Undergraduate Honours Thesis
Updated October 2026
Undergraduate Honours Thesis in Psychology
Application form - coming soon (application deadline: February 5, 2027)
Honours Thesis (PSYC*4870/4880): Application and Supervisor Selection Process
Students interested in completing an Honours Thesis in Psychology must apply through the Department’s Honours Thesis application process. The process is designed to provide students and prospective supervisors with a clear and consistent timeline for thesis applications and supervisor selection.
Eligibility
To be eligible for the Honours Thesis, students must:
- be a Psychology or Neuroscience major;
- have completed 14.0 credits;
- have completed PSYC3000 (or 7.50 PSYC credits or NEUR3500) and PSYC3290; and
- typically have a minimum average of 80% across 2000- and 3000-level Psychology courses completed to date.
Meeting the minimum requirements does not guarantee admission to the Honours Thesis. Availability is limited and depends, in part, on faculty supervision capacity and fit between students’ research interests and available supervisors.
Application and Supervisor Selection Timeline
January: Students planning to begin their thesis in September may begin contacting prospective supervisors in January. Please do not contact prospective supervisors before January.
First Friday in February, 11:59 p.m.: Deadline to submit the Honours Thesis application. Applications may be submitted beginning at the start of the Winter semester.
February to early March: Faculty review applications and conduct their selection processes. Prospective supervisors will reach out to students to discuss interests and fit.
Beginning the second Monday in March: Faculty may begin making offers to students. No offers will be made before this date. Students may receive offers at different times depending on individual supervisors’ selection processes and availability.
Within 48 hours of receiving an offer, students must accept or decline the offer. Acceptance represents a firm commitment to complete the thesis with that supervisor.
If spaces remain after the initial selection period, additional offers may be made up until September. However, students should not assume that spaces will remain available.
What is included in the application?
Students will complete an online application that asks for:
- basic program information;
- completion of Honours Thesis prerequisites;
- grades in 2000- and 3000-level Psychology courses;
- their average across these courses;
- a personal statement (500 words), written without AI, describing:
- why they want to complete an Honours Thesis;
- how the thesis relates to their academic or career goals; and
- the research topics or questions they are most interested in exploring and why;
- up to eight potential supervisors of interest; and
- whether they are open to being considered for supervision by other faculty members.
Students may also provide a brief optional explanation of circumstances that negatively affected their academic performance and any other information they would like prospective supervisors to know (100 words).
Required documents
Students must upload:
- an unofficial transcript; and
- a CV or résumé.
Students may also submit:
- Writing sample (optional): An individual assignment that reflects the student’s own writing and was completed without the use of AI.
How will my application be used?
Application materials will be shared with all Psychology faculty to assist them in identifying students whose interests may be a good fit with their research and supervision opportunities.
Students interested in completing a thesis with a faculty member outside the Department of Psychology are responsible for providing their application materials directly to that prospective supervisor and informing them of the relevant Honours Thesis deadlines.
Choosing prospective supervisors
Students may identify up to eight potential supervisors on their application. When identifying potential supervisors, students should consider the match between their own research interests and the faculty member’s areas of expertise.
Identifying a faculty member on the application does not guarantee that the faculty member will be available to supervise a thesis.
IMPORTANT! Professional etiquette when writing to potential supervisors
Tips for contacting a potential supervisor:
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Before you contact them, familiarize yourself with their work: read their papers, know what type of work they do.
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Be flexible in balancing your own ideas to fit within the research.
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Be prepared to provide intellectual contribution to the project even if the work is already underway.
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Be considerate: contact them during office hours if possible or set up an appointment.
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Read more about professional email etiquette.
Previous course outlines:
Course descriptions:
- PSYC*4870 Honours Thesis I [0.50 credit] Under individual faculty supervision, students plan, develop, and write a research proposal and prepare an extensive review paper on their area of research. Classes are held on how to create a research proposal (oral and written), research ethics (REB) protocols, and applying to graduate school.
- PSYC*4880 Honours Thesis II [1.00 credit] Students conduct research and write an undergraduate thesis under the direction of a faculty member, present a poster, and reflect upon their work. Classes are held on how to create a poster and how to structure a thesis.
Still have questions?
- Contact a Psychology Faculty Advisor.
Sample posters from previous thesis students:
2025-2026
Congratulations to the thesis poster presenters in 2025-26!
First place - Marisa Barbosa: "It was almost as if it was not a priority with COVID going on": Help-Seeking in Women Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence and Housing Insecurity During COVID-19
Second place - Kaycee Bazinet: Investigating Dopaminergic and Cholinergic Involvement in Memory Destabilization
Third place - Audrey Setaih: Mechanisms Underlying Estrogens' Rapid Facilitative Effects on Social Recognition in the Medial Amygdala of Female Mice
2024-2025
Previous years
Emilia Szwajka, William O'Grady
Effects of social support on adolescent academic achievement
Poster
Wing Tse, Leanne Son Hing, Ella Gomes, Mais Haj-Ayoub
The influence of organizational factors on firefighters' well-being
Poster Photo
Miranda Chan, Donnelle DiMarco, Dr. Harvey Marmurek
The Effects of Divided Attention on the Testing Effect and its Transferability
Poster
Cayden Genik and Dr. Ian Newby-Clark
Flow of Consciousness Lab
Poster
Effects of Memory Salience for No-Go Devaluation
Amelia Luzy-Kocher, Brooke Pardy and Dr. Mark Fenske
Poster
Bailey Bingham, Claire Coulter, Dr. Karl Cottenie, Dr. Shoshanah Jacobs
Metacognition and exam performance: Tools for effective learning
Poster
Sarah Hollywood, Rachel L. Driscoll and Dr. Mark Fenske
Mood killer: Response inhibition reduces the capacity of erotic stimuli to elicit feelings of sexual arousal
Poster
Jonah Stub and Dr. M. Gloria Gonzalez-Morales
The Effect of Conversation Topic on Dominance Behaviour
Poster
Aleece Katan and Dr. Heidi Bailey
Self-Compassion as a Moderator of Reactions to Social Rejection
Poster
Brianne Gayfer, Jasmine Mahdy (MA) and Dr. Stephen Lewis
Peer Reactions to Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Disclosure
Poster
