THE HONORS PROGRAM

The Political Science Department encourages students with major project interests and who meet the GPA requirements to consult with faculty members and upon that advice possibly apply to the Honors Coordinator to enter the senior Honors Program. This includes students who are majors and, in exceptional cases, students who are majoring in other programs but for whom a thesis supervised by a Political Science faculty member might be appropriate. Ideally, the consultation with a faculty member should take place in the students' fifth semester during the fall of the junior year.

All juniors, including those who are studying away in the spring term, must indicate their interest in pursuing a senior Honors project by filing an "Intent to Pursue an Honors Project" with the Honors Coordinator. This form should be submitted no later than December 14th for students studying away and April 14th for on campus students (see form).

We highly recommend that students studying away during spring of the junior year also draft a research proposal in consultation with their proposed Honors supervisor by December 15th.  Doing so will improve the likelihood that the student will have received approval to undertake human subject research while studying away (see below) as well as be able to take advantage of good research opportunities and facilities.

We also recommend that students do advanced planning for entering the Honors Program in the form of earlier independent studies or research projects, research designs, reviews of the literature in advanced courses, or data gathering during study away where appropriate and possible. Macalester College defines an Honors Project as a year-long independent research project. Thus, students should expect to do considerable work on their project during the summer months between the junior and senior year.  This includes, but is not limited to reading broadly on the topic, improving methodological skills, staying in contact with the Honors supervisor, preparing a final draft of the research proposal, and receiving directions and encouragement from the Honors Coordinator.

The Department encourages qualified students to consider this unique research opportunity, noting that rigorous academic preparation is required and that successful projects demand a substantial intellectual and time commitment. The Honors Program is open to all qualified students, though it is particularly well suited for students who intend to go to graduate school.

The Honors Program provides an experience quite distinct from the normal capstone, Senior Research Seminar. While students in the Research Seminar are expected to complete a piece of disciplined scholarly work, an Honors Project is held to higher standards of scholarly quality and represents a much more substantial effort and final product.

Julie Dolan will be the Honors Coordinator for AY2009-10.

I. General eligibility guidelines:
-Advanced placement in the major (having taken or are taking the sixth course).
-Cumulative GPA : 3.5.
-Department GPA: 3.7.
-An advisor-approved research proposal. The deadline for final proposals:  September 16, 2009.
-A successful twenty-minute oral defense of the proposal in front of department faculty members.

II. The  research proposal should include the following when it is submitted to the Honors Coordinator on September 9, 2009:
· Preliminary title.
· Proposed department supervisor (following conversations with her/him).
· Possible readers/examiner (both within and outside the Department).
· Not more than 5 double-spaced pages describing the proposed research project. This should include an explicit statement of the research question(s) that guides the research and a description of the method(s) that will be employed in the project. Be as specific as possible. Within the five pages, include a preliminary theoretical framework and a brief literature review of the most important and relevant scholarly sources. Be sure to connect the discussion of the literature with the research questions that drive the project. Consider whether or not the project will involve human subjects, and if so, complete the forms for the Social Science Institutional Research Board (see below).
· Short bibliography (or other scheme of reference) demonstrating familiarity with the most significant and relevant scholarly literature about the project.

Illustrations of successful Honors research proposals: Emily Hedin

The Honors Coordinator will circulate student research proposals and the entire Department will meet to evaluate their suitability and feasibility. Students will have 20 minutes to defend orally the proposals before members of the Department. The Department will evaluate proposals based on: (1) the intellectual clarity and promise of the project; (2) the amount of prior preparation for the project; and (3) an assessment of the student’s capacity to successfully carry out the project.

The Honors Coordinator will report the Honors Program candidates' list to the Ann Minnick, Director of Academic Programs, on October 1, 2009.

III. The Thesis Process:
Students in the Honors Program participate in the Political Science Department Honors Colloquium, organized by the Honors Coordinator, which meets each semester. Students are required to register for the two-credit Honors Colloquium each term. The Colloquium will involve workshops in which students discuss the design of their projects, including their methodological strategies, and begin testing their ideas in a public forum. At the same time, students will work in consultation with their honors supervisor on project conception, design, etc. (See below.)

Students pursuing Honors are also required to enroll for between four and eight credits (at least two each term) of Independent Study (POLI 644). Senior Honors Thesis credits can count toward completion of the major and fulfill the "capstone" requirement. Students in the Honors Program may also enroll for two thesis credits during the January term. As part of POLI 644, students seeking Honors are expected to work closely with their project supervisor in project conception, research design, data collection and analysis strategies, etc.

Students with projects that involve human subjects (interviewing; surveys; participant observation; action research, etc.) should follow the guidelines outlined on the College Institutional Review Board website. A separate link exists for the Social Science IRB, where you can find the necessary IRB forms.  Projects involving human subjects must be cleared by the Social Science IRB during fall of the junior year if the student is studying away during the spring term and intends to gather human subject research while away.

The student and the thesis supervisor will file project status reports with the Honors Coordinator on December 14, 2009.

The Honors Coordinator will consult with the thesis supervisor to assess the prospects of each thesis project by January 22, 2010. The Coordinator and faculty supervisor will make a mutual decision to terminate the project or allow the student to continue.

The Honors Coordinator will report the continuing Honors candidates list to the Director of Academic Programs on March 31, 2010.

IV. Evaluation:
The faculty thesis supervisor and the student are responsible for assembling the panel of reader/examiners, and scheduling the oral examination. Ordinarily, the panel consists of at least three persons---two from the Political Science faculty and one from outside the department (possibly off campus).

The Honors thesis defense will include a formal, public (20-minute) oral presentation of the project followed by an oral examination by the Honors panel. Normally, the entire honors defense lasts between 60 and 90 minutes.

The Honors panel will conduct the oral examination of the student and the students’ project. Approval of the project for official submittal and listing as a Senior Honors Thesis will be made by the panel on criteria appropriate to the context of each project but meeting the standards of exceptional research effort, distinctive analysis and interpretation, and effective writing. The panel will also provide the student with comments and recommendations for final revision of the project.  Oral examinations must be completed not later than April 23, 2010.

The final editing and preparation of the Honors thesis to be submitted to the Honors Program Office should reflect the recommendations of the Honors panel and meet the format and copy standards of professional social scientists.  Students must submit their Honors thesis to Academic Programs not later than April 28, 2010.

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