You don’t always need to see the preview to know if you want to watch the whole movie, but it can certainly help entice you to come back for more.

The UNLV Honors College designed its Research & Creative Honors Program as that kind of preview — a highlights reel of the experience of writing a thesis.

Students who complete the yearlong program develop a better understanding of the graduate studies process, the scholarly collaboration involved, and the amount of work grad school entails well before they submit applications. They also get the benefit of built-in mentorship provided by their committee of three faculty mentors — one assigned from the Honors College and two of their own choosing.

“I never did anything like this as an undergrad, so when I decided I wanted to get my master’s, it was a very steep learning curve,” said Lisa Menegatos, acting associate dean of the Honors College. “Had I been able to do a project like this as an undergrad, it would have put me far ahead of the game, or at least not so far behind.”

Depending on their majors, students can choose either the research or creative activity track for their honors thesis. From beginning to end, the Research and Creative Honors Program reflects the process of preparing a graduate school thesis.

Those who do research take on a project that includes writing a literature review, posing research questions and/or hypotheses, developing and presenting a proposal to a committee, collecting and analyzing data, writing, rehearsing the final defense, getting feedback from committee members, and presenting in a conference-like setting.

For those interested in the fine arts, the college offers the creative honors thesis, which typically involves the production of an original creative work like a manuscript. Students can include their creative thesis in a grad school application or professional portfolio to differentiate themselves from other candidates in the field.

Here’s a glimpse of the research and creative activity seven UNLV undergraduates have been involved in as part of this innovative program.