Guidelines for preparing the Honors Thesis and Symposium Presentation

Eligibility

To be considered for graduation with Honors or Highest Honors in Biology, students must (1) participate in Biol 691/692, (2) have a 3.3 GPA overall (effective July 1, 2008), as well as a 3.4 GPA in Biology courses (excluding grades in Biol 395) at the start and end of the final semester, (3) complete a substantive, independent research project, including preparation of both a written thesis and an oral presentation of the thesis at the Undergraduate Research Symposium, under the guidance of a Biology Department advisor or sponsor.

Thesis/presentation style and grading

Your honors thesis should be written in the format of a journal paper in your field, while your honors symposium presentation should be addressed to a more general biology audience.   The paper must be written solely by you in your own words and must detail only your independent work. As noted on the schedule below, your thesis is due two weeks before your presentation, to allow time for talk preparation.  The honors level earned by each student (highest honors, honors, or no honors) will be based primarily on the Biology GPA at the start of the final semester (3.85 for highest honors, 3.4 for honors). However, the GPA does not guarantee honors or highest honors, and students just below the cutoff for Highest Honors may be considered for Highest Honors depending on grades assigned by two faculty graders for both the thesis and presentation.

Thesis preparation

The North Carolina Collection in Wilson Library is the official depository for all undergraduate honors essays from UNC-CH campus. Each essay received is catalogued, bound in a volume with others from that department, and permanently preserved in the closed stacks of the North Carolina Collection. Receipt of an approved honors essay by the North Carolina Collection is tantamount to publication, and the essay will be made available to the public.

1. Four copies are required. Two archival copies must be on 100% cotton paper (16 or 20 weight) and will go to the North Carolina Collection and the Biology Library. They should be left unstapled and unbound. The other two copies for thesis graders can be on printer/photocopy paper, and should be stapled. All pages should be double spaced, left-aligned, on 8 ½" x 11" paper with a 1½ inch left binding margin (1" margins on other sides), and all copies must be signed on the title page by your advisor and sponsor (if relevant). These signatures represent their approval of the paper, so plan enough time for each of them to read the paper and help with corrections to avoid last minute problems that could endanger your receiving honors.

2. If the thesis includes original art, photographs, color figures, graphs, charts, maps, or similar items, the archival copies must have original items, not photocopies. Videos, cassettes, or other sound or image formats that are part of the thesis must also be submitted.

The following are biology honors committee (not university) requirements:

3. The title page should include on separate lines: the title, your name, Honors Thesis, Biology Department, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, the semester, and then a line for your advisor to sign with "Research Advisor" underneath the line. If advised from outside the department, there should be two lines with "Research Advisor" beneath one line and "Biology Department Sponsor" beneath the other.

4. A thesis abstract should go on a single page immediately following the title page. The thesis abstract might differ from your presentation abstract, which should focus on the information you will actually present in your talk and not everything included in your thesis.

5. Some advice about citations and references can be found here.

6. Tables and figures can be interspersed throughout the text or can go at the end of the document. Avoid color on figures where it is unnecessary, because in most cases photocopies will not include the color information and may be confusing.

7. Page numbers should go on all pages except the title page. All pages, however, should be counted (i.e, page 1 is the title page). If figures are separate, figure legends can go on the same page as the figure if there is enough space. If not enough space is available for a particular figure, a legend can go on the back of the page facing the figure (with the front side blank). This "extra" legend page is neither counted nor numbered.

Symposium presentation abstract

A copy of your presentation abstract will be included in a booklet for the honors symposium. Suggestions for abstract length and content can be found here. You must follow these directions:

1. Use a 1.5 inch margin on top, 1.0 inch margins on the left, right, and bottom. The heading (title, name, advisors) should be centered. The abstract text should be single-spaced, left margined, five space tab at the beginning of paragraphs. All text should be Times New Roman, 12-point. Be sure to check that special characters, symbols, degree signs, superscripts and subscripts, etc. are shown correctly. Use italics for species names. Do not underline.

2. The recommended length for your abstract is 250 words, chosen because you must also submit an abstract of your thesis to the university (see class schedule for details) that is no longer than 250 words. The maximum length for your abstract is 425 words, chosen because this is the most that will fit on a symposium booklet page. Be sure to check the example for suggestions about length and content. Remember that the goals of the abstract are (a) to interest someone enough to come and listen to your talk, and (b) to provide a printed record of your talk. Therefore, abstract length presents a tradeoff: a short abstract provides fewer details but is more accessible.

3. The abstract should be formatted exactly as follows. The quote marks show exact text. Include the Biology Sponsor and Mentor only where appropriate.

Your Title (bold and centered, no space between lines)

--space--

Your Name (centered)

--space--

"Research Advisor:" Dr. Advisor Name, or Advisor Name, MD (centered)

"Biology Sponsor:" Dr. Sponsor Name (centered)

"Research Mentor:" Mentor Name (include Dr. if faculty or postdoc) (centered)

--space--

(left aligned, indented) Abstract text

4. A camera-ready hard copy of your abstract should be submitted by the due date and time to Denise Hargis, student services assistant, in Coker 212. An electronic version, in MS Word format, should also be emailed to Denise (hargis@bio.unc.edu). The electronic version of your abstract will be shown on the Biology Honors Symposium web page.

Symposium presentation

The Biology Undergraduate Honors Research Symposia take place in the fall and spring for students graduating in each semester. The fall symposium normally takes place on a Friday afternoon early in November, and the spring symposium all day on a Friday early in April (see http://www.bio.unc.edu/Biology99/default.htm for exact dates). You will have 12 min to deliver your presentation, plus 3 min for questions from the audience. Because we must stay on schedule, you will be asked to finish before 15 min regardless of where you are in your talk, so prepare the time carefully!

Your symposium presentation should be addressed to a more general audience than your thesis. Remember that both deans and family members may be present in the audience, so try to choose language that will help them to understand the goals and significance of your work.

In preparing your presentation, please make use of the following veteran advice:

· Avoid putting too much information on one slide.

· Avoid long blocks of text or full sentences unless you want to read them verbatim (e.g. quotes). The audience can be distracted by trying to listen to you while reading something different on your slide.

· Avoid distracting color schemes on slides--a simple background allows the important information to come through more clearly.

· Use color where it is useful in conveying information. Too many colors on a slide can be distracting.

· Avoid animation and special effects where they do not convey information, but do use sequential introductions of information where helpful.

· Make sure all lettering and objects can be seen clearly from the back of the room where the illustration will be shown.

More detailed advice for presenting a talk can be found here.

Illustrations for theses and presentations

The Biology department illustrator, Susan Whitfield, can help with certain needs of honors students, including:

· scanning slides or flat copies of illustrations

· printing photographic illustrations for your thesis

Susan is not generally available, however, to prepare drawings, figures or other graphics. Please consult with your research advisor to arrange for use of laboratory funds, or see Denise to arrange for use of department funds, before seeking additional help from Susan.