Honors Program

Our honors program

If you are passionate about the work you are doing in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, we encourage you to apply for our honors program, beginning the application process in your junior year. Earning an honors degree involves completing either an in-depth research paper or project during your senior year, under the close supervision of a faculty member.

An honors designation is particularly valuable if you wish to pursue a career or advanced degree in Folklore and Ethnomusicology. The work you do to complete your honors project is likely to help you attain those goals.

Guidelines for the senior honors thesis or project

Before beginning an honors thesis or honors project, you must consult with the departmental director of undergraduate studies. Once you are accepted to the honors program, you will receive guidance from a faculty member who will serve as the chair for your honor’s thesis or project committee. The honors courses are joint-listed with F401 Methods and Theory and F497 Advanced Seminar and will count toward the major.

Choose either an honors thesis or an honors project

Honors thesis
An honors thesis demonstrates your ability to carry out independent research on an approved topic and to present an original analysis of that research in the form of a substantive formal paper. The thesis may include fieldwork, library, and/or archival research, and should be approximately 8,000 to 10,000 words (roughly 30-35 pages) in length.

Honors project
An honors project demonstrates your ability to carry out original field and/or library research and to design and present that work in a substantial project appropriate to the professional practices of ethnomusicology and/or folklore. Examples of honors projects include: a museum exhibit, an interactive website, a short documentary, an ethnographic recording, or some other form of public presentation.

Honors projects should be accompanied by a written document that describes the project’s objectives, methodology, and significance in the context of relevant scholarship and practice. Approximately 2,000- 2,500 words (8-10 pages), this paper should include a conclusion and a bibliography. You should choose a project based upon technical skills you have already mastered in an independent practicum or field-experience course.

Prerequisites & Requirements

Students who wish to enroll in the Folklore and Ethnomusicology honors program must have a 3.5 GPA in Folklore and Ethnomusicology courses and a 3.3 GPA overall. To graduate with honors, you must:

maintain these GPA minimums
complete two courses related to the honors thesis/project during the fall and spring semesters of your senior year
present a completed thesis or project by the twelfth week of your senior year

Honors program timeline

Establish an honors thesis or project committee

You must establish an honors thesis or project committee no later than the twelfth week of the second semester of your junior year.

During the spring semester of your junior year, you should select a committee chair based upon compatible research interests and areas of expertise. Work with this person to begin to develop plans for the honors thesis or project. You and the honors chair will then select at least one additional faculty member in the department to serve on the committee. A member of the undergraduate committee and/or a faculty member from your minor or second major may serve in the capacity of second and third readers as necessary.

Tasks regarding establishing the honors committee

Retrieve the honors thesis/project committee form at the bottom of this page.
After establishing the committee, request final approval of candidacy from the director of undergraduate studies.
If your proposed research will involve interaction with people, your human subjects protocol and ethnographic methods must be approved by the institutional review board over the summer between your junior and senior years. This process includes completing the CITI Human Subjects Research Course.

Enroll in FOLK F399

Enroll in FOLK F399 Reading for Honors in the fall semester of your senior year. You must pass with a B+ or higher in order to continue in the honors program.

Submit an honors thesis or project proposal

You must submit an honors thesis or project proposal no later than the end of the first semester of the senior year.

Tasks regarding submitting the honors thesis or project proposal

Retrieve the Honors Thesis/Project Proposal form the bottom of this page.
The proposal should be approximately 800-1,500 words (3-5 pages) and should include:
1. a working title
2. a description of the proposed project’s main topic, methodologies, time for completion, and anticipated contributions of the project; and a preliminary 1-2 page bibliography.
  You must give complete copies of this proposal to all committee members and the director of undergraduate studies by the end of the first semester. Following their review of the thesis or project proposal (and potential suggestions for revisions), the members of the honors thesis or project committee should sign the proposal form.
Submit the proposal and form to director of undergraduate studies by the 12th week of the fall semester of your senior year.
Submit the Indiana University Folklore Archives donation form.

Enroll in FOLK F499 Honors Thesis

On the recommendation of the honors thesis or project chair’s recommendation, enroll in FOLK F499 Honors Thesis in the second semester of the senior year.

Submit your honors thesis or project

Submit the Honors Thesis/Project to committee members no later than the 12th week of the spring semester of the senior year.

Defend your honors thesis or project

After the draft of the thesis or project is submitted, the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology requires an oral defense. The defense is administered by the honors committee, and it usually consists of a 10-15 minute presentation by the student followed by a 30-45-minute Q&A and discussion period led by the committee (unless determined otherwise prior to the defense). The defense provides an opportunity for the student and research committee members to discuss the honors thesis or project and suggestions for revisions.

All committee members must be present for the defense. Therefore, scheduling must be done well in advance to accommodate all professors and the student.
Following the oral defense, the committee will recommend minor or major revisions and can judge the completion of the thesis project as very successful (High Pass), successful (Pass), moderately successful (Low Pass), or unsuccessful (Fail).
The committee, in collaboration with the student, will establish an outline of required revisions and when they must be completed. In some cases, a grade of incomplete will be submitted until the chair has approved the revisions.

Completion of the honors thesis or project

Approval of your honors thesis or project is due by conclusion of the second semester of the senior year. Following the oral defense and your satisfactory completion of all revisions, as assessed by the committee chair and the director of undergraduate studies, your honors thesis may be approved.

The committee chair will sign the honor’s thesis approval form when all revisions are satisfactorily met.
The director of undergraduate studies will sign the honor’s thesis approval form when the completed thesis or project is submitted.
The committee chair will submit a letter grade for FOLK F499 Honors Thesis that reflects the recommendation of the committee members:

High Pass = A+ to A – Very successful
Pass = A- to B+ – Successful
Low Pass = B to B- – Moderately successful
Fail = C+ and student will not graduate with honors – Unsuccessful

Download forms

Honors project forms

Honors thesis forms