Distinct work
- Your thesis should be distinct from any prior or concurrent graduate-level thesis.
- Work submitted to fulfill program requirements for another graduate degree (e.g., masters or doctorate) at Harvard or any other university is NOT eligible.
- Your thesis can encompass all of content of a publication or manuscript. You will want to expand the introduction and the discussion. Add any additional data that might be in supplemental figures or did not make the manuscript at all but is relevant to the story.
- The thesis may build on work that students have conducted in the course of earning another degree as long as the Honors thesis only includes work that was not described in the other thesis or dissertation.
- Pathways students may write an Honors thesis based on their scholarly project.
- HST students may write an Honors thesis based on their HST thesis.
Scholarly Commitment
Thesis preparation will require a significant commitment of your time and effort, as well as considerable input from your faculty mentor and other faculty members.
Typically, Honors thesis work reflects at least four months of full-time research.
Many students work for a longer time period or take a fifth year to work full-time on the research that leads to a successful thesis.