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Faculty Advisors • Pass With Distinction Forms • Pre-proposal Signature Form • Proposal Application Form • Advisor Signature Approval Page • Thesis Evaluation Rubric • Précis |
COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECT
Community Service has been defined
as a planned, supervised project designed to improve the quality of life
for a community or to assist in the solution of particular problems related
to the needs of certain community residents. You might consider this option
a way to "give back" to your community or to show prospective
employers your commitment to improving society in some way.
In all cases, the community service project must be connected to an academic research question and a body of knowledge which addresses some aspect of the project to be undertaken. If you choose this option, it is expected that you will complete a minimum of three to four hours of community service each week during an academic semester and complete assigned readings relating to the specific project you have chosen.
| Examples of Honors community service projects include developing a reading program to assist remedial and emergent readers, establishing an intramural sports program at the local high school, and producing an oral history video which captures the life stories from a student's home town. Community service projects can also be completed in another country. One student combined her Education Abroad experience with volunteer work in the public health sector of the Dominican Republic. |
Once you have investigated and identified a potential community service project, your next step is to locate a faculty member who will agree to supervise this work. Together with this faculty member, you should prepare a proposal to be submitted for approval to the Honors College Thesis Review Committee. Your proposal will include the focus of the community service project to be completed, the reason you are interested in this project, and the readings you and your faculty supervisor have identified for you to complete. Discuss your research question in your proposal.
As you undertake your community service project, you should also keep a journal in which you describe in some detail your experience and your reflections on this experience. Your journal, which eventually should be in typed form, will become the appendix of your final paper.
Your research paper will discuss your community service project in the context of published scholarship which is related to your topic. Your readings will provide a framework for your discussion of the community service experience. The final paper must be 20 pages long with an appendix that includes your journal. By Monday of the week prior to your oral presentation, submit one bound copy of your work to your faculty supervisor and two bound copies to the Honors College.
