When you have completed your thesis and made any corrections required, you will defend it orally in front of your committee. Each defense will look slightly different, depending on your Thesis Director and the culture in your major department (graduate thesis and dissertation defenses in your major are a good model to follow). However, there are some things that will look basically the same for everyone:

• Your Thesis Director will preside
• Your entire committee must be present
• You will begin with a presentation of your project, typically 15-30 minutes, and that will be followed by an oral examination that can last 1-2 hours
• You should bring your Defense Certificate, Signature Page and Thesis Director survey to your defense (all forms are found in the Honors in the Major Blackboard organization).

The term in which you defend is a very busy one. Listed below are deadlines and policies you need to know so that you can navigate successfully through your final thesis term:

• A minimum of one full term (four months) must elapse between completion of your prospectus and defense of your thesis
• Your Defense Announcement is due on the Friday of the 4th week of classes in your defense term.
• You should make any necessary changes to your thesis before your actual defense, so that you will be completely prepared for the oral examination and can then receive the signatures attesting to successful completion.

A POLISHED FINAL DRAFT OF YOUR THESIS IS DUE TO YOUR COMMITTEE AT LEAST TWO WEEKS PRIOR TO YOUR SCHEDULED DEFENSE DATE.

Once you have defended successfully, you must submit your final thesis electronically following the guidelines in the “Thesis” section of this tutorial (also found in the Honors in the Major Blackboard site), and turn it in to the Honors in the Major office.

ALL FINAL THESIS DOCUMENTS (PAPER AND ELECTRONIC) ARE DUE THE LAST DAY THAT CLASSES MEET, ** BEFORE FINALS WEEK **, IN THE TERM OF YOUR DEFENSE.

If you do not successfully defend your thesis, you may be allowed one further opportunity to defend in the following term after suitably revising your thesis and arranging a second defense. You must request approval from the Honors office Director and your thesis director. You must postpone your graduation and register for at least one hour of Honors Thesis credit. Note: The following term will, in that case, be considered your defense term and all of the defense term deadlines and guidelines as mentioned above will apply.