Honors Senior Project Formatting Guide

General Formatting

The Honors Senior Project (sometimes called a thesis) should take a form and format that is appropriate to the project and the discipline within which you are working. This generally includes elements such as:

  • 1-inch margins
  • Double spacing
  • 11- or 12-point font
  • An easy-to-read, sans-serif font (such as Arial, Calibri, or Aptos)
  • A discipline-appropriate and widely accepted reference/citation style (such as MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.)

Project Contents

All Honors Senior Projects must contain the following elements (see example at the end of this document for visual of how to format):

  • A title page that includes
    • Project title
    • Indication that this is an undergraduate Honors Project submitted in partial fulfillment of University Honors Program Requirements at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
    • Author Name, Degree being earned, major(s), and college(s)
    • Date of submission
    • Faculty Mentor(s) names, degrees, and departments
  • Abstract and keywords page (3-5 keywords)
  • Dedication/Appreciation page (optional; required if you received funding for your research to thank the funder; you may also choose to thank faculty, family, or other important people who have supported your education)
  • The project content pages
  • Citations/references page(s)

Additionally, if the project has multiple components, they should be combined into one document prior to submission. If this is not possible, there is the option to upload multiple attachments when submitting the project.

Sample Cover Page

Replace words like “Title” or “Name” with your specific information.

Title

 

An Undergraduate Honors Project
Submitted in partial fulfillment of
University Honors Program requirements
University of Nebraska-Lincoln

 

by
Name, Degree You are Earning [e.g.: BA, BS, BM, BJ, etc.]
Major(s)
College(s)

 

Date

 

Faculty Mentor(s):
Name, Degree, Department
Second Name, Degree, Department (if applicable)
Third Name, Degree, Department (if applicable)

Digital Accessibility

Because Honors Senior Projects are archived through UNL libraries, they must comply with digital accessibility standards required by federal law. Honors will double check compliance before approving your submission for posting to the archive, but please follow these guidelines when preparing your project. 

  1. Submit your project to Honors as a Word document (or other Microsoft Office file type if applicable). This is because digital accessibility options are much easier in these file types than others. If you absolutely cannot do this, please schedule a meeting with Honors to discuss alternatives as early as possible.
  2. Consult these directions on how to ensure digital accessibility at the links provided: Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets, Adobe PDF, and Audio/Visual files. If you prefer video format for this information, you may view recordings of UNL Workshops on these topics. 
  3. Check the following before submitting (remember with acronym “LISTS”): 
    1. LINKS: Use embedded hyperlinks. In other words, outside of bibliographic citations (such as references or works cited), any links in the text should be inserted so the regular text displays as a link rather than writing out the URL. Example: Do this: Honors Website not this: https://honors.unl.edu
    2. IMAGES: All pictures need to have alternate text (alt text) provided. In Microsoft products, right click on your image and choose “Alt Text” to see the space to enter a description of the image.
    3. STRUCTURE: All headings, subheadings, etc. are identified as such in the document. To do so, highlight the text and on the Home tab in the “Styles” section, choose “Heading” or “Heading 1” for the top-level heading. Choose “Heading 2” for the second level headings, “Heading 3” for third level, etc. You may right click on the type of heading and choose “Update Heading X to match selection” to maintain your formatting. Also, all numbered or bulleted lists must be made using the numbering or bullet formatting feature. 
    4. TABLES: All tables have a descriptive heading and a row that is identified as the column headings. Do not use tables only for the purpose of achieving specific formatting (such as lining up columns).
    5. SUPPLIMENTAL CONTENT: These are additional actions you can take to improve digital accessibility:
      1. Use a sans serif font (one without little flourishes on the ends of letters, something like Arial, Calibri, or Aptos is good).
      2. Use colors with high contrast in text and graphics (in other words, black font on white background is much better than something like yellow font on white background).
      3. Save your document and submit it as the original file type (rather than as a PDF). 
      4. Provide captions or transcripts for video and audio files. 

 

Do your best with digital accessibility. Honors will double-check your document for these features before approving it to post to the archive, and we will reach out with any concerns.