senior honors thesis

Senior Honors Thesis

What is a Senior Honors Thesis?

The Senior Honors Thesis is a two-semester, 6 credit research commitment on a topic that you and your faculty mentor agree on. The result is an academic paper, often of publishable quality. Honors Thesis projects are most successful if a student contacts a faculty member he or she would like to work with at least one semester before he or she plans to start researching. Senior Honors Thesis courses can be taken in any semester, including over the summer.

Why write a Senior Honors Thesis?

There are a number of reasons to consider writing a thesis. For one, it is an opportunity to explore a topic that interests you. There may have been a topic in a class or a reading that caught your attention; the senior thesis will allow you to dive deeper into the topic. You will likely master your topic and develop an educated perspective. Secondly, the thesis experience will develop your reading, research and writing skills–skills that will prepare you well for graduate school and other careers. Finally, writing a thesis is required for most Honors in the Major programs. Please talk to your departmental advisor if you have questions about this requirement. Most students find the Senior Thesis a rewarding experience in which they develop new skills through independent work.

First Steps

See our pages on how to get started with the Senior Honors Thesis process!

• Choosing a topic and mentor

Disciplinary Standards

Some departments have web pages about standards for a Senior Honors Thesis; be sure to visit your department’s website and speak with your advisor for information on these standards. If you are interested in seeing a completed senior thesis paper, the Honors Program Office has bound copies of previous students’ thesis work in the Washburn Observatory library — feel free to stop by and browse through some research from your discipline!

Funding your Thesis

Theses can be funded in several ways. First, the Honors Program offers funding each year; please check out our pages on Senior Honors Thesis funding for more information. Hilldale and Holstrom Undergraduate Fellowships are also available to students with at least junior standing at the time of their application. Hilldale fellowships provide generous research support in all disciplines, while Holstrom fellowships are awarded for research on environmental studies. For more information on those awards, contact the Undergraduate Academic Awards Office . Many departments also have funding available for theses. Please talk to your departmental advisor about funding opportunities if your department. There may also be outside agencies that will support senior thesis research.

Registering for Thesis Credits

To register for Senior Honors Thesis credits, you need to contact your faculty advisor; he or she should then get in touch with the appropriate timetable representative or academic advisor who will in turn create a unique 5-digit code for the Departmental 681 course in your first semester and a second, unique code for Departmental 682 in your second semester. Your faculty advisor should be the faculty member listed for your Senior Honors Thesis experience.

Prior authorization is needed when students intend to complete either 681 or 682 while away from UW-Madison. Consult with the Associate Director for Academic Services if this is your intention.

Writing Your Thesis

Naturally, not all theses have the same format. Formats will depend largely on your topic and area of discipline. Most theses, however, have an introduction, body and conclusion. The introduction should motivate the reader to read the rest of the thesis and explain why the thesis question is important. Generally, the introduction should also explain the key vocabulary of the topic, state the thesis and hypotheses, and outline the remainder of the paper (Lipson, 2005). An effective way to organize the body of your thesis is to create subtopics under illustrative headings (2005, pg. 167). Transitions that connect the various subtopics together facilitate a cohesive thesis. The conclusion of your thesis should go beyond summarizing the main points; it should also connect the main findings to broader issues and suggest future research.

A senior thesis seems like a lot of work. Is it worth doing?

Doing a senior thesis is a lot of work and requires a 2-semester commitment to a research project. Whether it is a good choice for you depends on how motivated you are to complete a thesis. Think about your reasons for wanting to do the research. Are you interested in doing a thesis just to complete a requirement, or because you really want the experience of diving into a topic? Those who are motivated because of their interest in reading, writing and researching are less likely to see the thesis as chore. A thesis will likely seem more manageable if you work gradually over the course of the year. This will give you time to obtain all the necessary resources and materials, confront any roadblocks and write multiple drafts of the thesis.

Are there thesis topics that I should avoid?

Lipson (2005) points to a few topics you want to avoid. Many students run into problems when they attempt to write a thesis on too broad of a topic. In general, a narrow, precise research topic is easier to organize and will allow you to narrow your sources. Lipson suggests avoiding topics about the future because it is difficult to test alternative hypotheses for speculative research. Finally, he states that under most circumstances, you ought to avoid thesis questions that start with “should.” These questions are often judgments which cannot be answered by research.

What are some tips for staying organized while working on a senior thesis?

You will likely have lots of materials for your thesis which can make it difficult to stay organized. It is probably best to set up both a computer file for online and computer-generated documents and a folder or notebook for hard copy materials. It is a good idea to record resources and web pages as you use them because they will probably be much more difficult to find down the road. Appropriate labels and folders will help you find what you are looking for. Another tip for staying organized is to record what you worked on each day. This may help you locate materials and keep you on track. A running “to do list” will also keep you focused and organized about what to do next for the thesis (Lipson, 2005).

What should I cite in my thesis?

Virtually all resources used while researching and writing your thesis should be cited. If you are unsure whether you should cite something or not, it is probably better to cite the resource. Quotations, paraphrases and personal communications should all be cited, but established facts are generally not cited. (Lipson, 2005)

What should I do when I am done with my thesis?

First, congratulate yourself on finishing a thesis! It is a good idea to thank those who have helped your with your thesis either verbally or in writing soon after you complete your project. You may also want to talk to your mentor about any next steps related to your thesis. Do you want to try publishing your work? Do you hope to do further research on a related topic? Are you thinking about using your thesis as a writing sample for graduate school? Consider your goals for the thesis and talk these over with your mentor(s). You may also want to ask your mentor(s) for a recommendation letter. Many graduate schools and jobs require letters of recommendation from professors who you have worked with in college. A letter of recommendation might be easier for a mentor to write soon after you have completed the thesis, while you are still fresh in his or her memory. Finally, if you received a grant from the L&S Honors Program, we request a copy of your thesis to be bound and placed in our library. Please drop off a copy of your thesis at Washburn Observatory so we can showcase your work!

Works Cited:

Lipson, Charles. How to Write a BA Thesis: A Practical Guide from your First Ideas to your Finished Paper. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005.

Senior Honors Thesis Pages:

• Submission Guidelines
• Dual Thesis Authorization
• Grading Senior Honors Thesis
• Senior Honors Thesis Links

Honors Theses

What this handout is about.

Writing a senior honors thesis, or any major research essay, can seem daunting at first. A thesis requires a reflective, multi-stage writing process. This handout will walk you through those stages. It is targeted at students in the humanities and social sciences, since their theses tend to involve more writing than projects in the hard sciences. Yet all thesis writers may find the organizational strategies helpful.

Introduction

What is an honors thesis.

That depends quite a bit on your field of study. However, all honors theses have at least two things in common:

• They are based on students’ original research.
• They take the form of a written manuscript, which presents the findings of that research. In the humanities, theses average 50-75 pages in length and consist of two or more chapters. In the social sciences, the manuscript may be shorter, depending on whether the project involves more quantitative than qualitative research. In the hard sciences, the manuscript may be shorter still, often taking the form of a sophisticated laboratory report.

Who can write an honors thesis?

In general, students who are at the end of their junior year, have an overall 3.2 GPA, and meet their departmental requirements can write a senior thesis. For information about your eligibility, contact:

• UNC Honors Program
• Your departmental administrators of undergraduate studies/honors

Why write an honors thesis?

Satisfy your intellectual curiosity This is the most compelling reason to write a thesis. Whether it’s the short stories of Flannery O’Connor or the challenges of urban poverty, you’ve studied topics in college that really piqued your interest. Now’s your chance to follow your passions, explore further, and contribute some original ideas and research in your field.

Develop transferable skills Whether you choose to stay in your field of study or not, the process of developing and crafting a feasible research project will hone skills that will serve you well in almost any future job. After all, most jobs require some form of problem solving and oral and written communication. Writing an honors thesis requires that you:

• ask smart questions
• acquire the investigative instincts needed to find answers
• navigate libraries, laboratories, archives, databases, and other research venues
• develop the flexibility to redirect your research if your initial plan flops
• master the art of time management
• hone your argumentation skills
• organize a lengthy piece of writing
• polish your oral communication skills by presenting and defending your project to faculty and peers

Work closely with faculty mentors At large research universities like Carolina, you’ve likely taken classes where you barely got to know your instructor. Writing a thesis offers the opportunity to work one-on-one with a with faculty adviser. Such mentors can enrich your intellectual development and later serve as invaluable references for graduate school and employment.

Open windows into future professions An honors thesis will give you a taste of what it’s like to do research in your field. Even if you’re a sociology major, you may not really know what it’s like to be a sociologist. Writing a sociology thesis would open a window into that world. It also might help you decide whether to pursue that field in graduate school or in your future career.

How do you write an honors thesis?

Get an idea of what’s expected.

It’s a good idea to review some of the honors theses other students have submitted to get a sense of what an honors thesis might look like and what kinds of things might be appropriate topics. Look for examples from the previous year in the Carolina Digital Repository. You may also be able to find past theses collected in your major department or at the North Carolina Collection in Wilson Library. Pay special attention to theses written by students who share your major.

Choose a topic

Ideally, you should start thinking about topics early in your junior year, so you can begin your research and writing quickly during your senior year. (Many departments require that you submit a proposal for an honors thesis project during the spring of your junior year.)

How should you choose a topic?

• Read widely in the fields that interest you. Make a habit of browsing professional journals to survey the “hot” areas of research and to familiarize yourself with your field’s stylistic conventions. (You’ll find the most recent issues of the major professional journals in the periodicals reading room on the first floor of Davis Library).
• Set up appointments to talk with faculty in your field. This is a good idea, since you’ll eventually need to select an advisor and a second reader. Faculty also can help you start narrowing down potential topics.
• Look at honors theses from the past. The North Carolina Collection in Wilson Library holds UNC honors theses. To get a sense of the typical scope of a thesis, take a look at a sampling from your field.

What makes a good topic?

• It’s fascinating. Above all, choose something that grips your imagination. If you don’t, the chances are good that you’ll struggle to finish.
• It’s doable. Even if a topic interests you, it won’t work out unless you have access to the materials you need to research it. Also be sure that your topic is narrow enough. Let’s take an example: Say you’re interested in the efforts to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and early 1980s. That’s a big topic that probably can’t be adequately covered in a single thesis. You need to find a case study within that larger topic. For example, maybe you’re particularly interested in the states that did not ratify the ERA. Of those states, perhaps you’ll select North Carolina, since you’ll have ready access to local research materials. And maybe you want to focus primarily on the ERA’s opponents. Beyond that, maybe you’re particularly interested in female opponents of the ERA. Now you’ve got a much more manageable topic: Women in North Carolina Who Opposed the ERA in the 1970s and 1980s.
• It contains a question. There’s a big difference between having a topic and having a guiding research question. Taking the above topic, perhaps your main question is: Why did some women in North Carolina oppose the ERA? You will, of course, generate other questions: Who were the most outspoken opponents? White women? Middle-class women? How did they oppose the ERA? Public protests? Legislative petitions? etc. etc. Yet it’s good to start with a guiding question that will focus your research.

Goal-setting and time management

The senior year is an exceptionally busy time for college students. In addition to the usual load of courses and jobs, seniors have the daunting task of applying for jobs and/or graduate school. These demands are angst producing and time consuming If that scenario sounds familiar, don’t panic! Do start strategizing about how to make a time for your thesis. You may need to take a lighter course load or eliminate extracurricular activities. Even if the thesis is the only thing on your plate, you still need to make a systematic schedule for yourself. Most departments require that you take a class that guides you through the honors project, so deadlines likely will be set for you. Still, you should set your own goals for meeting those deadlines. Here are a few suggestions for goal setting and time management:

Start early. Keep in mind that many departments will require that you turn in your thesis sometime in early April, so don’t count on having the entire spring semester to finish your work. Ideally, you’ll start the research process the semester or summer before your senior year so that the writing process can begin early in the fall. Some goal-setting will be done for you if you are taking a required class that guides you through the honors project. But any substantive research project requires a clear timetable.

Set clear goals in making a timetable. Find out the final deadline for turning in your project to your department. Working backwards from that deadline, figure out how much time you can allow for the various stages of production.

Here is a sample timetable. Use it, however, with two caveats in mind:

• The timetable for your thesis might look very different depending on your departmental requirements.
• You may not wish to proceed through these stages in a linear fashion. You may want to revise chapter one before you write chapter two. Or you might want to write your introduction last, not first. This sample is designed simply to help you start thinking about how to customize your own schedule.

Sample timetable

Avoid falling into the trap of procrastination. Once you’ve set goals for yourself, stick to them! For some tips on how to do this, see our handout on procrastination .

Consistent production

It’s a good idea to try to squeeze in a bit of thesis work every day—even if it’s just fifteen minutes of journaling or brainstorming about your topic. Or maybe you’ll spend that fifteen minutes taking notes on a book. The important thing is to accomplish a bit of active production (i.e., putting words on paper) for your thesis every day. That way, you develop good writing habits that will help you keep your project moving forward.

Make yourself accountable to someone other than yourself

Since most of you will be taking a required thesis seminar, you will have deadlines. Yet you might want to form a writing group or enlist a peer reader, some person or people who can help you stick to your goals. Moreover, if your advisor encourages you to work mostly independently, don’t be afraid to ask them to set up periodic meetings at which you’ll turn in installments of your project.

Brainstorming and freewriting

One of the biggest challenges of a lengthy writing project is keeping the creative juices flowing. Here’s where freewriting can help. Try keeping a small notebook handy where you jot down stray ideas that pop into your head. Or schedule time to freewrite. You may find that such exercises “free” you up to articulate your argument and generate new ideas. Here are some questions to stimulate freewriting.

Questions for basic brainstorming at the beginning of your project:

• What do I already know about this topic?
• Why do I care about this topic?
• Why is this topic important to people other than myself
• What more do I want to learn about this topic?
• What is the main question that I am trying to answer?
• Where can I look for additional information?
• Who is my audience and how can I reach them?
• How will my work inform my larger field of study?
• What’s the main goal of my research project?

Questions for reflection throughout your project:

• What’s my main argument? How has it changed since I began the project?
• What’s the most important evidence that I have in support of my “big point”?
• What questions do my sources not answer?
• How does my case study inform or challenge my field writ large?
• Does my project reinforce or contradict noted scholars in my field? How?
• What is the most surprising finding of my research?
• What is the most frustrating part of this project?
• What is the most rewarding part of this project?
• What will be my work’s most important contribution?

Research and note-taking

In conducting research, you will need to find both primary sources (“firsthand” sources that come directly from the period/events/people you are studying) and secondary sources (“secondhand” sources that are filtered through the interpretations of experts in your field.) The nature of your research will vary tremendously, depending on what field you’re in. For some general suggestions on finding sources, consult the UNC Libraries tutorials . Whatever the exact nature of the research you’re conducting, you’ll be taking lots of notes and should reflect critically on how you do that. Too often it’s assumed that the research phase of a project involves very little substantive writing (i.e., writing that involves thinking). We sit down with our research materials and plunder them for basic facts and useful quotations. That mechanical type of information-recording is important. But a more thoughtful type of writing and analytical thinking is also essential at this stage. Some general guidelines for note-taking:

First of all, develop a research system. There are lots of ways to take and organize your notes. Whether you choose to use note cards, computer databases, or notebooks, follow two cardinal rules:

• Make careful distinctions between direct quotations and your paraphrasing! This is critical if you want to be sure to avoid accidentally plagiarizing someone else’s work. For more on this, see our handout on plagiarism .
• Record full citations for each source. Don’t get lazy here! It will be far more difficult to find the proper citation later than to write it down now.

Keeping those rules in mind, here’s a template for the types of information that your note cards/legal pad sheets/computer files should include for each of your sources:

Abbreviated subject heading: Include two or three words to remind you of what this sources is about (this shorthand categorization is essential for the later sorting of your sources).

Complete bibliographic citation:

• author, title, publisher, copyright date, and page numbers for published works
• box and folder numbers and document descriptions for archival sources
• complete web page title, author, address, and date accessed for online sources

Notes on facts, quotations, and arguments: Depending on the type of source you’re using, the content of your notes will vary. If, for example, you’re using US Census data, then you’ll mainly be writing down statistics and numbers. If you’re looking at someone else’s diary, you might jot down a number of quotations that illustrate the subject’s feelings and perspectives. If you’re looking at a secondary source, you’ll want to make note not just of factual information provided by the author but also of their key arguments.

Your interpretation of the source: This is the most important part of note-taking. Don’t just record facts. Go ahead and take a stab at interpreting them. As historians Jacques Barzun and Henry F. Graff insist, “A note is a thought.” So what do these thoughts entail? Ask yourself questions about the context and significance of each source.

Interpreting the context of a source:

• Who wrote/created the source?
• When, and under what circumstances, was it written/created?
• Why was it written/created? What was the agenda behind the source?
• How was it written/created?
• If using a secondary source: How does it speak to other scholarship in the field?

Interpreting the significance of a source:

• How does this source answer (or complicate) my guiding research questions?
• Does it pose new questions for my project? What are they?
• Does it challenge my fundamental argument? If so, how?
• Given the source’s context, how reliable is it?

You don’t need to answer all of these questions for each source, but you should set a goal of engaging in at least one or two sentences of thoughtful, interpretative writing for each source. If you do so, you’ll make much easier the next task that awaits you: drafting.

The dread of drafting

Why do we often dread drafting? We dread drafting because it requires synthesis, one of the more difficult forms of thinking and interpretation. If you’ve been free-writing and taking thoughtful notes during the research phase of your project, then the drafting should be far less painful. Here are some tips on how to get started:

Sort your “evidence” or research into analytical categories:

• Some people file note cards into categories.
• The technologically-oriented among us take notes using computer database programs that have built-in sorting mechanisms.
• Others cut and paste evidence into detailed outlines on their computer.
• Still others stack books, notes, and photocopies into topically-arranged piles.There is not a single right way, but this step—in some form or fashion—is essential!

If you’ve been forcing yourself to put subject headings on your notes as you go along, you’ll have generated a number of important analytical categories. Now, you need to refine those categories and sort your evidence. Everyone has a different “sorting style.”

Formulate working arguments for your entire thesis and individual chapters. Once you’ve sorted your evidence, you need to spend some time thinking about your project’s “big picture.” You need to be able to answer two questions in specific terms:

• What is the overall argument of my thesis?
• What are the sub-arguments of each chapter and how do they relate to my main argument?

Keep in mind that “working arguments” may change after you start writing. But a senior thesis is big and potentially unwieldy. If you leave this business of argument to chance, you may end up with a tangle of ideas. See our handout on arguments and handout on thesis statements for some general advice on formulating arguments.

Divide your thesis into manageable chunks. The surest road to frustration at this stage is getting obsessed with the big picture. What? Didn’t we just say that you needed to focus on the big picture? Yes, by all means, yes. You do need to focus on the big picture in order to get a conceptual handle on your project, but you also need to break your thesis down into manageable chunks of writing. For example, take a small stack of note cards and flesh them out on paper. Or write through one point on a chapter outline. Those small bits of prose will add up quickly.

Just start! Even if it’s not at the beginning. Are you having trouble writing those first few pages of your chapter? Sometimes the introduction is the toughest place to start. You should have a rough idea of your overall argument before you begin writing one of the main chapters, but you might find it easier to start writing in the middle of a chapter of somewhere other than word one. Grab hold where you evidence is strongest and your ideas are clearest.

Keep up the momentum! Assuming the first draft won’t be your last draft, try to get your thoughts on paper without spending too much time fussing over minor stylistic concerns. At the drafting stage, it’s all about getting those ideas on paper. Once that task is done, you can turn your attention to revising.

Peter Elbow, in Writing With Power, suggests that writing is difficult because it requires two conflicting tasks: creating and criticizing. While these two tasks are intimately intertwined, the drafting stage focuses on creating, while revising requires criticizing. If you leave your revising to the last minute, then you’ve left out a crucial stage of the writing process. See our handout for some general tips on revising . The challenges of revising an honors thesis may include:

Juggling feedback from multiple readers

A senior thesis may mark the first time that you have had to juggle feedback from a wide range of readers:

• your adviser
• a second (and sometimes third) faculty reader
• the professor and students in your honors thesis seminar

You may feel overwhelmed by the prospect of incorporating all this advice. Keep in mind that some advice is better than others. You will probably want to take most seriously the advice of your adviser since they carry the most weight in giving your project a stamp of approval. But sometimes your adviser may give you more advice than you can digest. If so, don’t be afraid to approach them—in a polite and cooperative spirit, of course—and ask for some help in prioritizing that advice. See our handout for some tips on getting and receiving feedback .

Refining your argument

It’s especially easy in writing a lengthy work to lose sight of your main ideas. So spend some time after you’ve drafted to go back and clarify your overall argument and the individual chapter arguments and make sure they match the evidence you present.

Organizing and reorganizing

Again, in writing a 50-75 page thesis, things can get jumbled. You may find it particularly helpful to make a “reverse outline” of each of your chapters. That will help you to see the big sections in your work and move things around so there’s a logical flow of ideas. See our handout on  organization  for more organizational suggestions and tips on making a reverse outline

Plugging in holes in your evidence

It’s unlikely that you anticipated everything you needed to look up before you drafted your thesis. Save some time at the revising stage to plug in the holes in your research. Make sure that you have both primary and secondary evidence to support and contextualize your main ideas.

Saving time for the small stuff

Even though your argument, evidence, and organization are most important, leave plenty of time to polish your prose. At this point, you’ve spent a very long time on your thesis. Don’t let minor blemishes (misspellings and incorrect grammar) distract your readers!

Formatting and final touches

You’re almost done! You’ve researched, drafted, and revised your thesis; now you need to take care of those pesky little formatting matters. An honors thesis should replicate—on a smaller scale—the appearance of a dissertation or master’s thesis. So, you need to include the “trappings” of a formal piece of academic work. For specific questions on formatting matters, check with your department to see if it has a style guide that you should use. For general formatting guidelines, consult the Graduate School’s Guide to Dissertations and Theses . Keeping in mind the caveat that you should always check with your department first about its stylistic guidelines, here’s a brief overview of the final “finishing touches” that you’ll need to put on your honors thesis:

• Honors Thesis
• Name of Department
• University of North Carolina
• These parts of the thesis will vary in format depending on whether your discipline uses MLA, APA, CBE, or Chicago (also known in its shortened version as Turabian) style. Whichever style you’re using, stick to the rules and be consistent. It might be helpful to buy an appropriate style guide. Or consult the UNC LibrariesYear Citations/footnotes and works cited/reference pages  citation tutorial
• In addition, in the bottom left corner, you need to leave space for your adviser and faculty readers to sign their names. For example:

Approved by: _____________________

Adviser: Prof. Jane Doe

• This is not a required component of an honors thesis. However, if you want to thank particular librarians, archivists, interviewees, and advisers, here’s the place to do it. You should include an acknowledgments page if you received a grant from the university or an outside agency that supported your research. It’s a good idea to acknowledge folks who helped you with a major project, but do not feel the need to go overboard with copious and flowery expressions of gratitude. You can—and should—always write additional thank-you notes to people who gave you assistance.
• Formatted much like the table of contents.
• You’ll need to save this until the end, because it needs to reflect your final pagination. Once you’ve made all changes to the body of the thesis, then type up your table of contents with the titles of each section aligned on the left and the page numbers on which those sections begin flush right.
• Each page of your thesis needs a number, although not all page numbers are displayed. All pages that precede the first page of the main text (i.e., your introduction or chapter one) are numbered with small roman numerals (i, ii, iii, iv, v, etc.). All pages thereafter use Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.).
• Your text should be double spaced (except, in some cases, long excerpts of quoted material), in a 12 point font and a standard font style (e.g., Times New Roman). An honors thesis isn’t the place to experiment with funky fonts—they won’t enhance your work, they’ll only distract your readers.
• In general, leave a one-inch inch margin on all sides. However, for the copy of your thesis that will be bound by the library, you need to leave a 1.25-inch margin on the left.

How do I defend my honors thesis?

Graciously, enthusiastically, and confidently. The term defense is scary and misleading—it conjures up images of a military exercise or an athletic maneuver. An academic defense ideally shouldn’t be a combative scene but a congenial conversation about the work’s merits and weaknesses. That said, the defense probably won’t be like the average conversation that you have with your friends. You’ll be the center of attention. And you may get some challenging questions. Thus, it’s a good idea to spend some time preparing yourself. First of all, you’ll want to prepare 5-10 minutes of opening comments. Here’s a good time to preempt some criticisms by frankly acknowledging what you think your work’s greatest strengths and weaknesses are. Then you may be asked some typical questions:

• What is the main argument of your thesis?
• How does it fit in with the work of Ms. Famous Scholar?
• Have you read the work of Mr. Important Author?

NOTE: Don’t get too flustered if you haven’t! Most scholars have their favorite authors and books and may bring one or more of them up, even if the person or book is only tangentially related to the topic at hand. Should you get this question, answer honestly and simply jot down the title or the author’s name for future reference. No one expects you to have read everything that’s out there.

• Why did you choose this particular case study to explore your topic?
• If you were to expand this project in graduate school, how would you do so?

Should you get some biting criticism of your work, try not to get defensive. Yes, this is a defense, but you’ll probably only fan the flames if you lose your cool. Keep in mind that all academic work has flaws or weaknesses, and you can be sure that your professors have received criticisms of their own work. It’s part of the academic enterprise. Accept criticism graciously and learn from it. If you receive criticism that is unfair, stand up for yourself confidently, but in a good spirit. Above all, try to have fun! A defense is a rare opportunity to have eminent scholars in your field focus on YOU and your ideas and work. And the defense marks the end of a long and arduous journey. You have every right to be proud of your accomplishments!

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Atchity, Kenneth. 1986. A Writer’s Time: A Guide to the Creative Process from Vision Through Revision . New York: W.W. Norton.

Barzun, Jacques, and Henry F. Graff. 2012. The Modern Researcher , 6th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Elbow, Peter. 1998. Writing With Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process . New York: Oxford University Press.

Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein. 2014. “They Say/I Say”: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing , 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton and Company.

Lamott, Anne. 1994. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life . New York: Pantheon.

Lasch, Christopher. 2002. Plain Style: A Guide to Written English. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Turabian, Kate. 2018. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, Dissertations , 9th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Many Honors Carolina students cap their undergraduate experience with a Senior Honors Thesis, partnering with a faculty mentor to develop original research or creative work. Students who successfully defend their thesis before a faculty review panel graduate with Honors or Highest Honors.

Each year, approximately 350 students complete a Senior Honors Thesis. For many of those students, the thesis becomes a first publication or an important part of their application to graduate or professional school.

Students may undertake a Senior Honors Thesis project only in their major field of study (with an exception for students who minor in Creative Writing). Students with double majors may graduate with Honors or Highest Honors in both fields of study. To do so, they must complete a distinct project in each field. All Senior Honors Thesis projects must be completed under the direct supervision of a faculty advisor. Tenured and tenure-track faculty, postdoctoral fellows with teaching appointments, and fixed-term faculty who have been employed by an academic unit for at least one year may serve as thesis advisors. Retired faculty and graduate students may not serve as advisors for Senior Honors Thesis projects.

Eligibility

Students who wish to undertake a Senior Honors Thesis project must have a cumulative GPA of 3.300 or higher. Academic departments may set higher thresholds for course work within students’ major field of study.

Students enrolled in the final semester of their thesis course work must complete their project (including the oral defense) by the following deadlines:

• Fall 2023 : Monday, November 13, 2023 4:00 p.m.
• Spring 2024: Monday, April 8, 2024 4:00 p.m.

These dates are subject to change if adjustments are made to the University Registrar’s calendars.

Your department should report your name to the Honors Carolina office by the relevant deadline above to confirm that you have met the requirements to graduate with Honors or Highest Honors.

Students are required to upload the final version of their thesis to the  Carolina Digital Repository  by the final day of class in the semester in which they complete the thesis course work . Detailed instructions are included in the guidelines at the bottom of this page.

Research Awards Available

Honors Carolina offers financial awards to support Senior Honors Thesis research. These awards, up to $500, may be used to cover any legitimate cost directly connected to a thesis project: laboratory equipment and supplies, computer software and hardware, travel, artistic supplies, books and periodicals not available through normal library sources, illustrations and duplication, etc.

Students must apply through their major department’s Honors director or their faculty thesis advisor (for units without Honors directors). A Call for Applications is sent to departments early each semester. Students may not submit applications directly to Honors Carolina.

The Spring 2024 Call for Proposals was distributed to academic units on February 1, 2024. Applications for this round of awards will be due by Thursday, February 29 at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time .

Additional funding is available through the  Office for Undergraduate Research  and individual academic units.

The following research awards are made possible through gifts to Honors Carolina and are awarded annually:

• The Michael P. and Jean W. Carter Research Award
• The Gillian T. Cell Senior Thesis Research Award in the College of Arts & Sciences
• The Sarah Steele Danhoff Undergraduate Research Award
• The Dunlevie Honors Undergraduate Research Award
• The Gordon P. Golding Senior Honors Thesis Award
• The Gump Family Undergraduate Research Award
• The Honors Undergraduate Research Award
• The Rodney F. Hood Undergraduate Research Award
• The Kimball King Undergraduate Research Award
• The William F. Little Prize for Creative Research in Honors

Helpful Resources

• Senior Honors Thesis Guidelines for Academic Units, Faculty Advisors, and Students
• Senior Honors Thesis Learning Contract (forms for Computer Science majors are here )
• Sample Senior Honors Thesis title page

INVEST IN OUR STUDENTS

Senior Honors Thesis Program

The Senior Honors Thesis program provides students the opportunity to conduct original research under the guidance of a faculty advisor while earning a total of 4.5 credits in their senior year. In their final semester, students present their research to a committee and their work potentially can be published in an academic journal. This program is an excellent resume builder for students and is beneficial for any future career or graduate school application.

After the successful completion and defense of their thesis, students will receive a notation of  Senior Honors Thesis in Business  on their transcript and will receive recognition for their accomplishment at Tropaia, our honors ceremony for graduating seniors.

Past members of the Student Honors Thesis Program have found it to be one of the most rewarding and memorable aspects of their time at Georgetown.

Class of 2025 Senior Honors Thesis Program

Application Deadline: April 9, 2024 To learn more, please review the information session from Tuesday, March 19th. Please contact Dr. Justin Smith , Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives, with any questions.

How to Apply

Application for the Senior Thesis Program is open to all second-semester juniors who are in good standing, and is due on  April 9, 2024 . All students must:

• Submit your research proposal.
• Submit your resume.
• Find a faculty advisor who will work with them one-on-one throughout the year.

The program has a limited amount of space.

Once the senior thesis scholar has been accepted, they will register for:

• BADM 4998: Senior Thesis I (3 credits) in the fall semester of their senior year.
• BADM 4999: Senior Thesis II (1.5 credits) in the spring semester of their senior year.

Note: The seminar meeting days and times are to be determined. Since the seminar classes are small, the course instructor will work with the senior thesis cohort to find a time that works for all students. We strongly encourage students to treat the senior thesis seminar as a class and sign up for 15 credits or less in their senior year to give them time to conduct their research and attend to their writing.

Previous Topics

“Nicholas Elliot (B’20) Faculty Advisor: Dennis P. Quinn, vice dean and John J. Powers Jr. Term Professor in International Business The Digital Yuan: The Outsourcing of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and The Unveiling of a Central Bank Digital Currency with Chinese Characteristics “I really cannot stress how much I have enjoyed this program. It is one of the few things I will point to in my undergraduate experience as something I’m not only extremely proud of, but also allowed me to explore the things I’m passionate about in current affairs.””

“Lisa Park (B’20) Faculty Advisor: Rebecca Hamilton, senior associate dean for faculty affairs and professor of marketing Effects of Childhood Socioeconomic Status on Product Retention and Disposal Behavior in Adulthood  “Working with Rebecca Hamilton was an extremely rewarding experience. Together, we were able to create a thesis centered around consumer behavior and childhood socio-economic status. Because it both challenged and expanded my intellectual and personal horizons, my senior thesis will undeniably be a hallmark of my time at Georgetown. The skills I gained from this have impacted me on both a personal and professional level, which I will forever be grateful for!””

“Brooke Stanley (B’20) Faculty Advisor: Marcia P. Miceli, professor of human resources  Leaving Communities Behind: Exploring the Accessibility and Usage of Parental and Family Leave Policies among Marginalized Communities “The Senior Thesis program allowed me to dive deep into a subject that truly sparked my intellectual curiosity and work alongside a professor. My mentor, Professor Miceli, challenged me and encouraged me at every step of the way. I learned a lot about time management skills and working with self-imposed deadlines. Working on a year-long research project definitely helped prepare me for long-term projects in my current role, and the time management skills I gained were absolutely invaluable. The Senior Thesis program was absolutely a highlight of my Georgetown career!””

Questions about the Senior Honors Thesis Program?

Please contact Dr. Justin Smith , Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives, with any questions.

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All Honors Students end their program with an Honors Thesis: a sustained, independent research project in a student’s field of study. Your thesis must count for at least 4 credits (some majors require that the thesis be completed over 2 semesters, and some require more than 4 credits). The thesis is an opportunity to work on unique research under the guidance of a faculty advisor. It often provides a writing sample for graduate school, and is also something you can share with employers to show what kind of work you can do. 

What is an Honors thesis?

Most of your work in college involves learning information and ideas generated by other people. When you write a thesis, you are engaging with previous work, but also adding new knowledge to your field. That means you have to know what's already been done--what counts as established knowledge; what's the current state of research; what methods and kinds of evidence are acceptable; what debates are going on. (Usually, you'll recount that knowledge in a review of the literature.) Then, you need to form a research question that you can answer given your available skills, resources, and time  (so, not "What is love?" but "How are ideas about love different between college freshmen and seniors?"). With your advisor, you'll plan the method you will use to answer it, which might involve lab work, field work, surveys, interviews, secondary research, textual analysis, or something else--it will depend upon your question and your field. Once your research is carried out, you'll write a substantial paper (usually 20-50 pages) according to the standards of your field.

What do theses look like?

The exact structure will vary by discipline, and your thesis advisor should provide you with an outline. As a rough guideline, we would expect to see something like the following:

1. Introduction 2. Review of the literature 3. Methods 4. Results 5. Analysis 6. Conclusion 7. Bibliography or works cited

In 2012 we began digitally archiving Honors theses. Students are encouraged to peruse the Honors Thesis Repository to see what past students' work has looked like. Use the link below and type your major in the search field on the left to find relevant examples. Older Honors theses are available in the Special Collections & Archives department at Dimond Library. 

Browse Previous Theses

Will my thesis count as my capstone?

Most majors accept an Honors Thesis as fulfilling the Capstone requirement. However, there are exceptions. In some majors, the thesis counts as a major elective, and in a few, it is an elective that does not fulfill major requirements. Your major advisor and your Honors advisor can help you figure out how your thesis will count. Please note that while in many majors the thesis counts as the capstone, the converse does not necessarily apply. There are many capstone experiences that do not take the form of an Honors thesis. 

Can I do a poster and presentation for my thesis?

No. While you do need to present your thesis (see below), a poster and presentation are not a thesis. 

How do I choose my thesis advisor?

The best thesis advisor is an experienced researcher, familiar with disciplinary standards for research and writing, with expertise in your area of interest. You might connect with a thesis advisor during Honors-in-Major coursework, but Honors Liaisons  can assist students who are having trouble identifying an advisor. You should approach and confirm your thesis advisor before the semester in which your research will begin.

What if I need funds for my research?

The  Hamel Center for Undergraduate Research  offers research grants, including summer support. During the academic year, students registered in credit-bearing thesis courses may apply for an  Undergraduate Research Award for up to $600 in research expenses (no stipend).  Students who are not otherwise registered in a credit-bearing course for their thesis research may enroll in INCO 790: Advanced Research Experience, which offers up to $200 for research expenses.

What if I need research materials for a lengthy period?

No problem! Honors Students can access Extended Time borrowing privileges at Dimond Library, which are otherwise reserved for faculty and graduate students. Email [email protected] with note requesting “extended borrowing privileges” and we'll work with the Library to extend your privileges.

Can I get support to stay on track?

Absolutely! Thesis-writers have an opportunity to join a support group during the challenging and sometimes isolating period of writing a thesis. Learn more about thesis support here .

When should I complete my thesis?

Register for a Senior Honors Thesis course (often numbered 799) in the spring and/or fall of your Senior year.

This “course” is an independent study, overseen by your Thesis Advisor. Your advisor sets the standards, due dates, and grades for your project. It must earn at least a B in order to qualify for Honors.

What happens with my completed thesis?

Present your thesis.

All students must publicly present their research prior to graduation. Many present at the  Undergraduate Research Conference  in April; other departmentally-approved public events are also acceptable.

Publish your thesis:

Honors students are asked to make their thesis papers available on  scholars.unh.edu/honors/ . This creates a resource for future students and other researchers, and also helps students professionalize their online personas.

These theses are publicly available online. If a student or their advisor prefers not to make the work available, they may upload an abstract and/or excerpts from the work instead.

Students may also publish research in  Inquiry , UNH's undergraduate research journal.

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• / Senior Honors Theses

Students who wish to improve their standing in their classes in the College of Arts and Sciences may do so by initiating, and completing, a Senior Honors Thesis. Coordinated by the University Honors Program, on this page we provide helpful information with which you become familiar as you embark on this rewarding endeavor.

If you are thinking about undertaking a Senior Honors Thesis in the College of Arts & Sciences, or if you hope to graduate from the College summa cum laude ("with highest honors"), you should pay careful attention to the information provided on this page to learn more about minimum qualifications for proposing a Senior Honors Thesis.

Although successful completion of a Senior Honors Thesis is required of anyone who wishes to graduate summa cum laude ("with highest honors") from the College of Arts & Sciences, there are multiple benefits that one could realize from pursuing an independent undergraduate research project.

If you have already determined that you meet the minimum qualifications to submit a Senior Honors Thesis proposal, the information provided on this page will help you to develop a plan of action to initiate the process and meet the necessary expectations and deadlines.

If you have determined that you meet the minimum qualifications to submit a Senior Honors Thesis proposal, this page provides you with the current departmental honors contacts who can help explain departmental expectations, processes, and guide you toward an appropriate supervising faculty mentor for your project.

The Senior Honors Thesis Committee is composed of nine faculty members representing the three major divisions of the College of Arts & Sciences: Humanities, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences. The members of this faculty committee oversee the Senior Honors Thesis process for the College, review Senior Honors Thesis proposals, and represent the Senior Honors Thesis Committee on each thesis writer's oral defense committee.

This page includes information regarding support services and resources available to you as you plan and pursue your Senior Honors Thesis research and write the final product.

Useful forms you will need as your begin your Senior Honors Thesis.

The information on this page provides helpful tips and advice for faculty who agree to become a supervising faculty member for a Senior Honors Thesis.

This provides a link to the Archives and Special Collections online archive of Senior Honors Theses.

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Senior Honors Thesis

The Thesis Honors Program allows Tufts seniors to pursue a year-long independent program of study, to delve into a focused area of research within your major, and to produce an outcome that demonstrates exceptional undergraduate achievement. The senior honors thesis is a capstone experience for undergraduates in a  Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science  degree program. 

Students may pursue only  one  Senior Honors Thesis per bachelor degree; that is, students who have two or three majors may not pursue two or three Honors Theses. Only students in five-year combined degree programs, such as BA/BFA, can pursue one senior thesis for the BFA degree in Studio Art and a Honors Thesis for one major in the BA degree, preferably in years four and five of the combined-degree program.

The senior honors thesis takes the form of an extensive research-based project culminating in a scholarly monograph (or an artistic or technical product). The honors thesis:

• Spans two consecutive semesters during your senior year.
• Is worth 8 credits (4 credits per semester; usually same letter grade for both semesters) in the School of Arts and Sciences. In the School of Engineering, it is worth 6 credits (3 credits per semester; usually same letter grade for both semesters).
• Culminates in a  defense .
• Is overseen by a faculty committee of at least two people (one of whom must be a full-time faculty member in your major).
• Will be  specially formatted  and archived in  Tufts Digital Collections and Archives .
• May be worthy of  Thesis Honors .

Typically, the honors thesis takes the form of independent research within your major (or in one of your majors) and results in a scholarly monograph that incorporates extensive research, critical analysis, and a sustained argument centered on a defined research question or hypothesis. Some majors will encourage or permit less traditional theses that result in the creation of a short documentary film, translated book, collection of poems, novella, play, artistic exhibit, musical composition, or application of technology. However, even less traditional theses require substantial scholarly research and writing.

Eligibility Criteria

Students who wish to pursue an honors thesis must:

• Be a senior.
• Be in good  academic standing .
• Have been on the Dean’s List at least twice before the senior year. There is a  waiver process  for transfer students and others who have not met this criterion.
• Meet  departmental criteria  for the major or program in which you will pursue the honors thesis. Some majors stipulate prerequisite coursework, a GPA threshold, a written proposal submitted during your junior year, or participation in a senior seminar.
• Have approval of your major department chair or program director (indicated by a signature on your  Honors Thesis Candidate Form .

​Important Deadlines

• October 20, 2023:  Senior Honors Thesis Candidate Form  must be submitted.
• December 13, 2023:  Defenses for February degree candidates must be completed by the last day of the fall semester reading period. Thesis submission deadlines are set by advisors and departments, but it is strongly recommended that the completed thesis is submitted to the committee at least two weeks before the final defense. This will allow readers and committee members to engage with the material presented by the student in preparation for the defense.
• December 14, 2023:  Advisors must submit the "Recommendation for Senior Thesis Honors" form for February degree candidates by the end of the first day of fall exams. (This form is only available to Tufts faculty and staff and can be found in the Faculty Forms section  on SIS .)
• May 2, 2024:  Defenses for May degree candidates must be completed by the last day of the spring semester reading period. Thesis submission deadlines are set by advisors and departments, but it is strongly recommended that the completed thesis is submitted to the committee at least two weeks before the final defense. This will allow readers and committee members to engage with the material presented by the student in preparation for the defense.
• May 3, 2024:  Advisors must submit the "Recommendation for Senior Thesis Honors" form for May degree candidates by the end of the first day of spring exams. (This form is only available to Tufts faculty and staff and can be found in the Faculty Forms section  on SIS .)
• May 17, 2024:  Archive your completed manuscript in Tufts Digital Collections and Archives (via the  MIRA website ) any time after your thesis defense and before your graduation date. This should be the final, completed, corrected version ready for posterity. Complete the deposit form and select “Agree and Deposit.” Archival uploads may be made a few weeks after graduation before the deposit window closes. Contact Associate Dean of Undergraduate Advising,  Caitlin Casey , for details if you need extra time or have a special circumstance.

More Senior Honors Thesis Resources

Advice for students, policies and procedures.

Senior Honors Thesis

Each year, a select group of undergraduate students enroll in the History Senior Honors Thesis program that culminates in the writing of a substantial, original, and polished piece of historical research. If you plan to go to graduate school in history, attend law school, work in public history, or if you simply cannot get enough of historical research and writing, this is the program for you.

At the beginning of the spring semester, the department invites the application of rising seniors who have an overall academic average of 3.3 or better, an average of 3.4 or better in history courses, and will have successfully completed at least one Undergraduate Seminar in HIST 398. For the Spring 2024 application, click here . The deadline for applications is Friday, March 8th.

The basic structure for the senior honors program is provided by HIST 691H and 692H, an intensive, two-semester research and writing seminar conducted by the department’s honors director. In addition to weekly seminar meetings, each honors candidate holds regular meetings with an honors adviser, a faculty member with knowledge of the given field.

Click here to see the posters and abstracts of some of the excellent work done by past Senior Honors Thesis students.

At the end of the spring semester, the honors prize committee makes the final determinations for Highest Honors and awards the Frank Ryan Prize to the best essay of the year. Awards are normally announced at a year-ending honors lunch celebrating the achievements of the department’s distinguished undergraduates.

Funding in support of research may be available through Honors Carolina and the Department of History’s Boyatt and Kusa awards .

Questions about the History Senior Honors Thesis should be directed to the current program director, Brett Whalen .

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Students who wish to graduate with a Distinction in Honors from the Kent State University Honors College must complete and successfully defend a Senior Honors Thesis/Project.

About the senior honors thesis/project, what is a senior honors thesis.

The Senior Honors Thesis/Project is a 6-credit-hour independent project. It may be a research, creative, or applied project and is completed under the direction of a faculty member. Regardless of the nature of the project, the final thesis is a formal written document.

For samples of theses in your discipline, please refer to our Thesis Archive .

WHY SHOULD I COMPLETE A SENIOR HONORS THESIS?

Students who work closely with faculty though the process have unique advantages in demonstrating their scholarly commitment.  Graduate schools frequently require writing or research samples as part of the application process and this criteria is often weighed heavily in evaluating your skills and preparation for succeeding in their programs. The honors thesis/creative project can also be beneficial to those entering the job market. This work can provide tangible evidence of your research, writing and creative skills to prospective employers.  Honors theses/creative projects demonstrate experience with design, execution, analysis, and presentation in your field of study.

All students may benefit from the opportunity to work on a sustained individual project. Some of the benefits associated with the Senior Honors Thesis/Project include:

• The ability to Graduate with Honors with distinction in your major
• Preparation for further work at the graduate or professional level
• Demonstration that you have the maturity, the persistence, the commitment, and the organizational skills to produce a challenging piece of research
• Development of a sense of independence as a self-starting, highly motivated individual who can handle the challenge of a non-structured academic task

HOW DO I GET STARTED ON A THESIS?

The Honors College is here to support you throughout this process. The more you communicate with faculty and staff to better understand the process, the more you will find that it enhances your education.

Please explore the resources available in the Senior Honors Thesis Handbook  to you to ensure your success.

For more information:

Contact thesis coordinator Marsha Kraus at [email protected]  to start the process.

View the Senior Honors Thesis Handbook

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Senior Honors Thesis

Additional Navigation

The Senior Honors Thesis is the capstone project taken during an Honors student’s last semester. All Honors students must complete a Senior Honors Thesis to graduate from the Honors Program. LU’s Scholars Crossings publishes Honors Theses electronically so that our Honors students’ scholarly research and creative projects are available to the global academic community. Honors theses completed since 2007 are available through  Scholars Crossings  (if submitted by the author). All Honors Theses completed from the 1980s to present are also available in print at the Honors Program archives.

Understanding the Thesis Process

Students must enroll in and pass HONR 495, which is a required 3-credit class that receives a letter grade. The expectations and goals of the Honors thesis are to produce a product that is a serious piece of scholarly writing in that student’s major field of study:

• the paper length is 25 pages
• A Traditional Thesis  is research-based and chosen by most majors. The traditional thesis options are an extended research paper requiring scholarly sources, or an empirical study (needing IRB approval).
• A Creative Thesis ,   such as writing a play or novel, or producing a short film, is usually chosen by students majoring in a Theatre Arts, English, Cinematic Arts, Studio Arts, and Communications.

Thesis Proposal

During an Honors student’s junior year, he or she is required to submit a thesis proposal which involves the following:

• Proposal Form (typed form and print for signatures by committee and department chair)
• 3-5 pages of text (no outlining)
• 20-source bibliography (do not have to be cited in the paper)
• title page not required by Honors Program
• Thesis Guidelines
• Thesis Archives
• Proposal Guidelines

Outstanding Senior Thesis Award

Each year a plaque is given for the Outstanding Senior Thesis. The 2021award went to Nathaniel Hatfield, Gabriel Hooper, Kayla Keister, and Feifan Xu.

2021 Outstanding Senior Thesis Award

• Nathaniel Hatfield (Computer Science, Cyber Security) Title: Software-Based Side Channel Attacks and the Future of Hardened Microarchitecture
• Gabriel Hooper (Biomedical Sciences) Title:  Effects of Pesticides on Microbes
• Kayla Keister (Nursing) Title: To Implement or Not to Implement:  Safe Opioid Injection Sites as Solution to the Opioid Crisis
• Feifan Xu ( Biomedical Sciences) Title:  The Analysis of Folate Dependent Transcription Factor Zinc Finger Protein 410

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Honor Thesis'

Examples of Pass Honors Thesis

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• Student information
• Econ info for students
• Economics Department Information

Preliminary Thesis Proposal

The following form is for those students wishing to get feedback on a proposed senior thesis topic:  Preliminary Application Form for Senior Thesis 2024

If you have questions about filling out the form or the senior thesis process in general, please see the information posted on the Dept. website, both on the Honors and Prizes page and on the wiki in the Econ Department Info section.

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Senior Honors Thesis

If you are a junior, with a minimum of 3.40 GPA and have enjoyed writing a research paper in one of your economics classes, this might be the right thing for you. A thesis is a great opportunity for a real capstone experience as part of your economics major.

It is important to find a faculty member to be your thesis advisor. If you have ideas about a thesis topic, talk with your advisor or a member of the economics faculty with similar research interests (see the department website for faculty research areas).

Senior Honors Thesis Information

• A Senior Honors Thesis is a two-semester (three units) long project that results in a thesis paper.
• Students also enroll each semester in a two-unit pass/fail course (EC 197: Senior Thesis Research Seminar)
• Counts as two upper-level electives towards the economics major
• It is overseen by (at least) a two-person committee consisting of an advisor and a reader.
• A Senior Honors Thesis should answer a (very) specific question or test a particular hypotheses
• It usually has an empirical component (but not necessarily)
• Generally the narrower the topic/ the more specific the question, the better the thesis
• Can be in any area of economics

Research Classes for Majors & Undertake a Senior Honors Thesis for Juniors

Many economics majors are interested in making research experience a part of their major. There are several ways to accomplish this goal.

• A number of elective classes in economics require a research paper. This can be a very good introduction to the research process because the selection of a topic, definition of the paper's structure, and research mentoring are built into the class. Economics classes that require a research paper are designated with a * on the semester class schedule published by the department.
• A research paper is often part of the requirements of a Special Topics (Economics 193) class. Since the content and requirements of these classes are constructed on a case-by-case basis, it would be up to the student and their faculty sponsor to agree on a research topic and the extent of the research requirement for the class. An Independent Study Form must be completed and submitted to Debra Knox .
• Seniors who wish to undertake a one-semester research project may do so by undertaking a Senior Thesis (Economics 198) class. Every Senior Thesis must have a faculty member from the Economics Department as an advisor and supervisor. The credit awarded for a Senior Thesis will vary according to the scope of the project. A Senior Thesis Agreement Form must be completed and submitted to Debra Knox .
• Seniors who wish to undertake a more formally organized, two-semester research project may do so by undertaking a Senior Honors Thesis (Economics 195 and 196) class. This is a larger and more complex research project that requires certain advance preparations. The regulations are described in the Tufts Bulletin under the heading Thesis Honors Program. A Senior Honors Thesis Agreement Form must be completed and submitted to Debra Knox .

These regulations specify that by the end of your junior year you must have :

• qualified for the Dean's List at least twice.
• identified an Economics faculty member who agrees to chair your thesis committee and serve as your primary thesis advisor.
• worked with your primary thesis advisor to choose a specific thesis topic.

By the end of the first two weeks of the Fall semester, you must submit the Senior Honors Thesis Candidate Declaration Form .

Writing a Successful Senior Honors Thesis

Writing a Senior Honors Thesis in economics requires more preparation than simply completing the minimal requirements toward an economics major.

Success involves :

• defining a researchable question or a testable hypothesis . This is the task that takes the most experience and requires consultation with your primary thesis advisor. If your thinking about a topic is at the stage of "I want to do research on Italy's economic growth" or "I want to study poverty issues," you do not yet have a research question. Your question must be specific and must contain a conjecture that can be supported or refuted by evidence that you are capable of producing. Good research questions can come from anywhere but the safest strategy is to look in areas of economics that you have already studied.  
• having a set of economic tools that you can apply to your research question. The appropriate set of economic tools normally consists of intermediate economic theory and econometrics . These courses should be completed by the end of your junior year.  
• having some background in an area of economics that relates to your research question. This will most often be from economics courses that you have already taken. For example, you may have taken International Finance (Economics 162) and be familiar with economic theories that explain exchange rates movements. This background gives you a head start in identifying a good research question and keeps you from having to spend many weeks learning background material.  
• preparing a thesis proposal . A good proposal spells out your research question, why it is important, and how you intend to carry out the research. It should include a short review of other important research on the subject, sources of data, and the analytical tools (ie. regression analysis) that you will use. It is recommended that this work be completed by the beginning of your senior year.  
• beginning regular consultation with your primary thesis advisor before the fall of your senior year. This could take place during the spring of your junior year or the summer before your senior year. Study abroad may make this consultation more difficult and should be factored into your foreign study plans.

Schedule a consultation for tutoring or assistance

2023 Theses

Ibrahim AlMuasher: "Factors that Impact Homeownership for Second Generation" Advisor: Jeff Zabel

Scott Blatte*: "Pricing Across Hospitals" Advisor: Melissa McInerney

Jacqueline Brown: "Environmental Economic Impacts" Advisor: Ujjayant Chakravorty

Nayum Eom: "Consent to Cookies? An Empirical Study on the Impact of Firm Size on the Website Responses to the General Data Protection Regulation" Advisor: Silke Forbes

Daniel Korobeynyk: "Are School Finance Reforms Associated with Convergence in Property Values? A Case Study of Ohio" Advisor: Silke Forbes

Jackson Lubke*: “Creating a National Model for Gentrification” Advisor: Jeff Zabel

Rie Takemoto: “The Impacts of Conditional Cash Transfers on Labor Markets: Evidence from the Philippines” Advisor: Kyle Emerick

*Linda Datcher Loury Award Recipient

Archived Senior Honors Theses

2020 theses.

Henrik Tiemroth "Distributional Implications of Carbon Taxation: Lessons from British Columbia" Advisor: Gilbert Metcalf

Kamen Velichkov "Does Democratization Lead to a More Dispersed City Size Distribution and More Spatially Dispersed Economic Activity?" Advisor: Yannis Ioannides

Zhuoran (Betty) Cao "Effects of Paid Family Leave Policy on Women’s Fertility Decisions and Career Outcomes in the US" Advisor: Melissa McInerney

2019 Theses

Julian Goldhill "The Effects of Colorado's Recreational Cannabis Industry on Colorado Gambling: An Empirical Approach" Advisor: Marcelo Bianconi

Ara Kharazian "A New Look at Coordination of Financial Aid at America's Elite Colleges" Advisor: Silke Forbes

Giorgi Nikolaishvili "The Dynamics of Noisy Information Acquisition in Financial Markets" Advisor: Marcelo Bianconi

Jacob Solomon Ryan "The Sensitivity of Firms' Proprietary Program Trading to Financial News Article Sentiment About the Volcker Rule" Advisor: Marcelo Bianconi

Eva Sachar "A Data Science Approach of Identifying Gentrification in Providence, Rhode Island" Advisor: Jeff Zabel

Noah Weinflash "Political Betting Markets: Inefficiencies, Information Integration, and Effectiveness" Advisor: Thomas Downes

Hung-Da Wen "Does Imposing Conditions in Cambodian Apparel Factories Increase Efficiency and Profitability?" Advisor: Drusilla Brown

Jiaqi Yuan "The Interaction of Manager Characteristics with Compliance: Evidence from the Cambodian Apparel Industry" Advisor: Drusilla Brown

Visit Tufts Digital Library for archived Senior Honors Theses

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• Schedule of Classes - April 12, 2024 7:34PM EDT
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HIST 4000 Introduction to Historical Research

Course description.

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2023-2024 . Courses of Study 2024-2025 is scheduled to publish mid-June.

This seminar is an introduction to the theory, practice, and art of historical research and writing. One key purpose of this course is to prepare students to work on longer research projects—especially an Honors Thesis. We will analyze the relationship between evidence and argument in historical writing; assess the methods and possible biases in various examples of historical writing; identify debates and sources relevant to research problems; think about how to use sources creatively; and discuss the various methodological issues associated with historical inquiry, analysis, and presentation.  This course is required for all students wishing to write an Honors Thesis in their senior year.  It should be taken in either semester of the junior year, or in spring of the sophomore year if you are planning to be abroad in your junior year.  NOTE: you do NOT need to be enrolled in the Honors Program in order to sign up for this course.

When Offered Fall, Spring.

Distribution Category (ALC-AS, HST-AS)

Comments This course is required for all students wishing to write an Honors Thesis in their senior year.

View Enrollment Information

  Regular Academic Session.   Choose one seminar and one independent study.

Credits and Grading Basis

4 Credits Graded (Letter grades only)

Class Number & Section Details

 3313 HIST 4000   SEM 101

Meeting Pattern

• W 2:00pm - 4:30pm To Be Assigned
• Aug 26 - Dec 9, 2024

Instructors

To be determined. There are currently no textbooks/materials listed, or no textbooks/materials required, for this section. Additional information may be found on the syllabus provided by your professor.

For the most current information about textbooks, including the timing and options for purchase, see the Cornell Store .

Additional Information

Instruction Mode: In Person Enrollment limited to: History majors.

10658 HIST 4000   IND 601

Instruction Mode: Independent Studies

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Available Syllabi

About the class roster.

The schedule of classes is maintained by the Office of the University Registrar . Current and future academic terms are updated daily . Additional detail on Cornell University's diverse academic programs and resources can be found in the Courses of Study . Visit The Cornell Store for textbook information .

Please contact [email protected] with questions or feedback.

If you have a disability and are having trouble accessing information on this website or need materials in an alternate format, contact [email protected] for assistance.

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• Victor Mukhin

Victor M. Mukhin was born in 1946 in the town of Orsk, Russia. In 1970 he graduated the Technological Institute in Leningrad. Victor M. Mukhin was directed to work to the scientific-industrial organization "Neorganika" (Elektrostal, Moscow region) where he is working during 47 years, at present as the head of the laboratory of carbon sorbents.     Victor M. Mukhin defended a Ph. D. thesis and a doctoral thesis at the Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia (in 1979 and 1997 accordingly). Professor of Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia. Scientific interests: production, investigation and application of active carbons, technological and ecological carbon-adsorptive processes, environmental protection, production of ecologically clean food.   

Title : Active carbons as nanoporous materials for solving of environmental problems

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