Biology Honors Program

The Department of Biology offers a Bachelor of Science degree with honors that requires a research thesis in an area of biology. The program is designed to provide superior undergraduate students with opportunities to conduct original, high caliber research in preparation for graduate school, professional training, or a position in an industrial, academic or government research laboratory. Successful completion of the Biology Honors Program is recorded on the student’s transcript.

Admission Requirements

Students with a minimum overall grade point average of 3.2 and a minimum grade point average of 3.4 in Biology and supporting science courses (Chemistry, Math, Physics) are eligible to apply for the program.  Students must submit an application to the Biology Honors Program Committee a minimum of two semesters before the planned graduation date. To apply, complete the following:

Program Requirements

  • The honors student must submit a change of academic program (CoAP) request to declare the Honors in Biology Program.
  • The honors student must complete two independent study courses within their final two semesters at USF. These courses are:
    • BIOL 598—(second to last USF semester) Thesis Research for Biology Honors Program (2-3 units).  Requires consent of instructor and department chair.  The student pursues their proposed research project under the direction of a faculty member. Course requirements include holding at least one full Honors Thesis Committee meeting during this semester.
      • Note: The Honors Thesis Committee consists of the research mentor and two additional faculty members who provide guidance during the research experience. One member of the Thesis Committee may be from outside the Biology Department or from another institution. This committee is distinct from the Biology Honors Program Committee, which oversees the Program, reviews the honors applications and proposals, and determines eligibility for admission to the Program.
    • BIOL 599—(final semester) Thesis Writing for Biology Honors Program (1-2 units). Prerequisite: BIOL 598 (or corequisite). The student prepares a written honors thesis based on research completed in BIOL 598. 
    • 598 and 599 units: The Honors Program requires a minimum of two units BIOL 598. A combination of up to 4 units of BIOL 598 and 599 can be counted toward Biology upper division laboratory/field course requirements. 
  • The honors student must submit a formal written thesis (see guidelines below).
  • The honors student must give an oral seminar presentation (see guidelines below).

Biology Honors Program Timeline

One year before graduation

  • Submit an application to the Biology Honors Program Committee
    • by May 1 for a May graduation date
    • by December 1 for a December graduation date
  • Upon acceptance:
    • submit Change of Academic Program to the University Registrar
    • form an Honors Thesis Committee in consultation with your research mentor

Semester before graduation

  • Register for BIOL 598 (2-3 units)
  • Conduct the proposed research 
  • Organize and hold a meeting of the full Thesis Committee* (a component of BIOL 598)

Final semester

  • Register for BIOL 598, if additional units of research are desired  
  • Register for at least 1 unit of BIOL 599 
  • Complete research and write thesis 
  • Submit thesis to Thesis Committee for review and approval
  • Present departmental seminar prior to the end of the semester (this can be given before the final thesis is complete if approved by thesis committee)
  • Organize and hold a final Thesis Committee meeting  
  • Submit final, approved, honors thesis to the USF electronic repository maintained by Gleeson Library, following the guide.

 *The Honors Thesis Committee is designed to guide and mentor you, and to evaluate your research, ensuring the project meets academic, ethical, and scholarly standards. The Committee members are available to provide feedback and consultation, and to monitor your progress as you pursue your project. It is important to take advantage of their expertise through full Thesis Committee meetings.

Proposal Formatting Guidelines

All applications for the Honors Program must include a written proposal outlining the research that will be conducted. The proposal should be a maximum of two single-spaced pages (~1100 words), exclusive of the Title and Literature Cited section. 

Proposal Title: Provide an informative title (≤ 25 words).

Introduction and Background (~ 400 words): Provide an introduction to the general question that your research will address. Include a concise overview of the background to the problem, highlighting relevant past research and key questions remaining in the field. This section should explicitly state the hypotheses that your research will address. You should cite primary research articles and include the references in the Literature Cited section. 

Methods (~ 450 words):Describe the methods that will be used to address the central question(s) of your research. If your research will utilize a number of techniques, describe each one and its role in testing your hypotheses. If any analyses (e.g., nucleic acid sequencing) will be contracted out, be sure to indicate that in your methods. Include information on how your results will be analyzed (e.g., statistical tests) and interpreted. Provide sufficient information so that the methods can be assessed while avoiding extraneous details.
If you have already been working on this project, be sure to clarify what work has already been completed and what work is being proposed for the coming year. If your project relies on collaboration with other students, clearly described what your role in the project will be. If you are working outside of the biology department it is especially important for you to clearly indicate what work you will be doing and what has already been done by others; and explain how the proposed project fits in with the larger research agenda for the external lab. 

Significance Statement (~ 250 words): Briefly outline how results from your Honors Project will contribute to understanding in your field of interest, and describe the relevance of the work to furthering research in this area of science.

Literature Cited: In text citations should be by author(s) and year. For the Literature Cited section, provide an alphabetical list of the research articles, books, and other relevant materials cited in the text. The specific formatting of the Literature Cited should follow the conventions of a major journal in your field. Journal articles should include the authors, year of publication, title, the journal name, volume and pages (or article identification number).

Oral Presentation Guidelines

All students completing the Honors Program in Biology must present a public seminar that details the independent research that was conducted. Research seminars must be presented at the end of the academic semester prior to the final day of classes. Students are responsible for arranging a time acceptable to all members of the thesis committee and advertising their talk to the Biology Department.

Research seminars should be 15-30 minutes in length and provide an introduction to the research field as well as results and conclusions from the research study. Students are encouraged to use presentation software (such as PowerPoint or Keynote) and to utilize figures that will be included in their written thesis. An additional 10 minutes should be planned for questions from the audience.

The research seminar is similar in format to the written thesis and should include background information, methods utilized, experimental data and results as well as conclusions and insights for further study.

Thesis Formatting Guidelines

A formal written thesis is required for successful completion of the Honors Program in Biology. It is a test of the student’s ability both to undertake and complete a sustained piece of independent research and analysis and to complete a written document detailing the research in a coherent form according to the rules and conventions of the academic community. A complete honors thesis is due to the student’s Thesis Committee at least one week before the last day of classes in the student’s last semester at USF.

The final thesis document should have 1-inch margins and use 12-point font (a smaller font, ~10 point, can be used for figure and table descriptions). References should be in the format of an accepted journal style (agreed upon by adviser and student). In addition to the abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion and references sections, you should have a title page and a table of contents. The document should contain embedded figures and tables illustrating key concepts, the data and/or conclusions.

Required Thesis Components

Abstract: The abstract should be up to 400 words, written in the present tense and normally includes: (1) a statement of the problem the research sets out to resolve; (2) the methodology used; (3) the major findings and conclusions.

Introduction: The introduction typically has a minimum of 500 words and should provide background about the research question and a summary of the current knowledge of the field of study.

Methods: The Methods section is variable in length but should provide a complete description of all techniques and materials used in the project.

Results: The Results section is variable in length and describes the findings of the research project. It should include figures/tables that represent data with associated legends.  

Discussion: The discussion typically has a minimum of 500 words and should provide answers – to the extent possible – to the questions or problems raised in the introduction. The purpose of the discussion is to view experimental findings in the context of the current literature, relating back to the introduction.  Provide discussion as to the significance of the work and how it adds to the field or may stimulate future research. 

References: A complete, properly formatted list of all references cited in the thesis.