Manuscript and Grading Deadlines

Students submit their Honors Thesis to their faculty sponsors for grading and to Commonwealth Honors College to be preserved in the University Archives.

Students must submit their Honors Thesis Research Manuscripts or Creative Portfolios to: 

  1. Faculty sponsors for grading.
  2. The Commonwealth Honors College Office using CHC PATHS to qualify for a Commonwealth Honors College diploma and transcript credentials and for forwarding to the University Archives.  

Grading Deadline 

For both the Individually Contracted Honors Thesis and those produced in Thesis Seminars, students must meet their instructors’ expectations and timelines. The instructors will align their policies with those of their departments and the Undergraduate Registrar’s Office. INCs are granted for extenuating circumstances only; students may not assume that extensions of any kind will be granted. 

A final draft of the Honors Thesis Research Manuscript or Creative Portfolio should be submitted to the student’s Thesis Committee or Thesis Seminar instructor prior to the final presentation. Comments and corrections should be incorporated and approved by the Thesis Committee or Thesis Seminar instructor before submitting the archive-ready document to Commonwealth Honors College using CHC PATHS. 

Commonwealth Honors College Credential Deadlines 

  • For timely graduation clearance, students should refer to the CHC PATHS homepage to find deadlines specific to their semester of graduation.

Honors Thesis Research Manuscripts, Creative Portfolios, and artifacts should be submitted on CHC PATHS. 

Faculty approvals by the Thesis Committee and the department Honors Program Director(s) must be completed in a timely manner to allow for students to be cleared for graduation. Students who anticipate needing additional time should change their graduation date in SPIRE. Please %20records [at] honors [dot] umass [dot] edu (contact the Honors College) with any questions. 

The Honors Thesis Research Manuscript or Creative Portfolio and any affiliated artifacts must be submitted in digital form to the Honors College through CHC PATHS for students to qualify for Commonwealth Honors College diploma and/or transcript credentials. Approved manuscripts and materials will be forwarded electronically to the University Archives for permanent inclusion in the collection of undergraduate Honors research. 

The following caveats should be taken into consideration: 

  • Delays due to extenuating circumstances may result in a grade of INC at the discretion of the Honors faculty sponsor or instructor. If students are granted an INC, there is a six-week grace period for resolving Ys and INCs while remaining members of the original graduation class month/year. Students who wish to graduate within this grace period should aim for completion within five weeks because administrative approvals need to make their way through the system in the sixth week. 
  • Students who submit their work after the sixth week become eligible for the next graduation cycle, i.e., February, May or September. Each graduation cycle has its own six-week grace period. The student does not pay additional tuition unless new credits are registered. 

Note regarding graduation ceremonies: Students participate in the annual May Commonwealth Honors College Celebration of Excellence and UMass Commencement regardless of the month they were cleared for graduation (Feb, May or Sept). Students who are scheduled to graduate in February of the following year may attend the current year’s ceremonies. 

Archiving 

Honors Thesis Research Manuscripts, Creative Portfolios, and artifacts must be submitted to the Honors College in digital format through CHC PATHS and are forwarded electronically to the Archives. 

Honors Thesis manuscripts are housed in the University Archives for public review through a computer station in the Archives reading room on the 25th floor of the W.E.B. Du Bois Library. Visitors to the Archives reading room may not remove or forward copies of undergraduate theses.  

Manuscripts must be formatted according to CHC Honors Thesis manuscript formatting requirements, which require that students upload a PDF of their manuscript to CHC PATHS. Digital representations of artifacts that accompany the Creative Portfolio manuscript may use a digital format appropriate in the field of study. Formats recommended by the Library are noted in CHC PATHS. If the format used for the artifact is PDF, the artifact PDF may be appended at the end of the Creative Portfolio manuscript and uploaded as a single file. Alternatively, the manuscript and artifact may be uploaded separately.  

Embargo 

Extenuating circumstances such as patent applications or faculty grant requirements may mean that a student’s manuscript may not be available for public viewing for a specified length of time. Students who believe this may apply to their manuscript should consult with their faculty sponsor or Thesis Seminar instructor. The faculty sponsor or Thesis Seminar instructor may request an embargo of the manuscript through CHC PATHS. Embargoed manuscripts will be held in CHC PATHS, will not be available for public review, and will not be forwarded to the University Archives until the end of the embargo time period.