The application is due by Thursday March 20, 2008.
Overview:
The
Honors Program has been developed to recognize excellence in
psychology
among Penn undergraduates and to enhance skills related to
psychological
research. There are two primary components to the Honors Program: (1) a substantial, independent research
project,
and (2) a
complementary Honors Seminar. Students will be selected to be part of the
Honors Program in the Spring of their junior year (see Application
Process,
below). Upon successful completion of all requirements (see
Requirements,
below), upon graduation the student will be awarded a degree in
Psychology with
Honors.
Independent Research:
Students who wish to graduate with
Honors in Psychology must complete a
minimum
of two semesters of enrollment in research (300-level or a 399) with the same
professor.
The
expectation is that students will work closely with a faculty advisor
to
develop an independent research project, that
includes
the collection and analysis of data. As with all two-semester research
projects, honors candidates must submit a research paper describing the
empirical investigation, and must present a poster at the Undergraduate
Research
Fair in the Spring. In addition, honors
students must
present a brief oral presentation to faculty and students in the
psychology
department in the Spring.
Honors Seminar:
All honors students must attend the weekly
Senior Honors Seminar. The Honors
Seminar
is a 0.5 cu course that meets for two semesters (two hours per week).
It is
currently planned for Monday afternoons. The course will be co-taught
by two
psychology professors.
The primary function of the Honors
Seminar is to develop the scientific
and
professional skills of psychology students (in conjunction with their
independent research project). Thus, a primary focus of the seminar is
the
development of skills in critical reading, writing, and public
speaking. Other
functions of the Honors Seminar include education/career planning and
training
in ethical practices, research methods, and statistics. Students in the
seminar
will attend Psychology Department colloquia, followed by a class
discussion, to
expose them to the variety of excellent research in psychology and to
illustrate effective presentation techniques. Finally, another
important
function of the Honors Seminar is to increase Esprit de Corps among our
Honors
students, who by spending time together will be able to support and
advise one
another throughout their senior year.
Requirements for Honors in Psychology
1. Application to (and acceptance into) the
Honors
Program during Advanced Registration in the spring semester of the
junior
year (see Application Process, below).
2. Satisfactory completion of two
semesters of a 399 or 399-equivalent,
culminating in a paper, a poster, and a talk in the spring of the
senior year.
3. Satisfactory completion of two
semesters (total of 1 cu) of the Senior Honors
Seminar
in Psychology.
4. Completion of two semesters of
statistics.
*Note that the additional statistics
course and the Honors seminar do
not
replace other psychology requirements, thus the total cu requirement is
15cus
for students receiving Honors in Psychology.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Whom do I contact with questions about the Honors Program?
Questions about the Honors Program can be directed to Dr. Sharon Thompson-Schill or to Dr. Robert Seyfarth.
2. How do I find a supervisor for independent study research?
There are several options - try all of them! (1) Meet with the Director of Undergraduate Studies (Robert Seyfarth) or the Director of the Honors Program (Sharon Thompson-Schill) to discuss your research interests and identify candidate supervisors; then, contact those people to discuss research opportunities; (2) If you have taken a course in psychology that fascinates you, speak to the professor about research opportunities in his or her lab, or in related labs at Penn; (3) Attend one of the spring Research Fairs, where you will have a chance to meet current students conducting research and to hear from faculty about their research programs. (4) Peruse the Psychology Dept web page. There are descriptions of research interests for each faculty, so you can get an idea of whom you might like to work with.
3. Is the honors research requirement in addition to the research requirement for all majors?
All honors students must complete a two-semester research project in their senior year (culminating in the research paper and the poster), in addition to the other requirements outlined above. This year-long project fillfils the research requirement for the Psychology major. Many honors students will complete more than two semesters of research; however, only two semesters of 399 can be counted towards the 15 cu requirement for a major in psychology with honors. Any remaining semesters of 399 can be counted as “free electives” in the general requirement for graduation.
4. Does participation in the Honors Program increase my overall graduation requirement from 33 to 35 cu’s?
No. The two additional cu’s are treated by the college as “free electives” (rather than a part of your major, per se) so the course requirement for graduation remains 33 (that is, 13 for the major and 20 for the general requirement).
5. Can I take statistics through the College of General Studies to satisfy the two-course statistics requirement for the Honors Program?
No. For more information about statistics courses for the psychology major, please refer to:
http://www.psych.upenn.edu/ugrad/hndbk.php#Statistics
6. I received a 5 on the Statistics AP Exam, so I skipped STAT111 and went directly to STAT112. Do I need to take another statistics course?
Once you determine who your thesis advisor will be, you should discuss with them what appropriate advanced statistics course you should take. There are a number of options at Penn. In the past, some students have received permission to take the graduate statistics course (PSYC611, offered in the fall). Other students have taken specialized courses relevant to their subfield. Any course that lists STAT112 as a prerequisite might be appropriate for your needs. However, based on discussions with your thesis advisor, you can petition to substitute a non-statistics course to complete the 15 cu requirement for honors in psychology.
7. I don’t understand what the terms “399-equivalent” and “3xx” on the honors web page means.
All psychology courses at the 300 level are research experience courses. You can construct a year-long research experience (at the 3xx level) with a single professor in a number of ways: (i) most honors students develop an independent research proposal with a faculty member, and register for 399 (Individual Empirical Research, aka Independent Study) in both the fall and spring semesters; (ii) some students enroll in one of the few year-long research experience courses, which are designated as such on the course listings available during advanced registration (not all students in these courses are part of the Honors Program); (iii) occasionally a student makes advanced arrangements to enroll in a one-semester research experience course in the fall semester and to complete a research project with the instructor of that course in the spring semester. In all of these cases, the arrangements must be clearly specified at the time of the application to the Honors Program.
8. What should I include in the statement of research interests that accompanies my application to the Honors Program?
Your statement should include a summary of your research experiences to date that have shaped your interest in conducting an honors thesis in psychology, as well as a description of your planned senior thesis research. The amount of detail in the thesis plan varies a lot from application to application, but in all cases there should be a scholarly discussion of the general research question and some statement of the hypothesis or hypotheses you would like to test.
9. My advisor has suggested that I conduct my senior thesis with a research partner, but that person is a junior and so is not eligible to apply for the Honors Program. Does that mean I cannot apply either?
Not at all. Every year, several projects are carried out jointly by an undergraduate research team of 2-4 students. In some cases, none of these students is in the Honors Program, in other cases, all of them are, and in other cases, their status in the honors program is divided. Some times this happens because one person is not eligible to apply; sometimes a student decided not to apply because of other commitments; and, sometimes one or more members of the team is not accepted. Even in the cases of joint projects, applications to the Honors Program are made (and are evaluated) individually.
10. I am going to be abroad in the Spring of my junior year. Can I still apply to the Honors Program?
Definitely! The entire application can be submitted by email if you are out of the country (if you are not, we do prefer the paper submission). However, you should start planning well in advance of the application deadline so you can identify a thesis advisor before you leave.
11. I will have enough credits to graduate in December next year. However, I have been working with a psychology professor all year, and will continue to do so in my final (Fall) semester at Penn. Can I still apply to the Honors Program, for that one semester?
No. Unfortunately the Honors Seminar is structured around one-year projects that begin in September and end in May of the senior year. While we commend both your extensive involvement in research and your ability to graduate in fewer than four years, we will not be able to offer you a spot in the Honors Program. That said, you are still eligible to give a presentation at the May research fair and (if you do) you are also eligible for the departmental prize for the best research paper. You could do this in the Spring of your junior year (if you have already completed one year of independent research) or you could return in the Spring of your senior year.
12. Is it possible for me to do research with a professor not in the psychology department as part of the research component of the honors program?
Yes. The faculty of many departments and schools outside of the psychology department conduct research that is relevant to the discipline of psychology. Past students have found research supervisors in the Medical School, the School of Education, Wharton, Children's Hospital, and other SAS departments (e.g., linguistics). If you look at the list of members of the psychology graduate group (http://psych.upenn.edu/people_gradfaculty.php), you will see the names of candidate faculty in other departments, but note that even this long list is not exhaustive. If you identify a research supervisor in another department, please note the following rule for 399 advising, which applies here as well: "All Psyc 299 and 399 projects must be overseen by a faculty member in the Penn Psychology Department. However, it is frequently appropriate for the immediate (day-to-day) supervisor to be a graduate student in Psychology, or a faculty member in another department at Penn." The Director of the Honors Program or the Director of Undergraduate Studies is typically willing to serve as the nominal faculty advisor in cases where the immediate supervisor is in another department. Both must sign your 399 application form, but your letter of support should be written by your immediate supervisor.