In-Course Honors Project
As upper-level courses are rarely offered as Honors sections, students may choose to complete an In-Course Honors project in order to earn Honors credit.
In-Course Honors projects generally require 5-10 hours per semester, per credit hour, of work beyond usual course requirements. For example, a three-credit course completed for in-course honors generally requires 15-30 hours, while a four-credit course generally involves 20-40 hours. Projects may take many forms limited only by the imagination of the student and the approval of the professor and the honors program. Below is a list of example projects. Here is a list of unique projects that go beyond a general paper.
Students will contact instructors for an informal approval or suggestion for a project, and then will need a signature on a completed In-Course Honors contract. The purpose of this contract is to make sure that both parties understand the amount of time the student will be expected to contribute to the In-Course Honors work. The academic content of In-Course Honors work is entirely up to the faculty member. Final approval of project topics and length is made by the Honors staff.
In-Course Honors contracts must be obtained from the Honors Office, as the form includes carbon copies, but here is a sample for help in planning.
In-Course Honors Process
Purpose
Examples
Procedures
Evaluation of Proposal
Evaluation of Project
Purpose
- To encourage work beyond the requirements in a non-Honors section of a course.
- To earn Honors credit hours.
- To encourage interaction between Honors students and faculty.
Examples
The Program encourages a wide range of types of projects, most of them resulting in a product or artifact of some kind. Examples of Honors-quality projects for a typical 3-credit course include, but are not limited to:
- reading additional articles from scholarly journals or books and writing analyses of each
- writing a 10-15 page paper on a topic related to the course
- providing 1-2 hours of tutoring per week and turning in brief reports or a 1-2 page final report
- preparing a 20 minute presentation, either for a class or a symposium, on or off campus
- completing supplemental readings and preparing summaries and, perhaps, discussions
- completing extra problem sets
- assisting a faculty member with research related to the class
- conducting a project that results in a poster presented at the Undergraduate Research Symposium
- developing study guides
- developing course Web sites or other materials to enhance the course for other students
- preparing for and delivering a performance, exhibition, or reading
- planning, organizing, and carrying out an event, seminar, or activity related to the course
Procedures
- During the first week of class, contact one of your instructors to see if he or she would be willing to supervise an In-Course Honors project. Ask if the professor has a specific kind of project that you should complete or if you would be able to propose one. Showing some initiative and enthusiasm will make this a better experience.
- Pick up an In-Course Honors Contract from the Honors Office and write a proposal that you and the instructor agree upon. The purpose of this contract is to make sure that both parties understand the amount of time the student will be expected to contribute and the nature of the project the student will produce. The academic content of In-Course Honors work is entirely up to the faculty member. However, the Honors Program will review all proposals for the amount and nature of effort proposed and for specificity; the Honors Program must give final approval for the proposal. The proposal should include evaluation criteria and a due date.
- Return white and yellow copies to the Honors Office by the due date set for each semester: the 15th day of class. The goldenrod is for the instructor, and the pink is for your records.
Evaluation of Proposal
- The Honors Program reviews and has final approval of contracts. We ask students to revise problematic contracts.
- The usual reasons for needed revisions include insufficient work, excessive work, or inadequate detail in the proposal. The Honors Program will specify needed changes and provide a due date for the revised contract.
- Students doing extensive and time-consuming projects may want, instead, to consider Independent Honors Study (course number 299) or Undergraduate Research Participation ( IDS 285 & IDS 286). These opportunities earn credit hours as well as Honors credit.
Evaluation of Project
- At the end of the semester, the Honors Office sends a copy of the contract to the instructor.
- The instructor reports to the Honors Office whether or not the project was successfully completed.
- The success of a project is based on the proposal description in the contract. Students who have successfully completed the requirements described in the contract earn an “H” (Honors course credit) next to the course on their transcript. In-Course projects do NOT affect course grades unless specifically stated in the contract that they will.
- Students who fail to fulfill the requirements designated in the contract proposal do not earn an “H” (i.e., Honors course credit) on their transcript. The failure to complete an In-Course Honors project does NOT affect the course grade unless specifically stated in the contract.
- Because of the close connection between the contract proposal and the ultimate evaluation of a project as successful or unsuccessful, students and faculty should attend carefully to the proposal. They should not sign contracts whose conditions they find problematic.
