Program Description:
Undergraduates committed to scholarship
and seeking an in-depth, individualized research
experience as part of their undergraduate experience
should consider the honors in the major program.
The program requires that students engage in and
complete a semi-independent research project in
one of the many excellent biological research laboratories
on campus. This year-or-more long collaboration
allows you to work in your chosen interest area
at a professional level and culminates in a written
and oral presentation of your work.
It all begins with the honors proseminar (Zoology
380), ideally taken first semester junior year.
This course helps students find an appropriate
thesis mentor and provides an opportunity for honors
students to interact with one another. Once the
student has arranged with a faculty member to mentor
a project, it is highly recommended to do a 699
– Directed Study course in the lab of their
potential thesis mentor as second semester juniors.
This will allow time for the student and mentor
to prepare the thesis proposal as well as an application
for an undergraduate research
award, while gaining familiarity with the lab
and procedures. Students will begin their
projects in the senior year, committing two semesters
and 6-8 credits to the hands-on
research, analysis,
and writing components of the thesis. The
honors seminars for seniors (Zoology 679 and 680)
allow students in the midst of their research and
analysis to present their work to other honors students
and get feedback. Once the proposed study
is complete, the last step is to report the findings
in a scientific thesis paper.
As a result of this program, many students have
learned whether they enjoy the independent work
required in graduate study. Independent honors
work provides the opportunity to work closely with
faculty members and other research professionals
and develop strong relationships, beyond what is
possible in most traditional classroom contact.
Students sometimes take their projects beyond the
department to campus-wide demonstrations and contests
for undergraduate work, and beyond even the university
for submission in professional journals, or presentation
at conferences. Through these accomplishments,
students develop skills and gain experiences that
are valuable for both their professional lives and
later graduate/professional studies
To be admitted to the honors in zoology program,
please contact Karen
Steudel, faculty chair of the zoology honors
program at ksteudel@facstaff.wisc.edu
or Jaime Reich, undergraduate advisor at jlreich@facstaff.wisc.edu.
Honors
Curriculum
Funding,
research awards
Declaration and
enrollment
Honors Proposal
Thesis
Titles of recently completed honors
projects
Honors
Curriculum:
-
Complete Zoology 681 and 682 –
Senior Honors Thesis, a two-semester sequence,
during the senior year for a total of 6-8 credits.
Recommended Course Plan
for Completing Honors in Zoology
Junior Year
Fall:
Zoology 380 - Honors Proseminar
Spring:
Zoology 699 - Directed Study, 1-6 cr.
Applications for research awards
Senior Year
Fall:
Zoology 681 - Senior Honors Thesis, 1-6 cr.
Zoology 679 - Thesis Progress Seminar, 1 cr.
Spring:
Zoology 682 - Senior Honors Thesis, 1-4 cr.
Zoology 680 - Honors Seminar, 1 cr.
-
Honors
Students! Please be aware that
the 30 credits required for the zoology major
MUST include a minimum of 6 credits of formal,
non-conference, upper-level courses numbered
300-above within the zoology department (excluding
Biocore courses and approved non-zoology courses).
Select from zoology courses 300-699 which are
designated as lecture, lab, or field (as opposed
to seminar, or independent study).
Declaration
and Enrollment:
Ideally, students should declare honors
in the major by the beginning of their second to
last year on campus (Junior year). This requires
a L&S Honors in the Major Declaration/Cancellation
Form to be completed and turned in at 420 South
Hall. (see Jaime Reich in 234 Noland to declare.)
Enrollment in Directed Study (698 or 699) and Thesis
(681 and 682) requires a Course
Authorization Form to be completed and turned
in at 145 Noland Hall.
Authorization to begin the Thesis sequence (681)
also requires proposal approval as outlined below
in the "Honors Proposal" section.
Honors
Proposal:
The honors thesis proposal should
include:
- Clear title of the
research project
- Introduction, including
the central question or purpose of your research
and how previous studies are related or have
contributed
- Research materials
and methodology/proposed outline of the study
and information this will provide
- Strategy for analyzing
data
- Preliminary list of
references
your proposal should also be:
- Coherent and understandable
to people who are not experts in the area
- Grammatically sound
- Typewritten/word processed
in paragraph form
The honors thesis proposal then needs to be submitted
to the faculty thesis mentor, zoology honors
advisor, and the zoology Honors
Program Coordinator for approval. The
Senior Honors
Thesis Topic Proposal Form will serve to gather
the signatures of these individuals.
The student signature indicates that the student:
- requests permission
to attempt the honors project, and
- understands that the
honors project must be completed as described
in the proposal in order to earn credit.
The signature of the faculty thesis mentor indicates
that the mentor:
- approves of the student’s
attempt to do the honors project
- is willing to guide
and assist the student
- agrees that the proposal
describes a project appropriate for honors in
the amount of work and level of rigor required,
and
- agrees to grade the
project according to the progress made and what
is outlined in the proposal
The signature of the zoology honors
advisor indicates that the advisor:
- is aware of the student’s
attempt to do an honors project
- was available to the
student and willing discuss the requirements,
planning and feasibility of honors work with
the student and the impact of that work on overall
degree progress
The signature of the zoology Honors Program Coordinator
indicates that the coordinator:
- confirms that the student
is eligible to complete an honors project
- confirms that the proposal
describes a project appropriate for honors in
the amount of work and level of rigor required
- approves the student’s
request to attempt the honors project described
in the proposal
Authorization to enroll in Senior
Honors Thesis, Zoology 681 and to embark on the
honors project requires the student to complete
and submit their thesis proposal and Senior
Honors Thesis Topic Proposal Form, along with
a Course Authorization
Form, by the end of the second week of classes
(add deadline) to the zoology Honors Program Coordinator.
While working on the thesis proposal, students and
their mentors should also consider preparing an
application for an undergraduate research
award.
Thesis:
The thesis itself will be the finished
product of the student’s honors in the major
program. It is formally the final, graded
component of the Zoology 681-682 sequence.
Content: The
honors thesis will be an original, empirical study
of a topic in zoology, as approved in the honors
proposal.
Style: The thesis generally
should be organized and written in IMRAD
(Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion)
format and according to the MLA
(Modern Language Association) or APA
(American Psychological Association) styles, as
found at the Writing
Center. Speak with your thesis mentor for
clarification.
Deadline: The thesis must be submitted to
the faculty mentor no later than two weeks prior
to the end of the semester in which the student
completes the 682 course. A copy of the
thesis must be submitted to the zoology Honors
Program Coordinator on the last regular class
day before finals.
The thesis must be submitted to the
faculty mentor no later than two weeks prior to
the end of the semester in which the student completes
the 682 course. A copy of the thesis must
be submitted to the zoology Honors Program Coordinator
on the last regular class day before finals.
Titles
of Recently Completed Honors Projects:
To gain a sense of some of the topics
that have been viable honors projects and intrigued
some of the honors students before you, browse the
list of titles from recently completed honors projects.
These are provided to serve as examples of the breadth
of possibilities and types of questions asked, not
to restrict you to similar ideas – follow
your interests!
- The effects of Internal Work
on the Metabolic Cost of Walking
- Systematics of Lepechinia
(Lamiaceae)
- Mark-Recapture Analysis of
Signal Crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus)
Among a Hybridizing Threespine Stickleback (Gasterosteus
spp.) Population in Enos Lake, British Columbia
- Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone
II Stimulates Sexual Behavior in Female Marmoset
Monkeys
- Sema3D and its Role in the
Formation of the Optic Chiasm
- Inferring the Propensity to
Invade: Contrasts between Sympatric Invasive
and Noninvasive Populations of the Copepod Eurytemora
affinis
- Characterization of a Pattern
Recognition Protein in the Mosquito, Anopheles
gambiae
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