Application Form
The application form can be downloaded at the bottom of the page. Please note the
instructions below and on the form.
Instructions for Filling-out the Form. Download at the bottom of page.
Get started Early!
It takes several weeks to coordinate with your instructor to fill out the form.
- Student Information: We need your full name, not any nicknames. Your student identification number is
your 8-digit Banner ID assigned by the college (it starts with a 9). We will email
all correspondence, so monitor your email accounts for important Honors information.
PLEASE PRINT CLEARLY!
- Faculty Advisor's Information: This is the professor of the class you are doing the Honors Project in.
- All proposed Honors Projects are in an existing course section (a course you are currently taking). Include the 4-letter subject code, course #,
section #, course title, and course reference number (CRN). All information can be
found in Pipeline. For example, Introduction to Geology is GEOL-1010-150, CRN 11260.
- Tentative title for Project: This is what ever you and your professor want to (initially) name your project.
The name may change as you complete the project, and that’s fine.
- Meeting Schedule and Dates: This is up to you and your advisor. Example meeting schedules are: weekly, monthly
with most correspondence through email, after class as needed, etc. Typically, the
beginning date is when you turn in the application form, and the end date is the last
day of classes. The Honors Project needs to be completed before grades are due at
the end of semester.
- Number of Honors Projects and Graduation Information: This helps us determine who is eligible to be an Honors Program Graduate.
- Honors Forum: We recommend participating in the Honors Forum, and creating the poster may be included
as part of the requirements for the final product. However, by checking this box,
you are not committing yourself to participate.
- Objectives and Activities: What will you do that will provide greater depth and breadth of the subject matter?
What questions are you trying to answer, or what topics are you discussing? How will
you go about doing this? Make sure your objectives are clear and you and your faculty
advisor agree, since this is an agreement between you and your faculty advisor.
- Final Product: What end product will show that students have greater depth and breadth of subject
matter? What will you turn in (e.g. written paper, art portfolio, poster presentation,
oral presentation...)? Make sure you clearly and fully describe what you will create
at the end (e.g. length, important requirements, included sections, minimum number
of references, etc.). Also, be sure the length is appropriate, since this is a significant
academic undertaking and should take at least 20 hours of work.
- Independent Thinking and Research Goal: Honors Projects must meet the goal of independent thinking and research, such as
through critical thinking, information literacy, and/or inquiry and analysis. If you
and your professor cannot explain what specifically you are doing in your project
to meet this goal, then the project will need to be changed so it does meet this goal.
Please see rubric below.
- Interdisciplinary Goal: Although not required, it is desirable for Honors Projects to provide students with
an interdisciplinary academic experience, such as by integrating viewpoints from multiple
disciplines. Please see rubric below.
- Assessment: How will your professor grade the project? What criteria will be used? (e.g. quality
of work, timeliness, attending meetings as scheduled, creativity, clear communication,
independence, etc.)
- Signatures: We need the original signature of you, the faculty member, and the department chairperson.
You cannot turn in the form without the signatures, so plan ahead. We cannot accept
photocopies or faxes.
- Submitting it: Please turn in your completed Honors application (use the checklist included in
the application download to ensure you didn’t make one of the common mistakes) to
one of the Honors Coordinators, contact information below. We recommend making a copy
of the form for you and your advisor before you turn it in.
(Please contact the Honors Coordinators with any additional questions)
Honors Project Guidelines
The goals of Honors Projects done through the Honors Program at CCRI are to:
- foster independent thinking and research
- provide an interdisciplinary academic experience
- improve communication skills
- promote self reflection of learning
Each Honors project…
- addresses at least three of the goals for Honors Projects
- must be a significant academic undertaking (on the part of both the student and participating
faculty member)
- must comprise over 20 hours of work
- is a supplementary project within a course that goes beyond the course requirements,
relating the project to the curricula covered in the course
- often requires creative thinking and hands-on activities with clear practical application
- offers honors students an opportunity to interact more deeply and more personally
with the subject matter of a given course
- should be worked on throughout the semester
- allows students to acquire new knowledge and skills
- enables students and faculty to work together as "colleagues in learning" - a cooperative
spirit that reawakens the fundamental purpose of the academy
- assists students to become an integral part of a stimulating academic interchange
The specific requirements for each project are open so the projects can be creative
displays of academic rigor. Examples of project formats include but are not restricted
to research papers, PowerPoint presentations, poster presentations, displays of art
or performance art, teaching lesson plans, computer programs, lab experiments and
write-ups, evaluation of survey results, creative writing, teaching a week of class,
etc.
Project Application Evaluation Rubric
The following rubric will be used to evaluate your application to do an Honors Project.
The first three criteria must be met in order for the project to be approved.
Honors Project Criteria |
Meets |
Does Not Meet |
Academic Rigor |
Project demonstrates that students will engage in activities that provide for greater
depth of subject matter; project is a significant academic undertaking
|
Activities described that project does not delve deeply enough into subject matter.
No description of rigor or description not detailed enough to evaluate.
|
Independent Thinking and Research |
Project demonstrates critical thinking, information literacy, and/or inquiry and analysis.
Project analyzes ideas in a thorough way, organizes materials and research data or
creative techniques to produce detailed projects. Requires synthesis, creation, and
analysis levels of thinking.
|
Activities described identify information in a basic way without independent thinking.
No description of synthesis, creation, and analysis.
|
Communication |
Project demonstrates the inclusion of clear and coherent claims with sufficient support
including reasoning, evidence, and persuasive appeals, and proper attribution when
necessary. Or project demonstrates clear indication that communication of ideas are
delivered in the appropriate medium.
|
Activities described do not portray how ideas will be clearly communicated. No full
description of communication requirements.
|
Interdisciplinary (optional) |
Project integrates diverse knowledge, perspectives, and / or skills into arguments
and / or strategies. Project draws conclusions from more than one field of study or
disciplinary perspective.
|
Activities described do not indicate the consideration of more than one field of study
or disciplinary perspective.
|
Project Abstract
An abstract of your project is due to the Honors Directors on the last day of classes.
An abstract is a summary of your project, not just what you did, but also what you
learned or created. It should be written after you complete your project, using past
tense. Listed below are parts of a good abstract, and each can vary between 1 and
4 sentences, depending on the focus of your project, although the discussion usually
makes up the most significant portion of the abstract. Abstracts are difficult to
write, because you need to summarize your entire project in a short space. Therefore,
they take a lot of thought to figure out what are the most important things that you
did and learned. Your abstract should be 150-250 words.
- Background and overview -- what is the context of what you did? was there a problem,
missing information, unknown knowledge, and why is that significant?
- Procedure -- what did you do? what methods did you follow?
- Results -- what did you find out or what did you produce?
- Discussion -- what do your results mean? what is significant about your results? how
does it apply to other situations or a larger picture? what is the take-away message?
For more information, read the sample abstracts.
Project Self-Reflection
A one-page self reflection of your project is due to the Honors Directors on the last
day of classes. A self reflection should be a thought-provoking process which provides
an assessment of what you learned about yourself while completing the project and
your thoughts of your experience. We would like to understand the impact of the Honors
project on your academic growth. The self reflection should be no more than one page
but should include the following:
- A 1-2 sentence description of the project
- An explanation of the activities undertaken
- An assessment of what you learned from the project
- A reflection of your experience
Some additional questions for your reflection are below. Please consider some of these:
- What did you learn about yourself?
- Did you encounter any problems or challenges?
- If so, what did you do to overcome them?
- How was this project important to you?
- How did it impact your lifelong or educational goals?
- What would you do differently?
- In what ways did you improve?
- What job skills did you master?
- How does this project connect with what you've learned in other courses?
You may feel obligated to answer all of these questions. This is not necessary. We
would like to learn about the successes and difficulties of each project. The reflection
should be a thought provoking process.
Download the Application Form
Below is the link to download the Honors Application Form as an Adobe PDF file. Unfortunately,
electronic forms cannot be accepted because original signatures of the student, instructor,
and chairperson are needed, so you will need to print out the form. Please note that
the instructions and Honors project guidelines will also download with the application.
If you do not want to print them, only print pages 1 and 2.
Your Honors Project Application form must be fully completed BEFORE you submit it
to the Honors Coordinators by the deadline. Please use the checklist below to ensure
you have not made one of the common mistakes or omissions on the form.
- Your student ID number (Banner ID) is included.
- All course information (including the five-digit CRN) is included.
- The project and final product are described in enough detail to fully explain what
you are doing.
- The department chairperson has signed the form (along with you and your faculty advisor).
- How the project will meet the Honors Program goals is clearly and specifically stated.
Application form in Adobe PDF* (25 KB)