Honors in the Major - Neurobiology Major, College of Letters & Science
Why complete Honors in the Major?
Honors in the Neurobiology Major is intended for students who are interested in original research and who wish to graduate with the best possible undergraduate training in neurobiology. Honors in the Neurobiology Major is especially appropriate for students who are considering graduate work or health-related fields, or those that want an especially rigorous training in research, reasoning, and writing skills useful to a wide range of career choices. Students must communicate their intent to complete honors in the Neurobiology Major with a Neurobiology Major advisor. Honors in the major must also be declared with L&S Honors Program, complete an L&S Honors in the Major declaration form.
Requirements – Honors in the Major
To earn the B.A. or B.S. with Honors in Neurobiology, students must satisfy both the requirements for the major and the following additional requirements:
• Earn a 3.300 University GPA
• Earn 3.300 GPA in all major courses.
• Complete at least 14 credits in honors courses in the Neurobiology Major while in residence at UW-Madison. This requirement can be broken down as indicated below:
o Complete 2 of the following 3 courses, required by the major, for official honors credit:
PSYCHOLOGY 454- Behavioral Neuroscience
ZOOLOGY 523- Neurobiology
ZOOLOGY 500- Neuroscience Seminar
o Complete at least 1 course from the Neurobiology Major’s Required Neuroscience or Distributed Neuroscience courses for official honors credit (see requirements page).
o 6 of these credits must also be obtained from a Two-semester Honors Thesis – 681-682; a Course Authorization Form may be required to enroll. The Honors Thesis project MUST show relevance to a neuroscience-related topic.
Honors Thesis and Senior Thesis – writing formats, due dates, grading:
Proposal:
It is recommended that within one month prior to beginning an Honors/Senior Thesis (course numbers 681 or 691), students must have the thesis project proposal approved by the Neurobiology Major Program Committee. Students must submit an Honors/Senior Thesis proposal form, a 2-3 page double-spaced thesis proposal and a Course Authorization Form (this is necessary to enroll in Zoology 681 or 691). The Honors/Senior Thesis project MUST show relevance to a neuroscience-related topic and MUST include the following components.
A. The experimental question
B. The rationale for this experiment
C. A brief description of the methods
D. The expected results
It is important that you include the project’s relevance to Neurobiology research.
Thesis and Grading:
On the last day of classes, in the second semester of the two-semester thesis course (course numbers 682 or 692), a copy of the thesis is due to the Neurobiology Major. General formatting for the written document can be found here. Once you have finished writing, turn in your thesis document to your faculty mentor for approval/grading. The sponsoring faculty mentor must approve/grade the final version of the thesis before submission to the Neurobiology Major. The faculty mentor must also input your grade in their Faculty Center.
Useful links for students completing a Honors/Senior Thesis:
• A timeline for completing the thesis can be found on the L&S Honors Program website.
• Formatting guidelines can be found here.
• The writing center can help with every aspect of the writing process.
• Thesis title page template
• The UT-Austin Senior Thesis Manual provides useful guidelines and tips for writing the thesis.