The department encourages students with sufficient background for independent work to enroll in the honors
program for their senior year. Pursuing honors involves engaging in a significant amount of independent
research, the culmination of which is a written thesis. To be admitted, students must have at least a 3.3
grade point average, and must satisfy additional requirements as described in the Bulletin of the College
of Arts and Sciences. To pass, the thesis must be judged acceptable by the honors committee.
Writing an honors thesis is a considerable undertaking, and requires motivation and advance
planning. Please consult the clickable timeline (below) for information on the different stages of writing an
honors thesis. The links on the right provide additional information.