Honors Program

Macalester College Honors Program is facilitated by the Dean of Academic Programs. The program is designed to enable seniors with demonstrated ability to undertake substantial independent work that culminates in a project of exceptionally high quality. The Geography Department participates in the honors program. Eligibility requirements, application procedures and specific project expectations for the geography department are outlined on this page. Students interested in pursuing an Honors Project are encouraged to consult with their academic advisor early in their junior year.

Honors Projects

Geography Honors Project Guidelines

1. Eligibility

Students must maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.3 and have officially declared a major in Geography. An Honors Project will not replace the senior capstone experience required of all graduates of Macalester College.

2. Thesis Project Proposal

By the first week of their senior year at the latest, a student should submit a written proposal to their Advisor. In the early fall of each year the Geography Department faculty will meet to review proposals. Each student will be notified, in a timely fashion, whether or not his/her proposal has been approved, requires revisions before approval, or is denied.

Proposals must include the following:

• An explanation of the topic and nature of the project
• A research question
• The proposed methodology for examining the question
• Major sources to be examined
• A proposed thesis committee of three (with at least two Macalester geography faculty) as well as at least two alternate committee members.

Criteria for Approval:

Factors to be considered include pertinence of the topic, the plan for research, methodology proposed to carry out the research, course preparation of the student, and the form of the research project. It must have the potential to demonstrate independent critical thought and original research. Above all, the project must reflect an original approach to a significant theme within the discipline of geography. The proposal should be 3-6 pages in length.

3. Registering for Independent Study Credits

The Department recommends that students undertaking Honors Projects register for an Independent course (Geog 614) of 4 credits each semester they are working on their projects (first and second semester senior year). In some instances it may be appropriate to use a geography senior seminar to work on part of an honors thesis (but only in cases where this has been approved by the instructor). We expect that the Honors project will account for 4 – 8 credits (only four of these credits can count towards an individual student’s major in Geography). Part of the independent study will involve mandatory attendance at a bi-weekly colloquium for all honors students during the fall semester.

4. Mid-year checkpoint

After a proposal has been approved, honors students, in consultation with their advisor, are required to identify project components to be satisfactorily completed by the end of the Fall semester. We recognize that epistemological and methodological diversity, students’ other time commitments, and other factors should allow for flexibility in evaluating progress towards an honors thesis. Still, it is reasonable to expect two or more of these components to be completed by the end of the Fall semester:

o   (a) a draft of a detailed literature review;

o   (b) a clear exposition of a conceptual framework;

o   (c) evidence of progress in data collection;

o   (d) preliminary data analysis.

It is the responsibility of the advisor and the student to make a detailed plan with concrete objectives at the start of the Fall semester — which could also be included in the Honors Independent Study application — and the student’s responsibility to follow through with the plan.

The advisor shall offer an evaluation of the honors student’s progress in writing (via email) by the time final grades are due (usually, late December or early January). This evaluation should also be shared with other faculty members of the department. 

If the student is failing to make adequate progress towards completion of the honors thesis, the student will be given an opportunity to correct deficiencies and show satisfactory progress, in a written report (with supporting evidence), to be shared with all faculty members in the department no later than the last Friday before the start of Spring semester classes. With this new information, department faculty will decide collectively whether the student may be permitted to continue with the honors project.

5. Honors Thesis Format

A substantial written thesis demonstrates independent critical thought and original research. It differs from a senior research paper in its depth, breadth and substance. Conventional Geography department honors theses are structured as a short academic monograph, organized into chapters The maximum length for an honors thesis in geography is 25,000 words (including references and notes). Examples of past honors theses in Geography may be found on the digital commons.

Students may use alternative formats for the honors thesis, in consultation with their advisors. 

One specific alternative format is the academic journal article manuscript. These articles typically have a length of 6,000-10,000 words and are organized in a sequential structure that is fairly consistent among journals (abstract; background or introduction; literature review; data and methods; results; discussion; conclusion; references; supplementary materials).

An honors thesis in this format would be comprised of two parts:

Part 1: A “background essay”, of around 2500-3000 words, that would discuss areas of academic literature that give important context to the research project, help students frame results, and explain the broader significance of their findings. This part of the honors thesis could be seen as an expanded and “deeper-dive” version of the “background” and/or “literature review” sections of the “journal article” (below);

Part 2: The “journal article” — organized in the format of an actual journal that is likely to publish research on a given subject. (Students should identify the academic journal in which they would publish, at least in principle, and follow that journal’s format.) The paper may also include supplementary materials (i.e. appendices) that would allow readers to examine data and methods more closely.

A solid draft of the “background essay” should be the main “deliverable” for the mid-year checkpoint for honors theses written in this format.

Both parts together would be published as the honors thesis in the Macalester Digital Commons. Students are allowed to opt out of publishing in the Digital Commons, but we encourage all students to use this service. Students should also note that, whatever the initial format of the honors thesis, advisors customarily share authorship of peer-reviewed academic papers adapted from the thesis, due to the intensive involvement of the advisor in the project.

Students should consult with their advisors if they are interested in other alternative formats.

6. Evaluation Process

A committee of three will evaluate each Honors project, at least two of whom will be Geography Department faculty. The committee will read the Honors Thesis and engage the student in an oral defense of their project. The committee will decide whether to recognize the student’s work with “Honors”. The individual project advisor will be responsible for assigning the student a final grade for their independent study.

7. Project Timeline and Due Dates

Junior Year

• Explore honors topics
• Discuss project with advisor
• Potentially apply for student-faculty collaborative research support (deadline in early February)
• Submit a project proposal if you plan to undertake research over the summer
• Seek approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) if you plan to work with human subjects.
• Summer prior to senior year: Conduct research if approved by department

Senior Year

• End of the first week of school: Final deadline to submit an Honors Project Proposal to department chair. At its first or second September department meeting, the Geography faculty will review submitted proposal(s) and decide which proposal(s) are approved to proceed.

The Honors Calendar is determined by Academic Programs.  Refer to the calendar for all due dates and deadlines throughout the academic year.

8. Final Product Format:

1. Submit two (2) original final copies to the Academic Programs Administrative Assistant. (Copies are for: student and advisor) For assistance
   with copying, please see the Geography Department Coordinator.
2. All final copies must be appropriate for binding. Therefore, please adhere to a 1 ¼ inch left margin and a 1 inch right, top and bottom margin.
3. Supply the Academic Programs Administrative Assistant with the mailing address where you would like your final copy sent.