Guidelines for Honor Students

Students seeking an honors designation in mathematics must meet all requirements for Senior Honors as described in the Honors College Handbook. In addition, students must meet the departmental requirements as set forth below. Please be particularly attentive of deadlines for the completion of the comprehensive exam, the prospectus, the thesis and the thesis defense.

Departmental Honors Committee

The Mathematics Department Honors Committee is comprised of four members of the mathematics faculty. The current committee chair is Dr.William Hornor. The committee is responsible for designing and administering the Honors Comprehensive Examination, reviewing the Prospectus, and hearing the defense of the Honors Thesis.

Comprehensive Examination

Honors students are expected to demonstrate a mastery of calculus, linear algebra, discrete mathematics, and differential equations on the Comprehensive Examination. In case of an unsatisfactory performance, the committee may reschedule the examination once. At least one semester must elapse before the examination is rescheduled. The Comprehensive Examination should be taken soon after the student has completed the core mathematics course work. Normally this should occur no later than the first semester of the junior year. In any case, the comprehensive examination should be successfully completed before the Prospectus is submitted for approval. A Comprehensive Examination will be designed and administered each semester that there are candidates for the examination. The examination will be given on a date set by the committee chairman. Students intending to take the Comprehensive Examination during a semester should notify the committee chairman in writing no later than the first week of that semester.

Thesis Adviser

Once the Comprehensive Examination has been successfully completed, the student should select a mathematics faculty adviser who will direct the research work for the Honors Thesis.

Prospectus

A student who has successfully completed the Comprehensive Examination may present a Prospectus for approval. The student should obtain a copy of the GUIDE FOR WRITING THE PROSPECTUS from the Honors College. Note that the Honors College requires Senior Honors students to complete HON 301 (Prospectus Writing), and recommends that it be completed during the first semester of the junior year. In order to allow adequate time for writing the thesis, it is normally assumed that the Prospectus will have been approved by the end of the first semester of the junior year. The Prospectus should be prepared under the direction of the thesis adviser. Each student presenting a prospectus in mathematics during a semester, along with his or her thesis adviser, must meet with the departmental honors committee. The purposes of this prospectus review are to establish realistic objectives for the Honors Thesis and to determine appropriate prerequisites. It is not the intent of the committee to impose inflexible guidelines for the thesis. The prospectus review should occur no later than four weeks prior to the end of the semester in which the Prospectus will be submitted to the Honors College.

Thesis (Senior Project)

After the Prospectus has been approved, two complete semesters should be allowed for writing the thesis (normally the second semester of the junior year and the first semester of the senior year). A first draft would be presented to the faculty adviser by the end of the first semester. The student should obtain a copy of the of GUIDE FOR WRITING THE SENIOR THESIS from the Honors College. (The Honors College requires that a draft of the thesis be approved no later than the five weeks before the end of the semester in which the student will graduate.)

Thesis Defense

After the thesis adviser has approved the thesis, the student must provide a copy of the thesis to each member of the mathematics honors committee. The committee will review the thesis, and within the next two weeks of regularly scheduled classes, will approve the scheduling of an oral defense, or else will return written comments detailing aspects of the thesis that need to be addressed prior to the scheduling of that defense. If a thesis is returned for further work, the process will repeat until the thesis is deemed acceptable by the committee. Once the committee accepts the thesis, the student, in conjunction with his or her adviser, must schedule an oral defense of the thesis. During this defense, the student will present his or her results to the committee, and the student will be expected to answer questions pertaining to the thesis. If the committee still feels further work is needed, the student will be given detailed advice by the committee, and upon the completion of the committee's recommendations, another oral defense can be scheduled if the committee deems it desirable. Upon successful completion of the oral defense, the committee will provide the chair of the department with written notice that the thesis has been approved, and that the thesis may be signed.

The Honors College requires that a draft of the thesis must be submitted to the thesis adviser and to the Senior Honors Coordinator at least five weeks prior to the end of the semester of graduation, and that the completed thesis be submitted to the thesis adviser at least three weeks prior to the end of the semester. In order for the departmental honors committee to have adequate time to review the thesis, the department requires that the student deliver a draft of the thesis to the thesis adviser, and with the adviser's approval, to the committee at least SEVEN WEEKS prior to the end of the semester in which the student will graduate.

In addition to style manuals recommended by the Honors College, the following manuals, which are specifically concerned with mathematical manuscripts, should be consulted.

Mathematical Writing, Donald E. Knuth, Tracy Larrabee, and Paul M. Roberts, Mathematical Association of America, Washington, D.C. (1990)

Writing Mathematics Well, Leonard Gilman, Mathematical Association of America, Washington, D.C. (1987)


TIME LINE FOR MATHEMATICS HONORS STUDENTS

Freshman ans Sophomore Years

Complete core courses in calculus, differential equations, linear algebra and discrete mathematics.
Attend Calculus Seminars and student presentations.
Become acquainted with mathematics faculty members.

Junior Year

First Semester: Complete Comprehensive Examination.
Select a thesis adviser in mathematics.
Enroll in HON 301 (Prospectus Writing).
Meet with Departmental Honors Committee.
Complete and submit prospectus.

Second Semester: Enroll in HON 301 and complete prospectus if
not done in first semester.

Senior Year

First Semester: Complete first draft by mid semester.
Complete final draft of thesis.

Second Semester: Submit final draft to departmental honors committee
at least SEVEN weeks before end of semester.
Defend thesis.
Submit final, signed thesis to Honors College at least
THREE weeks before end of semester.