Honours Thesis

Philosophy students may have the choice to complete an undergraduate thesis course in their fourth year. This is an excellent opportunity for earning an Honours Thesis designation on one's degree. Interested students should contact the Department for more information. See below for guidelines.

Honours Thesis Guidelines

Preamble

The following is meant to serve as a guide to students writing an Honours Thesis under the supervision of a member of the Philosophy Department at the University of Lethbridge. It will help students determine what qualifications they must have in order to be eligible to write an Honours Thesis, the procedure they must follow in order to enroll in the Undergraduate Thesis course (PHIL 4995), and the requirements that must be satisfied to complete this course and acquire an Honours Thesis designation on their final transcripts.

The procedures listed here include University of Lethbridge Calendar requirements (Cal.), Philosophy Department Requirements (PD-req.), and Philosophy Department Recommendations (PD-rec.). Calendar requirements include both Faculty of Arts of Science requirements and the prerequisites for PHIL 4995.

Why Would You Want to Write an Honours Thesis?

Two Good Reasons:

1. You may wish to explore a topic in depth, learn more about it, work on understanding relevant writings, and develop your own ideas under the supervision of an advisor. If you do a thesis, and do it well, you will learn more about your specific topic and about methods of conducting philosophical research and constructing arguments. You may expect to develop your skills at understanding, synthesizing, evaluating, and criticizing accounts developed by others. You will have opportunities to develop your writing and organizational skills in a context more specialized and personalized than that provided by our standard course offerings. You will also benefit from working with a committee and receiving criticisms and comments from several different faculty members.
2. If you are interested in going on to graduate or professional school, doing an Honours Thesis under close supervision and orally defending it may strengthen your application. It will also give you valuable experience if you go on to write an MA or PhD thesis.

One Bad Reason:

Some might suppose that writing an Honours Thesis is a comparatively easy way to earn two course credits by writing just one paper. This supposition is incorrect. Considerable work is involved in background study, choosing a suitable topic, and articulating and defending your thesis in writing and orally. The benefits are potentially great, but the amount of hard work and close philosophical reasoning involved in this effort is considerable.

Qualifications

To earn an Honours Thesis Designation on their transcript, a student must complete PHIL 4995. To be eligible to enroll in PHIL 4995, a student must satisfy these three prerequisites:

1. 4^th year standing (= a minimum of 90 credit hours) [cal.]
2. A cumulative GPA of 3.30 or higher [cal.]
3. A cumulative GPA of 3.50 or higher on all philosophy and logic courses [cal.]

Enrollment Procedure

Step 1 – Forming a Supervisory Committee

• A Supervisory Committee consists of a Supervisor from the Philosophy Department and a minimum of one other Reader who may be from another department. [cal.]
• The student should approach a Department member of their choice to be their Supervisor. If the member agrees, they will propose a supervisory committee in consultation with the student.
• Ideally, a Supervisory Committee should be formed by the end of the spring semester of the student’s 3^rd year; the deadline for forming a committee is one week prior to the add/drop deadline of the semester in which the student wishes to enroll. [PD-req.]
• Note: All Supervisory Committees must be approved by the Philosophy Department. [cal.]

Step 2 – The Thesis Proposal

• Prior to enrolling in PHIL 4995, the student must submit a Thesis Proposal to their Supervisory Committee which they must approve.
  • There are no hard and fast rules about how to structure a Thesis Proposal. The essential requirement is that it be a fairly short document outlining your proposed area or topic of study, your plan of investigation, and ideally listing some of the literature you intend to read during your research. Consult with your intended supervisor about their preferred way to structure your Proposal.
• In order to allow sufficient time for feedback from the committee, it is recommended that the Thesis Proposal be submitted at least 2 weeks prior to the add/drop deadline of the semester in which the student wishes to enroll; the deadline for submitting a Thesis Proposal is 3 days prior to the add/drop deadline of the semester in which the student wishes to enroll.
• In addition to their Thesis Proposal, the student must, at the same time, submit an unofficial transcript for review by the Supervisory Committee. [cal.]
• Note: Any subsequent changes to an approved Thesis Proposal must be approved by the Supervisory Committee.

Step 3 – Registration

• Admission to PHIL 4995 is achieved through the approval of the Supervisory Committee and the Department. [cal.]
• The student must register for PHIL 4995 by the add/drop deadline of the semester in which they enroll [cal.]
• The registration form for PHIL 4995 is available at the Registrar’s office.

Guidelines

Assessment

• Written Component – The Honours Thesis must be a sustained piece of supervised research demonstrating a superior level of academic ability; it will be made publicly available by the Department. [cal.]
• Oral Component – The student is required to make a public oral presentation in which they defend their thesis. If the final draft of the thesis is not submitted to the Supervisory Committee by the last day of classes of the 2^nd semester, no oral defense will be scheduled.
• The Supervisory Committee will establish at the outset the weighting of the written and oral components of the thesis, and the procedure for determining the final grade [cal.], including grade penalties for items not turned in by required deadlines. [PD-req.]
• Honours Thesis Designation – The student is eligible to receive an Honours Thesis Designation on their official transcript only if they receive a minimum grade of B+ in PHIL 4995 and they satisfactorily complete the required oral component. [cal.]
• A student who receives a grade between B and D, or who receives a grade of B+ or higher but fails to complete the oral component, will retain credit for the equivalent of two courses but will not receive the Honours Thesis Designation. [cal.]

First Semester

• This time is normally dedicated to reading and thinking about the thesis topic. The student should also begin preliminary writing on themes relevant to their thesis's main argument.
• The student should arrange to meet regularly with their Supervisor to discuss what they have read and how their thinking on the topic has evolved. Any Department member who is unable to schedule regular meetings with the student should not agree to take on the Supervisor role. In accepting a student for thesis work, the Department member is committing themselves to giving time, reasonably prompt and constructive feedback, and serious attention to the student’s work. [PD-rec.]
• The student must provide evidence of the work they have done (e.g., an annotated bibliography) by the last day of classes in the first semester. Failure to provide such evidence will result in a grade penalty agreed to by the Supervisory Committee at the outset. [PD-req.]

Second Semester

• This time is for writing and revising the Honours Thesis, employing the study done in the first semester and incorporating any writing completed then.
• It is recommended that the student submit an outline of their thesis to their Supervisor by the end of the second week classes of the second semester. [PD-rec.]
• It is recommended that the student continue to meet regularly with their Supervisor and that they submit multiple drafts of their thesis to their Supervisor.
• It is strongly recommended that the student submit a penultimate draft of their thesis to all members their Supervisory Committee at least 2 weeks prior to the last day of classes of the second semester. [PD-rec.]
• The student must submit their completed thesis to all members of the Supervisory Committee by the last day of classes of the second semester. If the thesis is not received by this date, no oral defense will be scheduled. Lateness will result in a grade penalty, as agreed to by the Supervisory Committee at the outset. [PD-req.]
• The oral defense must be completed at least 2 weeks before the end of the exam period of the second semester. [PD-req.]

Calendar