Dear Southern Scholar Senior Project Advisor:

Our Honors Faculty Committee really appreciates your willingness to serve
as advisor for the senior project of one of our Southern Scholars.

As you supervise this student, perhaps the following comments will make
the process smoother (some of this information is duplicated on the
attached sheet):

• First, meet with your student and decide on a senior project. Then complete with your
  student the top half of the first page of the "Southern Scholars Senior Project" form, which asks
  for a detailed senior project proposal description, including purpose and proposed methodology.
  
• Then, the senior project proposal is due in the Honors Program Director's office two weeks after
  the beginning of the semester the project will be completed.
  
• Please stay in close contact with your student, making sure the project is progressing as you two
  planned. Supervise enough so you can give 100% approval of the project, the process, and the
  write-up. Most of the projects that the Honors Faculty Committee has returned for revisions have
  needed revisions as a result of the advisor's assuming the student is doing everything correctly and completely. INSIST on periodic progress updates.
  
• The most helpful part of the process would be for the advisor to review with the senior the specific
  standards for the discipline.
  
• The completed project write-up is to be submitted in duplicate to the Honors Program Director
  four weeks prior to the last day of class of the semester the project is turned in.
  
• Once the Honors Faculty Committee gets the projects, each one is reviewed by each
  Committee member. The Committee then gets together to discuss all the comments and then to
  vote as to whether the project is acceptable or not. If not, the project is sent back to be revised.
  So far, all returned projects have been capable of being revised in time, but most have needed
  some revision.
  
• An Advisor's final project approval does not guarantee that the Honros Faculty Committee will
  automatically approve the project. The Faculty Committee has the final vote.

What follows are some specific questions advisors need to discuss with those doing Senior
Projects. After reviewing many projects through the years, the Honors Faculty Committee has
had serious concerns at one time or another about the following:

• Is the sampling size sufficient?
  
• What methods of testing/selecting/researching might be peculiar to a discipline that needs
  explanation?
  
• Does the related research relate specifically--and obviously--to the project?
  
• Are evaluation criteria all objective? If not, are they consistently subjective?
  
• If the research involves quantitative analysis, are the findings discussed not only statistically
  significant, but do they affect size (the question of meaningfulness)?
  
• How and why were the criteria selected?
  
• Is the project well proofread - very well proofread?
  
• Are the conclusions all validated specifically from the research conducted?
  
• What is the significance of the research itself?

One final suggestion: Please ask another member of your discipline to read over the Senior
Project. Such second readings might save the Committee's sending the project back for
revision.

The Honors Faculty Committee puts considerable trust in the adviser. Do not approve a
project that you feel is below "A" quality or that would be worth less than the stipulated two-three
semester hours. You know best what YOUR DISCIPLINE demands of its research. Be sure
these standards are met. Once the project is done, then complete the "Southern Scholars Senior
Project" proposal page by commenting "on the characteristics that make this 'A' quality work." Please include also a paragraph explaining your specific academic credentials for advising this senior project.

Thank you so very much for helping the Southern Scholars Honors Program at SAU.

Sincerely,

Dr Mark Peach
Director, Honors Program