Name:
Research Advisor:
Research Field:
Expected Semester of Graduation:
Title of My Honors Thesis One Day
Provide a preliminary title for your future honors thesis.
Abstract:
The abstract is a compact 3 to 5 sentence description of your project,
accomplishments, goals, and its importance. Think of this as providing a rough
outline of what your summary will describe in more detail.
Prospectus:
1/2 to 1 page summary in the font, font size, and margins of this template.
The summary should describe what you plan to accomplish or study for your
honors thesis. What is the hypothesis you will test or the new understanding that
you will develop during your research? Developing a Grand Unified Theory of
Everything is too broad a goal to express here (although don’t let me dissuade
you!) On the other hand, getting a temperature controller to work is typically too
narrow a goal to express here (although again, temperature controllers are great,
don’t let me dissuade you!)
The first paragraph of the summary should provide scientific context for your
work including references to related work, and clearly explain its importance or
potential impacts on our understanding, technologies, etc. If you do not already
know these things, this is a great excuse to have a conversation with the
graduate student, postdoc or professor with whom you are working. The
references should be numbered [1] or [1-3], and refer to entries in the next
Bibliography section.
Bibliography:
Provide a minimum of 8 references to papers you will read that are related to the
nuts and bolts of your project or that provide context and motivation for you work.
While books can be referenced, at least 6 of the references need to be to journal
articles (PRL, PRA, PRB, Nature, Science, etc.). Again, think of this as a great
way to have a conversation with the graduate student, postdoc, or professor you
are working with about how to further understand what you will be doing and why
it is important.
Example formatting:
[1] “Title of Article,” J. P. Smith et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 89 78012 (2013).
[2] “Title of Article,” J. P. Smith, P.Q. Rstuv, Science 101 78012 (2009).
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
Note that “et al” may be used if the author list exceeds 3 authors.
Timeline:
Provide a minimum of 1 bullet point, maximum of 3, describing what you plan to
accomplish every two weeks this semester. The bullet points do not need to be
complete sentences, but they do need to clearly express your goals.
Real research, unlike problem sets, may not actually have clearly defined goals
that can be accomplished on a set schedule. The point of this timeline is really
for you to spend 10 to 30 minutes thinking about what would constitute
reasonable progress toward your research goals and as a consequence how you
will need to manage your time to make this progress.
If your major activity will be writing at some point, then set goals along the lines
of “first draft of chapters 1 and 2”, “polished thesis provided to research
supervisor for feedback”, ”provide thesis to committee 1 week in advance of
defense”, “defend the thesis”, etc.
By Sept. 20:
 Goal 1
 Goal 2
By Oct. 4:
 Goal 1
 Goal 2
By Oct. 18:
 Goal 1
 Goal 2
By Nov. 1:
 Goal 1
 Goal 2
By Nov. 15:
 Goal 1
 Goal 2
By Nov. 29:
 Goal 1
 Goal 2
By Dec. 13:
 Goal 1
 Goal 2
Lastly, estimate the following:
month/day/year any crucial milestone that it will be important to plan in
advance to meet
month/day/year complete your main research activities
month/day/year start writing your thesis
month/day/year provide initial draft to advisor for feedback
month/day/year provide polished thesis to committee that incorporates
research advisor’s feedback (>1 week prior to defense)
month/day/year defend thesis