The Department of Politics will compute Honors on the following basis:

• senior thesis (POL 499)* - 35%
• junior independent work (POL 981 or POL 398)** - 15%
• departmental courses - 50%

NOTE: The senior thesis poster session grade, denoted as POL 983, does not factor into the Honors calculation. However, submitting a poster and presenting it at the poster session is a requirement towards graduation.

*Senior Thesis Requirement: All seniors must enroll in POL 498 (Fall) and POL 499 (Spring). POL 498 is graded as P/D/F and will not factor into the Honors calculation; in order to pass, students are required to meet with their thesis advisers at least twice in the Fall and also submit a senior thesis progress report. POL 499 reflects the final grade for the senior thesis and factors into the Honors calculation.

**Junior Independent Work for the Class of 2027: Students receive one POL 981 grade at the end of Spring semester that is a weighted average of Fall (30%) and Spring (70%) JIW grades.

**Junior Independent Work for the Class of 2028 (and beyond): Students will receive one POL 398 grade (replacing POL 981) which will be based 100% on the final version of the Spring JP.