Departmental Thesis Descriptions

The Honors College hosts students from all colleges within the university. As such, there is no one-size-fits-all description of what constitutes an Honors thesis. Imagine if a bassoon major and a chemistry major had to do the same thesis - someone would be unhappy! We do have some general guidelines, and they can be found here, along with the various forms you will need to fill out.

The goal is for your thesis to be as useful to your future goals, and as applicable to your coursework, as possible. As such, each department determines, for itself, what constitutes original research or creative pursuit and an appropriate form of presentation of that work, as well as an appropriate timeline for your thesis work. See the individual departmental thesis descriptions below for more details on what is expected for your major.

Also, examples of theses from previous years can be found here.

College of Architecture and Planning

Architecture (ARCH)

ARCH Honors Thesis.docx

City & Metropolitan Planning

CMP Dept Thesis Description

College of Education

College of Engineering

Biomedical Engineering

Biomedical Dept Thesis Description

Chemical Engineering

Chemical Engineering Dept Thesis Description

Computer Science

Comp Science Dept Thesis Description and a reminder that CS students should also self-enroll in the School of Computing Undergraduate Research and Thesis Canvas - https://utah.instructure.com/courses/432506 - as detailed in the Handbook - https://handbook.cs.utah.edu/2021-2022/Academics/capstone.php#honors (Links to an external site.).