Biology Honours Program

Biology is an empirical science that advances our understanding of the living world through the application of the scientific method in experimental and observational studies. Accordingly, the Biology B.Sc. Honours program is designed to enable undergraduate students to gain exposure to original field and laboratory research, including the design of an investigation, data collection and analysis, and formal presentation of the findings. Research that students undertake during the summer may be appropriate for inclusion in the thesis, but it must not be the sole source of thesis content. It is intended that all students, whether they are able to work with faculty during the summer or not, shall have equal access to the Honours research experience. 

Timetable of Events

Second Year

• Mid-March: apply for admission to the Honours program (exact date in the Academic Calendar).

Third Year 

• Between mid-November and mid-January: connect with a potential research supervisor. See Starting in Biology Research and Biology Research Areas to get started. 
• Early February: apply for undergraduate summer research awards (if eligible). 

Fourth Year 

As part of the Honours Thesis I and II courses (Biol 475, Biol 493): 

• Mid-September: confirm thesis topic and supervisor (exact date in the Academic Calendar). 
• Late September: submission of research proposal 
• October to March: submission of thesis components 
• Early February: presentation of thesis results in Biology Department seminar 
• Early April: submission of final version of the full thesis 

Application and Acceptance Procedure

After formal acceptance into the Honours program (after second year) students must identify a faculty member who will supervise the research program. It is recommended that students connect with potential supervisor(s) in their third year, ideally by mid-January, to facilitate potential summer research between third and fourth year. The final deadline to confirm a supervisor is in mid-September of a student’s fourth year.  

Faculty members who agree to supervise a student must inform the Chair of their commitment to that student. A faculty member who has committed to supervising a student may decline to supervise additional students. In cases of difficulty in associating students with suitable supervisors, it is the responsibility of the Chair to resolve the situation. 

Research Supervision

It is the responsibility of the supervisor to ensure the student has regular contact and adequate technical and strategic advice to proceed safely and successfully in the project. The research supervisor will work with the student to develop the research project and to complete the experiments. 

Supervisory Committee

The Committee shall be composed of the supervisor and a reader. A reader may be (i) a second faculty member from the Biology Department, (ii) a member of a cognate department or governmental agency who is familiar with the research area, or (iii) under exceptional circumstances, and with the approval of the Chair, a qualified person who is familiar with the research area. If a student is in a joint Honours program between Biology and a second department, the Supervisory Committee shall be composed of the supervisor and the co supervisor from the second department. In the case of a research experience external to StFX and with no direct involvement of a StFX faculty member, the Supervisory Committee shall be composed of an internal supervisor and a reader (as defined above).

The Supervisory Committee shall monitor the progress of the student through the research program and assist as needed. If the student encounters any issues while completing their research or thesis that are not resolvable through consultation with their supervisor or Supervisory Committee, they should contact the Coordinator of Students (or, as an alternate, the Chair of the Department) who shall facilitate resolution. 

Thesis Proposal

In late September, each student will make a verbal presentation to the Biol 475 class summarizing the goals of the proposed research and the approach to be taken. A brief (maximum 500 words) proposal must be submitted to the Biol 475 instructor by early October. The proposal should outline the background, rationale, specific goals, and the methods of the proposed research. See the Honours course syllabus for exact dates.

Thesis

The thesis writing process is designed to be iterative, giving students multiple opportunities to draft, edit and revise their work as they develop and refine their scientific writing skills. To this end, students must discuss the content and organization of all thesis components with their supervisors. Throughout this process, supervisors (and second readers), shall provide feedback to students to help them meet expectations about writing their thesis and presenting their research. 

The thesis format must adhere to the specifications in the Honours thesis template, provided to all Biology Honours students at the beginning of Biol 475. The final thesis will also be uploaded to the StFX Scholar repository. Students can also view previous theses through this repository for examples of formatting and content. Students and supervisors may also choose to obtain a printed and bound copy of the final thesis, but this is not required. 

In general, the thesis will follow a format similar to that of manuscripts for the Canadian Journal of Zoology, Botany, or the Canadian Journal of Microbiology. The thesis is double-spaced throughout, including references, tables, and figure legends. Finished theses normally vary between 20 and 70 pages in length. 
 
Theses will often take the following form:

Opening Pages 

• Title Page ‑ unnumbered ‑ including (in order) title, author, degree and University, year, and approval signatures of the supervisory committee. 
• Page ii ‑ copyright permission 
• Page iii – abstract 
• Page iv ‑ table of Contents 
• Page v ‑ list of Figures (optional) 
• Page vi ‑ list of Tables (optional) 

Body of Thesis 

• Introduction 
• Materials and Methods 
• Results 
• Discussion 
• Acknowledgements 
• References 
• Appendices (optional)  

The format shown above is a traditional format which may not always be the most suitable for efficient and clear presentation of the work. Therefore, it is expected that some theses will depart from this model, for example, with an amalgamation of some of the sections or with subsections within sections. The specific structure of the thesis should be determined in consultation with the supervisor.