Undergraduates wanting a head start on the experience of graduate student research are getting the opportunity during their senior year by completing an Honors Thesis.
"You’d be surprised what kind of epiphanies you have when you are allowed to go out and get a lot of research," art history senior Aja Young said.
Originally a part of the Honors College until 2004, the undergraduate thesis is now under the Office of Undergraduate Research. The program is a six-credit-hour capstone in which the student conducts independent research and presents findings in a 30- to 75-page paper, on average, for the final half of the course. The prerequisites are a written prospectus of what the student wants to research and a 3.2 minimum grade-point average. Students from any major can participate in the program and are not required to be in The Honors College.
Young is conducting research on damaged Romantic art and said she’d recommend students pursue a thesis for the experience.
Students pursuing a thesis should first secure a faculty member as a thesis director and an additional faculty reader. Once a prospectus has been submitted to The Honors College, a third faculty reader, usually a professor in the subject the student is researching, looks over the project.
The Honors College and M.D. Anderson Library also offer workshops and information sessions throughout the year to help with researching and organization of the thesis.
"The Honors College serves as a level of support and administers the thesis program," Karen Weber, the program manager of the Office of Undergraduate Research, said. "We recruit, administer a comprehensive Web site to make the process as easy as possible, and we maintain the Web site and add updates. Dan Price of The Honors College helps the students with research and writing stages in workshops. We’re all about giving students correct information and guidance."
Sociology senior Monalisa Chandra has been writing a thesis on female immigrants in the United States and said the most difficult part has been gathering research.
"The most difficult thing for me was trying to get research data I need from the Department of Homeland Security, so I finally decided to get my own research and do a survey," said Chandra. "Technical support at UH was very helpful. They helped set me up, and I got an immense response from my department. I got more than 150 responses."
Political science senior Rajji Kaur is doing her thesis on the political economy of coffee after the Vietnam War and said the thesis program has helped her realize the impact her topic has on the world economy.
"Fair trade is not the best way to solve it," Kaur said. "It’s a nice suggestion, but it’s not a permanent solution. The truth is we’ve overlooked coffee quality because of oversupply… There needs to be a universal solution."
Creative writing senior Darrel Holnesis is writing a series of poems on trans-nationalism and newfound identity as his thesis, and he said the best part about the program is the people he has worked with.
"I also have honed my instincts as a writer, editor and overall reader," he said
Once a student completes an honors thesis, he or she presents it to three readers in a defense much like a masters thesis’. Following the student’s defense, the professors may ask questions about the thesis or ask for revisions. Once complete, the three readers then sign and approve the thesis. The thesis director will assign a grade covering both halves of the course. Final authority on the thesis is the dean of the student’s college, who will sign off on the bound copy.
The student then makes copies of the completed thesis and has them bound. Two bound copies will go on permanent display in the Gold Wing of the M.D. Anderson Library, and one copy will go to The Honors College.
For other research opportunities, students can apply for the Provost’s Undergraduate Research Scholarship program and for the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship. For more detailed information on these scholarships and the Senior Honors Thesis program, visit http://www.undergraduateresearch.uh.edu.
Aja Young said she admires the thesis program because of the head start it has already given her on graduate school.
"I’ve already had two interviews with graduate school representatives, and I’ve been accepted into (Southern Methodist University)," Young said. "There’s proof that the program is great and really does help you in the long run."
