General Scholarship candidates must fulfill General Education Expectations and submit a senior thesis that meets the standard for honors or high honors set by the Honors Committee.

During the Drop/Add period, you must enroll in a senior thesis tutorial within the Department/Program of your thesis advisor, through the Drop/Add system, and indicate that you are pursuing General Scholarship.  If you are a University Major, this will later appear on your schedule as UNIV 409/410. 

The General Scholarship applicant must provide the following materials to Beth Labriola in the Registrar's Office by 4 pm on October 1, 2009. This material may be submitted on paper or sent as an email attachment.

1. A typed description of the project, including its scope, plan for research and preparation, and the student's reason for choosing it.  Some theses contain no written component.  If that is the case with your proposed thesis, you need to explain that in your written application so the committee understands the full nature and scope of your work and the Registrar's Office is clear as to whether you will be registering any written work on April 13^th.

2. A statement of support from the tutor commenting on the originality and feasibility of the project, the student's grasp of the material and the implications of the project.  This statement should declare the understanding reached between the student and the faculty member as to the latter's role in supervising the project.

3. A statement from the student's major department(s) indicating that the student is in good standing in the major and has met the department's requirements to write a thesis.  In the case of the University major, the supervising Dean supplies this statement. 

The Honors Committee reviews the student's transcript and Gen Ed compliance forms (gathered by the Registrar's Office) and makes the final decision whether a student may write a thesis for Honors in General Scholarship.

Evaluation of General Scholarship theses: Final evaluation is done by the tutor, a second reader selected by the Honors Committee from nominations made by the tutor, and a member of the Honors Committee. A fourth reader from the General Scholarship committee may be appointed in case of conflicting evaluations.

The nature of General Scholarship research is inherently interdisciplinary.  General Scholarship theses are read by scholars with expert knowledge of the thesis material as well as scholars that may not have familiarity with the topic.  Therefore it is the responsibility of the student writing for General Scholarship to produce a thesis that is academically rigorous as well as understandable to non-experts.

Deadlines: General Scholarship candidates must meet the same deadlines as departmental honors candidates - see the Jellybean Papers for further details.