Students receive the level of Latin Honors for which they have satisfied both their GPA and thesis requirements. Summa, magna, and cum laude level thesis work is determined by your thesis committee, not by UHP. Requirements will vary between department; each department identifies the specific requirements of a summa cum laude thesis detailed on the Major and Thesis Requirements page. Discuss with your faculty advisor what those expectations are in advance.

In addition to their thesis work, students must meet the GPA requirements for their last 60 credits, mandated by University policy:

• cum laude 3.500–3.665 GPA 
• magna cum laude 3.666–3.749 GPA 
• summa cum laude 3.75–4.0 GPA
   

A student who is within 0.1 GPA point of eligibility for the next highest level of Latin Honors may be recommended by their thesis committee for that higher level if the student writes a truly exceptional thesis. For students rising to cum laude or magna cum laude, "exceptional" is defined as writing a summa-level thesis. For students rising from magna to summa, the thesis committee will define "exceptional" as being among the best 5-10% of summa-level theses to come out of their department. It is not possible to rise from cum laude to summa. All such recommendations from thesis committees will need to be approved by the UHP Faculty Advisory Board and the UHP Directors Committee to be successfully applied.

All theses must be approved by a three member committee. At least one committee member (not necessarily the advisor) must be a tenure-track faculty member at the University of Minnesota, and at least one must be affiliated with the department in which the thesis is conducted.

Departments may have additional requirements for the committee composition; be sure to check our Major and Thesis Requirements page for requirements by major.

Students should select committee members in consultation with their thesis advisor and with the support of their Honors Faculty Representative. Some departments may be prescriptive with which faculty sit on committees, whereas others may have a high degree of flexibility. Only the primary faculty advisor must be identified in the thesis proposal.

All students are required to take a classroom-based, Honors Thesis supporting course of at least one credit, one semester. Many majors and colleges provide such courses, which can be found on our Major and Thesis Requirements page. 

If your department or college does not offer a thesis supporting course, you will take UHP's HCOL 3101H (The Honors Thesis - Development) or HCOL 3102H (The Honors Thesis - Writing).

UHP also offers a writing-intensive course - HCOL 3103V (The Honors Thesis - Writing and Revision) - to help with the thesis writing process. However, this does not count as a thesis supporting course.

Style Guides

Check with your faculty supervisor before choosing a style. Style and citation resources are available from the University Libraries.

• Modern Language Association (MLA) style - common in the humanities
• American Psychological Association (APA) style - common in the social sciences
• Chicago style - common in history

Formatting

A thesis paper should be easily readable for future Honors students:

• Margins: at least 1" on all sides
• Type size: 12 point font; a smaller font may be used for footnotes or end notes
• Font: use a standard, easily-readable font, such as Times New Roman
• Spacing: double space all main text

Sections

Sections of the thesis include (and should be sequenced as follows):

• Title Page: Includes thesis title, author name, and the following content block:
  • Submitted under the supervision of [name of faculty supervisor] to the University Honors Program at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor [of Arts, Science, etc], [summa cum laude, magna cum laude, or cum laude] in [honors major].
• Acknowledgements (optional)
• Abstract or Summary: No more than one double-spaced page. For thesis projects in the creative and performing arts, the summary must provide specifics about the exhibition or performance that the written thesis complements.
• Non-technical Summary: (optional) recommended in cases where the abstract and thesis are too highly technical to be easily understood by non-specialists
• Table of Contents (optional)
• Body of the Thesis
• Appendices (optional)
• Bibliography or List of Works Cited

An Honors thesis must demonstrate:

• the ability to digest pre-existing work, present and summarize it succinctly, and articulate the context in which the student’s new work is situated;
• the ability to propose an idea in brief (i.e., the thesis proposal), and then bring that idea to fruition within a given timeline;
• the ability to present writing or recordings whose quality and polish are at a publishable or public-presentation level (even if the data, research, or ideas are still at a preliminary level);
• the ability to present ideas clearly and compellingly to an audience of non-specialists;
• and, the ability to go beyond programmatic or major capstone requirements for non-UHP students.

Additional Evaluation Considerations

Plan A & Plan C: The thesis must be of appropriate length and quality. Determinations as to whether or not the student has met these standards will lie first with the thesis committee chair, and secondly with the other members of the student’s committee. Students are expected to demonstrate the promise of continued excellence in graduate-program or professional work in the field. We encourage departments and programs to provide more detailed guidance about the expectations for the thesis, worked out in conjunction with UHP, to be accessible on the UHP and departmental websites.

Plan B: The project must be of appropriate nature, scope, and quality, as determined by the committee. Moreover, each student’s individual contributions need to be clearly laid out along with contingency plans for what members of the group intend to do should one or more of the students involved produce sub-standard work (or none at all). Determinations as to whether or not the students have met these standards will lie with the thesis committee in its entirety (including a faculty member from each student’s major). In all cases, projects are expected to demonstrate the students’ potential for continued excellence in graduate-program or professional work.

Thesis Submission

By the last day of final examinations in the semester in which you are graduating, you must:

• Submit your final thesis in PDF format via the "Thesis Completion" digital submission in the Honors Reporting Center

Publication Option

If your thesis is not being published elsewhere, consider making it available on the digital conservancy. The University Digital Conservancy provides permanent online access to academic works produced at the University. Benefits of placing your thesis in the conservancy include:

• Free, public accessibility
• Long-term storage and preservation
• Improved rankings in search engine results
• A direct, public URL for reference in resumes, applications, CVs, etc.

To have your Honors thesis placed in the Digital Conservancy, you must submit the following forms to honors@umn.edu:

• a signed copy of the Digital Conservancy Deposit Agreement
• a Digital Conservancy Agreement Addendum signed by your faculty thesis advisor. At the discretion of your thesis advisor, signatures of additional readers or research contributors may be required.

After receiving these forms, the honors program will submit your thesis to the Digital Conservancy within a few months. Upon submission, you will receive instructions on how to access the digital copy of your thesis.

View the Digital Conservancy Policies and Guidelines for more information.

Frequently Asked Questions

• How do I pick a thesis topic?
  • There's no right or wrong way to select a thesis topic. A good topic should be one that is interesting to you, relevant to broader questions in your discipline, and can be appropriately advised by a current faculty member at the University of Minnesota. Some students think of a topic, then identify an appropriate advisor to oversee the work. Others will identify a faculty member they are interested in working with, and then work with that person to find an appropriate topic. In disciplines with significant laboratory requirements for research, it is often common to do your research as an extension of an existing lab group's project. If you're having trouble identifying a topic, it may be helpful to talk to an instructor of a course you loved, reach out to faculty in your department to learn about their research, or visit the UHP offices to look at past theses that students have written in your discipline.
• When should I start planning my thesis?
  • Many departments have specific expectations of the thesis timeline, which coincide with required thesis coursework. Others are more flexible and students work toward their thesis with a greater degree of independence. Be sure you consult with your Honors Advisor and Honors Faculty Representative to learn more. Students are most successful when they are able to identify a topic and advisor in their Junior year, so that they have two full semesters to conduct research, write, and revise their thesis. It is never too early to get involved in research, which may one day lead to a thesis.
• I'm pursuing a double-major or double-degree - do I need to do two theses?
  • Latin Honors is granted at the level of the degree (B.A., B.S. etc), not at the level of the major. Therefore, students pursuing a double major do not need to complete two theses -- they can either complete the thesis in their primary department, or pursue an interdisciplinary thesis with the approval of both Honors Faculty Representatives. 
  • Students who are pursuing two separate degrees (e.g. a B.A. and a B.S.) are encouraged to choose one degree in which to pursue their Latin Honors, or to inquire with their Honors Faculty Representatives about the possibility of an interdisciplinary thesis in circumstances where that makes sense. If an interdisciplinary thesis is not possible, a student may technically choose to complete two theses, one in each major, in order to receive Latin Honors on both degrees, but this is discouraged as it would be a lot of work!

Resources

Thesis Database

The thesis database is a searchable collection of over 6,000 theses, with direct access to more than 4,000 full-text theses in PDF format. The database—fully searchable by discipline, keyword, level of Latin Honors, and more—is available for student use in Northrop 390, 8am–4:30pm, Monday–Friday.

Helpful Links

• Honors Reporting Center - thesis work is reported using the "Thesis Proposal" and "Thesis Completion" forms
• Major and Thesis Requirements - see requirements specific to your major
• Honors Requirements  - overview of all requirements needed to graduate with Latin Honors