Degree requirements

In order to graduate with Honors in Biology or Honors in Biomedical Sciences, students are required to:

1. Fulfill the regular requirements for Biology (BA or BS) or Biomedical Sciences degree.
2. Graduate with a grade-point average of at least 3.33, both overall and in the biology major. The major gpa can be found on your degree audit and includes all biology courses as well as all other course requirements in the major.
3. Biology majors complete a minimum of 6 semester hours of BIOL:4999 Honors Investigations. Biomedical Sciences majors should consult their advisor for course approval.
   • This requirement is intended to be fulfilled over two or more consecutive semesters.
   • One semester hour is generally equivalent to three to five hours per week in the lab in the fall and spring semesters, and six to 10 hours per week in the eight-week summer session.
   • Biology honors students typically perform their honors research in the laboratory of a Department of Biology faculty member. For Biomedical Sciences honors students that want to pursue research projects outside the department, the student must submit a prospectus on the research plan through this workflow form. The form will be routed for approval from your research advisor and then to the Director of the Biomedical Sciences program, Professor John Manak.
4. Write a brief research proposal (not exceeding five to six double-spaced pages) summarizing the background, goals and significance of the honors research that is to be undertaken.
   • This proposal should be approved by the research supervisor approximately two months after beginning your honors research project.
   • Students who are not ready to write a research proposal within the first semester of research for academic credit should register for BIOL:3994 or volunteer until the semester when ready to prepare the proposal.
5. Write an honors thesis upon completion of your honors research.
   • This thesis should have the general format of a scientific paper and should be printed double-spaced.
   • The text of the thesis, which does not include the tables, figures or references, will ordinarily range from 15-30 pages.
   • After its approval by your research supervisor, the thesis should be submitted to the Department of Biology to be kept on a secure departmental server no later than the Friday of finals week of the semester in which you intend to graduate (i.e. one full week before commencement).
6. Give a brief oral presentation of their research findings to other biology honors students as part of a colloquium held at the end of the Spring semester.
7. Complete one of the following seminars designed to foster science communication skills prior to graduation:
   • BIOL:4898 Communicating Research
   • BIOL:4998 Honors Seminar in Biology
   • An advanced-level biology seminar course approved by your faculty honors research advisor

In addition to satisfying an experiential learning requirement for the major, Honors in Biology will satisfy the experiential requirement for University Honors.

For further information or answers to any questions you may have, consult your advisor.

Deadline for submission of honors research proposal

Your proposal should be approved by your faculty honors research advisor no later than two months after beginning laboratory research. Guidelines for submission deadlines for fall, spring, and summer semesters are Nov. 1, April 1, and Sept. 1, respectively.

Deadline for submission of honors thesis

It is advised that you write and submit your thesis to your honors research faculty advisor the semester in which you intend to complete your honors research project. You should work directly with your honors research faculty advisor to determine specific deadlines for drafts and a final version of your thesis. The final version of your thesis must be submitted to the department by Friday of finals week in the semester in which you intend to graduate.

Biology Honors Colloquium

The Biology Honors Colloquium takes place in the spring semester during the last week of classes. You only need to present your research once at this event to meet the requirements for Honors in the Major. Please inform the Department of Biology (biology@uiowa.edu) by mid-semester of your intention to take part in the colloquium. You will be notified later of the date, time, and location of this event.

Application for graduation with honors in biology or honors in biomedical science

At the start of the semester in which you intend to graduate, confirm with your advisor that you are pursuing honors so you will have an honors in the major box to check on your degree application.

• Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR)
  • OUR Research Fellowship 
  • OUR Research Supply Grant
  • Student Travel Award
  • Excellence in Undergraduate Research Award 
• Iowa Sciences Academy (ISA)
• Department of Biology scholarships and fellowships

When you begin your honors research, one of your first tasks is to write a research proposal. At the start of the semester, you should plan to work with your faculty research advisor to draft the proposal. The process of writing typically involves reviewing and revising drafts a number of times over the period of several weeks. The final proposal, which should be five to six double-spaced pages, should include the following elements:

• Research background
• Proposed experimental goals or hypotheses to be tested
• Overview of experimental approaches to be taken
• Significance of proposed work to the field
• Literature citations (not included in the five to six page requirement)

Your proposal should be approved by your honors research faculty advisor no later than two months after beginning your honors research project.

Submission deadlines are:

• Fall semester: Nov. 1
• Spring semester: April 1
• Summer semester: Sept. 1

Upload your final proposal

Thesis sections

The text of the thesis, which does not include the tables, figures, or references, will ordinarily range from 15-30 pages. Your thesis should have the general format of a scientific paper and should contain the following components in the order indicated below. Each section begins on a new page.

• Title Page
• Abstract (400 words or less)
• Acknowledgements
• Table of contents
• List of tables (optional, but desirable for lengthy theses)
• List of figures (optional, but desirable for lengthy theses)
• Introduction
• Materials and methods
• Results
• Discussion
• Literature cited

A combined results and discussion section is also permissible, but check first with your thesis supervisor to see if they approve of this approach.

Font

Please use Times or Times New Roman with a font size of 12.

Formatting of title page

Use this template (Word/PDF) to format your Title Page.

Page margins for remainder of thesis

All pages, except for the title page and abstract, should have margins (top, bottom, left, and right) of 1.0".

Page spacing

All pages, except for the title page, abstract, and the legends to tables and figures, should be printed double-spaced.

Formatting of table of contents, list of tables, and list of figures

Use this example (Word/PDF) to view correct formatting of these documents, as illustrated by pages from David Brauer's thesis.

Tables and figures

Make sure that you draw the reader's attention to a specific figure or table by inserting a "flag" within the main body of text, e.g. "Castanospermine competitively inhibited amygdalin hydrolysis (Figure 1)". Tables and figures (with relevant legends) can be provided as a collection at the end of the thesis OR you can embed figures (along with relevant legends) into the thesis, one table or figure to a page, immediately following first mention of that table/figure in the text. 

Page numbering

The title page and abstract should NOT be numbered. The acknowledgements (ii), table of contents (iii), list of tables (optional) (iv), and list of figures (optional) (v) pages should be numbered with Roman numerals (iii, iv, etc). Then, use Arabic numerals for the remainder of the thesis, beginning with the Introduction as page 1. Number the pages centered at the bottom of each page. Check out this documentation for more information on creating section breaks. Alternatively, you can create two separate Microsoft word document files and then combine into one PDF when finished.

Preparation of thesis for submission

1. Required: At the start of the semester you plan to write your thesis, you should reach out to your faculty research advisor to outline a writing plan in order to align expectations about drafts and internal writing deadlines. Expect that your faculty advisor will want to review several drafts prior to approval. Once your faculty mentor has approved your final thesis, upload your thesis to the Department of Biology by submitting it to this workflow form. 
2. Optional: If you also wish to publish your thesis online, follow these guidelines. Both the student and the faculty thesis advisor must give permission for this intellectual property to be shared and made public at Iowa Research Online (IRO) by using the required submission agreement form. The deadline to submit the required form is always the Wednesday of final examination week at 11:59 p.m.

Submission deadline

Please submit your approved thesis to the Department of Biology no later than the Friday of finals week of the semester in which you intend to graduate.