Honours program

Why do an Honours degree?

You’re interested in trying out the research process
You’ve got a research question or topic you’d like to explore
You enjoy challenging yourself
It looks good on your resume and academic CV
Honours gives you a “trial run” for graduate school

Additional benefits

Also...graduating with a BA or BSc Honours degree signals to future employers and/or graduate admissions committees not only a strong sense of independant motivation and a drive for excellence, but your ability to:

Work closely with supervisors and subject matter experts
Think critically about solving problems
Conduct research and analyze your findings
Communicate your research through writing and presentations
Organize information into a clear and logical format
Plan and complete a long-term project

All Honours students must register for the Honours Essay and Research Seminar course (either GEOG 491 or URBS 491).

Please note the Department currently offers Honours degrees in the Environmental and Sustainability Science (BSc), Human Environment (BA) and Urban Planning (BA) programs.

Applying for Honours

Students should plan to take the honours seminar in the final full year of their degree program. A completed application for transfer into an Honours program should be submitted no later than May 31, as the Honours Essay and Research Seminar course is a year-long course that begins in September.

Admission requirements include:

A cumulative GPA of at least 3.3 on a 4.3 scale, with no grade lower than a C.
The agreement of a professor who is willing to supervise the student's honours research. Generally, the supervisor (or co-supervisor) should be a full-time professor in the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment.

Getting started

Determine your eligibility for Honours — an undergraduate advisor can help with this process and answer questions you might have.

Find a full-time faculty member who is willing to supervise your honours research.

A good way to find a supervisor is by browsing the faculty member profiles for the Department. Their profiles show their areas of research interest and are linked to their faculty profile pages, where you will their see current projects and latest publications listed.
Some professors may already have project ideas that they would like an Honours student to pursue, so you can always ask about them if the project is of interest to you.

Once the student and supervisor agree on a research question or topic, the student fills out the Transfer to Honours form. The form includes a short summary of the proposed research question or topic, as well as the student’s signature and the supervisor’s signature.

The student then submits the Transfer to Honours Form to the Undergraduate Program Assistant by May 31^st (three months before you start the Honours Essay and Research Seminar in September of the final full-time year of your program.)

The student's transfer to the Honours program is decided by a committee in the Faculty of Arts and Science administration.

Once the transfer is approved and done, the student should seek academic advising for changes to their registration.

Please note:

Honours students register for either the GEOG 491 or URBS 491 courses (each worth 6 credits) beginning in the fall of their final academic year.

Honours Essay and Research Seminar course

For the Honours Essay and Research Seminar course students are expected to complete an original research project under supervision.

The scope of the project will be decided between the student and their supervisor.
Students are expected to acquire strong foundational research skills and conduct original research.
Each project must address a clearly defined research question. It is helpful to think of this question before you start the course, but there is also space in the course to develop and refine your research question.
The Honours Essay and Research Seminar offer a cohort-based approach to help guide students through their individual research projects. Students will build their research and research communication skills throughout the year, culminating with a research presentation in the Department and a final honours essay.

If you are considering graduate studies

Although the BA or BSc Honours program is not necessary for graduate studies, nor does it lead directly into admission to graduate studies, you may wish to pursue original research at the graduate level. If so, there are several external scholarships available for research-based Master's programs in the following disciplines:

Social sciences and humanities

Natural sciences

These scholarships are highly competitive (minimum GPA of 3.7/4.3), but they offer excellent funding opportunities and open doors for graduate studies. The deadline to submit your application is usually in late September or early October for a scholarship starting the following academic year. More information on these scholarships can be found through the links above.

Working as a summer research assistant

An excellent way to familiarize yourself with the type of research going on in the Department is by working as a summer research assistant. There are several ways to approach this:

If you have a strong GPA and are already in a BSc program – or if you are interested in working on a natural sciences-related project – you may apply for the Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA) from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

You may apply for the Concordia Undergraduate Student Research Award (CUSRA) which provides funding to students to help stimulate interest in research, participatory research, or research-creation work.
Another option is to contact your professor directly to ask if they have allocated any funds to hire an undergraduate student for the summer.

Honours program students often use their work as a summer research assistant to begin collecting data for their Honours Essay and Research Seminar course.

Further questions?

If you have further questions about the Honours program please contact us.