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Psychology 

Honors Degree in Psychology

The Honors College at Missouri State consists of two parts. The first is General Honors, and the second is Departmental Distinction in your major. You may stop after completion of the General Honors, and still receive all privileges of the Honors College, as long as you maintain the required g.p.a. (3.25 cum.).

Please use the following table to learn more about the Honors Degree in Psychology.

Departmental Distinction:

To earn departmental distinction in Psychology, you must meet all the requirements of the General Honors Degree, and complete the following requirements:

  • Be a member in good standing of the University Honors College.
  • Notify your Honors Advisor of your intent to work towards departmental distinction as soon as possible. In fact, it is to your advantage to notify your Honors Advisor of your intentions prior to registration during the Spring of your Sophomore year.
  • Earn and maintain a cumulative g.p.a. of 3.25 and a Psychology g.p.a. of 3.25.
  • Complete at least 12 hours of Honors course work in the Psychology Department.
  • Complete a Senior Project in Psychology within the Junior and/or Senior Years.
  • Complete PSY 410 before starting your Senior Project, or take PSY 410 concurrently with starting your Senior Project.
  • Complete all requirements for a B.S. or B. A. in Psychology and at least 38 or 39 hours in the major. The additional 4 to 5 hours are the Senior Project.
  • PSY 410 and PSY 499 (for your Senior Project) count toward the 12 hours of Honors courses in the department. The remaining hours may include the Honors section of PSY 121 or an Honors component.
  • No more than two components can be counted towards the Honors Degree. Although you have a choice about when you take PSY 410 relative to the start of your Senior Project, it is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED that you complete PSY 410 before you start your Senior Project and that you take PSY 410 in the Fall Semester of your Junior year.
  • Completing PSY 410 before your Senior Project allows you to use your PSY 410 project as a pilot study for the Senior Project. Completing PSY 410 in the Fall of your Junior years gives you more time to complete the Senior Project.
  • Prerequisites for PSY 410 include PSY 200 and 201. Unfortunately these two courses fill quickly. Therefore, we will reserve limited space in sections of PSY 200 and 201 for Honors students. This should help you complete these courses within your first two years. However, these few reserved spaces are available for a short time only. If you register later than your Honors registration time, these spaces may be gone. In order to utilize these reserved spaces, you should contact your Honors Advisor or the head of the Psychology Department.

  • The Senior Project is to be taken as PSY 499 (Senior Honors Project Practicum), for a total of 4 to 5 hours credit, whichever is needed to get 12 hours of Psychology Honors credit. These 4 or 5 hours should be split into two or three semesters. The Senior Project hours are in addition to the regular hours required for the Bachelor's Degree.

    If special circumstances exist which prevent you from fulfilling the requirements for departmental distinction, you should discuss the circumstances with your Honors Advisor and the Department Head. This may result in a modification of the requirements for departmental distinction. However, any modification will require the student to complete the equivalent of at least 12 hours of Honors credit in Psychology, a Senior Project in Psychology, an honors section of the capstone course, at least 38 to 39 hours in the major.

Honors Components:

Adding an Honors Component to an existing course requires a written agreement between you and the faculty member who teaches the course. Official forms for this agreement are available from the Honors College Office or from your Honors Advisor. This form must be completed and approved by the Department Head before it is submitted to the Honors College Office. The form must be completed and submitted prior to registration for the course. For each component completed, the student receives an additional hour of credit in the course, an H is added to the course number, and the student receives Honors credit for the full course. In other words, PSY 304, 3 semester hours, becomes PSY 304H for 4 semester hours. Components are available to Honors College students who are majors in Psychology and to those who are majors in other areas. No more than two components may counted toward the honors degree.

The additional work involved in an Honors Component should consist of some practical or laboratory experience, library use, and writing.

If you need a course with an Honors Component, you are strongly encouraged to seek the Honors Component in either PSY 304, 331, 359, or 521, as long as the faculty member who teaches that course agrees. A different course may be used, but the faculty member who teaches that course must agree first. Please, remember that just because you want to complete an Honors Component in a course, it does not necessarily mean the faculty person who teaches the course will have the time. Faculty members are NOT required to agree to adding Honors Components to their courses. If you can NOT arrange a component in one of these four courses, see your Honors Advisor.

PSY 410 :

If you are planning to complete a Senior Honors Project, you either must complete PSY 410 first OR have concurrent enrollment in PSY 410 and PSY 499 Senior Honors Project Practicum. It is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED that you complete PSY 410 first. PSY 410 is offered every Fall Semester and is limited to about 15 students. This course is open to both Honors and non-Honors students. It will introduce you to designing, administering, analyzing, and reporting your own research. Ideally, it can also serve as a means of testing and refining your Senior Project. Prerequisites for PSY 410 include PSY 200 and 201. Unfortunately these two courses fill quickly. Therefore, we will reserve limited space in sections of PSY 200 and 201 for Honors students. This should help you complete these courses within your first two years. However, these few reserved spaces are available for a short time only. If you register later than your Honors registration time, these spaces may be gone. In order to utilize these reserved spaces, you should contact your Honors Advisor or the head of the Psychology Department.

Senior Project :

According to the University Honors College Bulletin, "the content of the project is determined by the honors student in consultation with a faculty member serving as project advisor, and approved by the Dean. This project can be started no earlier than the first semester of the junior year and must be completed before graduation. . . . The project advisor will normally be from the student's major, and will serve to advise the student in all aspects of the project. The project is, however, to be based on the student's own ideas and work. "The student may apply for a grant of up to $200 from the University Honors Committee. This grant will be administered by the Dean and used for the student's project. Any equipment purchased with this money shall remain with the University." In the Psychology Department, the project is worth 4 or 5 semester hours of credit and accounts for the additional 4 or 5 hours of required credit for departmental distinction.

The project will be credited as PSY 499. The final product will include a written report. Guidelines for writing the report are available from the Honors Office. Stylistic concerns that are not covered in the Honors guidelines must follow the APA writing style. In order to start the Senior Project, you will need to find a faculty member to serve as your project advisor. This must be done BEFORE you register for PSY 499 (Honors Section). You and the project advisor will discuss the topic. You will fill out a departmental Senior Honors Project PSY 499: Practicum permission/contract form detailing what you will do in PSY 499. Part of this form includes a typed proposal which must be approved by the project advisor and the department head. The department head will then certify to the Dean of the Honors College that your topic has been approved. Items 10 and 11 on the PSY 499 permission form require special attention. Item 10 is the contract between you and your project director in which you determine the process and the product of your Senior Project. This item should be given serious consideration before being completed. Failure to meet the contract can result in failure of the course and non-acceptance of the Senior Project. A copy of a model contract is attached to this information. Refer to this contract model when completing Item 10. The proposal you submit to your project advisor and Department Head is the proposal referred to in item 11 of the permission form. This proposal must be completed and submitted before you register for PSY 499. Two additional proposals will also be needed before you are allowed to collect data from human subjects. These include the departmental Human Subjects Review Committee proposal, and the University Human Subjects Review Committee (UHSRC) proposal. Research using animals requires a proposal also be submitted to the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). Remember, these proposals must be completed and approved before you can begin data collection. It is the job of the project advisor to help you to meet the requirements set down in the UHC guidelines for Senior Projects, to provide assistance in completing the UHSRC or the IACUC information for the university and the department, to approve your project proposal, to approve your completed project, and to offer guidance and advice when appropriate.

Recommended Semester Planning:

The following information is a general plan for your academic career. It includes a schedule and procedure for the Senior Project. We strongly recommend you follow this plan. You should also double-check the plan for students who wish to enter Psychology graduate programs.

First Semester (Fall Freshman)

  • Work on your General Education Basic required courses, including Math. Complete an Honors course from the General Education list of courses.
  • Plan to finish your English, Math, Communications, and Computer requirements in your first year.
  • It would be nice to have PSY 121H either this semester or next semester.
  • Think about whether or not you wish to pursue the departmental distinction.
  • Talk with your advisor frequently.
  • Complete your Freshman Seminar. T
  • ake PSY 150 if you need more information about the psychology major or profession.

Second Semester (Spring Freshman)

  • Continue to work on your General Education courses, including Math if it is not yet completed.
  • Complete an Honors course from the General Education list of courses. Take one or two Psychology courses, possibly PSY 200 (Statistics) and PSY 150 (Introduction to the Psychology Major).
  • It is to your benefit to get PSY 200 and 201 (Experimental) completed early.
  • PSY 150 provides you with information about careers and specialty areas in psychology.
  • Think more about whether or not you want to pursue the departmental distinction. Talk with your advisor frequently.
  • Complete that Freshman Seminar, if you still need it.

Third Semester (Fall Sophomore)

  • Apply to the degree program this semester if you have 30 hours completed, have your Basic Required classes finished (excluding Writing II), and have decided on a minor. Do this before Early Registration begins if you can.
  • Continue to work on your General Education courses. Complete one or two Honors courses from the General Education list of courses. Remember, overall you need 5 Honors courses, each with a different course prefix. Also, at least 4 of the five courses must be from the General Education course list.
  • Take some electives in order to explore a possible minor or just for interest.
  • Take one or two Psychology courses, including PSY 201 if you have met the prerequisites. It would be greatly to your advantage at least to have PSY 200 completed by the end of this semester.
  • Talk to faculty members about their research interests to see if they need help on a project. Many graduate schools like to see applicants who have had significant involvement in research.
  • It is a really good idea to decide this year whether or not you want to pursue the departmental distinction.
  • Consult frequently with your advisor.

Fourth Semester (Spring Sophomore)

  • Apply to the degree program if you have not already done so. You MUST apply before completing 60 credits!
  • Finish your General Education courses.
  • Finish your Honors course requirements. Complete PSY 201 by the end of this semester.
  • Take something that may count towards a minor.
  • If you need an Honors Component course, this is a good time to take it.
  • Start working with some faculty member on his or her research.
  • If you think you want to pursue departmental distinction, get to know the faculty members now.
  • Think about who you might want as your project advisor. Talk with the faculty members about this.
  • Consult frequently with your advisor.

Fifth Semester (Fall Junior)

  • Now is the best time to take PSY 490 (Preparation for Graduate School). This is also a very good time to take PSY 410H (Research in Psychology). Many graduate schools especially like to see applicants who have independent research experience. PSY 410 is a great way to get this experience. Taking PSY 410 now also gives you the opportunity to submit your research to conventions or even for publication before you apply to graduate schools. This makes admissions committees at graduate schools drool! T
  • ake one or two other Psychology courses.
  • Continue to work on your minor. If possible, take a course as an elective for interest.
  • Take your Writing II course now, if possible.
  • Talk with your advisor.
  • Make yourself more marketable!
  • Browse through the catalogs and information available in the Graduate School Resource Center files in Hill 313. You can also find information about different graduate programs on the Web.
  • Prepare for subsequent semesters by getting some Psychology-related experience as a volunteer or as PSY 499.
  • Familiarize yourself with undergraduate courses required or recommended by your preferred graduate programs. Be sure to include these courses in your education if they are not already there. You will want these courses on your transcripts before you apply to the graduate programs.
  • PLAN CAREFULLY. Remember, not all courses are offered both Fall and Spring semesters. The experiences of other Psychology Honors students who have pursued departmental distinction indicate that you should line up your project advisor and complete the PSY 499 proposal in the first semester of your Junior Year. You can then begin the actual project in the second semester of your Junior Year. Waiting until your Senior Year may make completing the project very difficult. Remember, you will have to collect all the data, analyze it, and write a full paper about the project. These things take time, especially if you consider that you may need three or more re-writes of the final project, depending on your writing skills. If you want the departmental distinction, you should find a Psychology faculty member to serve as your project advisor.
  • Discuss possible topics and procedures with your project advisor. Then fill out a PSY 499 Senior Honors Project permission/contract form and turn it in to the department head for a signature BEFORE registration for the Spring Semester. The information you provide on the PSY 499 permission form must be in enough detail to clearly explain what your Senior Project will be and how it will be evaluated.
  • Item number 10 on the departmental permission form should be worked out in detail with your project advisor. If the proposed project involves human or animal subjects, you must also submit appropriate proposals to the departmental review committee and then to the University Human Subjects Review Committee (UHSRC) or the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). You must use the appropriate forms for each of these.
  • The project advisor must review and approve these proposals BEFORE they are submitted to the Departmental Human Subject Review Committee. After obtaining the departmental approval, you must submit the proposal to either the UHSRC or the IACUC. On all proposals, the project advisor will be listed as the responsible faculty member. You should work on these proposals near the end of this semester or the beginning of the next.
  • It is important that these be completed soon because full approval from the department and university must be obtained before starting data collection.

Sixth Semester (Spring Junior)

  • Take courses for your minor and a Capstone course. Also take one or two Psychology courses. This would be a good time to take the ANOVA course. This second course in statistics will help you in your own research and will demonstrate to graduate programs that you have a better statistics background than most applicants.
  • Possibly take the Graduate Record Exam (GRE). You can repeat the GRE if you do not like your scores. If possible, take an elective for breadth of knowledge or interest.
  • Take your Writing II course now, if you still need it.
  • Talk with your advisor. Start gathering more information about graduate schools.
  • If you are pursuing departmental distinction, work on your Senior Project as PSY 499. This work includes working in the library, writing the proposals, and collecting data. The project advisor should help you in arranging research space and times, and offer guidance in various aspects of planning, administering, analyzing, and writing the project. The project advisor is also responsible for maintaining a file of the signed informed consent forms for the research.
  • You also are responsible for making certain the informed consent forms are used, signed, and collected. Furthermore, you must report the names of the subjects to their instructors no later than the Monday of the last week of classes for that semester, or earlier if the instructors so require.

Seventh Semester (Fall Senior)

  • Complete your minor and major requirements during this semester, if possible. If you have not had PSY 490 (Preparation for Graduate School) or PSY 410H (Research in Psychology), then take them now.
  • Take PSY 495: Senior Seminar.
  • Take something for breadth of knowledge or interest.
  • If you have not completed the GRE's by now, do so this semester. Contact graduate schools for information and start the application process. Line up letters of recommendation as soon as possible.
  • Take your Capstone course now, if you still need it. See your advisor to be sure that you are meeting your requirements for graduation.
  • If you are working on departmental distinction, then try to complete your Senior Project this semester, if possible. Definitely complete the data collection and analysis. The completed Senior Project must be accepted by the project advisor, the Psychology Department Head, and the Dean of the Honors College.
  • The final project, as submitted to the Honors College, should include an abstract of not more the 350 words. The Honors College Office submits the abstracts for publication to the National Collegiate Honors Council annual abstract book. Selected projects might be published or presented in other appropriate fashions.

Eighth Semester (Spring Senior)

  • Finish any remaining requirements.
  • Take the Multivariate Statistics course and PSY 495 if you haven't yet.
  • Take some courses for breadth of knowledge or for interest. If you have applied to graduate programs, plan to visit the programs that are your top choices.
  • Spring Break is a good time to do these visits. Talk with your advisor about how to prepare for these visits. In April, most graduate schools send their letters of acceptance and offers of financial aid. Be prepared to make your decisions. You usually have about 2 weeks to decide before an offer is removed.
  • Once you accept an offer of financial aid, you are bound by APA ethical standards not to accept another offer. Relax a bit and plan to enjoy graduation.

Sample Senior Honors Project Contract:

We agree to the following requirements and deadlines for the completion of a Senior Honors Project.

Second Semester of the Junior year:

  • First week: Meet with Project Advisor. Failure to meet with the Project Advisor during the first week of classes may result in an Instructor Drop being processed.
  • Eighth week: Complete and submit both the departmental and UHSRC or IACUC proposals. A copy also must be filed with the Project Advisor. Failure to meet this deadline will result in an N for the course.
  • Fourteenth week of classes: Complete all data collection for this semester.
  • Fourteenth week of classes: Provide subjects' PSY instructors with a list of their students who participated as subjects and the number of participation units the students earned. The Honors student must also meet any other deadlines for reporting of subject participation as required by the Psychology Department. Failure to complete the data collection and/or to report subject participation will result in an N for the course.
  • Friday of the Fifteenth Week: Submit a final introduction, literature review, and methods sections, in APA style to the Project Advisor. Failure to do so will result in an Incomplete grade.
  • Grading will be based on the quality of the student's written work and research performance.

First Semester of the Senior year:

  • First Week: Meet with the Project Advisor. Failure to meet with the Project Advisor in the first week of classes will result in an Instructor Drop being processed.
  • Ninth Week: Complete data analysis and submit to the Project Advisor an abstract and Results section. Failure to do so will result in a grade reduction.
  • Thirteenth Week: Submit an acceptable full paper in APA style to the Project Advisor. This paper must include an abstract of no more than 350 words. The paper must be approved by both the Project Advisor and Department Head. Failure to do so will result in an Incomplete for a final grade.
  • Thirteenth Week: The student will submit the approved paper to the University Honors College. Failure to do so will result in an Incomplete for a final grade.
  • Fourteenth week of classes: Provide subjects' PSY instructors with a list of their students who participated as subjects during this semester and the number of participation units the students earned. The Honors student must also meet any other deadlines for reporting of subject participation as required by the Psychology Department. Failure to complete the data collection and/or to report subject participation will result in an N for the course.
  • Grading will be based on the quality of the student's written work and research performance.

Second Semester of the Senior year: (if needed for students with Incompletes.)

  • First Week: Meet with the Project Advisor.
  • Fourth Week: Complete data analysis and submit to the Project Advisor an abstract and Results section.
  • Thirteenth Week: Submit an acceptable full paper in APA style to the Project Advisor. This paper must include an abstract of no more than 350 words. The paper must be approved by both the Project Advisor and Department Head.
  • Thirteenth Week: The student will submit the approved paper to the University Honors College.
  • Fourteenth week of classes: Provide subjects' PSY instructors with a list of their students who participated as subjects during this semester and the number of participation units the students earned. The Honors student must also meet any other deadlines for reporting of subject participation as required by the Psychology Department.
  • Grading will be based on the quality of the student's written work and research performance. Failure to meet any of the project deadlines during this semester may result in the Incomplete being changed to an F and failure to graduate with departmental distinction.

Duties of the Project Advisor:

  • The Project Advisor shall meet with the student during the first week of classes of each semester to discuss the work required to complete that semester's portion of the project, and to arrange a schedule for future meetings.
  • meet with the student at least once per week to discuss the project and keep the student on track.
  • help the student submit the proper proposals to the departmental and UHSRC (human subjects) or IACUC (animal subjects) committees.
  • help the student meet the departmental and university regulations governing the use of Psychology students or animals as subjects in research.
  • advise the student on the design, implementation, analysis, and reporting of the project.
  • advise the student with regard to professional ethics and research.
  • evaluate and provide formative feedback about the written portions of the project within two weeks of receipt of the material.
  • maintain a file of the signed Informed Consent Forms from the student's research.
  • grade the student's progress and project at the end of the semester.