Honors Program

This option asks a mentoring professor to work closely with a student to develop a unique individual project related to the material of the course for which the contract is drawn. The success of this contract approach to honors work is directly related to the quality of the relationship between mentoring professor and honors student. Therefore, regular and frequent meetings, which produce substantial discussion of the proposed honors work as well as related concepts and material, are highly desirable. To take a course for honors credit, please submit the form below by the third week of the semester. Guidelines for an honors contract are as follows:

Requirements for honors contracts should:

• Promote academic excellence
• Encourage and challenge students to strive toward fulfilling their potentials and abilities
• Recognize and foster exceptional abilities and talents of students
• Extend and enrich the cultural awareness of students
• Culminate with some kind of product that demonstrates the quality and content of the honors project. This product need not be a paper, but can be a DVD, portfolio, blog, or other concrete expression of the student’s accomplishment. If a conventional research paper is the sole component/ product of the honors contract, it must be 12-15 pages minimum in length with an appropriate number of sources and must use an appropriate documentation style.
• If the project may be nominated for one of the Outstanding Honors Contract Awards, the student must create a poster presentation of his or her honors work. General information about this event is explained in this handbook under The Rose State College Learning Resources Center Honors Program Research Presentation. Guidelines are given on pages 11 and 12.

The contract should clearly demonstrate how the honors component complements the existing course syllabus, yet takes the honors student beyond established requirements without simply adding work for the sake of work. Tasks involving critical thinking and application of skills and knowledge are expected. Primary rather than secondary research should be emphasized.

The honors component should not affect the student’s final grade in the course.

The honors contract should include the presentation of the student’s work to the class or at the Rose State College Learning Resources Center Honors Program Research Presentation.

The Honors Committee also strongly recommends inclusion of experimental work such as field research or interaction with institutions other than Rose State College (hospitals or businesses, for example), or with groups other than those affiliated with Rose State College, whenever possible and appropriate.

A service to the college or the community at large is sometimes included in honors contract projects. The Honors Committee encourages such a component when it is appropriate to the project. All such inclusions of service should be coordinated with the on-campus Service Learning Program.


Honors Contract Form