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Honors in Chemistry



A.Criteria for Honors in Chemistry

The faculty will award Honors to a chemistry major based on the candidate's complete undergraduate chemistry program. This includes all courses required for the major, the student's grades and the successful completion of a two semester (or summer and semester) research project. A minimum GPA of 3.30 is required in all courses that count toward the major, including math and physics courses and transfer courses that receive chemistry credit, at the conclusion of the seventh semester (typically the fall semester of the senior year) of study. The Honors research project should be distinguished by the originality and definition of the research problem, the sophistication of the experimental design and its execution, and the analysis and presentation of the results. *Generally, Honors reports should be of publishable or near publishable quality. The Chemistry Department faculty will weigh all of these factors when considering Honors.

B.Procedures

1. A draft of the  research proposal  must be submitted to the faculty research advisor by the final class day of the student's seventh semester.

2. The student will present the department with a written proposal of the intended work by the second Tuesday of classes of the student's final semester.

3. At the next regularly scheduled department meeting, the Chemistry faculty will review the student's previous work and make a determination as to whether or not the student is qualified to proceed. They will review the proposed project, and if accepted for Honors consideration, the faculty will set deadlines for the receipt of first and final drafts of the project paper. The student will be informed of the department's decision within one week of receiving the proposal.

4. During the course of the work, it is the responsibility of the research advisor to alert the department to any problems which arise.

5. At the end of the project, drafts of the paper are to be submitted to each department member by the deadlines set previously. The paper should conform to the style of an appropriate journal. Both an oral and a written report are required. The student will give a public 30 minute presentation of the research, to be attended by all Chemistry faculty. This will be followed by a private defense in front of the Chemistry faculty (this presentation/oral defense will be done on the Thursday of the exam period, which is a reading day.) Based on the quality of the research reported and the quality of the written presentation, oral presentation, and oral defense, the faculty will make a decision on whether or not to award Honors. 

C.  Format Specifications for Honors Theses (Revised 2010)

In order to facilitate the binding and cataloging of honors theses for the Archives and Special Collections Department of the Dickinson College Library, the following guidelines shall be observed:

1.The top, bottom, and right hand margins shall be one inch, and the left margin shall be one and one quarter inches.

2.The thesis shall be fully paginated, including any forwards, prefaces, appendices, and bibliographies.  Page numbers shall be centered approximately one half inch from the bottom of each page.

3.The title page of the thesis shall include the full title, author, date of submission, department for which the thesis is being submitted, the name of the thesis supervisor, and any designated readers of the thesis, as applicable.  (An example of a properly constructed title page can be obtained in the department office.)

4.The copy of the thesis which is to be bound and permanently maintained in the College Archives shall be printed by the College Print Center.  (Additional copies of the thesis, if desired by the Department or the student author of the thesis, need not necessarily be printed by the Print Center.)

5.The cost of binding the Archives copy of the thesis will be paid for by the Archives.  Additional copies to be professionally bound for the Department or the student will cost $30 per copy.  If the department is paying for this binding, please include an Internal Requisition with the order.  If the student is paying for any binding they will need to make payment arrangements with the Archives.

6.If a copy of the thesis is bound for the Department, please include a contact person’s name.  If copies are to be mailed directly to the student, please include the desired mailing address.

7.  Please print the copy for the Archives single sided, regardless of how many pages it contains.  Other copies that are to be bound should be printed single sided if they are less than 20 pages.  Honors with more than 20 pages may be printed double or single sided.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Deb Ege at ext. 1399. 

 

 


 


 

 

 


 

 

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