1st semester Junior Year:

Students should begin thinking of a topic and exploring who they would want for a Senior Thesis/Project Director.  This is the time to begin thinking about areas in which they are interested in doing advanced study and looking for people on campus to help them with their research.

2nd semester Junior Year:

Senior Year:

Students normally enroll in SCCC 499 in the beginning of their senior year, ensuring two semesters to work on their Theses/Projects.  No matter when students plan to enroll in SCCC 499, they will need to turn in the Senior Thesis Contract Form to the Director of Student Services by the end of the first week of classes to ensure that they are enrolled in the course on time. Specific deadlines are posted on the SCHC website.

Senior Thesis/Project Defense:

Students should plan to defend their Senior Thesis/Project in early April or early November to ensure they have enough time to correct any problems with their paper. They must submit one copy of the pre-defense draft, complete with scholarly apparatus (e.g., appendices, graphs, maps, etc.), to the director, one copy to the second reader, and one copy (along with the completed Defense Confirmation Form) to the Director of Student Services in the SCHC office at least two weeks prior to the defense.

After the Defense:

Students will need to turn in a final hard copy of the Senior Thesis/Project to the Director of Student Services for binding and certification of graduation “with Honors from the South Carolina Honors College”. Students should refer to the calendar located on the SCHC website for any deadlines. In addition, they are required to submit a CD-ROM containing the final copy of their thesis. These files will be used for the future creation of an online thesis database. More information on the process after the defense is included below.

The Honors College expects that a professor who serves as the faculty of record for SCCC 390Z will be the same person who ultimately directs the senior thesis/project when that student enrolls in SCCC 499: Senior Thesis/Project for the following semester. The SCCC 390Z director is asked to assist in acquiring the necessary resources and information to enable that student to write an appropriate proposal which will ensure success in SCCC 499. 

SCCC 390Z: Thesis/Project Planning Course was developed to help honors students have a smoother, faster start on their Senior Theses/Projects. It aids in precluding procrastination, in the search for a suitable topic, and in allowing students become aware of how to do the type of research necessary for their theses/projects. Thus, SCCC 390Z is required of all honors students. Juniors who are on Study Abroad or National Student Exchange programs may be exempted with written permission from their SCHC advisors. 

SCCC 390Z: Senior Thesis/Project Planning is a course offered in the second eight-week session each semester and should be taken during the second semester of the junior year or the semester before that student plans to enroll in SCCC 499. In order to enroll in SCCC 390Z, honors students are required to turn in a completed Pre-Enrollment Contract Form to the Director of Student Services by the deadline posted on the SCHC website.

SCCC 499: Senior Thesis/Project is designed as a full-year course. Therefore, to ensure they will have enough time to complete the course requirements, students are encouraged to enroll in SCCC 499 the first semester of their senior year. For students enrolling in the Fall Semester, the Senior Thesis/Project runs from the date that classes begin in August until the date that classes end in April or May; for Spring, it runs from the date that classes begin in January until the date that classes end in December.  For the few students who opt to take SCCC 499 during summer, the session runs from the date that classes begin in June or July through October 31st.

Students may enroll in SCCC 499 by completing the Senior Thesis/Project Contract form and submitting it to the Director of Student Services by the posted deadline. Students who are enrolled in SCCC 499: Senior Thesis/Project must complete all work (e.g., research, final paper, and defense) by the time that grades are due at the end of the following semester. If a student completes all required work for the thesis/project before the deadline, the Director of Student Services will send a grade sheet on which the director can record the final grade. Grades for students enrolled in the Senior Thesis/Project for the summer must be submitted to the Registrar's Office by October 31st. These longer deadlines will allow honors students who enroll in SCCC 499 more time to complete their theses or projects.

Honors College students in certain majors may be required to complete a senior design project or thesis as part of their major requirements. The Honors College considers such courses to be equivalent to SCCC 499. For example, a history major may be required to enroll in HIST 499 rather than SCCC 499, or a chemistry major may be required to enroll in CHEM 499. In such cases, these students will receive credit in the appropriate department. Provided students submit a proposal and the Senior Thesis/Project Contract Form to the Director of Student Services and follow SCHC procedures as stated in the Senior Thesis/Project Handbook, the Honors College will count that thesis/project towards fulfilling the requirements to graduate "with honors from the South Carolina Honors College."

As stated earlier, the parameters for the thesis/project are nearly limitless. Consequently, students occasionally have trouble even deciding whether to do a thesis or a project.

What is the difference between a thesis and a project? A thesis involves extensive research resulting in an extended term paper or a brief Master's thesis. Some students choose to do a senior project instead of a thesis. Projects generally involve a performance, an exhibit, equipment design and construction, or other "hands-on" activities. A few examples of projects include a musical composition and performance; an art exhibit; writing a collection of short stories or an anthology of poetry; creating an advertising, public relations or marketing campaign; writing and directing a play; building a small car, dam, robot, or computer; illustrating and/or designing a book; developing and programming a computer game; etc. Moreover, the written portion of the project (i.e., the paper) usually is considerably shorter than a thesis.

Usually, honors students choose directors before they have chosen topics for their Senior Theses/Projects. In these cases, the Honors College urges its students to discuss all the topics they are considering with their director. Honors students look to their director for guidance in deciding which topics would be most manageable, practical, and interesting for them to pursue. As long as SCHC students have a strong background in another area, they may choose to do a Senior Thesis/Project in a field outside their major. Certainly, students are reminded that the Senior Thesis/Project is not the time to attempt to learn a new field but to expand on current knowledge. We encourage them to be creative in their choice of a Senior Thesis/Project.

SCHC students choose a director and a topic for the Senior Thesis/ Project before they choose a second reader. There are typically two principal rationales that students use with the advice of their directors to decide upon a second reader. First, students may wish to choose a second reader who will be the "technical expert" during the writing process for the thesis/project. Since the director is primarily responsible for supervising the content of the thesis/project (e.g., the student's research and conduct during this undertaking), the second reader in this instance would give guidance in the mechanics of writing the resulting thesis or paper (e.g., correcting grammar and punctuation, suggesting changes in syntax, etc.).

The second rationale for choosing a second reader is most appropriate for students pursuing an interdisciplinary thesis/project. In this case, the director is chosen from one field while the second reader is chosen to represent the second field. The director and second reader complement each other and together help to ensure that the student includes appropriate material from each discipline into the thesis/project in the best possible way.

Honors students are informed that their directors are primarily responsible for guiding their research and writing. Therefore, most students' style and format questions will be addressed to the director. In addition, students are required to use style manuals that are appropriate for the disciplines in which they are writing their senior thesis/project papers (e.g., The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, A Short Guide to Writing About Biology, etc.). However, some disciplines follow no particular style manual; in such cases, the Honors College recommends that students acquire Kate L. Turabian's book, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses and Dissertations. Turabian's manual is easy to follow and applies to most disciplines.

The following is the standard format for an honors thesis or project paper. While not every project paper will include the same sections and items as the typical honors thesis, all honors theses and project papers must be organized in the following manner:

Note: Each section and/or item in the thesis or project paper should be placed in the same order as given below. If a different organization of sections and items is given in the style manual being used, the differences should be discussed with the Director of Student Services before the final thesis/project paper is submitted. The thesis Summary, an Honors College requirement, is required for every thesis and project paper regardless of which style manual is used.

Title Page
Table of Contents (Include the Thesis Summary)
Thesis Summary (About 2 pages appearing between the Table of Contents and the Abstract (if included) or between the Table of Contents and the Introduction, written in less formal and less technical terminology than the Abstract. Must be included in the Table of Contents (required regardless of major, topic, discipline, or whether a thesis or project paper)
Abstract (If appropriate)
Introduction (Required)
Main Body (Usually with three chapter divisions; required)
Conclusion (Required)
Endnotes, Works Cited or References (Required if sources are quoted. Footnotes are not used.)
Tables, Graphs, Photos, Maps, etc. (If appropriate)
Bibliography (Required if no Endnotes, Works Cited or References section is included)
Appendix(ces) (If appropriate)

Margins

Margins are to be one inch at the top, bottom and right and one and one-half inch on the left (on all pages) to permit binding. Margins less than one and one-half inch on the left result in the deletion of much of the text, graphs, photographs, tables, etc. along the left margin. Final copies submitted without these margins will not be accepted.

Pages

The pages must be numbered consecutively.

Paper Type

The final thesis/ project paper, including the title page, must be printed on standard, white (ivory and light beige are also acceptable) 25% cotton bond paper.

Ink Type

The final thesis/ project paper must be printed in black ink with the exception of photographs, maps, charts, graphs, figures, tables and similar items, which may be printed in colored inks.

Many of the questions students ask the staff of the Honors College involve the mechanics of writing a thesis. Students want to know, "What exactly is a thesis?" and, "How does one write a thesis?" To find the answers to these and other similar questions, they are instructed to speak with their directors. However, it is helpful for directors and second readers to know that students are told that the senior thesis/project is often viewed as a lengthy research paper or a mini Master's thesis.

Because students often want to know how long their theses/projects should be, the Honors College has established a general rule: for a three-credit Senior Thesis/Project, students writing in humanities or social science disciplines will probably write a thesis consisting of approximately forty-five to sixty pages. In fact, their theses tend to be quite a bit longer than those of students writing in math, natural science or pre-professional disciplines. The latter may have theses consisting of only about twenty-five to forty pages; however, the content in these theses tends to be more tightly packed. Directors and second readers may find it useful to visit (or to have the students visit) the Library to examine the bound theses/project papers of students who previously have conducted the Senior Thesis/Project.

For every credit in which the students enroll for the Senior Thesis/Project, they are expected to work on it for approximately three hours per week. Hence, students who enroll in SCCC 499 (or an equivalent course) for three credits should work on the thesis/project for about nine hours per week; for six credits, eighteen hours per week; etc.

It is a requirement that a Senior Thesis/Project defense be held before the director assigns a final grade. Students, directors, and second readers have often asked the professional staff of SCHC why a defense is required. The purposes of the defense are:

• To examine relevant questions which did not arise during the thesis/project process but do arise during the defense;
• To discuss in which direction students would take the thesis/project if they had more time to do so;
• To provide a sense of closure to everyone involved in this process;
• To give students the valuable experience in oral expression gained from conducting the thesis/project defense.
• To provide a public venue for students to present their work.

As stated previously, students submit one copy of the pre-defense draft, complete with scholarly apparatus (e.g., appendices, graphs, maps, etc.), to the director, one copy to the second reader and one copy (along with the completed Defense Confirmation Form) to the Director of Student Services in the SCHC office at least two weeks prior to the defense. This step gives everyone time to review the thesis and to prepare questions for the defense. Since senior thesis/project defenses are considered to be public events, it is important to understand that any interested persons may also attend, though they may not actively participate in the defense. Therefore, advanced notice of the defense allows SCHC to publicize the event on the website. Although it is no longer a requirement that a representative of the Honors College attend every defense, the Dean, Associate Deans or the Director of Student Services will make every effort to attend and participate in the defense if at all possible. Naturally, the director, second reader, and student must attend and participate in the defense.

Grades for the SCCC 499: Senior Thesis/Project may range from "A" to "F." Since SCCC 499 is a full year in length, you will not receive a grade sheet on VIP until the end of the full year.  Therefore, if students are registered for SCCC 499 in Fall, grades will be due at the end of the Spring term. Likewise, if they register for the class in Spring, grades will be due at the end of Fall. If a student completes the requirements in one semester, the Director of Student Services will send you a grade sheet in order to assign your student a grade.

Students will be responsible for providing the University with a CD-ROM version of the senior thesis/project for the future creation of an online thesis database. Also, one hard copy of the revised (post-defense) thesis/project paper must be submitted to the Director of Student Services in the SCHC office. This copy must have the title page in the required format, must contain all required elements of the paper in the exact order as stated in the section of this handbook entitled “Format”, and must carry the signatures of both readers. SCHC will obtain the signature from the SCHC Dean; a line at the bottom of the title page should be left for this purpose. When students submit their copies of the thesis/project papers, they will be asked for a completed Binding Form and a check (made out to the SCHC Educational Foundation) in the amount of $10.00 to cover the expense of binding one copy of the thesis/project paper. Please note that this copy of the thesis/project paper is not for the student; instead, it will be shelved in the Thomas Cooper Library. Students may purchase one additional copy of the thesis/ project paper for $10.00. Additional bound copies beyond the first two (such as a copy for the director) are $15.00 per copy. Students must submit all copies they wish to have bound as the staff of the Honors College will not make copies. Only after the submission of the final copies and payment will the Director of Student Services clear the student to graduate "with Honors from the South Carolina Honors College." When the theses are returned from the binder, they will be mailed to the forwarding address left on the binding form.

From time to time, unavoidable circumstances may occur while directors and second readers are involved in guiding honors students pursuing the Senior Thesis/Project. Two examples of unforeseen conflicts which most often arise are:

• Change in topic or reader
• Emergencies

Change in topic or reader

Sometimes the topics that students originally intend to pursue do not work out. In this case, students are well-advised to discuss the possibility of choosing a different, more viable topic with their director and second reader. Often, a change in topic necessitates a change in director, second reader or both. Whether students change the topic, reader, or both, a new Senior Thesis/Project Contract Form must be submitted to SCHC with the signatures of both readers. Students changing topics are also required to submit a new proposal.

Emergencies

If there is still a significant amount of time left before the student completes the Senior Thesis/Project and you become seriously ill or hurt, leave town, or experience some other emergency that prevents you from completing the required responsibilities of your role, please contact the student and the Director of Student Services as soon as possible. It would be very helpful for you to suggest another person, if possible, who may be willing and able to step into your role and guide the student through the completion of the Senior Thesis/Project. This change in personnel will require the student to submit a new Senior Thesis/Project Contract Form with the signatures of both the director and the second reader.

SCCC 390Z form: http://schc.sc.edu/Downloads/PreEnrollmentForm.pdf
Defense Confirmation form: http://schc.sc.edu/Downloads/DefenseConfirmationForm.pdf
SCCC 499 form: http://schc.sc.edu/Downloads/Contractform.pdf
Thesis grant application: http://schc.sc.edu/Downloads/ThesisGrantForm.pdf
Pre-defense thesis checklist: http://schc.sc.edu/Downloads/Checklist.pdf