University Classes: Honors Program

Manual of Policies and Procedures:
The Psychology Honors Program at Old Dominion University

Revised 04/13/99

To Psychology Honors Students And To Those Who Aspire To Be:
It is important that you read this manual in its entirety, so that you can...

• Understand and fulfill all the requirements for admission and completion of the Honors Program in Psychology.
• Properly prepare and present a thesis proposal to the Psychology Honors Committee.
• Properly carry out the research and write a thesis.
• Properly present and defend the thesis to the Psychology Honors Committee.

Table of Contents:

• Why Would I Want To Become A Psychology Honors Student?
• What Do I Do To Complete The Psychology Honors Program?
• What Are The Admission Requirements For The Honors Program In Psychology?
• Guidelines for Preparation of the Honors Thesis Proposal in Psychology
• Policies and Procedures of the Psychology Honors Thesis Proposal Meeting
• Guidelines for Preparation of the Honors Thesis in Psychology
• Policies and Procedures of the Psychology Honors Thesis Defense Meeting
• Grading Policies

Click Here for the printable version of this manual.

You are really interested in learning first-hand what scientific psychology is all about. Reading about it is one thing, doing it is the real thing!

You want a one-on-one research mentorship with an accomplished faculty member in the Psychology Department. And you are ready to work hard!

Especially if you aspire to graduate school and a career in psychology, you will want to stand out as one who can excel in research. Admission to graduate programs in psychology is very competitive, so you want to demonstrate that, as an undergraduate, you have what it takes to succeed. Your diploma from the University will state that your B.S. is with Honors.

Over the course of the three semesters, you do the following:

First, early in your junior year, you discuss your interests with a Psychology faculty member who agrees to be your research supervisor next semester for Psychology 497 ("Supervised Research"). In 497, you develop your thesis research idea and work on the development of your research proposal. In addition to meeting regularly with your faculty supervisor, you attend and participate in the required seminar for the class.

The second semester, if you meet all the admission requirements, you apply for the Honors program. You enroll in Psychology 487 (Honors I), present your proposal to the Honors Committee, and begin your thesis research. You continue to work with your supervisor and participate in the course seminar.

In the third semester, you take Psychology 488 (Honors II), complete your thesis, and present it in a "thesis defense" to the Psychology Honors Committee. As usual, you participate in the seminar.

You are academically eligible if you have a 3.25 overall grade-point average AND a 3.50 average in your psychology major (with no Incomplete grades) AND you've completed Psychology 201, 317, 318, and 497, as well as nine additional credit hours in psychology. The Undergraduate Program office (MGB 246) has a form for you and your thesis research supervisor to fill out and give to the Chair of the Honors Committee.

The Thesis Proposal must be prepared (in format and style) in accordance with the Fourth Edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Any exceptions are indicated below. The paper should be word processed and either laser printed or ink-jet printed. It should be free of typographical errors and errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, or style. Margins should be 1.5 inches on the left and 1 inch on top, right, and bottom. The page header and number are placed within the upper margin.

The Honors Thesis Proposal should consist of the following sections, each beginning on a new page.

1. Cover page: Shown in the appendix of this manual.
2. Abstract: Written in the future tense, your abstract summarizes the purpose(s) of the study and descriptions of the proposed sample (with N), design and methodology, and expected results. [Required length: Not to exceed 1 page]
3. Introduction: You review the literature pertinent to the proposed study. This should progress from a broad discussion of the topic and its importance, to an increasingly focused presentation of the most relevant studies, and ultimately to a logical derivation of the proposed study. [Suggested length: 10 to 12 pages]
4. Method: In compliance with the APA manual, this section should describe your research participants (including selection criteria), design, materials, and procedures--including a thorough description of all independent and dependent variables. [Suggested length: 8 to 10 pages]
5. Expected Results and Analyses: State exactly what you expect to find by delineating your specific hypotheses. Then precisely indicate the statistical procedures you will employ to test these hypotheses. Be sure to mention any analyses needed to establish the reliability or validity of your variables. [Suggested length: 1 to 2 pages]
6. References: List all cited sources. Appendix: This section contains all the materials that you will use in the study. Included here are questionnaires (unless they are copyrighted), forms, instruction sheets, etc.

1. The purpose of the proposal meeting is to evaluate and provide constructive feedback concerning the student's thesis proposal document and his/her oral presentation of this work.

2. The student shall submit the document to the Chair of the Honors Committee. It must comply with the "Guidelines for Preparation of the Honors Thesis Proposal in Psychology." The cover page must bear the supervisor's signature of approval. Six copies are needed: 4 for Committee members, 1 for the supervisor, and 1 kept by the student.

3. The Committee will determine the readiness of the proposal for this meeting. If ready, the meeting will be scheduled. If not, feedback will be provided by the Committee Chair to the student's supervisor.

4. Meeting participants include the student, supervisor, and at least three of the four members of the Honors Committee. The meeting is not open to others, unless previously agreed upon by the Chair, supervisor, and student.

5. The student shall give a 15-minute presentation of the proposed work. Aided by overhead transparencies or slides, this presentation should include:

1. A summary of the theoretical and empirical foundations and rationale of the proposed study, and its specific hypotheses.
2. A description of the research methodology--participants, design, materials, and procedures.
3. The proposed statistical analyses.

6. Committee members shall then pose questions and offer comments to the student to ascertain the student's abilities in conducting the proposed work and to ensure that the project is feasible and is ethically and scientifically sound. The student's supervisor is encouraged to participate in this discussion.

7. Subsequently, at the Committee's discretion, the student may be asked to leave the meeting briefly while the Committee evaluates the student's performance and the project's acceptability, in discussion with the supervisor.

8. The Committee shall provide oral feedback regarding the proposal, with any required or recommended changes. Committee members will return to the student and supervisor the annotated copies of the student's proposal.

NOTE: Students should not submit their proposed project for review by the departmental or other IRB until the Honors Committee has approved the project.

The Honors Thesis is prepared in accordance with APA's Publication Manual (5th ed.). It should be word processed and either laser printed or ink-jet printed. It must be free of typographical errors and errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, or style. Margins should be 1.5 inches on the left and 1 inch elsewhere. The page header and number are placed within the upper margin. The thesis must incorporate all corrections and changes from the proposal meeting.

It contains these sections, each beginning on a new page:

1. Cover page: Shown in the appendix of this manual. Abstract: The abstract summarizes the purpose(s) of the study and provides descriptions of the actual sample (with N), design and methodology, and obtained results. [Required length: Not to exceed 1 page]
2. Introduction: You review the literature pertinent to the study. Add any research or information that's emerged since the proposal. This section progresses from a broad discussion of the topic, to an increasingly focused presentation of the most relevant studies, and ultimately to a logical derivation of the proposed study, with hypotheses. [Suggested length: 10 to 12 pages]
3. Method: Describe your research participants, design/methodology, materials, and procedures--including a thorough description of all independent and dependent variables. [Suggested length: 8 to 10 pages]
4. Results: Specify the statistical procedures you used to test hypotheses and systematically indicate what these analyses reveal. Be sure to report any analyses conducted to establish the reliability or validity of your variables. Place any tables within the text rather than at the end of the document. Each table should appear on its own page immediately following the first mention of the table in the text. [Suggested length: 8 to 12 pages, plus tables]
5. Discussion: Provide a summary of the study's findings, in relation to the support or nonsupport of your hypotheses. Discuss these with respect to:
   1. the existing research literature,
   2. pertinent theory,
   3. the study's strengths and limitations,
   4. directions for future research,
   5. the relevance or applications of the study's results.
      [Suggested length: 8 to 12 pages]
6. References: List all cited sources.
7. Appendix: This section contains all the materials that you used in the study--questionnaires (unless copyrighted), forms, instruction sheets, etc.

1. The purpose of the thesis defense meeting is to evaluate and provide constructive feedback concerning the student's thesis and the student's oral presentation of this work.
2. The student shall submit the thesis to the Honors Committee Chair. The document must comply with the "Guidelines for Preparation of the Honors Thesis in Psychology." The thesis's cover page must bear the supervisor's signature of approval. Six copies are needed: 4 for Committee members, 1 for the supervisor, and 1 kept by the student.
3. The Committee will determine the readiness of the thesis for defense. If ready, the meeting will be scheduled. If not, feedback will be provided by the Committee Chair to the student's supervisor.
4. Unless previously returned, each Committee member's annotated or corrected proposal document (previously given to the student at the proposal meeting) should accompany a copy of the thesis itself. The purpose is to assure that those modifications were made as recommended.
5. Meeting participants are the student, supervisor, and at least three of the four members of the Honors Committee. The meeting is open to other students and faculty. Other Honors students are encouraged to attend.
6. The student shall give a 20-minute presentation of the thesis research. Aided by overhead transparencies or slides, this presentation should include:
   1. A summary of the theoretical and empirical foundations and rationale of the study, and its specific hypotheses.
   2. A description of the research design, methods, participants, materials, and procedures.
   3. A description of the research findings based on statistical analyses of the data.
   4. A summary of the principal research conclusions.
7. Subsequently, Honors Committee members shall pose questions of the student to ascertain the student's knowledge of the research and its findings and implications. The student should be prepared to discuss strengths and weaknesses of the study, its theoretical, empirical, and applied implications, and directions for future research. The student's supervisor is encouraged to participate in this discussion.
8. After the discussion, at the Committee's discretion, the student and other attendees may be asked to leave the meeting briefly while the Committee evaluates the student's performance and the acceptability of the thesis.
9. Finally, the Committee shall provide oral feedback regarding the acceptance of the thesis, with any required or recommended modifications. Committee members will return to the student and supervisor the annotated copies of the thesis. One copy will be retained by the Committee chair.
10. The faculty supervisor will be responsible for ensuring that the student makes all required modifications of the document prior to a specified deadline. This revised and submitted document must comply with the "Guidelines for Preparation of the Honors Thesis in Psychology." This final thesis document should be bound on the left (preferably nonspiral binding, such as "velo" binding) with reasonably durable front and back covers. Three copies are needed--one to the Committee chair (for the Department), one to the faculty supervisor, and one for the student to keep.

The grades for the Honors sequence (Psychology 497, 487 and 488) are assigned jointly by your research supervisor and the Chair of the Honors Committee, who also coordinates the seminar. The grading scale is from A to F, including any appropriate plus or minus. The specific determinants of the grade are delineated in the syllabus for the research seminar. This syllabus is included in the Appendix of this manual. A grade of Incomplete will be assigned if the student has not defended the proposal by the end of the semester in which Psychology 487 (Honors I) is taken. Moreover, a grade of Incomplete will be assigned for Psychology 488 (Honors II) if the student has not defended thesis per se by the end of the semester in which Psychology 488 is taken. In accordance with University policy, any Incomplete reverts to an F if the course requirements are not satisfactorily completed by the end of the subsequent semester. In some instances, after the first course of the sequence (i.e., "Supervised Research," Psychology 497), the student and/or the research supervisor may decide not to continue the sequence for completion of the Honors program. Thus, for student and supervisor alike, the first course of the sequence may be viewed as a opportunity to ascertain whether the student's capabilities and interests are commensurate with the completion of a thesis per se. Should the decision be made not to pursue the Honors Thesis, an option might be to enroll in a second "Supervised Research" class (Psychology 498) in the following semester and conduct the research on a non-thesis basis.