Written Thesis Guidelines
Students who pursue honors with a creative project must also submit a significant written component. This component takes the form of a substantive and concise reflection of the creative process. The quality and comprehensiveness of the writing will be evaluated. Majors should work closely with their thesis advisor to develop an approach to the written component.
The following general requirements apply to the written component of a creative honors project.
- The reflection should focus on your creative process as an artist. What methods and research did you employ? What were your challenges and successes during the process? What did you learn, and how did you grow as an artist? In what ways did you explore and discover novel, original, or otherwise relevant ideas?
- The final product may include appendices that can include:
- The final draft of a play
- Photographs, sketches, and drawings
- Relevant notes
- A research bibliography
- Separately submitted electronic files of audio and video
- The prose component (not including appendices) must be double-spaced, 12 pt. font, with 1-inch margins. Generally, the prose component should not be fewer than 20 pages, but may not exceed 40 pages in length. Writing that is significantly longer will likely receive a lower grade, especially if it is not both concisely written and well-organized.
- The prose component of your thesis should be logically organized into chapters with helpful sub-headings as necessary.
- A brief introduction should describe the nature of the project, and your motivations for it.
- The relevance of research related to your creative work should be addressed.
Students who pursue honors with a scholarly/research/critical project will not have a set page-limit and will determine the scope of their writing with their thesis advisor.