Honors

The Department Honors Program provides qualified students the opportunity to complete a two-semester, six-credit research project under the supervision of a faculty advisor. Each Honors project culminates in a thesis and oral defense. Completing an Honors project can be one of the most academically rewarding experiences of a student’s undergraduate career.

Students cannot use their honors projects or related courses (Government 495 and 496) to satisfy the 400-level capstone seminar requirement for the Government major.

Government Honors Requirements

Students considering an Honors project should take Government 301, Research Methods, during the junior year or fall semester of your senior year at the latest. The thesis will be relevant to political science; it requires substantial background reading and original research; and the final product is a major paper due to the three faculty readers on April 15. Students are supervised by a member of the Department and, at the end of the year, face an oral examination from the supervisor, another Government faculty member, and a third faculty member from another Department. See the Charles Center’s information on planning an Honors Project.

All students working on Honors projects are enrolled in Senior Honors courses (GOVT 495 and 496) and in a required seminar for Government honors students. The seminar will meet approximately every other week during the fall and spring semesters, at a time to be determined by the faculty instructor and class members. Students will complete assignments for the seminar that will be geared toward helping them craft and develop their thesis projects.

Eligibility for Honors in Government

Students with a 3.0 overall GPA (or a 3.3. Junior year) AND a 3.3 in Government by the end of their junior year are eligible to consider Honors. It is also essential to have completed Government 301, either by the end of junior year or at the very latest, the fall semester of the senior year. Note: Under certain circumstances, students planning to graduate in December of their final year may do a thesis by starting the previous January.

Should you do an Honors project?

There are many good reasons to do Honors and any eligible student who is interested would benefit from the experience of undertaking a major individual research project. It is especially recommended for students considering graduate school in political science. At the same time, while receiving “Honors” plainly adds to a resume, that credential alone is not essential to success in life — and working towards it can take away time needed for other course work or projects. Honors is more than simply a long paper: It is a yearlong commitment requiring that students make time and work well on their own, as they have no classmates, no study groups, no midterms, etc. So the best reason to do a thesis and the key prerequisite to a successful one is a deep interest in the topic chosen.

Topics

Since political science is a broad discipline, there is a wide variety of possible topic areas. When deciding whether to take on an Honors project, students should have a great personal interest in the topic. The Charles Center lists completed theses, and the Government Department keeps copies.

Courses to take before Honors

Research Methods (GOVT 301) is required of all Government Honors students and is recommended for any Public Policy or International Studies majors who are doing a thesis with a Government advisor. In addition, it is very important to have already taken other substantive courses related to your topic — e.g, a student working on something to do with nuclear weapons should have had Government 329, International Security; anyone conducting a public opinion survey or interpreting survey results should have taken Government 307; anyone working on an aspect of health care should have taken Government 360; anyone doing something on the European Union should have completed Government 330, Politics of European Cooperation, etc.

Honors Advisors

Any continuing faculty member in the Department may advise an Honors student. We very strongly recommend that students seek as advisors a faculty member with whom they have already had course work in the general subject area of the thesis project. Please bear in mind that some faculty may not feel able to take on supervision because the project is too far from their specialization because they are going on leave or because of other commitments (including other supervisions).

Registering for Honors

The Charles Center provides a road map for students interested in completing an honors project. Students should examine the Road Map before deciding on the Honors path.”

Once you have decided to do Honors, chosen a topic, ascertained your eligibility, and found a faculty member who will serve as an advisor, it is time to submit the paperwork. These two forms should be turned into the Government Department office for review and certification by the end of the spring semester of junior year, although they are not absolutely due until the first day of Add/Drop period of the fall semester of senior year. Once the Department approves the project, it will pass the Charles Center form on, and the student’s eligibility will be certified there. Only at that stage will a permission override be entered into the system such that the student can enroll himself or herself into Govt. 495-96.

Charles Center information: Application for Admission to Department Honors
Government Department form: Government 495-496, Honors

Please send your Government 495-96 Honors application to the {{https://www.wm.edu/as/government/faculty-directory/index.php,Associate Chair of the Government Department}}. Please note that you can use Adobe’s Fill and Sign feature to complete this application electronically.

Monitoring Progress

The project entails a full year of substantial reading and original research. By the end of the exam period in the fall semester, each student in GOVT 495 must hold a conference with his/her thesis supervisor and second reader and submit a signed progress form. The form should confirm that major progress has been made toward the completion of the thesis, including a research design and literature review (which must be attached to the form).

Fall progress report form [.doc]

At the end of the first semester, if your advisor determines that you are on track to complete the project in the next semester, they will give you a grade of "G” for Honors 495. This grade will change to match your final grade for Honors 496 once you complete the project.

Completing the Project

All students enrolled in GOVT 496 during the spring of senior year must also present their research at the Charles Center spring Honors colloquium. The advisor and second Government reader will attend. The final product is a major paper due to all of the faculty readers (the oral exam panel) by April 15.

Difficulty Completing the Project

If it becomes evident before the end of the first or second semesters that you will not complete the project on time, you must withdraw from Honors 495/496. Your advisor will send an email to [[cchonors]] so the Charles Center can update its records.

If it is too late to withdraw from the course, your Honors advisor will submit a Converting Honors to Independent Study form to change the Honors designation to an appropriate alternative, such as independent study. The Charles Center will then take care of making the change in your registration.

Does Government Honors satisfy other requirements?

Government 495 and 496 cannot be used to satisfy the 400 level seminar requirement for majors.