All College Thesis grading for POLS majors wishing to receive Distinction in the major.

A. Students must have a minimum of 3.5 cumulative GPA in order to attempt an Honors Thesis Option.

B. Students must enroll in a sequence of the following COLG and POLS courses:

• 1 credit Honors thesis prep course (COLG 396) in the Spring of Junior Year, or Fall of Senior Year
• Departmental Senior Research Seminar in either Spring +or Fall semester of Senior Year (POLS 361-365)
• All College thesis course (COLG 398) in the opposite semester of Senior Year

C. The student is responsible for identifying a main academic advisory (POLS faculty member) who will serve as chair of their committee. The chair and student will work to identify two other members of the committee among political science or appropriate faculty. Students are responsible for approaching and arranging meetings with faculty to ensure that they are willing to serve.

Deadlines are available on the All College Thesis page. The chair of the thesis committee will provide more detailed deadlines for the project.

D. To receive Departmental distinction, a thesis must achieve an “A” grade following thesis defense.

Note: Not all students who attempt to do an Honors thesis achieve Department Distinction for their effort.

All work deserving of Distinction in the Department will receive an “A” for COLG 398 as determined by the vote of the committee.

If a student’s work does not rise to the level of an “A,” it will not receive Distinction in the Department and the course will be converted to an ILP (POLS 371) and be graded by the committee chair using A-F grading.