Registration, Credits & Grading

Honors Program students must enroll in Undergraduate Honors Research credits under SPHSC 498. The Undergraduate Advisor provides each student with the appropriate Honors registration code for their faculty member that will be used for the duration of the program. Students must register for a minimum of six credits of SPHSC 498 and will register for a grade; the credit/no-credit option is not available for the Honors Program.

The standard Honors Program plan requires students to register for two (2) credits of SPHSC 498 in the Autumn, Winter, and Spring quarters of their final/senior year. That being said, students may vary this plan as long as a minimum total of six credits is completed (e.g., register in Summer or distribute the credits differently across quarters). Please note that a maximum total of 15 credits of SPHSC 498 can be applied towards graduation requirements.

The number of credits for which a student registers each quarter should reflect the amount of work dedicated to the Honors research activity. One credit is equivalent to approximately three hours of work per week in a ten week quarter (or 30 hours in a ten-week quarter). Faculty mentors and honor students will meet regularly, and will discuss their program plans before making a final decision about quarterly credit enrollment.

Please note that SPHSC 498 utilizes hyphenated grading. This means that faculty mentors submit a final, numeric grade only at the end of the experience (Spring Quarter) when all SPHSC 498 requirements have been met. In intervening quarters (Autumn and Winter), an “N” will be submitted to indicate the student is making acceptable progress and that the project is “in progress”.

Research Paper/Honors Thesis

Each Honors Program student will submit two copies of a written thesis by the end of Spring quarter of his/her senior year; one copy goes to the faculty mentor and one to the Undergraduate Advisor. The appropriate length of the thesis will be left to the discretion of the faculty mentor and will be related to the number of 498 credits, the research topic, and other relevant criteria.

Students may co-author a thesis so long as it is acceptable to the faculty mentor and is appropriate in length, quality, and content to the total number of SPHSC 498 credits taken by all students involved in writing the thesis.

Research Presentation/Honors Colloquium

Each Honors Program student will present his/her research at the SPHSC Honors Colloquium in May of their senior year. The Undergraduate Advisor will provide students with more detailed Honors Colloquium information and logistics as the date approaches. In addition, students may – but are not required to – present their research at the UW Undergraduate Research Symposium that is also held in May. To present at the UW Undergraduate Symposium, students will submit an abstract. For more information and to apply, visit http://exp.washington.edu/urp/symp/.