Introduction
& Requirements The Petition Process Proposal Deadlines Outline of the Honors Proposal The Honors Symposium
The Thesis Firestone Awards
IMPORTANT
DATES
§ OCT
5, 2011
Mandatory meeting for students pursuing honors and graduating during the
2011-12 academic year at 6:15pm in CLARK AUDITORIUM
§ Oct
31, 2011 Honors proposals due for Spring 2011 grads
§ Apr
9, 2012 Applications
for oral presentations due
§ Apr
26, 2012
Honors thesis drafts due to readers AND Firestone applications due
§ May
10, 2012
Honors theses due
§ May
17, 2012
Honors posters due (format check)
§ May
18, 2012
Achauer Honors Symposium
The Honors Program
Introduction
& Requirements
The Honors program in Biology is
research-based and requires students to complete a substantial piece of
original biological work which they describe in a formal Thesis and present at
the departmental Achauer Honors Research Symposium. The program offers a unique
opportunity for independent research, creativity and achievement. The
Department of Biology is very proud of the achievements of our undergraduate
researchers and of the fact that so many of our students take advantage of this
opportunity (over 50% of our students write Honors Theses each year!). Honors
research also offers a chance to interact more closely with faculty, graduate
students, postdoctoral researchers and fellow undergraduates.
There are five requirements for graduation
with Honors in Biology:
- You must have a minimum cumulative
average GPA of at least 3.0 in Bio core, foundational breadth, and Bio
elective courses. Research and teaching courses (BIO 198, 198X, 199, 199X,
300, 300X, 290, 291) are not included in this average. There is no minimum
Bio GPA required to be admitted
to the Honors Program, but the 3.0 must be obtained by the quarter in
which the student is graduating.
- 10 units of BIO 199 or 199X or
BIOHOPK 199H from the same lab. These units do not need to be for a letter
grade.
- An approved Honors proposal.
- Submittal of two bound hard copies
and one electronic copy as a PDF of the Honors Thesis read and approved by
at least two Academic Council members (the Research Sponsor and designated
Second Reader, at least one of whom must be from the Department of
Biology), and one additional electronic copy of the Honors abstract.
- Attendance at, and poster or oral
presentation in, the Achauer Biology Honors Research Symposium held at the
end of Spring Quarter.
The
Petition Process
To petition for honors, students must
submit the following materials to their research sponsor, second reader, and
faculty advisor:
- Honors Proposal form
with signatures from:
- Research Sponsor
- Second Reader
- Biology Department Faculty
Advisor (your Faculty Advisor may also sign as your Second Reader; if
this is what you are doing, please have him/her sign twice - once as your
Second Reader and again as your Faculty Advisor)
- Biology GPA calculation sheet,
filled out and printed out - http://www.stanford.edu/dept/biology/biohonors/info/gpa_calculator.html
- 5-6 page proposal
Once
the Research Sponsor, Second Reader, and Faculty Advisor have read and approved
the honors proposal, the complete packet must be submitted to Gilbert 108. This
means that you should be submitting these documents to faculty at least two
weeks ahead of the deadline to allow enough time for your faculty to review,
provide feedback, and for you to revise!
Proposal
Deadlines
Honors proposals are due to the Student
Services Office in Gilbert 108 no later than two quarters prior to graduating.
§
Spring 2011-12 graduates: Monday, October
31, 2011, 4:30pm
§
Autumn 2012-13 graduates: Monday, January
30, 2012, 4:30pm
§
Winter 2012-13 graduates: Monday, April 30,
2012, 4:30pm
It is your responsibility to obtain the
necessary signatures on the proposal form. Many faculty travel extensively, so
make sure your Research Sponsor, Academic Advisor, and Readers will be on-campus
to read your proposal and sign your form well ahead of the deadline. Students
submitting late proposals will automatically be excluded from winning the
Firestone Award or doing an oral presentation at the Honors Symposium.
The
Honors Proposal
The proposal should be appropriately
referenced (most students have 5 – 20 references) and be at least 5-6 pages
in length, not including the references and appendices (double, not triple,
spaced; 10-12 point font) and organized as follows with the headings shown
below:
·
A. Your Name and Title of Honors
Project
·
B. Objective of research.
Briefly and clearly state the question that your research is designed to
address. Explain the specific aims of the research.
·
C. Introduction. Using
appropriately referenced background information, indicate the significance of
your research.
·
D. Materials and Methods.
Describe the experimental design used to carry out your research including
methods and materials. Indicate how these techniques will allow you to address
your research question.
·
E. Preliminary or Anticipated Results.
Describe the expected outcome of your research, including any preliminary
results you have obtained so far. Indicate how the data collected will be used
to draw conclusions regarding the research question. Be sure to indicate your
role in all aspects of the project, from conception of idea to experimental
design through data collection, analysis, and interpretation.
·
F. References
Samples of previous proposals are on file
in the Student Services office in Gilbert 108.
The
Thesis
If you submitted a properly formatted and
cohesive honors proposal, you should be able to use the Introduction and
Materials & Methods sections of your proposal as a starting point for your
thesis. Once you have finished your research in the lab or the field, now
begins the time for the analysis and synthesis processes which are the
culmination of your scholarly endeavors.
The Honors Thesis should take the standard form of a research report, with
the intended audience being a Biology faculty member or student who is not necessarily in your specific field. The minimum length of the Thesis is 12
pages, not including data appendices and reference lists. Most theses are 15-20
pages. The Thesis must be either 1.5 spacing or double spaced, written in a
12-point font, and printed one-sided. Your Research Sponsor should be able to
provide specific guidance regarding the content and organization of your
Thesis. Be sure to get your Sponsor's advice on early drafts of the Thesis. It
is also advisable to keep in contact with your Second Reader, so she or
he can see a draft in sufficient time to provide constructive feedback as well.
You are required submit a polished draft of the Thesis to both your Sponsor and
Second Reader (with a cc to Student Services) at least two weeks before
they are due to the department. Many faculty will want to see it earlier than
this, so CHECK WITH THEM ahead of time! Revisions to this draft will be minimal
and easily correctable if you have been in contact earlier with both Sponsor
and Second Reader!
Please click here
for a Word document that you are strongly encouraged to use as the template for
your thesis. All items highlighted in yellow are meant to guide you through the
format, and should be deleted for your final thesis!
Deadlines are quarter-specific. Following are the deadlines for thesis
submission for students graduating during the 2011-2012 academic year:
§
Autumn 2011-2012 graduates: Monday,
November 28, 2011, 4:30pm
§
Winter 2011-2012 graduates: Monday,
February 27, 2012, 4:30pm
§
Spring 2011-2012 graduates: Thursday, May
10, 2012, 4:30pm
The following items must be submitted to
the Student Services Office in Gilbert 108:
·
Printed and bound thesis.
Two copies of the printed and bound Thesis are required; three, for work done at
the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve. All copies of the printed/bound thesis
must have original faculty signatures. The binding must be flat, NOT
spiral. Spiral-bound theses will not be accepted. Sample acceptable binding is
available in Gilbert 108, or on the Kinko's
website (called strip binding). One copy will be catalogued into Falconer
Biology Library and the other will be submitted to the University's archives.
·
Thesis Abstract. The thesis abstract
should be written after the thesis itself is written. In addition to including
the abstract in the thesis itself, you are also required to submit the abstract
electronically (emailed as a PDF to Student Services). Be sure to include your
name, Thesis title, sponsor name and department as well as the date you
submitted it in the document. The abstract will be separated from your thesis,
so this is the only way it can remain identified as yours! File name must be
"LastName_FirstName_Abstract.pdf".
·
Electronic copy of thesis.
In addition to submitting hard copies of your thesis, you are also required to
email a PDF version of your thesis to Student Services. File name must be
"LastName_FirstName.pdf".
The
Honors Symposium
Honors students graduating in Spring
Quarter are required to participate in the Biology
Achauer Honors Symposium held Friday May 18, 2012. The Symposium is
intended to be a celebration and acknowledgment of the research achievements of
the graduating students in the Honors Program, as well as a focal event for undergraduates
considering research as a part of their curriculum. Most students will present
their work on posters (including all those graduating in autumn or winter
quarters). For information on how to construct a poster, see Poster
Guidelines. Examples of previous years' posters are on display outside
Gilbert 118. For Colin Purrington's (Swarthmore College) hilarious guide to
poster design and presentation, click here.
Approximately 5-7 students will give oral
presentations. If you are interested in giving an oral presentation at the
Symposium, applications are due to Student Services
by April 9, 2012.
All Honors graduates are expected to attend
all of the oral presentations during the Achauer Honors Symposium, so as soon
as you have finalized your Spring Quarter study list, make alternative plans
for any class that meets Friday afternoons!
Firestone
Awards
Research Sponsors may nominate their Honors
student(s) for the Firestone Medal for Excellence in Undergraduate Research,
using the Honors Thesis as the basis for the award. Students cannot
apply for this distinction. In order for students to be considered for the
award, the Research Sponsor needs to submit an
application to Student Services by Thursday, April 26, 2012 - please note,
access to this website is restricted. This means that, in reality, you should
have your Thesis in to your Readers even earlier than the deadline if you’d
like to be considered for the prestige -- and cash -- associated with the
Firestone Medal! Additionally, the Firestone nominee needs to submit an extra
copy of the completed Thesis to Student Services by the Thesis deadline date.