Jacob Johns' anatomy-centered thesis involved creating a life-size model of a skeleton out of found metal parts. Honors College students have the opportunity to choose between doing a project, like Jacob Johns' skeleton, or a paper for their senior thesis; both involve research and in-depth learning.
To graduate with honors from University of South Carolina Honors College, you must complete and successfully defend a senior thesis project. Senior thesis projects take various forms and can center on the topic of your choosing.
Students completing a senior thesis/project will follow the basic process outlined below:
Comprehensive Senior Thesis requirements are outlined in the Senior Thesis/Project Handbook.
In the second semester of your junior year, you will need to identify your director and general topic for your Senior Thesis or project. You and your director will need to sign the SCHC 390Z: Thesis planning Pre-Enrollment Form in order to register for this 1 credit, S/U (pass/fail) course. All students except those studying in exchange programs must complete SCHC 390Z prior to enrolling in SCHC 499: Senior Thesis Project.
To register for SCHC 390Z, you must first attend a Senior Thesis workshop. Dates and times for these workshops will be posted on the Current Student page and emailed to current Honors College students. Afterwards, you will need to submit the completed Pre-Enrollment form to the Director of Student Services in room 221 in the Honors College. Again, the deadline will be posted on the Honors College Current Student page and emailed to all students.
In order to pass 390Z, a proposal must be submitted to your director. At a minimum, the proposal is a 2-6 page document discussing the what you plan to do for your thesis and how you plan to get there. The format depends on your discipline and what your director decides. You have to turn a copy of the proposal into your director. Your director will submit a pass (S) or fail (U) upon completion of the proposal. A copy of the 390Z proposal doesn't have to come to the Director of Student Services at the time you give it to your director. The proposal will be submitted to the Director when you submit your paperwork to register for 499.
Even if you are not required to take SCHC 390Z, you must still identify your director and develop a proposal and turn them into the Director of Student Services before you will be allowed to register for SCHC 499.
[Back to the Senior Thesis Process Overview]
Ideally a student should register for SCHC 499 Senior Thesis/Project during the fall semester of his or her senior year. You may register for 3 to 15 credit hours. If you are registering for 6 or more credit hours, you may split them up between semesters. Note that it will require your director to give you 2 separate grades in that case. Make sure they know this and are on the lookout for grade sheets at the end of each semester. Remember, increasing your credit hours raise expectations. Essentially, you should expect to invest 150 hours (research through final revision) for every 3 credits.
To register for SCHC 499, you must complete the senior thesis contract, which can be found here and under the Student Resources Tab in the Online Forms folder. For this contract, you will need to identify your director (including the last 4 digits of his/her social), second reader, and your major advisor and have all three sign the contract. You must turn in this form, along with a copy of your proposal, to the Director of Student Services in the Harper 221 by the posted deadlines under the Honors College Current Student page. You will also be notified of the dates with a reminder email as well.
SCHC 499 is usually a two-semester experience; thus, if you enroll in the fall semester, your thesis/project is due at the end of spring term. Credits, though, will be awarded for the semester in which you enrolled in SCHC 499. You should plan to complete the majority of the work for your thesis/project in the first semester of enrollment, saving the second for revisions and defense. Students attempting to complete their theses in one semester will be on a significantly more compressed schedule.
You must defend your thesis by the deadline posted on the Honors College Current Student page. You will submit a draft of your thesis and the Defense Confirmation Form to the Director of Student Services AT LEAST 2 WEEKS before your scheduled defense. You are responsible for coordinating with your director and second reader to both schedule your defense and secure a location. For students who are looking for ideas for where to hold a defense, you might start with your director's office.
After you have defended and made final corrections to your Senior Thesis/Project, you must submit a pdf version of your paper on a CD and a signed, final hard copy of your senior thesis/project to the Director of Student Services in the Honors College by the posted and emailed deadline.
We cannot certify you for "graduation with honors from South Carolina Honors College" until we have received the final, signed copy of your thesis/project. If you have not been so certified prior to the date the Registrar closes the books on the semester, you will graduate from the University without this distinction unless you reapply for a later graduation date. The University will not award any distinction retroactively, even if you complete the requirements at a later date.