Honors Programs/ES Senior Thesis
Dean's Honors:
Dean's Honors are granted at the end of each quarter to all students who earn
a GPA of 3.75 or higher on 12 or more letter-graded units, with no NP grades.
Dean's Honors are noted on student transcripts for the quarter during which
they are earned.
College of Letters and Science Honors Program:
In 1985 the College of Letters and Science established the College Honors Program
to recognize those students with the very highest academic records and ambitions.
This unique intellectual opportunity is built on three fundamental elements:
the dedication of an outstanding faculty to undergraduate education, the superior
talents of students in the college, and the research and learning resources
available in a major research university.
The honors program offers a setting in which extremely motivated students can
pursue their interests as part of a small community of scholars. The program
connects students to the resources of a large university but also provides an
intimate collegiate atmosphere where they can work closely with peers and professor
in small classes, research laboratories, and special programs.
To learn more about the College Honors Program, visit: http://www.ltsc.ucsb.edu/honors
Honors at Graduation:
College Honors are awarded to undergraduates in the College of Letters
and Science who have completed 135 or more letter-graded University of California
units, with a GPA of 3.85 or higher.
General Honors at Graduation are awarded to the top 20 percent of students
who complete 76 or more letter-grade University of California units, as follows:
- Top 2.5 percent- Highest Honors
- Next 6 percent- High Honors
- Next 11.5 percent- Honors
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ES Honors Program:
Most departments offer senior honors programs to provide undergraduates
with the opportunity for research and independent study in their major field.
Students are normally selected for senior honors program at the end of their
junior year. Participation in a senior honors programs involves the design and
completion of an original research project or senior thesis during the student's
senior year. Members who complete the project or thesis with distinction are
eligible for nomination by the department for the award of Distinction in
the Major upon graduation. Students enrolled in departmental senior honors
programs receive library privileges equivalent to those of graduate students,
and are also eligible to apply for research fellowships through the College
of Letters and Science Division of Undergraduate Research and Special Programs.
Courses taken as part of a departmental senior honors program may be applied
toward participation in and completion of the College Honors Program.
The Environmental Studies Senior Honors Program: Qualified majors are
eligible to participate in the ES Senior Honors Program and are given the opportunity
to work closely with a faculty advisor to complete a senior thesis. Requirements
include senior standing, completion of at least 20 upper-division major units,
minimum grade point of 3.25, and enrollment in Environmental Studies 197. Students
who successfully complete the program and satisfy a minimum overall grade GPA
(variable each year, but normally around 3.5), are eligible for graduation with
"Distinction in the Major." It is recommended that lower-division
students interested in participating in the Senior Honors Program should enroll
in the honors discussion sections offered in Environmental Studies 1, 2, and
3. Interested students may obtain additional information regarding the ES Senior
Honors Program from the Environmental
Studies Undergraduate Advisor.
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Senior Thesis in Environmental Studies (Env S 197):
Through your ES major you will take courses ranging from history
to chemistry, math, political science, biology, anthropology, and physics. You
will be expected to synthesize the information from many different fields in
order to creatively help solve the critical environmental problems facing the
world. When you graduate and embark upon an environmental career, you will need
the ability to research, analyze and evaluate data, and write and speak effectively
and convincingly.
These abilities can be refined and enhanced through the Environmental Studies
Senior Thesis course (ENV S 197), which is an elective to all Environmental
Studies and Hydrologic Sciences majors. ENV S 197 is a six-unit course taken
during your senior year after all of your lower-division requirements have been
completed. In ENV S 197, you will focus the knowledge you have gained from a
wide variety of disciplines on a specific problem or issue. To be eligible to
enroll in ENV S 197, you must have a 3.0 overall GPA or your Thesis Proposal
approved by the thesis coordinator or ES Program chair. Although the thesis
course is offered for only one quarter, this does not mean that you only have
one quarter's worth of work to do; students need to spend at least two quarters,
if not more, so most students file of an incomplete at the end of the Fall quarter.
Writing your thesis can be a long and tedious task; most likely the hardest
course you will take while at UCSB. However, it will also be your most rewarding.
Time and time again, Environmental Studies alumni refer to the Senior Thesis
course as the best course they could have ever taken. They cannot stress enough
the important lessons learned from their experiences' writing their thesis.
The most commonly praised skills obtained through this course are:
- learned how to conduct professional quality research needed in today's high
technology job opportunities
- became proficient on the topic they wrote their thesis on
- they walk away from UCSB with a professional level writing sample to which
they submit to potential employers.
If you are interested in pursuing a Senior Thesis, you should talk to the
undergraduate advisor or the Senior Thesis coordinator. The course is only offered
once a year, normally in the Fall quarter, so students need to plan ahead.
An acceptable thesis has six characteristics:
- It is an attempt to answer a question or set of questions.
- It is original.
- It will become a public document.
- It is substantial, focusing on a significant issue.
- It is shaped through interaction with an advisor, who is an expert on your
topic.
- It is scholarly; A "search for truth."
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Why a Senior Thesis Is So Important to ES Graduates:
It's obvious that this thesis will require a lot of work from you. In the
work you do and in your activities as a responsible member of our society, you
will need the abilities developed through the thesis: researching, analyzing
and evaluating data, and writing and speaking about your knowledge and conclusions.
In 1991 the ES program distributed a questionnaire to 500 Environmental Studies
graduates (year of graduation: 1969 to 1990) and roughly half (251) responded.
Nearly three-fourths of the group were presently working in a field that involves
environmental issues. When the senior thesis was required for all ES graduates
(1972-1993), we recognized that many students were reluctant to undertake the
thesis project, so we asked these graduates if the thesis had been optional,
would they have done it? Roughly half reported that they would have avoided
it, for one or more of the following reasons: fright, laziness, too much work,
not enough time to do the thesis, wanting to graduate on time, and wanting to
take other classes.
However, the graduates reported overwhelmingly (over 90%) that if they had not
done the thesis, they now feel that they would have missed an important educational
experience. What would they have missed? Typically, these graduates reported
that through doing the thesis, they learned how to follow a major project through
to completion. They learned how to use the library, how to talk to professionals
and professors about their subject, and how to gather and analyze data. In learning
that they could complete a long document, they reported that they gained confidence,
improved their writing skills, improved their ability to make oral presentations,
and improved their time-management skills. One graduate, now a lawyer, reported,
"I learned that research involves persistence, creativity and thoroughness-which
I have often had to utilize in legal research." Several reported another
benefit, either the skills they developed or (more typically) the knowledge
they gained about a specialized area of content led directly to their first
job in environmental work.
For most of these graduates, the senior thesis modeled a process of inquiry
and communication that they now use professionally. Of those currently working
in environmental fields, 95% said that "thesis-like" activities (e.g.,
gathering and analyzing data, planning, drafting and editing reports) are either
"important" or "extremely important" in their work. Perhaps
more surprisingly, a strong majority of those not working in environmental fields
reported the same. For example, a city planner reported, "...in my profession
I'm involved in research, analysis, synthesis and presentation on a weekly basis...."
Another graduate said that the thesis modeled professional processes "to
a great extent! In a sense my senior thesis prepared me to write my master's
thesis. The master thesis prepared me to write a book-length manuscript. They
are stepping stones."
Moreover, these "thesis-like" activities of gathering and analyzing
data, planning, drafting and revising reports occupy a major amount of the time
Environmental Studies graduates spend at work. One quarter of the graduates
working in environmental fields spend over 80% of their time in such activities;
two thirds of them devote more than 40% of their time to such work. Among graduates
working in non-environmental fields, over half spend more than 20% of their
time doing "thesis-like" work.
For more information regarding the ES Senior Thesis Program, pickup the Senior
Thesis Guidelines Booklet from the ES Main office in Girvetz Hall, Rm. 2320
or speak with the Senior Thesis Faculty Coordinator, Dr.
Greg Graves.
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