I PROCEDURES

Note: Deadlines for submission of final thesis can be found here.

If you are enrolled in Dr. Zhang’s MCB4997W due dates for drafts of the abstract and various thesis components will be set by Dr. Zhang (but see item A below). If you are writing a literature review thesis in consultation with other UConn faculty, due dates for drafts of the abstract and various thesis components will be set by your thesis advisor with approval of your MCB Honors advisor. The deadline dates required by your thesis advisor and your MCB honors advisor to read and evaluate your thesis may be earlier than that set by the Honors Program. At least one draft of the thesis must be given to your thesis advisor and revised prior to final submission. It is your responsibility to establish due dates acceptable to your thesis advisor and to your honors advisor.

1. By the third week of your final semester an Honors Scholar Thesis Plan with thesis title and abstract and signatures of Honors Advisor and Thesis Supervisor must be submitted to the Honors Office (ROWE 419).
2. You are required to submit a draft of your thesis to your thesis advisor and your Honors advisor by the deadlines established by these advisors.
3. You are required to submit the final version of your thesis to the Honors office by the deadline set by the Honors Program.

II THESIS GUIDELINES

A. Format

Your thesis must be a minimum of 15 pages, double spaced, exclusive of tables, figures, and references. Detailed guidelines are given below.

1. Approval or title page. The approval page should include the title of your thesis, your full name, signature lines for your thesis advisor, your Honors advisor, and any other thesis advisors as appropriate, the biology department in which your thesis was conducted, and the date. If your thesis advisor is also your Honors advisor, a second faculty member must read and approve your thesis.
2. Abstract. The abstract should be about 250 words on a separate page.
3. Body. Your Literature Review thesis must generally follow the format of a typical review article in molecular biological primary literature with in-depth coverage of your chosen topic supported by at least one original figure and an extensive bibliography. Specific formatting of the document may be established by Dr. Zhang or your thesis advisor.
4. Literature Cited. Specific formatting of references may be established by Dr. Zhang or your thesis advisor. A typical format is shown below:

Huang, J. et al. 2004. Lsh, an epigenetic guardian of repetitive elements. Nucleic Acids Research 32(17):5019-5028.

B. Font, spacing, margins, & page numbering Use a clear font no smaller than 10 point and no larger than 12 point. All parts of the thesis with text should be doubled spaced. The margins should be 1.5 inches on the left and at least 1 inch on the top, bottom, and right sides. Pages should be numbered consecutively beginning with the approval page.

C. Document Production Ask your thesis advisor whether they prefer a printed hard copy or electronic copy of your final thesis. For printing, use of 8.5 x 11 inch white bond paper is generally preferred. Electronic copies may be submitted to your thesis advisor as .doc, .pdf or other file format depending on your advisor’s preference.

D. Figures Electronic images embedded into the final document are preferred.