Students admitted to the honors program are required to take a series of courses in order to successfully complete the honors program and be eligible for departmental distinction.

PS 494

The department will offer two sections of PS 494 every academic year. If you are in a year-long off-campus program, like study abroad, or in back-to-back semester-long off-campus programs, or if for other reasons you were not able to take an honors seminar, you may seek a waiver of this junior honors course requirement by submitting a request and a research oriented writing project you completed after being admitted to the honors program you would like the committee to accept in lieu of the seminar.

PS 494 counts as one of the advanced level courses required for a political science major.

PS 495 and PS 496

The senior thesis is the capstone to the honors track. Students prepare for the thesis by taking the senior honors seminar (PS 495) in the fall semester of their senior year. They then complete the thesis under the supervision of a faculty advisor, enrolling in the senior thesis course (PS 496) in their last semester.

Note that PS 495 and PS 496 do not count towards your total or advanced-level political science hour requirement.

Students must submit a completed preliminary draft of the thesis to their thesis advisor at least one month before the end of classes in the semester in which the student intends to graduate. Students must submit three copies of the final version—an unbound copy signed by the thesis supervisor, a bound copy, and a digital copy—to the Political Science Undergraduate Studies Office on or before the last day of classes of the semester in which the student intends to graduate.

Thesis Submission Instructions