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Honors Project Contracts – Policies and Guidelines

Honors credit may be earned in any regular credit class at Palm Beach State through a process called “honorization.” The student and instructor enter into a contract that details the work that will be done in the class. When the terms of the contract are fulfilled, the honors credit is earned. A minimum grade of ‘B’ in the course is also required for awarding honors credit.

The work designated as honors must be over and above what is done in the regular course. Honors work should build upon techniques and methodologies taught in the course; however, the material and research should go beyond normal course instruction. For example, a student in “English Literature After 1800” might write a paper about a Yeats poem not covered in class. Or, a student in “Earth Science” might write a paper on the El Niño effect.

Honors Project Contract Process:

The process for “honorizing” a course through an Honors Project Contract is:

  1. The student who wishes to do honors work approaches the instructor and asks if the instructor would be willing to oversee an Honors Project.
  2. If the instructor agrees, the student and faculty member work together to define what the topic of the Honors Project will be and what model it will follow. The Honors College has established seven different models for Honors Projects:
    1. Traditional Research Paper
    2. Interview Model
    3. Web Page Model
    4. Teaching Model
    5. Product Creation Model
    6. Rhetorical Analysis Model
    7. Service-Learning Model
  3. The general guidelines for all projects, regardless of model, are that they must:
    1. Be from 2,000 to 5,000 words,
    2. Include a cover page,
    3. Include a works cited or References page with documentation and citation in the body of the paper of all references listed (the number of references is dependent upon which model is followed),
    4. Use either Modern Language Association (MLA) or American Psychology Association (APA) style format (instructor's choice),
    5. Be error-free and presented in 12-point font.
  4. Once the details are agreed upon, the student and instructor complete an honors contract with contact information, course information, and project information, including a tentative title, the model type, a description of the project, and an instructor’s statement that explains how the Honors Project exceeds the normal expectations of the course.
  5. In the section titled “Signatures of Contract Agreement,” the student and instructor sign the contract.
  6. At this point, the contract should be forwarded to the Associate Dean who will sign the contract and forward it to the Honors College (MS #29).
  7. When the contract reaches the Honors College, it will be reviewed to verify that the student is eligible to do honors work. If the contract is approved, the Honors College Manager will sign the contract and notify the student and the instructor to proceed with the project.
  8. As the term progresses, the student and instructor should meet regularly to discuss research and other matters relating to the project. At a minimum, three meetings should be scheduled to guarantee adequate oversight.
  9. As the project nears completion, a mandatory poster session presentation will be required to complete the project.
  10. Completed projects should be reviewed closely by the instructor for quality, grammar, and correct citation.
  11. Once approved, the instructor signs the contract under “Signatures of Project Approval.”
  12. The contract and project will then be submitted to the Honors College for review and processing.
  13. The contract is deemed fulfilled; honors credit is granted; and an honors notation is added to the course on the student’s transcript.