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Thesis Proposal Form

UNDERGRADUATE HONORS THESIS PROJECT: APPLICATION GUIDELINES

Students wishing to pursue an undergraduate honors thesis project must apply to do so, according to the guidelines given here. Students applying to the honors thesis project must have at least a 3.5 in the major.

All applications must be typed and submitted in hard copy to Professor Davis. E-mailed applications will not be accepted. Please limit your application to one page.

D U E    D A T E :    4/15/2011 by 3 p.m.

Please include the following information in your application:

  1. Your name and contact information: please include your Penn email address.
  2. Proposed topic area: describe your topic as clearly as possible, keeping your discussion to one paragraph. Here, you want to provide answers to the following kinds of questions: What are you considering as your main subject? What art historical materials will be under consideration? What do you see as your main points of interest? What do you hope to achieve in this project?
  3. Preparation for this project: describe your preparation as clearly as possible, keeping your discussion to one paragraph. As above, please provide answers to these kinds of questions: What courses have you taken that relate to this project? Have you done previous work, such as a term paper, on this subject? (If so, please include the paper title and the course information.) What other experiences (travel, museum experience, and the like) have you had that might pertain to this project?
  4. Faculty affiliation: Please propose three faculty members for consideration. While it is fine for students to discuss their projects in general with individual faculty, students should in NO CASE ask a faculty member to advise them on an honors thesis. Assignments of faculty advisors will in ALL CASES be done by the Art History Faculty at large.

All thesis projects must be concluded in autumn semester with a grade of Satisfactory (S) and in spring semester with an A-level grade in order to qualify for acceptance as an honors thesis. Those projects that do not achieve these grades will be credited as independent studies courses.