorder pages of a pdf. If you don’t have a license for this software, it is available in the computer lab on Level 5 in Thomas Cooper. Mac users can do this using the Preview program. I Love PDF and Small PDF are online services that allow you to merge separate pdf files. Step-by-step instructions for merging multiple documents into a single pdf follow:
- Once all edits have been made to the thesis file, save or export the final version to pdf.
- Scan the signed title page and save it as a pdf. The copier in the computer lab on the first floor of Harper can scan to pdf.
- Open the thesis file and insert the title page as a new page at the beginning of the document. Delete the unsigned version of the title page if it is the file. Other pdf file pages can be inserted at this point if needed.
- Save the file.
The maximum file size the submission form will accept is 25MB. If the final pdf version exceeds this limit, use the file compression tool in Adobe Acrobat or an online pdf service to reduce the file size. Audio and video files and graphic-intensive projects can be stored on an accessible cloud server. Students should include the link to files within the thesis submission.
Submission to Scholar Commons
Scholar Commons is an online institutional repository to gather faculty research, graduate theses and dissertations, and historical and institutional documents. It also houses Honors College senior thesis projects. Honors students are strongly encouraged to submit their final thesis projects to Scholar Commons.
On occasion, there is a need for delayed release, commonly referred to as an embargo. An embargo may be appropriate for some types of creative work, intellectual property with commercial implications, politically sensitive materials and limited other types of work. When submitting your thesis to Scholar Commons, you can select one of the following options:
- Release the work immediately for worldwide access on the internet via Scholar Commons.
- Secure the work for two years, and then release the work for worldwide access on the internet.
- I do not want my senior thesis made available via Scholar Commons.
Due to privacy concerns, students should remove the signed thesis title page from their thesis file prior to upload.
Scholar Commons submission instructions | Submit your thesis to Scholar Commons
Thesis Binding
It is customary for students to present their thesis/project director with a bound copy of the thesis. Such thoughtfulness is seen as a professional courtesy.
Students can submit a thesis for binding through the HF Group website: Thesis On Demand. After submitting the required contact information and paper for binding, you will select the following options:
- Red book with cloth cover material
- Gold lettering on the spine (no front cover printing)
- 60# weight paper, single side printing.
Students will pay HF Group directly.