To be considered for honors, you must plan to take all 10 of your required courses for a grade, and receive a B in no more than one. If you take one of the 10 courses pass/fail then that will be counted as a B for honors purposes.

Students must complete the methods requirement prior to applying to the Honors program, i.e. by the end of the sixth semester.

Interested students should start reaching out to potential advisors in February of their junior year.

In their senior year students register for POLS1910 (Fall) and POLS1920 (Spring) which together count as one credit. These two courses combined fulfill the senior capstone requirement.

Honors Application Deadline: April 9th by 5:00pm. Only applications submitted by the deadline will be considered.

All applications are to be submitted electronically to suzanne_brough@brown.edu.

Submit the application by the deadline. Completed applications include:

1. The application form.
2. A copy of your most recent transcript, and, if applicable, a copy of your study abroad transcript.
3. One writing sample from a political science course taken at Brown; the writing sample should demonstrate your ability to undertake independent research.
4. The project proposal. This should be a 1-2 page typed (and polished) description of the honors thesis project you wish to pursue. In preparing the proposal, you must answer the following questions.
   1. What is the basic question or research area?
   2. Why is this an important topic?
   3. What relationship does this project have to your course background in political science at Brown University?
5. Email agreement from your advisor who must be a faculty member in the political science department.
6. Email agreement from your second reader. Both emails should be forwarded to Suzanne_Brough@brown.edu. Applications without agreements from both an advisor and a reader will be automatically declined.

The Undergraduate Committee, led by the Director of Undergraduate Studies, will review applications. Decisions will be made soon after the deadline. Staff will notify students and their advisors of application decisions.

Students approved for the honors program should register for POLS1910 (fall) and POLS1920 (Spring). Both courses require overrides. The POLS 1910/20 seminar helps students make their way through the steps of writing a successful thesis. Students learn research skills, how to ask good answerable questions, how to develop a method for answering those questions, how to research and write a literature review. They also support each other in the writing process through peer review activities.

Deadlines (exact deadlines are adjusted each year):

Mid-November – Chapter 1 due

Exam period – Chapter 2 due

Late January – Chapter 3 due

Late March – Completed drafts are due to both readers

Early April – Readers give revisions to students

Mid-April – Final thesis is due to both readers

Late April/Early May – Honors Presentations. Each student has 10-12 minutes to present their thesis with slides. Q&A afterwards. 

Students are required to submit their thesis to the Brown Digital Repository and send confirmation they have done so.

Starting in academic year 2026-27, concentration course grades will be confirmed prior to awarding honors. Students can receive no more than one ‘B’ grade in the 10 required courses for the political science concentration.