Honors Students
Honors Class Credit
With Paralegal Program professor approval, students who are members of the Honors College, may contract with their Paralegal Program professor for honors credit for any 300 or 400 level class in the Program.
Honors Thesis for Departmental Honors
Students interested in researching and writing a senior honors thesis for departmental honors, must secure written approval in advance from a faculty mentor. Professor Donovan is the designated faculty mentor for the paralegal program. Before meeting with Professor Donovan, the student must have a concrete idea for the thesis and be able to commit to program completion guidelines.
The senior honors thesis is a scholarly report of original research conducted by the student answering a law related question, involving the generation of new data. It is not a review of the literature or an extended term paper. The student must demonstrate mastery of the topic.
Thesis research typically begins in the sophomore or junior year. Arrangements for the thesis must be made with the faculty mentor and honors advisor no later than the first semester of the junior year. A formal thesis proposal should be submitted to the honors advisor before the end of the junior year. This proposal should include the research questions to be answered by the project and a detailed timeline.
The project should be presented at the Undergraduate Symposium or similar forum in the Winter semester of the student's senior year.
The final draft of the thesis must be submitted to the honors advisor at least one month before the end of the semester the student expects to graduate.
The thesis must follow the format for a law review article including the use of the Blue Book legal citation format.