General Instructions for Honors Thesis


1. When and how to begin

Students generally write the honors thesis in their junior or senior year. By that point, students have taken several upper level philosophy courses and have developed some familiarity with the faculty and with the process of writing philosophy papers.  

As the honors thesis is written under the supervision of a member of the department, the student needs to identify someone who is willing to serve as supervisor. This should be a regular member of the department, i.e. not a temporary or part time instructor.   Should this person agree to serve as the thesis supervisor, he or she will confer with the student to determine the subject of the honors thesis and will work with the student to identify a member of the department who will serve as second reader.

Very often, the faculty member most appropriate for supervising a thesis is one who shares the student's particular intellectual interests. A student who wishes to write a thesis on a topic related to the philosophy of mind, for instance, will generally work with a faculty member who specializes in that area or with one who is at least comfortable working in that field.

Once the supervisor and second reader have been selected, the student should notify the chair of the department.

2. Formal enrollment

When the student is ready to write the thesis, he or she should enroll in "PHL 499: Directed Readings." Enrollment forms may be secured from the department secretary, and require the signature of the thesis supervisor.

3. Basic plan for composition

Naturally, in order to write a thesis, the student must determine an appropriate topic. This is done with the aid and approval of the supervisor. The topic should be manageable; students should generally avoid trying to solve one of the seminal problems in the history of philosophy, but the topic should also be one that captures the student's interests.  

A thesis should have a "thesis": a central hypothesis or idea or line of argument or interpretation. It should demonstrate knowledge of its area or central themes. It should be of sufficient quality to be submitted as part of an application for graduate or professional school (regardless of whether it is used for this purpose).

Any topic in any area of philosophy (including the history of philosophy) may serve as the focus of a thesis, provided only that the topic is approved by the supervisor. It may also be a topic which lies at the intersection of philosophy and another discipline (such as biology, cognitive science, economics or medicine, just to name several examples).

In order to write a competent paper, the student must do the appropriate background reading. This is done under the direction of the supervisor and, if necessary, with the advice of the second reader.

Students should be prepared to write more than one preliminary draft and to adjust and refine the topic in the process of reading and composition. Numerous guides are available for the writing of thesis-oriented philosophy papers which students might find helpful (e.g. A. J. Martinich, Philosophical Writing: An Introduction [Blackwell, Oxford, 1996, 2nd edition, paperback].)

Some faculty members prefer that students come to the process with a paper already in hand which can serve as a first pass at writing the thesis. This might be a paper written for a seminar or other upper level philosophy course. Students should check with individual faculty members to determine their policy in this regard.

The thesis should be a minimum of 25 pages, typed, double space, inclusive of text, exclusive of references; in conformity with one of the standard style manuals (such as Kate Turabian's A Manual for Writers or MLA Handbook, available in Sterne Library); free of grammatical mistakes and spelling errors

4. Approval of the honors thesis

Once a final draft has been approved by both the supervisor and the second reader, the supervisor assigns a grade which will be recorded as the grade for "PHL 499."   The supervisor will inform the registrar of the student's successful completion of the project and the student will graduate with "Honors in Philosophy" noted on the transcript.

In the event that the student is unable to finish the thesis during the semester in which he or she is enrolled in PHL 499, the supervisor is free to assign an "Incomplete." The student then has the opportunity to complete the thesis by the end of the following semester.

In the event that the student is unable to complete the thesis, the supervisor is free to assign a grade for the work completed without conferring the honors distinction.