Departmental Thesis Requirements

A. Content Expectations: The thesis must demonstrate research expertise in political science, exhibit command of relevant scholarship, and contribute to political science scholarship.
B. Writing and Grammatical Quality: The writing must be clear, polished and abide by the conventions of academic English. The thesis as a whole should be well-organized and tightly structured.
C. Length: There is no uniform required length for Honors Theses, but a 30-35 pages (not including notes) is common in Political Science.
D. Format: The Honors College has strict formatting requirements that must be met. The formatting must follow the formatting requirements of the Honors College.

Each academic department submits the specific requirements that must be met for a successful Honors thesis in its respective major. If you are seeking more information on your department’s thesis requirements, please contact your Departmental Honors Liaison and/or the Honors Thesis Team in the Honors College.

Faculty Thesis Mentors

Both career-line and tenure-line faculty are eligible to be a faculty thesis mentor. If a faculty mentor leaves the University before the thesis is complete, they may continue to mentor the thesis if both the faculty mentor and student agree to it.
(https://poli-sci.utah.edu/undergraduate/honors.php#:~:text=Students%20must%20complete%20the%20departmental,work%20to%20complete%20the%20degree.)

Collaborative Theses

Collaborative theses are not permitted.

Joint Thesis

Joint theses are permitted.

How does the Honors Thesis relate to other aspects of the major, like a Capstone Project?

Students can either complete an Honors College degree and submit an honors thesis through the Political Science Department or complete the departmental honors courses to complete the honors degree and submit an honors thesis through the Political Science Department. The departmental honors courses count toward the student's major as well as toward the honors degree, or the honors certificate.

Additional information for students

By the fall semester of your senior year, you must turn in a Thesis Proposal Form (signed by both your Faculty Mentor and Honors Faculty Advisor) to the Honors College. For students wishing to graduate in Spring the soft deadline for submitting the form is September 15 the year prior to proposed graduation.