Senior Thesis- Advice to Students

• The Senior Thesis is a serious undertaking designed to be the capstone of the program and not meant to be thrown together during a few weeks of the spring semester. You will be receiving four hours of senior-level credit for this project, and your final paper should be worthy of such credit.

• For your benefit, you should meet all deadlines specified in the "Steps in preparing a Thesis" handout. Failure to do so may result in your project receiving an incomplete or a failing grade. These deadlines have been established to insure the that the members of the committee have enough time to guide you in the process and to evaluate your paper properly. Your committee is performing an academic service above their normal teaching load. Please be considerate of their busy schedules. You will be wise to discipline yourself with a regular schedule of research and writing.

• Although your project may contain a creative element, it must also have a substantial research component. Try reading several articles in the discipline of your choice in order to get some idea of the style and nature of the paper you should produce.

• The tendency of most members of the human species is to procrastinate. This is very dangerous in a Senior Thesis and potentially fatal to your success. The basic responsibility for the paper rests on the student, not the director or other committee members. You are expected to be sufficiently independent and academically mature to produce a scholarly work worthy of Honors credit.

•  A key component of the Senior Thesis is a 20-30 minute oral presentation of the major findings of your research. This is presented late in the semester in which the thesis is completed. This presentation must be completed in order to receive credit for the course.