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Biochemistry and Chemical Biology

Honors Thesis and Research Report Preparation

The following points apply to all BCB 3201 and BCB 4999 research reports unless stated otherwise.

The title page should include the project title, the student’s name, the words “Honors Thesis” or “Research Report,” the month and year, the department and university names, and the name of the research adviser. The research adviser is a faculty member; if some other member of the laboratory, such as a research associate, was the effective adviser, he or she should be thanked in an Acknowledgements section but should not appear on the title page.

Example:

  • Long Title of the Research Project
  • Name of Honor’s Candidate
  • Honors Thesis
  • Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
  • Vanderbilt University
  • Date
  • Research Adviser: Name

Structure

Title Page

Acknowledgements: These are not required but are often included. If included in a thesis, they should be on a page of their own, after the abstract and before the table of contents. In research reports for BCB 3201, they should be at the end of the main text, before the reference list. Keep them brief and to the point to maximize their impact.

Abstract: Do not exceed 150 words

Table of Contents

Introduction: The introduction should always include four elements:

  • A general overview of the system under study, written in terms that are understandable to scientists in another field
  • Background pertinent to the system addressed in the thesis, including significance and any information necessary to understand the question being addressed
  • A statement of the current gap in knowledge and the specific question being addressed in the current work
  • A brief summary of the conclusions described in the thesis or report

A summary of previous work on this project by the student in independent research and, if relevant, work done by others in the same laboratory, should also be included in the Introduction.

Style Guide

Page Numbering: The title page should not be numbered, and the next page (the abstract) should be numbered 2. Ideally, numbers should be centered at the bottom of each page.

Text, including Materials and Methods sections, should be double-spaced. Figure captions and reference lists may be single-spaced. Each section (shown in bold above) starts on a new page.

Figures and Tables: Should be numbered and inserted into the text as soon as possible after the first reference to it. Figures and captions should be inserted together in a single text box.

If a figure or table is taken from another person’s work, it should be acknowledged as the last sentence in the figure caption: “From Smith & Jones, 1998”, or “Courtesy of Jane Doe.”

References: Can be numbered as in the style of ACS journals or by author and listed alphabetically at the end of the thesis as in the style of the Journal of Molecular Biology. Use the form “et al.” for references with more than two authors.