Honors Program

The Department of Political Science offers an enriched program to members of the Honors College who are majoring in Political Science. Honors College students must meet the following additional requirements:

1. At least two honors courses in Political Science (not including the Honors Seminar in Research Design and the Senior Honors Thesis). Honors courses include honors sections, honors options, and graduate seminars.

2. Honors Seminar in Research Design (PLS 481H). (Taken in Spring semester of junior year.)

3. Senior Honors Thesis (PLS 491H) (Taken in Fall semester of senior year).

a. The Senior Honors Thesis satisfies the Tier II Writing requirement, with the approval of the Department.

b. The Senior Honors Thesis must be supervised by a faculty member in the Department of Political Science.

Honors College students are encouraged to take at least one graduate course in Political Science. Approval of the faculty instructor in the course is required.

Honors College students will be permitted to waive any of these additional requirements, including the senior honors thesis requirement, or to complete approved substitutes, if the waiver or substitution contributes to an enhancement of the student’s undergraduate program. Alternative capstone experiences may be substituted for the Senior Honors Thesis. Approval of the Department’s Honors Adviser is required for such waivers and substitutions.

All Political Science Honors College majors are required to complete the Senior Honors Thesis (or a comparable capstone) in order to graduate as a member in good standing of the Honors College. The Department offers honors sections of PLS 100, 140, 160, 200, and 201 on a regular basis. Honors sections of 300-level courses are also offered occasionally.

The Department also offers honors option opportunities in many courses; honors options must be arranged by agreement with the faculty instructor in the course early in the semester. If a student seeks to complete an honors option in a course taught by a graduate student instructor, approval of the Department’s honors adviser is required, by both university and department policy. In order to achieve an honors option in any Political Science course, a grade of at least 3.0 in the course is required. Graduate courses also count as honors courses; honors students are encourage to consider graduate course opportunities.

The Honors Thesis

The honors program in the Department of Political Science provides opportunities for honors students to engage in original research under the close supervision of a faculty member in the Department. By writing an Honors Thesis, students have the chance to put their accumulated study of political science to use in a major, year-long project of independent research and scholarship. Typically, the honors thesis will be 25-50 pages. Additional research opportunities may be available, by arrangement with a faculty member in the Department, and may earn credit through PLS 490H, Honors Internship.

The Honors Seminar in Research Design (PLS 481H, taken in Spring of junior year) is designed to assist students in the preparation of a research design for the honors thesis. The honors thesis is a substantial work of independent research or scholarship, to be supervised by a faculty member in the Department and evaluated by an Honors Thesis Committee of three readers selected by the student in consultation with the Department. The Chair of the Honors Thesis Committee must (except in unusual circumstances and with the approval of the Department) be a faculty member in the Department. (If a faculty member from outside the Department is selected, a faculty supervisor from the Department will be designated as faculty of record for PLS 491H.) Graduate students in the Department of Political Science may serve on an Honors Thesis Committee with the approval of the Department. Faculty and academic staff at MSU from outside the Department may serve on an Honors Thesis Committee with the approval of the Department.

After completion of the Honors Thesis, the Department will arrange for an oral presentation of the thesis. The defense will be open to Department faculty and students. The Committee will confer honors as follows:

HONORS: completion of a substantial work of independent research or scholarship that would earn at least a 3.0 on a final paper in one of the Department’s Tier II Writing courses.

HIGH HONORS: completion of a substantial work of independent research or scholarship that would earn a 4.0 on a final paper in one of the Department’s Tier II Writing courses.

HIGHEST HONORS: completion of a substantial work of independent research or scholarship that would, with modest revisions, be of a quality sufficient for presentation at a professional conference, or that would meet a comparable standard appropriate to the project.

Students may enroll for 3-6 credits of PLS 491H, Senior Honors Thesis.

Honors students are encouraged to present honors thesis work at the University Undergraduate Research and Arts Forum (usually in April).