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Honors Capstone

Honors Program

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Honors Capstone

Each honor student will complete a two-semester capstone project; this will normally be the two semesters of the senior year. Capstone projects may include a credit component (HONS 497-498), as determined by the student and advising committee chair. Note that some committee chairs may require a credit component in order to agree to supervise a project. The honors capstone is normally distinct from any capstone requirements for majors. For projects that are sufficiently large and involved, students may appeal to the Honors Council to have special major capstones count for honors. Note: such cases are rare.

Honors capstone projects must pass a field appropriate presentation and/or defense (ideally a public presentation) as judged by the honors capstone committee. Honors capstones require all three members of the committee to approve the completed project in order for honors to be earned. Committee members may decline to approve a project if reasonable deadlines and administrative requirements are not met.

Timeline

The proposal process

In the fall of the junior year, students (starting with those graduating in 2027) are required to take Honors 301. This 1-credit course brings the honors cohort together as they devise suitable projects for proposals in the spring of the junior year. (In some cases, students may appeal to the Council to undertake a 1-credit independent study to replace Honors 301; such appeals should be made prior to the commencement of the fall semester in question.)

Selecting a Topic

In selecting a topic, consider the following questions:

What questions, issues, approaches interest you?
Your topic should have a clearly identified hypothesis or thesis, and pending your discipline, should constitute an argument for your position; projects in the creative arts should identify how they are an original, creative work within the existing oeuvre.
Is your topic something of personal interest? Scholarly merit? Or of relevance to anticipated vocation? How does your project “add” to your story at Hampden-Sydney?
Is there a faculty member at H-SC who can supervise the project?
Can it be finished in two semesters?
Are the books, laboratory instruments, etc., available at H-SC?

While many topics will be analytical research questions, in some disciplines other kinds of projects may be suitable — creative endeavors or entrepreneurship. The language provided below is not intended to preclude such work, and students and potential advisors are invited to discuss such approaches with the HONS 301 instructor and Honors Director.

Proposing a Topic

In the spring of the junior year, honors students will give formal capstone proposals. These will fully address the following points:

A full, detailed description of the original question, project, and activities proposed. There must be an explicit thesis (even if you wind up changing it during your research).
A description of the methodology used in the project.
A description of the anticipated product of these activities.
A description of the value and significance of the proposed work.
An annotated bibliography that shows knowledge of existing work on the topic and (if relevant) established data to be used.

Honors Council evaluations

Selecting and changing an Honors Committee

Honors Capstone requirements & contracts

Withdrawing or suspending an Honors Capstone

The final product

The capstone should result in a final product suitable for the disciplines (or interdisciplinary approach) proposed, and that can be assessed by the Honors Program. This should be something that can be provided and archived by the library and that is accessible to an educated lay audience. This might include:

A written final capstone paper, of appropriate length given disciplinary standards.
A video or audio recording of a performance.
A portfolio of created original visual images.
A portfolio from a museum exhibition.
Computer code on a reliable storage medium.

Note that for creative endeavors, the performance or act of creation alone is not sufficient — something must be available to archive or a substantive written component must be provided.

The Oral Defense

The H-SC catalog on page 12 notes the requirement for an “oral defense before the supervisory committee.” The Honors Council in 2024 determined that there is an expectation of a public defense, with a time, date, and place to be communicated to the Honors Director by the tenth week of the second semester. Public defenses are open to the entire college community.

The student and three committee members may choose a private component of the oral defense limited to the committee, but should normally have a public component. If there will be a private component, this must be communicated by the tenth week of the second semester.

The Honors Council notes the following “best practice” characteristics of an oral defense:

An oral defense should be scheduled for a minimum of 60 minutes, inclusive of presentation and question and answer period.
An oral defense includes some presentation of the project: this will often be an overview, the questions that drove the project, methods, results, and an argumentative defense of the thesis.
A substantial period of time (at least 30 minutes) must be reserved for questions from the supervisory committee. Additional time may (and typically should) be allotted for other audience members.
Questions may include specific comments about aspects of the work, but will often explore why and how the honors student made specific decisions in pursuing the project; why the student made specific structural decisions in framing the work; and other questions regarding insights into the project. (In other words, a “defense” of the project.)

Approval by the Committee

A successful honors capstone project must be signed by all three committee members. It is the student’s responsibility to secure the signatures, which must be completed by the last day of classes in the second semester.

If a committee member is unwilling to sign a project, the student and advising chair may appeal to the Honors Council for a review. This must happen as early as possible. The Honors Council will solicit and appoint a committee of two additional faculty to review the project.

Submission of the final project

Two hard copies of the final project, signed by the entire committee, are due on the last day of classes in the second semester, to the honors director. In addition, the student must e-mail the abstract alone to the honors director, for use by the library in indexing.

One copy of the project will be given (or mailed) to the student.

Expectations for students

Students undertaking the honors capstone embark on a significant, year-long project expected to result in scholarly thought, creative expression, or an entrepreneurial project that represents work significantly above the norm at Hampden-Sydney College. A successful capstone, with completion of the other program requirements, results in one of H-SC’s most notable student achievements, “with College Honors.”

Expectations for projects vary by disciplinary boundaries; over 2024-25 the Honors Council will be soliciting those boundaries to provide greater guidance for students and supervising faculty.

The student has the ultimate responsibility to ensure that:

Clear expectations are created and shared with the committee as to the nature of the project and its final product;
Meetings are scheduled held by the stated deadlines;
If necessary, they reach out to the advisor (and committee members) for advice and feedback;
They raise concerns with committee members or the honors director if a faculty member involved is not meeting their commitment to mentoring and guiding a project.

The Honors Council expects that all Honors capstones meet the following expectations:

The work should be of a quality that exceeds the work normally expected for the grade of ‘A’ in a course in the discipline. The student’s committee ultimately decides how far beyond this minimal expectation a student must go.
Inform the chair (and committee) of problems or delays in the project, as far in advance as reasonably possible.
The student contacts faculty in a timely manner in scheduling meetings, defenses, etc. — the expectation being to provide at least two weeks of advance notice.
The student and committee schedule and attend at least three full meetings of the committee as a whole (two in the fall, one in the spring, not including the defense).
The student meets with the chair as requested over the course of the project.
The student attends and passes an oral defense.
The student makes any changes required by the committee and have them approved, before the submission deadline.

Expectations for advising committee chair and readers

Expectations for the advising committee chair

Undertaking the advising of a capstone project is a significant commitment of time to mentor a student’s intellectual development. While the student has the ultimate responsibility in delivering a project of intellectual merit in a timely fashion, the advisor should mentor the student to aid this process. Advisors should thus be prepared to raise concerns with the student (and committee members) if deadlines go amiss, the student does not complete work or the project lacks merit.

Faculty agreeing to serve as a committee chair are agreeing to fulfill the following minimum expectations. They will:

Help guide the student, working out a timeline for the project with clear expectations of what should be done and when it should be completed.
Monitor deadlines and project quality.
Lead the faculty on the committee to ensure that the student is well supported.
Provide key insight and expertise on the topic at hand.
Provide the student with feedback, including substantive written feedback on at least one (complete) draft and preferably written feedback on earlier drafts.
Assess the suitability of the initial proposal: is the proposed topic interesting, is the student able to use the methodology outlined, is the data available, etc?
Ensure that the student meets all requirements (see Honors Capstone Requirements, page 10).
Modify and clarify requirements at the beginning of the project, including whether a credit component is required (e.g., HONS 497-498).
Attend at least three full meetings of the committee as a whole (two in the fall, one in the spring).
Provide additional meetings as needed with the student.
Attend the oral defense, with prepared questions based on the current draft of the project, and contact the other committee members in advance regarding questions and approach to the defense.
Raise concerns with the student and committee if the project does not seem to be on a trajectory for a final completion, or if the project does not show sufficient merit. (See Withdrawing, page 10).
Ensure that the quality of the final project goes beyond ‘A’ work as normally expected in a class. When the student is unwilling or unable to do so, the chair must reject the project and communicate to the student the reasons for so doing.

Expectations for second readers

Being second reader on an honors capstone provides faculty with the opportunity to provide an honors student with additional insight and expertise, and to provide additional support to the committee chair.

Faculty agreeing to serve as a second reader are agreeing to fulfill the following minimum expectations:

Provide relevant insight and expertise on the topic at hand.
Attend at least three full meetings of the committee as a whole (two in the fall, one in the spring).
Provide the student with feedback and expertise, including substantive written feedback on at least one (complete) draft in the spring and preferably written feedback on earlier drafts.
Attend the oral defense, with prepared questions based on the current draft of the project.
Raise concerns with the student and committee if the project does not seem to be on a trajectory for a final completion, or if the project does not show sufficient merit. (See Withdrawing, page 10).

Expectations for Honors Council readers

Council readers are assigned by the Honors Council, and are normally drawn from outside of the student’s home departments. Council members may not have significant expertise on the subject, but provide the viewpoint of the “educated layperson” — given that Hampden-Sydney is a liberal arts college, Honors capstones are encouraged to be accessible to a wider audience.

Council representatives fulfill the following minimum expectations:

Ensure the student is meeting required deadlines (see Honors Capstone Requirements, page 10) and providing reminders to the student as needed.
Enforce those deadlines, up to and including rejecting the project when rules and deadlines are not met.
Attend the meetings of the committee as a whole.
Provide the student with written feedback on at least one (complete) draft in the spring.
Attend the oral defense, with prepared questions based on the current draft of the project.
Raise concerns with the student and committee if the project does not seem to be on a trajectory for a final completion, or if the project does not show sufficient merit. (See Withdrawing, page 10).

Honors Program Handbook Honors Program Advising Checklist