College Guidelines

Be sure to consult the department or program guidelines as well as the resource page on the Bowdoin Library website when completing your honors project.

A final error-free and properly formatted copy of your honors thesis must be submitted to the College library for cataloguing. Consult the library website for more details.

To register for an honors project, students should:

  • print and fill in the request form,

  • obtain the project director's signature on the form,

  • submit the completed request form to the Office of the Registrar.

Additional Information

  • Completed request forms are accepted no earlier than the first day of Round 1 registration and no later than the last day of Add/Drop II of course registration.

  • A separate form should be submitted for each semester of an Honors Project.

    • Forms should be submitted each semester even if you are continuing to work with a project director for a second, consecutive semester.

  • Because separate course sections must be created as needed for each project director, this is only part of course registration that is handled outside of Polaris.

  • Project directors have the option to "sign-off" on your project via email, and there is an area of the form where they should indicate this choice.

  • If a student, in consultation with the department, decides to pursue an Honors Project, the course number will be 4050-4079.

  • If the department ultimately decides that the project does not meet the standard for honors, the course number will be changed to 4000-4028 for the one or two semesters of the work.

    • Please allow 2-3 weeks after submitting the completed form to the Office of the Registrar for the course to appear under the "My Courses" section of Polaris.

  • Reference the Award of Honors in the Academic Handbook for more information.

 Completing an Honors Project