Honors Thesis Guide

The steps below will help you plan for and write your Honors Thesis. An Honors Thesis is required for all students in the Schreyer Honors College (SHC) in order to graduate with honors.

Learn about thesis requirements

Read carefully the information about the Honors Thesis on the Schreyer Honors College website. 

Talk to your CSD Honors Adviser

Talk to your CSD Honors Adviser as soon as you can after becoming a Scholar in CSD. Your adviser can tell you about research opportunities in the Department of CSD, and give you tips on contacting faculty members.  

• First and Second Year Entry Scholars: You are invited and encouraged to get involved in research before you are ready to decide on a thesis topic and supervisor. Follow the steps below—minus the thesis piece—to get some initial research experience and meet faculty members.

Find a Thesis Supervisor

During the Fall semester of your third year, find a faculty member who will mentor you as your Thesis Supervisor.  

• Think about CSD instructors you know who have research labs.
• Look at the research interests of CSD faculty (click on View Full Bio) and our current research projects.
• When you want to learn more, email the faculty member and ask if you can make an appointment or come to their office hours to talk about research.
• During the conversation, explain that you are a Schreyer Scholar seeking a thesis opportunity, and talk about common interests with the faculty member.  
• You may need to talk to two or three people, but you’ll soon find someone with whom you can work.

What if you want to work with a Thesis Supervisor who is not a CSD faculty member? It is possible—talk to your Honors Adviser if you are considering this pathway, because advance planning and approvals are needed. The most common scenarios are:

• CSD is your area of honors (to be approved by the CSD Honors Adviser) and your thesis topic is appropriate for CSD but is supervised by a faculty member in another department; or
• CSD is your major but your area of honors and Thesis Supervisor are in another department (only if the honors advisor in that department agrees to be the approver for your thesis). 

Start learning

Your Thesis Supervisor will guide you through their own training process and show you how you can contribute to their lab.  

Thesis proposal

The SHC requires submission of a thesis proposal one year before you intend to graduate (for most people, this is due in the Spring semester of their junior/third year). Check the SHC thesis web site for instructions on how to prepare and submit the proposal.

There are different types of theses:

• Literature review
• Case study
• Analysis of group data (collected by you, or already existing)
• There are other possibilities... discuss with your Thesis Supervisor and Honors Adviser.

Honors thesis credits

The SHC allows you to receive up to 6 credits of honors credit for completing your thesis. For students seeking honors in CSD, these credits are obtained by taking CSD 494H. You can’t enroll for the course on LionPATH; you must request to be enrolled using the online request form. See your Honors Adviser for more information.  

Get to work

With the help of your Thesis Supervisor, identify the steps necessary to complete the thesis, such as a literature review, data collection, data analysis, and writing each section of the thesis. Make a timeline with subgoals that will get you to your big goal of submitting your completed thesis on time. Again, use the SHC resources and watch for events like writing workshops.  

• Check the SHC and the SRS system for important due dates.
• Expectations:
  • Follow the SHC formatting guide (found on the thesis webpage).
  • Within that format, follow the American Psychological Association (APA) style guide. There are many online resources to help you with APA style.
  • Your thesis should be a scholarly work that adds knowledge in the field of Communication Sciences and Disorders.

Know your deadlines

Meet key SHC deadlines during your semester of graduation.  Format review is usually about 2 months before the end of the semester, and final thesis submission is about 1 month before the end of the semester.