honors thesis proposal uky

Honors Thesis

Prereq: Lewis Honors students only.

The Honors thesis provides a culmination to an Honors student's academic career. The Honors thesis should be an outgrowth of the student's academic work, rooted in their chosen discipline, in most cases in the student's major or minor. In cases where a student has multiple majors, minors, or interdisciplinary interests that are not captured in a major or minor, the student should work with their Honors academic advisor to identify a topic that is supported by their academic work. The Honors thesis offers an opportunity-along with the responsibility-for a student to work with a faculty member on a research or creative project which integrates and expands on previous work and which documents their contribution to the discipline in an appropriate manner. An Honors thesis proposal must be submitted and approved by the faculty member advising the project and the Lewis Honors College. May be repeated up to nine credits.

The Honors thesis provides a culmination to an Honors student's academic career. The Honors thesis should be an outgrowth of the student's academic work, rooted in their chosen discipline, in most cases in the student's major or minor. In cases where a student has multiple majors, minors, or interdisciplinary interests that are not captured in a major or minor, the student should work with their Honors academic advisor to identify a topic that is supported by their academic work. The Honors thesis offers an opportunity-along with the responsibility-for a student to work with a faculty member on a research or creative project which integrates and expands on previous work and which documents their contribution to the discipline in an appropriate manner. An Honors thesis proposal must be submitted and approved by the faculty member advising the project and the Lewis Honors College. May be repeated up to nine credits.

UKnowledge > Lewis Honors College > Thesis Collection

Lewis Honors College Thesis Collection

Submissions from 2023 2023.

IL-1R1 Within the Meningeal Lymphatic System , Nolan Abdelsayed

Effects of Translocation on Eastern Black-Tailed Rattlesnakes (Crotalus ornatus) in the Northern Chihuahuan Desert , Jacob A. Coffman

Clutch Analysis and Design for the Wildcat Pulling Team Quarter Scale Tractor Drivetrain , Lauren Doyle

Born from Myth, Built Anew: Seneca’s Medea as a Stoic Cautionary Tale , Rebekah Dyche

High Volume Multiplex Staining of Mouse Model in Alzheimer’s Associated Disease Pathology , Chloe Embry

Advocating for Comprehensive Sex Education in Kentucky , Kylie Higgins

A Literature Review on Inclusive Pedagogy and How Instructors can create Inclusive and Effective Classroom Groups , Johnathan K. Hurley

Appalachian Adolsescence: A Creative Exploration of Home, Nature, and Social Progress , Eleni Karelis

An Analysis of the Clear Horizons Program in Perry County, Kentucky on Smoking Cessation , Julia Kollitz

Implementing a Service Dog Registration in the United States , Avary Martin

A Brief Mindfulness Intervention and its Effect on Stress Response and Recovery: Rumination as a Moderator. , Kacie Peters

College Athletes as Defendants in Rape Trials: The Impact on Legal Decision-Making , Sophia Salyers

Creating Change in Pediatric Health Disparities: Utilizing SystemsBased Thinking to Overcome Disparities Affecting Pediatric Type 1 Diabetes in Kentucky , Sydney Speed

Early Childhood Language and Literacy Development Programs for Autism Spectrum Disorder and d/Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students , Mayson Spillman

Cyborgs, Dolls and Passing Narratives: Trans-femininity in Popular Music , Quinn J. Troia

Submissions from 2022 2022

Juror Perceptions of Heterosexual and Same-Sex Spousal Rape in the Courtroom , Haley D. Hintz

Submissions from 2021 2021

Visualizing Barrier Dysfunction Using CLARITY , Rachel Robbe

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Senior Honors Thesis

PSY 495/496: Senior Thesis Research

Senior Honors Thesis Program Application: PSY 495/496

What is it? The senior honors thesis program is a two-semester capstone course in psychology, designed for senior majors who are considering going on to graduate school in psychology. The student works closely with a faculty mentor on an individual research project.

During the Fall semester the students are required to develop a research study, write up the introduction and method of their proposal, and do an oral presentation of their proposed study to faculty and students during finals week.

During the Spring semester students are required to collect the data for their study, analyze and write up the results, and then present a poster of their study to faculty and students during Psychology Day, usually the last day of the Spring semester.

PSY495/496 Class: During both semesters the students in the class meet one hour per week with the class instructor. During the class time students discuss research issues (e.g., how to write an introduction, how to plan their analyses), professional issues (e.g., how to get into graduate school, how to interview for graduate school), and present their projects for feedback to their fellow students.

Course requirements: The academic requirements for the class include: a Psychology GPA of at least 3.6, at least a grade of B in both PSY 215 and 216, and senior standing. The most important requirement is to have a faculty sponsor. This is usually accomplished by doing one or two 395 sections with a faculty member so that he/she can assess your motivation and academic potential for the 495/496 classes. Most faculty sponsor at most only one student a year, so it is important that students have developed a good working relationship with the faculty.

Other information: It is important that students hit the ground running at the beginning of the Fall semester. Many students and faculty find that it is helpful to actually start the research project (e.g., reading articles, collecting data) during the summer preceding the senior year. The university offers a limited number of fellowships to support undergraduate students during the summer, and this possibility can be discussed with your faculty sponsor.

The Senior Honors Thesis Program is the single best preparation for graduate school that is offered in the Department of Psychology.

Students must commit to participate in both semesters. Even if you plan to graduate in December of your senior year it is worth staying around for another semester to be able to participate in the program. We even have had students participate in the program after they have graduated because they feel they did not get sufficient preparation for graduate school during their undergraduate years.

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Submission of Theses and Dissertations

Finding theses and dissertations, copyright registration, orcid id for researchers, new master's theses released on uknowledge.

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The Graduate School at the University of Kentucky implemented a policy in Fall 2013 that requires all finalized master's theses and doctoral dissertations to be submitted to UKnowledge and made freely accessible online.  Depositing theses and dissertations in UKnowledge enhances their online visibility and discoverability.  It does not require authors to transfer copyright to the university.  Templates for theses and dissertations are available online.  Information about preparing theses and dissertations are available here .  A thesis/dissertation submission guide is available to walk you through the submission process. 

Students should pay attention to these issues before submitting their theses/dissertations:

• The ETD approval form must be filled out, signed by both the advisor and the Director of Graduate Studies, and uploaded to UKnowledge with the thesis/dissertation as instructed in the submission guide.
• Students wishing to request an embargo on their theses/dissertations (i.e., a delay in online access) should discuss it with their thesis/dissertation committee chair (or co-chairs if any).  If the committee chair(s) supports the embargo, they must indicate it on their ETD approval form.
• Students should ensure that their theses/dissertations are free of errors.
• Students have to follow the Preparation of Theses and Dissertations guidelines to convert their theses/dissertations to PDF format. 

If you have any questions about preparing your thesis/dissertation, please contact the Degree Certification Officer assigned to your department/program.  If you reuse copyrighted materials in your thesis/dissertation and have questions about it, feel free to contact Digital Scholarship in UK Libraries for assistance.

Theses and dissertations completed by University of Kentucky students can be found in InfoKat Discovery . For new theses and dissertations that have just been released, they may be findable on UKnowledge only until after they have been added to InfoKat Discovery.

Other resources for finding theses and dissertations include:

• EBSCO Open Dissertations
• Thesis Commons

Students as authors by default hold the copyright of their theses and dissertations.  Regarding whether to register copyright of a thesis or dissertation, the Authors Alliance has discussed some of the benefits and explained how to register copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office .  For more information and resources concerning various aspects of author rights, visit this tab of the Open Access guide .  If you have questions about copyright ownership, please contact Digital Scholarship in UK Libraries for assistance. 

There is an international initiative that addresses problems related to confirming the identity of researchers with similar or the same name. It is ORCID , which issues unique identifiers to distinguish individual researchers. Different stakeholders in the research community, including funding agencies, higher education institutions, and publishers, plan to adopt the ORCID ID as a means to disambiguate the identity of researchers and to track their scholarly activities and contributions. More information about ORCID is available from the video below. 

Click here to register for an ORCID ID. Once you have created the ID, take some time to add information about yourself and your research outputs.  This will help build your professional online presence and reputation.  Last but not least, remember to add the ORCID ID to your CV, scholarly publications, grant applications, and academic profiles such as a personal Web page. This will help clarify your identity as a scholar among others who have names similar to or same as yours.

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What Is an Embargo Policy?

Doctoral dissertations and master’s theses are freely available in the University of Kentucky’s institutional repository, UKnowledge , upon acceptance by the Graduate School.  In limited circumstances, students may want to postpone public access to their thesis/dissertation.  Such a postponement is known as an embargo. 

There is a record of each embargoed thesis/dissertation on UKnowledge that displays the author name, thesis/dissertation title, abstract, publication year, and college and department affiliations.  The record also shows when the embargo will expire.  Only the student (as the author) and the administrators of UKnowledge can access the thesis/dissertation before the embargo expiration date.

Students should think carefully about their need for an embargo.  Common reasons for an embargo are:

• The student is applying for a patent on an invention or procedure documented in the thesis/dissertation and does not wish to make the contents public until the patent application has been filed. 
• The thesis/dissertation contains sensitive and/or classified information. 
• Immediate release of the thesis/dissertation may impact an existing or potential publishing agreement. 

To protect their interests, students may choose from the following embargo duration options:

Students and their committee chairs (or co-chairs if any) should discuss and reach a mutual agreement regarding which embargo option is appropriate. Conflicts between the wishes of the students and the committee chair should be resolved before the students complete the ETD approval form .  The student will then have to submit the finalized thesis/dissertation and the signed approval form to UKnowledge.  Details about the submission procedure are available in this submission guide . 

As the thesis/dissertation is the student’s intellectual property, only the student can initiate a cancellation or an extension of an embargo. To do that, the student should contact the Assistant Dean of Graduate Academic Services at the Graduate School at 257-4613.

Embargo or Not?

Different parties have discussed the necessity of an embargo.  Here are some articles that help you think it through:

• Embargoes Can Go Only So Far to Help New Ph.D.'s Get Published, Experts Say
• Publishing Your Dissertation Online: What’s a New Ph.D. to Do?
• Can't Find It, Can't Sign It: On Dissertation Embargoes
• An Embargo on Dissertations Will Not Solve the Bigger Problem
• Breaking the Embargo
• Impact of Publishers’ Policy on Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) Distribution Options within the United States
• Do Open Access Electronic Theses and Dissertations Diminish Publishing Opportunities in the Social Sciences and Humanities?
• Do Open Access Electronic Theses and Dissertations Diminish Publishing Opportunities in the Sciences?
• Embargoes Can Go Only So Far to Help New Ph.D.'s Get Published, Experts Say
• Publishing Your Dissertation Online: What’s a New Ph.D. to Do?
• Can't Find It, Can't Sign It: On Dissertation Embargoes
• Impact of Publishers’ Policy on Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) Distribution Options within the United States

Panel Discussion on Embargo

The City University of New York hosted the panel discussion, Share It Now or Save It For Later: Making Choices about Dissertations and Publishing, on May 1, 2014.  Five panelists discussed from different perspectives whether to impose an embargo on a dissertation.  Highlights of the panelists' remarks are available on this page .

What Is a Dissertation? New Models, Methods, Media

The Graduate Center at the City University of New York hosted the panel discussion, What Is a Dissertation? New Models, New Methods, New Media , on October 10, 2014.  The panelists discussed how their dissertations exemplify innovative, experimental formats.  There is an open document accompanying this program. 

New Doctoral Dissertations Released on UKnowledge

• Last Updated: Jan 12, 2024 3:38 PM
• URL: https://libguides.uky.edu/UKnowledge

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History Honors Program

The Honors Program in History provides outstanding majors with an opportunity to pursue independent research on a larger scale. Honors can be immensely rewarding and enjoyable because of the excitement of original research and the chance to work closely with a professor on an individual basis.

The History Honors Program requires the completion of an honors thesis during the senior year. (Recent theses have been between 60 and 100 pages. You and your thesis adviser will discuss the appropriate length in light of your topic.)

Students interested in honors should discuss the matter with their adviser during the fall semester of their junior year to ensure they have the requisite skills, initiative, and experience to complete the program. Students who apply are required to have successfully completed a history research seminar in preparation for the Honors Program. In addition, their GPA must be at least 3.50 at the moment of application.

If you decide to try for honors in history, you must complete the following steps during your last three semesters as an undergraduate at Clark.

Follow These Steps for Honors Work

Find a thesis adviser.

This faculty member may well be the adviser that you already have, but students’ interests change, and so may their advisers. Choose your thesis adviser carefully, because you will be working closely with them for at least two semesters.

Select a Topic

You will want to choose a topic that excites you intellectually. Honors students frequently have written a seminar paper during their junior year and expand that project into an honors thesis. Other students become intrigued by a topic through their general course work and write their honors thesis on that topic without prior research. Your adviser will provide some guidance regarding what kinds of topics are appropriate and what sorts of documents and other historical sources are available. They will help you develop a research plan.

Submit an Honors Proposal

Submit an honors proposal to the History Department’s Honors Committee no later than April 15 of your junior year. Working with your thesis adviser, you should draft a brief (two-to-three page) proposal outlining the nature of your project and the sources that you plan to consult.

The departmental Honors Committee will review your proposal and decide whether to admit you to the Honors Program. In some cases, the Committee may require revisions before granting approval for you to move forward with honors.

Register for History 297 and 299

Register for History 297 (Honors) and History 299 (Directed Readings) during your senior year (a total of three credits). Students should devote two units of course work, one in the fall and one in the spring, to researching and writing the honors thesis (History 297). In order to gain command of the secondary literature surrounding your topic, a unit of directed readings (History 299) in the fall semester should be devoted to readings with an appropriate member of the department, usually your thesis adviser.

You will receive a letter grade for this directed readings course. You will receive a preliminary grade of P (pass) for the fall semester of History 297. Following the completion of the History 297 in April/May and the evaluation of your honors thesis, you will receive a letter grade that will be applied both to the spring and, retroactively, to the fall semester.

Participate in the Department's Honors Forum

Honors students are also required to register for History 290, the Department’s Honors Forum. This .25-credit course supports honors students as they go through the process of writing their honors theses. Students enroll in both fall and spring semesters and are graded pass/fail.

Please note: Each student must consult with their thesis adviser at the end of the fall semester to confirm that they have permission to continue in the Honors Program.

Schedule Your Oral Defense

Finally, by the spring semester of your senior year, you and your thesis adviser will need to select a second reader, who will read your honors thesis and participate in your oral defense.

The defense is an opportunity to discuss your thesis and its implications. The oral defenses take place in mid- to late April. Scheduling the oral defense is the responsibility of the honors student. The quality of your thesis and your oral defense will determine what level — honors, high honors, or highest honors — you receive. In the event that your thesis does not reach honors caliber, all of your honors coursework (three-and-a-half credits) will count toward your history capstone and graduation.

Phi Alpha Theta Honor Society

History majors are eligible for election to Phi Alpha Theta, the National Honor Society in history. The History Department hosts an induction ceremony at the end of each spring semester.

The student members of Phi Alpha Theta are encouraged to meet during the school year and plan events in consultation with the department. Past events have included film screenings and trips to historic sites.

Learn more about Phi Alpha Theta

History Department

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