General Information 

BFA Graphic Design majors seeking to graduate with honors in art must complete Art 4510 Senior Honors Thesis. They will register for ART 4510 Senior Honors Thesis but attend all the activities and fulfill all the requirements for the course ART 4202 Graphic Design Senior Studio.  In addition, BFA Graphic Design majors seeking art honors will be required to complete additional work beyond what is normally expected of students not graduating with art honors. 

Before registering for the Senior Honors Thesis ART 4510, students must complete the Art Department Senior Honors Thesis Registration Form and get all the requisite signatures. 

The senior honors thesis committee will consist of a minimum of two fulltime faculty. The chair of the committee must be a fulltime faculty member of the Art Department. The second reader may be a fulltime Art Department faculty member or a faculty member from another department at ASU. The student has the option to include a third reader from among the fulltime Art Department faculty or fulltime faculty from another department on campus.

Since the kind of honors projects proposed and work completed are so particular to the individual’s creative vision and the many possible uses of media, techniques and studio disciplines, some requirements to successfully complete a BFA Graphic Design honors thesis will have to be decided on a case by case basis.  

In consultation with the Graphic Design Honors Theses committee, a BFA Graphic Design Senior Honors Thesis could also include, among other possibilities, one or more of the following:

• A solo exhibition 
• Documentation of the senior project beyond what is normally required of all Graphic Design majors
• A larger quantity of work than what is normally required of Graphic Design majors
• A substantial (length to be determined in consultation with the thesis committee) critical and theoretical written analysis of the work created.

The Oral Examination 

Each student who completes a senior thesis in the Art Department's Honors Program is required to give an oral presentation and defense of the thesis to the committee.  The student will give a twenty-minute presentation of the project, discussing the choice of subject, the research methods, the specific methods of procedure, and a resume of the thesis.  The student will then answer questions posed by members of the thesis committee. The chair of the thesis committee is in charge of the oral examination.

University vs. Departmental Honors

University Honors “creative projects must include a written component of at least 10 pages describing the process and project in addition to a copy of the project itself (such as a recording, film, or set of images).” Please see https://honors.appstate.edu/academics/thesis for specifics about the University Honors thesis and the differences between a University Honors thesis and a Departmental Honors thesis. 

Copies and Distribution

A minimum of two final copies is required, one for the major professor and the thesis committee, the other for the Coordinator of the Art Honors Program.  Please see https://honors.appstate.edu/academics/thesis/submit for specifics on submitting your final thesis copies. 

Signature of Acceptance

See https://honors.appstate.edu/academics/thesis/forms for the appropriate title page format. All members of the thesis committee will determine the student's final grade for Art 4510.

Abstract

An abstract, not to exceed two hundred words, is required for senior honors theses.  The purpose of the abstract is to give the reader a concise and accurate synopsis of the significant elements of the manuscript. Note that University Honors requires some kind of written document if students are doing a creative project.