undergraduate thesis

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How can this guide help me?

This section of the guide is designed to help and support students undertaking an undergraduate thesis by providing them with guidance, information and resources that will help them to successfully complete their thesis. Undertaking a large piece of writing can be daunting, but it also presents a great opportunity for students to contribute to their field of study and share their recommendations and findings to the wider academic community. 

Take a look at our suggested sources for finding high quality academic information, our tools for organising and managing your information, and our top tips for successfully writing your thesis!

Finding Academic Information and Quality Sources

No matter what you are searching for, the ability to distinguish between primary and secondary source material is essential.

Primary sources are documents, images or items that provide a first-hand account or direct evidence concerning a topic under investigation. Primary sources allow you to get as close as possible to what actually happened during an historical event or time period.

Secondary sources are documents written after an event has happened. They provide second-hand accounts of that event, person, or topic. Secondary sources offer different perspectives, analysis, and conclusions of those primary accounts.

Examples of Primary v Secondary Sources

Primary Source Databases

Examples of Primary Source Database

ARTstor - A digital library of approximately 700,000 images in the areas of art, architecture, the humanities, and social sciences with a set of tools to view, present, and manage images for research and pedagogical purposes.

British Periodicals I - IV - Access to the searchable full text of hundreds of periodicals from the late seventeenth century to the early twentieth, comprising millions of high-resolution facsimile page images. Topics covered include literature, philosophy, history, science, the social sciences, music, art, drama, archaeology and architecture.

Gale Primary Sources -  Search together, any combination of: British Library Newspapers, Dublin Castle Records, Economist Historical Archive, 1843- , Eighteenth Century Collections Online, Making of Modern Law: Legal Treatises, 1800-1926, Northern Ireland: A Divided Community, Times Digital Archive.

Proquest Primary Sources Collections The areas covered include Anthropology; Film and Media Studies; Global Studies; History; Philosophy and Religion; and Women and Gender Studies.

Use this link to see a list of all of our databases. Use the dropdown menu labelled "All Subjects" to sort by a specific subject. 

Secondary Source Databases

Secondary Source Database Examples

Academic Search Complete - Multidisciplinary database covering a large range of material in the social sciences and humanities. It includes over 21,000 journals and other publications.

JSTOR - Journal Storage Database - full text archival database covering over 2,500 scholarly journals in the areas of arts & humanities, social sciences and scienceAccess to the following collections: Ireland Collection, Arts and Sciences I to VIII, and the Life Sciences Collection.

Taylor & Francis Journals - Full-text electronic access to over 1000 Taylor & Francis titles. This is a multidisciplinary resource including arts, humanities, science and social sciences.

The Writing Process: Our Top Tips!

Setting Writing Deadlines

When beginning a lengthy piece of writing, it can be difficult to manage your time and stay on track. Therefore, it can be helpful to set small deadlines throughout the writing process and focus on individual sections. Deadlines can provide you with a sense of reassurance by allowing you to plan your level of productivity and manage your time efficiently. Setting deadlines also ensures that you spend an equal amount of time on each section as opposed to dedicating too much time to one over another. 

Using headings / Sub-headings in a logical format

As your thesis is a much longer piece of writing than a standard essay, it is recommended that you use headings and sub-headings to help structure and organise your writing and make your arguments clear and coherent for the reader. Headings can be anything from a theme you identified in the literature, to a pattern of results recognised in your own research. Sub-themes are used to elaborate or broaden the scope of a particular topic, but it is recommended that you refrain from using too many as it can become confusing for both the reader and writer. 

Thematic structuring: Identifying key themes or patterns within the literature 

Throughout the literature review process, various themes, patterns, and concepts emerge from the literature around your specific research topic. Themes can also emerge from your findings if you have used a methodology to investigate your topic further. In either case, reoccurring themes can help you to structure the body of your thesis and formulate logical and cohesive arguments when writing. 

Compare & contrast: Illustrate critical analysis and avoid summarising

One of the most important elements of a thesis is to synthesise your arguments as opposed to summarising them. To synthesise is to compare and contrast the various views evident within the body of literature in order to formulate your own opinions or stance on a particular subject. If opposing views and arguments are evident in your writing, it shows that a broad scope of literature has been consulted and an in-depth and critical analysis has been carried out on your research topic. Making strong comparisons between studies and findings illustrates to the reader that you have evaluated the literature thoroughly to develop your own findings or conclusions on the research topic. 

Using your voice: Supporting your arguments with evidence / references

While your thesis is compromised of past and current literature, it should also contain your our own voice and views with supported evidence and references. As your ideas can often develop from reading an extensive amount of literature on your research topic, if can become unclear whether an idea or view is one of your own or one presented in the literature. In this case, we recommend that you cite when you are in doubt! 

Concluding; Your contributions, findings and recommendations

When writing the concluding section of your thesis, make sure you re-visit the key points discussed in the introductory section, the observations you have made throughout the thesis, and outline clearly your own assessment of the literature, research and findings. 

• What you intended to find out / investigate 
• Your findings / results 
• Your own assessment of the findings and literature (Your contribution & recommendations)

Your concluding paragraph also offers you a great opportunity to share your knowledge of the field with the academic community and contribute to the current body of research. Presenting your own findings and proposing recommendations on your research topic means that you are taking part in the 'scholarly debate' and participating in the ongoing scholarly conversation within the field. 

References & appendices 

While bibliographies and references are not usually included as part of the word count of your thesis, in-text citations are included. It is extremely important that all references (in-text and within the bibliography) are cited correctly and in the correct format/style of your department. If you are including live links or doi's, it is important that each one works correctly in case the reader would like to locate a particular reference. See Saving and Managing your Sources section  for additional information. 

Lastly, the appendices can be used to share additional work or supplementary information that supports your overall thesis. This can be interview transcripts, maps, photographs or any kind of content carried out throughout the research process. 

Saving and Managing your References

Reasons to reference

Referencing is a crucial aspect of your thesis and therefore an essential part of the writing process. Your thesis should reflect that you can conduct research, locate suitable sources, analyse and critically review the findings and reference them appropriately. 

Academic writing & referencing

Good academic writing requires students to use their own voice to critically analyse/argue their viewpoint, with supporting evidence from the literature and by using referencing. Referencing helps you to avoid plagiarism, shows your understanding of the topic, gives evidence for what you are saying in your writing and allows others to see what sources you used. Find more information here on academic writing  and referencing .

Reference Management Tools

Reference Management Software

Reference management software gathers, stores & formats your references, creates in-text citations/footnotes for you. The Library provides access to the following reference management software: Refworks , Endnote Online and Endnote Desktop . There are other software products freely available such as Zotero and Mendeley . Find out more about these products and others here . Find links to our training videos below:

Endnote Online

Endnote Desktop

Your objective in writing a thesis is to create a piece of original and scholarly research to add to the body of knowledge in your subject area. A good place to start, is to find out what has been written in other theses. You can see what has been written, the writing style, how it was structured, research methods, and which references were used.

You can do this by searching for theses like your proposed topic in several places. The Find a Thesis guide will advise on how to search theses from Maynooth University, UK & Ireland and International sites.

Do you need further support?

If you are looking for further help or support with your undergraduate thesis, you can contact one of our Teaching Librarians from the Teaching & Research Development Team Guide here . 

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Life @ U of T

My Experience Writing an Undergraduate Thesis

This year, I’ve been working on a really exciting project… my undergraduate thesis! It's my fourth year of university, and I decided to write an undergraduate thesis in Political Science under the supervision of a professor. This week, I wanted to write about why I decided to take a thesis, how I enrolled, and how it’s been going so far! 

What is an undergraduate thesis?

An undergraduate thesis is usually a 40-60 page paper written under the supervision of a professor, allowing you to explore a topic of your interest in-depth. I primarily decided to write an undergraduate thesis to prepare me for graduate school - it's allowed me to get started on work I might continue in graduate school, hone my research skills, and test out whether academic research is for me.

How do I write an undergraduate thesis?

To write my undergraduate thesis, I had two options (this may vary depending on what department you're in!). First, I could join the Senior Thesis Seminar offered by department. These seminars group students together who are interested in doing a thesis and teach them research skills and background information. Students then simultaneously complete a thesis under the supervision of a professor. Senior Thesis Seminars often require applications to register in, so if you’re interested in this option, make sure you look into this in your third year of study!

Because I already had a close working relationship with a professor, I opted to instead do the second option, an Independent Study. An Independent Study allows you to work one-on-one with a professor and design whatever course you’re interested in. For either option, you’ll need to know what topic you're interested in writing your thesis on and ask a professor to work with you, so make sure you've figured this out. 

How's it going?

So far, I’m about half-way through my thesis and I’m having lots of fun. It’s a great way to get super involved in a topic I care about, and it's preparing me for graduate research much more than any course I’ve taken in my undergraduate degree. I’ve also been enjoying working one-on-one with a professor and learning a lot from them about the field of study I’m interested in, what being an academic researcher is like, and what my position in the field is. 

I will say that an undergraduate thesis is a considerable amount of work! It definitely requires more work than all my other classes, and because I’m working so closely with a professor, there’s no way I can slack on it or procrastinate.

Still, if you’re interested in a topic and want to pursue it after your undergraduate studies, I think writing an undergraduate thesis is an incredible opportunity. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments below!

1 comment on “ My Experience Writing an Undergraduate Thesis ”

Is an undergrad thesis mandatory in order to graduate or to get into a Masters program? Also, I’ve heard most Profs only help those with really high grades for their thesis?

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Princeton Correspondents on Undergraduate Research

The Under-the-Radar Thesis Topic: A Retrospective on my own Experience

Many Princeton students, when writing their senior theses, will be required to submit something resembling a “literature review,” where they give a broad summary of the extant literature on their respective senior thesis topics. Surveying the extant literature on a topic can help students to develop their own independent thoughts on the matter. For many students, the literature ends up being a very important part of the actual final text of the senior thesis. 

After reaching this stage when researching my senior thesis topic, a relatively-unknown Arabic Christian legal text from 18th-century Lebanon called the Mukhtaṣar al-Sharīʿa of ʿAbdallāh Qarāʿalī, I realized that only a few paragraphs and couple footnotes had been written about the text in English. All told, the entire body of English-language academic work on the Mukhtaṣar totalled a mere two pages. This lack of a developed scholarly conversation about my topic came with its own challenges and opportunities. The relative obscurity of this topic was a large part of why I chose to write my thesis about it— I found it to be very intriguing and wished there was more written about it. In this post I intend to look back at my own experience writing a thesis on such a niche topic, and hope to offer some considerations on how such a project might be approached. 

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My Experience

In my view, there were two main problems which stemmed from the lack of scholarship on my thesis topic and which I had to find a way around. First, if I didn’t understand something about the text, there was nothing which I could consult for a simple explanation. Second, I would have to work hard to find material to argue for or against. I approached these issues through two main avenues. First, I made use of scholarly writing which was not written in English. After doing a bit of digging, I uncovered a few sources written in German, French, and Arabic which discussed my topic. I used AI-based translation software to get a rough translation of the French and German works. While there are definitely pitfalls associated with such a move (these translators are sometimes inaccurate, although on the whole they do a good job of rendering long texts from European languages into English), it allowed me to access useful information much more easily, and I made sure to look closely at the original French and German for any quotations I leaned on in my thesis. I just had to work through the Arabic material on my own. To some extent, the lack of scholarly work on my topic had been an illusion— broadening my horizons to include non-English materials made my thesis much stronger. My other strategy was to look for more information about topics which had less-obvious connections to my text and look for parallels. Sometimes I would find these hidden in the footnotes of articles which discussed my topic, often they were recommended by a professor, and occasionally they were even readings I had done in previous Princeton coursework. For example, an article about a 13th-century Syriac Christian legal text from Iraq was very important to me because it showed me different ways to approach my own 18th-century Lebanese Christian legal text. 

When I read through older scholarship about my thesis topic, I got the sense that little had been written about this text because scholars had treated it dismissively, either claiming that it was just like every other legal text of its time or instead emphasizing one highly unusual aspect of the text while ignoring the rest. After looking at the text very closely for a number of months, I didn’t agree with either of these arguments, and so I decided to write about the text’s approach to older legal texts. I really enjoyed this process, in large part because I didn’t have to worry about the possibility that someone had already made the exact same argument. Choosing such an under-the-radar topic gave me great liberty to argue along whatever lines I liked best and to chart my own path of thinking.

What You Could Do

One of the amazing things about pursuing research as an undergraduate at Princeton is that you have the freedom to study just about anything. You can tackle the biggest questions in a field, or you can look at something that nobody has researched in-depth before. Some advantages that I found while looking at a more obscure source was that I was able to look at it from a bigger angle (as opposed to looking at a very particular aspect of some more prominent topic) and ask bigger questions. Not having to wade through tomes of previous scholarship was both a blessing and a curse, but I really enjoyed researching in these uncharted waters. If this sounds appealing to you, here are a few things to consider.

Finding a very niche topic could be difficult. If you do end up studying something like this, you’ll probably come upon it by accident. It is hard to find “undiscussed” subjects through a standard library search precisely because they don’t show up in the sources where you would normally look. If you do end up finding a very under-the-radar topic which excites your interests, you might also have a bit of a harder time finding an adviser, since your proposed topic might not align perfectly with any single professor’s field of expertise. In my case, I stuck with my JP adviser because of how much I had benefited from his advising while writing my JP, and was confident that he could help me tackle this topic. Once this hurdle is past, your adviser will be your greatest ally. No matter how obscure your research interests are, your adviser will be able to connect it to better-known areas of study and to suggest helpful strategies for tackling such a singular topic. Princeton has many resources to support seniors writing their theses which you can absolutely take advantage of. No matter how mainstream your topic is or isn’t, the thesis process can be a very rewarding experience and there are many people at Princeton here to help you succeed.

Shane Patrick, Humanities Correspondent

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Guide for writing a thesis.

Undergraduate research is a unique opportunity for students to explore important scientific questions. The thesis should reflect the thinking, experimentation and results of the exploration.  

It is recognized that each thesis is necessarily unique in content. Therefore, the final format should be agreed upon by the student and the thesis advisor. The following guidelines are recommended. A good thesis will generally consist of the following sections: Abstract, Introduction, Materials & Methods, Results, Discussion, and References.  

The Abstract is meant to serve as a succinct and accurate description of the thesis work that can be understood when separated from the rest of the thesis. In two pages or less, the student should describe the scientific problem (hypothesis or question) and its significance, the experiments that were done, the results, and the conclusions.  

The Introduction should review pertinent literature and provide background leading up to the problem that is addressed by the thesis work. The student should strive to emphasize the significance of the problem. Finally, a summary of the experimental strategy used to address the problem should be provided. The introduction for a good thesis is typically a minimum of five pages.  

The Materials & Methods should provide sufficient information so that the experiments described in the thesis can be repeated by others who are familiar with the methods. Techniques that are thoroughly described elsewhere in the literature should be briefly summarized and appropriately referenced. Techniques that are not well described elsewhere will require more detailed description.  

The Results should be a narrative describing both the experiments and the results that were done to address the scientific problem. The text should succinctly describe each experiment and note key results. The student should take care to state the logic for doing the first experiment and the logic that links one experiment to the next. The results of the experiments are included within this chapter and each figure or table should be accompanied by a legend. A good thesis will typically have a minimum of 5 data figures that lead to conclusive results. Note, that conclusive negative results can be just as significant as positive results and unexpected findings can be highly significant. However, the experiments must include controls that allow one to distinguish between a negative result and an inconclusive result. If a result is inconclusive, then there should be a discussion of why it was inconclusive and the type of work that could be done to further explore the question.  

The Discussion should begin with a brief summary of the experimental course that was taken to address the problem. Conclusions should be developed by integrating the results obtained by the student with results reported by other investigators. The strengths and weaknesses of the data should be discussed. Explanations for unexpected results or inconclusive experiments should be provided. The discussion for a good thesis will typically be a minimum of several pages.  

The References are compiled at the end. Appropriate citations are expected to occur throughout the thesis. Students should follow model citations and the final list of references after what is found in published papers.

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Undergraduate Thesis

Preparing for Thesis

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Thesis Writing Guides

Getting Started - Topic Selection

Check out our Thesis Finding Aid to see topics previous students have chosen. 

Brainstorm for ideas - what problem(s) might you address through design.

• choose a topic that will enable you to read and understand the literature
• ensure that the topic is manageable and that material is available
• make a list of keywords
• be flexible
• define your topic as a focused research question
• research and read more about your topic
• use your question to formulate a thesis statement

For more ideas check out our guide on How to Write an Academic Paper

Types of Architectural Research

There are many types of research in architecture but they all share the same goal to create new architectural knowledge. The books on this page provide more information on conducting research. Depending on your thesis topic you may choose to apply any research methods, but each thesis includes at a minimum the following:

• Literature Review - A summary and analysis of published sources on the thesis topic that brings the reader up to date with current thinking.
• Case Studies - Built projects relevant to the thesis topic which are analyzed for ideas and inspiration. Usually include images, data, drawings, and description and analysis of the project. 
• Physical model - A scale model physical representation of the design solution intended to demonstrate the space and communicate design ideas. 

Some other approaches include questionnaires, surveys, interviews, site analysis, demographics, digital models, materials research, performativity tests, consumer research, or financial viability. They are all valid. The type of research you do will be determined by your research question. 

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The Undergraduate Program

Writing a senior thesis.

History majors have the option of writing a senior thesis. This process involves original research, normally with extensive use of primary materials. The department encourages students with a strong interest in a particular historical subject to consider a thesis and strongly advises all students considering an academic career to write one. Many students find the senior thesis the most rewarding academic experience of their undergraduate career.

A Senior Thesis is written during the Fall and Spring semester (HIST UN3838/UN3839) of the same academic year.  A thesis written in a year-long seminar is required (but not sufficient) for a student to receive departmental honors.

Senior Thesis Seminar Pre-requisites

Students who intend to write a Senior Thesis must take a history seminar in which they develop a substantial research paper before their junior year ends.  During their junior year, students should decide on a thesis topic and begin their search for a Second Reader .  While students may begin research before their senior year, the department does not require students to conduct any thesis research prior to the thesis seminar.

Senior Thesis Seminar

The Senior Thesis Seminar is a year-long seminar that meets in multiple sections and is a course in general research skills and methodology.  It is not a course on a specific historical field or period, but is designed to support the research and writing of the senior thesis.  Once approved to join the senior thesis seminar students will be instructed by the department on the process of joining a section .  Throughout the thesis process, students may, in addition, consult with their Second Reader and other instructors who specialize in their topic of research.  Students interested in taking a Senior Thesis Seminar must submit an application to be admitted into the Senior Thesis.  

2024-2025 Thesis Seminar Application   DEADLINE:  Friday, March 1st, 2024 at 5:00 PM

Role of the Second Reader Info Sheet (second readers can be reached out to and chosen before the thesis term begins but must reported to the department early in the first term)

For more details about the thesis process, please see the Undergraduate Handbook

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Search the site, search suggestions, to thesis or not to thesis.

For many students at Harvard, whether or not to write a thesis is a question that comes up at least once during our four years.

For some concentrations, thesising is mandatory – you know when you declare that you will write a senior thesis, and this often factors into the decision-making process when it comes to declaring that field. For other concentrations, thesising is pretty rare – sometimes slightly discouraged by the department, depending on how well the subject lends itself to independent undergraduate research. 

In my concentration, Neuroscience on the Neurobiology track, thesising is absolutely optional. If you want to do research and writing a thesis is something that interests you, you can totally go for it, if you like research but just don’t want to write a super long paper detailing it, that’s cool too, and if you decide that neither is for you, there’s no pressure. 

Some Thesis Work From My Thesis That Wasn't Meant To Be

This is from back when I thought I was writing a thesis! Yay data! Claire Hoffman

While this is super nice from the perspective that it allows students to create the undergraduate experiences that work best for them, it can be really confusing if you’re someone like me who can struggle a little with the weight of such a (seemingly) huge decision. So for anyone pondering this question, or thinking they might be in the future, here’s Claire’s patented list of advice:

1.    If you really want to thesis, thesis.

If it’s going to be something you’re passionate about, do it! When it comes to spending that much time doing something, if you’re excited about it and feel like it’s something you really want to do, it will be a rewarding experience. Don’t feel discouraged, yes it will be tough, but you can absolutely do this!

2.    If you really don’t want to write one, don’t let anyone tell you you should.  This is more the camp I fell into myself. I had somehow ended up writing a junior thesis proposal, and suddenly found myself on track to thesis, something I hadn’t fully intended to do. I almost stuck with it, but it mostly would have been because I felt guilty leaving my lab after leading them on- and guilt will not write a thesis for you. I decided to drop at the beginning of senior year, and pandemic or no, it was definitely one of the best decisions I made.

3.    This is one of those times where what your friends are doing doesn’t matter. I’m also someone who can (sometimes) be susceptible to peer pressure. Originally, I was worried because so many of my friends were planning to write theses that I would feel left out if I did not also do it. This turned out to be unfounded because one, a bunch of my friends also dropped their theses (senior year in a global pandemic is hard ok?), and two, I realized that even if they were all writing them and loved it, their joy would not mean that I could not be happy NOT writing one. It just wasn’t how I wanted to spend my (limited) time as a senior! On the other hand, if none of your friends are planning to thesis but you really want to, don’t let that stop you. Speaking from experience, they’ll happily hang out with you while you work, and ply you with snacks and fun times during your breaks.

Overall, deciding to write a thesis can be an intensely personal choice. At the end of the day, you just have to do what’s right for you! And as we come up on thesis submission deadlines, good luck to all my amazing senior friends out there who are turning in theses right now.  

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Undergraduate Research - Online Theses and Capstone Projects Submission System: Home

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Spring 2024: LAS Honors Bachelor's Theses

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We are currently processing Bachelor’s theses for the  College of Liberal Arts & Sciences ONLY . If you are a student in another college, please use the process as outlined by your department.

For the Spring 2024 semester and prior, all undergraduate theses and capstone projects will be collected for processing and archival purposes only with access being granted only to the LAS Honors Program, your home department, and the University Library.

• Please review the LAS  Senior Thesis Submission Guide  for specific details including formatting guidelines.
• Don't forget to use the correct template.
• Complete the  Thesis Certification Form  with signatures from the “Instructor in Charge” and “Head of Department/Academic Unit” according to their senior thesis deadline. 
• Please review the  Guide to Online Theses and Capstone Projects Submission System  before submitting your Bachelor’s thesis to the  Illinois Theses and Capstone Projects Submission System .
• R egarding LAS Honor’s related questions, please contact LAS Honors at  [email protected]  or 217.333.1158. 
• With the Illinois Theses and Capstone Projects Submission System, please reach out to Merinda  Hensley at   [email protected] .

Except where otherwise indicated, original content in this guide is licensed under a   Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license . You are free to share, adopt, or adapt the materials. We encourage broad adoption of these materials for teaching and other professional development purposes, and invite you to customize them for your own needs. 

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Undergraduate Thesis Examples

This page contains examples of Undergraduate Theses from students who have graduated with research distinction in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

All undergraduate theses completed at The Ohio State University are stored at the  Knowledge Bank at OSU Libraries  and can be accessed via their  Search Interface .

2021 Graduates

Abigail aronica.

Building a New Galactic Synthesis Model to Aid in the Detection of Exoplanets Thesis Advisor: Dr. Scott Gaudi, Department of Astronomy

Devin Bennett

Comparison of the Chemical Evolution of Simulated Milky-Way Type Galaxies Thesis Advisor: Dr. Jennifer Johnson, Department of Astronomy

Collin Christy

Classifying Stellar Variability in the V and g bands with the All-Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae Thesis Advisor: Dr. Krzysztof Stanek, Department of Astronomy

Evan Fitzmaurice

Migration and Stability of Multi-Planet Circumbinary Systems Project Advisor: Dr. David Martin, Department of Astronomy Thesis Advisor: Dr. Scott Gaudi, Department of Astronomy

Jessica Kulp

Recreating the "Origins of the Elements" Planetarium Show and Curriculum Module Project Advisor: Dr. Wayne Schlingman, Department of Astronomy Thesis Advisor: Dr. Richard Pogge, Department of Astronomy

Analyzing Unusual Stars in Kepler Project Advisor: Dr. Mathieu Vrard, Center for Cosmology and Astro Particle Physics Thesis Advisor: Dr. Marc Pinsonneault, Department of Astronomy

Maria Pudoka

Inspecting Stellar Angular Momentum Evolution and Ages using High-Resolution Spectroscopy Thesis Advisor: Dr. Donald Terndrup, Department of Astronomy

Michael Rothman

Biosignature Detection in Exoplanetary Atmospheres Using Monte Carlo Simulations Thesis Advisor: Dr. Anil Pradhan and Dr. Sultana Nahar, Department of Astronomy

Robert Von Holle

Active Galactic Nuclei and the Correlated Properties of Neighboring Galaxies Thesis Advisor: Dr. Barbara Ryden, Department of Astronomy

2020 Graduates

Serena cronin.

The Local Environments of Low-Redshift Supernovae Project Advisor Dr. Dyas Utomo, Department of Astronomy Thesis Advisor: Dr. Adam Leroy, Department of Astronomy

Dhvanil Desai

Galaxy Alignment with Surrounding Large-Scale Structure Thesis Advisor: Dr. Barbara Ryden, Department of Astronomy

Conor Hayes

Spectroscopic Confirmation of Four Ultra Diffuse Galaxy Candidates Project Advisor: Dr. Johnny Greco, Center for Cosmology and Astro Particle Physics Thesis Advisor: Dr. Paul Martini, Department of Astronomy

Jared Kolecki

Measuring Elemental Abundances in Metal-Poor Stars Thesis Advisors: Dr. Ji Wang and Dr. Jennifer Johnson, Department of Astronomy

Sophie Lebowitz

The Dragonfly Galaxy III. An Imposter Radio Galaxy in the High Redshift Universe   Project Advisor: Dr. Bjorn Emonts, The National Radio Astronomy Observatory Thesis Advisor: Dr. Donald Terndrup, Department of Astronomy

Jeniveve Pearson

An Analysis of the Historically Observed Period Change of UV Piscium, RT Andromedae, and XY Ursae Majoris Using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo Approach Thesis Advisor: Dr. Donald Terndrup, Department of Astronomy

Gabriela Torrini

Studying angularly extended gamma-ray sources with VERITAS Project Advisor: David Kieda, University of Utah Thesis Advisor: Dr. Laura Lopez, Department of Astronomy

Jack Warfield

An Intermediate-Age α-Rich Galactic Population Beyond the Solar Neighborhood Thesis Advisors: Dr. Marc Pinsonneault and Dr. Jennifer Johnson, Department of Astronomy

2019 Graduates

Dominic flournoy.

Intrinsic Shape Alignment of Early versus Late Type Galaxies Thesis Advisor: Dr. Barbara Ryden, Department of Astronomy

Ness Mayker

HI Balmer Jump Temperatures for Extragalactic HII Regions in the CHAOS Galaxies Project Advisor: Dr. Danielle Berg, Department of Astronomy Thesis Advisor: Dr. Richard Pogge, Department of Astronomy

2018 Graduates

Macy huston.

Making Microlensing Predictions With a New Population Synthesis Galactic Model Project Advisor: Dr. Matthew Penny, Department of Astronomy Thesis Advisor: Dr. Scott Gaudi, Department of Astronomy

Michael Macuga

The Fraction of Active Galactic Nuclei in the USS 1558-003 Protocluster at z = 2.53 Thesis Advisor: Dr. Paul Martini, Department of Astronomy

2012-2017 Graduates

Lawrence capuder.

Contribution of Solar Mass Loss to the Solution the Faint Young Sun Paradox for Physically Motivated Mass Loss Prescriptions Thesis Advisors: Dr. Marc Pinsonneault & Dr. Scott Gaudi, Department of Astronomy

James Derrick

The Green Valley: Separating Galaxy Populations in Color-Magnitude Space Thesis Advisor: Dr. Barbara Ryden, Department of Astronomy

Andrew Gallagher

Searching for Dark Galaxies Via Their Distorted Companions in the SDSS Thesis Advisor: Dr. Barbara Ryden, Department of Astronomy

Zachary Hartman

Looking for the dM in sdB+dM Systems Thesis Advisor: Dr. Donald Terndrup, Department of Astronomy

Denise Hung

Metallicities and Temperatures for Two Metal-Rich and Two Metal-Poor Galaxies Project Advisor: Dr. Kevin Croxall, Department of Astronomy Thesis Advisor: Dr. Richard Pogge, Department of Astronomy

Circumbinary Planets via Microlensing Thesis Advisor: Dr. Scott Gaudi, Department of Astronomy

Mallory Molina

Inter-Percentile Velocity Width: An Alternative Parametrization of the Velocity Field of the Broad-Line Region Thesis Advisor: Dr. Bradley Peterson, Department of Astronomy

Elizabeth Otto

Chemical Abundances of CH Stars in Omega Centauri Thesis Advisor: Dr. Jennifer Johnson

Rachel Patton (Cannata)

Exploring Sources of Contamination in Kepler Surveys for Stellar Rotation Thesis Advisor: Dr. Donald Terndrup, Department of Astronomy

Joseph Shulze

Characterization of LP133-373: A Double-line, Eclipsing dMe Binary Thesis Advisor: Dr. Donald Terndrup, Department of Astronomy

Andrew Taylor

A Possible Evolutionary Channel for the Recently Discovered Class of Millisecond Pulsars in Long, Eccentric Orbits Thesis Advisor: Dr. Todd Thompson, Department of Astronomy

Erika Wagoner

Testing Stellar Models for M Dwarfs Project Advisor: Dr. Sarah Schmidt, Department of Astronomy Thesis Advisor: Dr. Jennifer Johnson, Department of Astronomy

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Senior Thesis & Undergraduate Research

Every year, approximately 45%-55% of senior History concentrators choose to cap their Harvard careers by writing a senior honors thesis.

The senior thesis tutorial is a two-semester sequence  comprising Hist 99a and Hist 99b . While the overwhelming majority of students who start a thesis choose to complete it, our process allows students to drop the thesis at the end of the fall semester after History 99a (in which case they are not eligible for departmental honors).

The senior thesis in History is a year-long project involving considerable primary- and secondary-source research and a good deal of writing; finished theses are expected to be between 60 and 130 pages in length , and to make an original contribution to historical knowledge.

The department’s senior thesis program is one of the strongest in Harvard College. In recent years, one quarter or more of our thesis writers have received  Hoopes Prizes , which is well over the College average.

History 99 Syllabus 2022–2023

History 99: Senior Thesis Writers’ Tutorial Wednesdays, 6–7 and 7-8 PM Robinson Conference Room

Click here to view the History 99 syllabus for this year.

A Sampling of Past History Thesis Titles

For a list of thesis titles from the past five years, please click here .

Senior Thesis Conference

The History Department's annual Senior Thesis Writer's Conference is an opportunity for thesis writers to present their projects as members of three-to-four person panels moderated by a faculty member or advanced graduate student, to an audience of other faculty and graduate students. Their aim is to get the critical and constructive feedback they need to clarify their arguments, refine their methods, and ultimately transform their research projects into theses.

Like our faculty, our student presenters are conscious of their reliance on other disciplines in almost every aspect of their work. This conference supplies opportunities to engage in cross-disciplinary dialogues. Audience members also learn from these dedicated and talented young scholars even as they teach them new ways of conceiving and pursuing their projects.

For more information about the conference or the Department's thesis program as a whole, please write to the  Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies in History, or visit the Senior Thesis Writers Conference and History 99a website. The  Conference is open to all active members of the Harvard community.

All seniors writing theses receive as part of the History 99a and 99b seminar materials a Timetable for Thesis Writers which lists approximate deadlines for staying current with work on this large-scale project. (For current copies of these documents, please click here .) Many thesis writers will submit work in advance of the deadlines listed on the timetable, following schedules worked out with their individual advisers. Several of the deadlines listed on the timetable must be met:

• Students who wish to enroll in History 99 must attend the first meeting of the seminar on Wednesday, September 5th at 6:00 pm in the Robinson Lower Library.
• By the beginning of the fall reading period, students must submit substantial proof of research to both their adviser and the 99 History instructors. This usually takes the form of a chapter or two of the thesis (20–30 pages).
• Theses are due to the History Undergraduate Office (Robinson 101) on Thursday, March 10, 2022  before 5:00 pm. Theses that are handed in late will be penalized.

Thesis Readings

Each History thesis is read by at least two impartial members of the Board of Tutors, assigned by the Department. The Board of Tutors consists of (1) all department faculty in residence and (2) all graduate students teaching History 97 and/or a Research Seminar, as well as those advising senior theses. If History is the secondary field of a joint concentration, there is only one History reader. Each reader assigns an evaluation to the thesis (highest honors, highest honors minus, high honors plus, high honors, high honors minus, honors plus, honors, or no distinction), and writes a report detailing the special strengths and weaknesses of the thesis.  Theses by students with a highest honors-level concentration GPA and one highest-level reading will automatically be assigned three readers. Additionally, a thesis by any student may be sent to a third reader when the first two evaluations are three or more distinctions apart (e.g., one high honors plus and one honors plus).

Department Standards for the Thesis Program

Seniors who wish to write a thesis must meet certain prerequisites:

• a ‘B+’ average in the concentration;
• a ‘B+’ average on a 20-page research seminar paper
• the recommendation of their Research Seminar tutor(s).

Students who do not meet the above standards may petition the  History Undergraduate Office for admission to the senior thesis; successful petitions must include a detailed thesis proposal, and will be evaluated at the discretion of the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies (Asst. DUS).

The Awarding of Departmental Honors in History

THE AWARDING OF DEPARTMENTAL HONORS IN HISTORY

 Nominations for departmental honors are made by the Board of Examiners at the degree meeting each spring.  In making its nominations, the Board first takes two elements into account:  the average of course grades in History and thesis readings.  All students who may be eligible for a recommendation of highest honors will then be given an oral examination by the Board of Examiners; performance on this exam will be considered in determining the final recommendation.  The standing of those students at the border of two different degrees may also be determined through an oral examination administered by the Board of Examiners.

To be considered eligible for highest honors in history, a student will ordinarily have a grade point average greater than or equal to 3.85 in courses taken for departmental credit, and have received at least two highest -level thesis readings.  In addition, the student must convince the Board of Examiners of their qualifications for the highest recommendation through their performance on the oral examination.  Whether any particular student falling into this numerical range receives highest honors in history will be determined in part by the performance on the oral examination. 

To be considered eligible for high honors in history, a student will ordinarily have a grade point average greater than or equal to 3.7, and will ordinarily have received two high -level readings on the thesis. 

To be considered eligible for honors in history, a student will ordinarily have a grade point average greater than or equal to 3.3, and will ordinarily have received two honors -level readings on the thesis. 

Please note that the Department recommends students’ English honors (highest, high, honors, no honors) and sends these recommendations to the College which determines students’ Latin honors based on total GPA.  Please visit:   https://handbook.fas.harvard.edu/book/requirements-honors-degrees    for more information on how the College awards Latin honors (summa cum laude, magna cum laude, cum laude, no honors).  In addition, you should consult with your Resident Dean.  Any degree candidate who does not receive the A.B. degree with honors in History will be considered by the FAS for the degree of cum laude.  

Departmental Support

Students who do decide to enter the thesis program benefit from a great deal of departmental support. The Department encourages its thesis writers to consider the possibility of devoting the summer prior to their senior year to thesis research, whether on campus or around the world. Each year a large number of rising seniors find funding for summer thesis research. The Undergraduate Office holds a meeting to advise students on how to write a successful fellowship proposal. In addition, we maintain a  listing of organizations that have supported concentrators’ thesis research.

The Department also supports its senior thesis writers through two semesters of a Senior Thesis Seminar, History 99a and 99b , which provide a useful framework for thesis writers as they work through the intermittent difficulties that all thesis students inevitably encounter. For many seniors, their thesis will turn out to be the best piece of writing done while at Harvard. It will also be the longest and most complicated. Consequently, the seminars will focus much attention on the unique challenges of writing an extended, multi-chapter work. History 99a and 99b also provide a common forum in which seniors can share with thesis-writing colleagues their feedback, successes, frustrations, interests, and techniques. This kind of collegiality and exchange of ideas is at the heart of the academic seminar, and it can be the most rewarding aspect of the seminar series.

Students must enroll in the Thesis Seminars in order to write a thesis by obtaining approval from the Asst. DUS  on their study cards.

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Undergraduate Theses

Eckerd College Library houses and preserves more than 1,400 undergraduate theses published since 1964, the year of Eckerd’s first graduating class. Thesis topics showcase the diversity of research that our students undertake under the guidance of Eckerd faculty.  Physical theses are housed in the Eckerd Library and can be viewed in person upon request.

• Find a Thesis

Senior Thesis Guidelines

Online Thesis Submission Form

Looking for a specific thesis or want to see the type of research performed by Eckerd students?  Search our Thesis Collection by name, thesis title, or topic.  Theses are available in print for in-library use at the Eckerd Library.  You can also search for theses by discipline by including the name of the discipline in your search, e.g. “marine science”.  Please ask a librarian if you need assistance finding theses by author or topic.

Search the Thesis Collection

Students are invited to submit an undergraduate thesis by their faculty advisors.  Each discipline may have varying instructions for submitting a thesis.  Here is an overview of the process as well as key deadlines for the final submission.

Junior Year

• Faculty invite students to submit thesis (spring)

Senior Year

• Oct 1st – Senior Thesis Contract due to Registrar’s Office  
• May 13, 2024 – Final thesis submitted online
• Thesis students may also attend various thesis workshops throughout the year

Once your thesis is received, the printed version will be bound and entered into the Eckerd College Library collection. Theses are cataloged in the library’s online catalog for discovery by other researchers. Physically bound theses are kept in closed stacks within the Library’s circulation area, and are made available for in-library use upon request.  Electronic copies are stored in our institutional repository, EC Scholar .

The Eckerd Library retains electronic copies of all undergraduate theses submitted to the College to ensure the long-term preservation of student research.  Once a thesis is submitted, it is stored in Eckerd’s Online Library Archive, and available only to administrative staff.

Please review the following checklist prior to submitting your thesis to ensure you have all the relevant information:

• All files uploaded must be in PDF format.
• Please make your filenames consistent with the following convention:  LastnameFirstname_year_TitleofThesis.pdf
• Include 3-4 keywords to describe the main focus of your thesis work
• Include the names of relevant collaborators as well as your thesis advisor
• Students should work with their Thesis Committee and relevant collaborators to agree upon the level of sharing that they would prefer for their thesis. See the Senior Thesis Guidelines tab for more information.

Once you are ready, submit your online thesis below:

Electronic theses will be housed in our institutional repository, EC Scholar .  For this reason, you will be asked to indicate your copyright and sharing preferences for your electronic thesis submission.  You are welcome to change your preferences at any time by contacting the Library.

Please see the following guidelines and checklists for information about the formatting, printing, and submission of your thesis.

THESIS CHECKLISTS & IMPORTANT LINKS

Please use the following checklists to verify that you have completed all the requirements for submitting your thesis. Failure to meet each requirement may result in the delay of your final thesis submission, approval for graduation, and/or extra printing costs.

• Pre-Submission Checklist (highly recommended) Basic checklist to ensure you have met the requirements for formatting and to estimate costs for printing and binding.
• Final Thesis Submission Checklist  (REQUIRED) Checklist to be used as the cover page to your final thesis package submitted to the Library. Please print this out, fill out the relevant details, and sign. This will let us know how many copies you need and where to send them.

Additional resources

• Sample  Title Page & Committee Report Template
• Thesis Workshop Slides (January 2023) Slides from our most recent thesis workshop, detailing procedures for submitting your thesis.
• Thesis Mailing List If you are submitting a thesis, make sure you are on the Senior Thesis Google Group/mailing list so that you will receive reminders, special announcements, and helpful hints.  All thesis students will automatically be added to this list after submitting their thesis contract.  You are welcome to opt out if you would prefer not to receive this helpful information.
• Select  Thesis Printing  for cotton/thesis paper (required for Library copy)
• Additional copies can be submitted as regular  Documents

PAPER SELECTION & FORMATTING

Paper Selection

The Library  requires and pays for one copy  to be bound and archived at Eckerd College. This copy must be printed double spaced, single OR double-sided, and with continuous printing on 8 ½ x 11”  100% cotton fiber paper  (aka ragabond or “thesis” paper, available at the Eckerd Copy Center (online only), office supply stores, or Amazon). The Eckerd Copy Center prints theses on cotton paper at $0.18 per page.  Final documents can be submitted online to the  Eckerd Copy Center .

Additional, bound copies may be requested at a cost of $20 each.  Additional copies can be printed on normal copy paper.

Margins should be 1 inch on all sides.

ELEMENTS OF A THESIS

Your thesis should be formatted using the following recommended sections. Your discipline or thesis advisor may have other requirements based on the citation style used in your discipline.   Please work with your thesis advisor to make sure you have all the elements expected from your discipline.

Preliminaries

TITLE PAGE Includes title of paper, name of student, degree earned, college name, and date of graduation. You can find a sample  Title Page and Committee Report  template here:  http://bit.ly/committeeReportTemplate

COMMITTEE REPORT Amend the sample committee report to include the faculty listed on your committee.  The Committee Report must be signed upon the successful completion of your thesis defense. You can find a sample  Title Page and Committee Report  template here:  http://bit.ly/committeeReportTemplate

A brief statement of the topic covered including its scope and purpose.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (Optional)

This acknowledges the assistance of people or institutions in the research for this paper. It may be included with the preface.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A listing of the major divisions of the paper, giving their titles and page numbers.

LIST OF TABLES (Where applicable)

This lists individual headings of any tables used, their numbers and page numbers.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS (Where applicable)

This gives titles of illustrations used in the paper, their reference numbers and page numbers.

BODY OF THE WORK

Pages should be consecutively numbered.

APPENDIX (Optional)

This is used for material not absolutely necessary to the body of the work, i.e., technical notes, long case histories, IRB approvals, etc.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

List of relevant sources used in writing the thesis. Students should use the style manual suggested by their collegium. The library has reference copies of the major style manuals (e.g. APA,MLA, Chicago styles).

GLOSSARY (Where applicable)

This is a list of unfamiliar words or technical terms with their explanation.

PRINTING YOUR THESIS - FAQS

1) Who is responsible for printing and binding my thesis?

Students are responsible for printing their entire thesis package, including any additional personal copies or copies required by your collegium.

The library pays to bind one copy of the thesis, printed on cotton or thesis paper.  The NAS Collegium binds an additional two (2) copies to be sent to the faculty advisor and archived in the NAS Collegium. Binding for any additional copies is paid for by students.

Students print out their thesis package and bring it to the Library to pay for binding. Binding occurs in June, with copies distributed in August.

2) How many copies of my thesis do I need to print?

Use the following formula to determine the number of copies to print:

1 Library Copy (on 100% cotton paper)  + ____  additional  copies  + (2 copies for NAS students – paid by collegium)

=  ______ TOTAL COPIES TO PRINT

3) How much will it cost to print and bind my thesis at the Eckerd Copy Center?

You can use the online submission form at the  Eckerd Copy Center  to estimate costs by choosing the ‘Thesis Printing’ or ‘Document’ options. One copy must be printed on cotton thesis paper. Once you have estimated the cost, make sure you have sufficient funds in your Papercut account to pay for printing.  NOTE: costs may vary for single-sided versus double-sided printing (either is acceptable), B/W versus color, or if regular or cotton paper is selected.

Printing costs : Estimated printing costs from  copycenter.eckerd.edu  = $_______

Binding costs:  The Library will bind one (1) copy of your thesis (+2 NAS copies).  Additional  copies are provided at $20 per copy. Binding costs are paid at the Library when you submit your package (credit card only).

_____ no.  additional  copies X $20 = $______ BINDING FEE

$_____ TOTAL COST TO PRINT (from above) + $______ BINDING FEE (from above)

= ______  TOTAL ESTIMATED COST OF PRINTING AND BINDING

4) How do I print my thesis?

To print your thesis, submit your document to the  Eckerd Copy Center (online)  by uploading a PDF of your COMPLETE thesis document, including the  signed  Committee Report, Appendices, and IRB approvals (if applicable, included as appendices).  The Copy Center will take funds from your Papercut account. You can add additional funds at  https://papercut.eckerd.edu  > select  Add Credit  on the left.

Once submitted, the Copy Center will email you a receipt, and notify you once your job is complete and ready for pickup at the ITS window adjacent to the Armacost Computer Lab. Jobs are completed within 24-48 hours, and available to pickup from the ITS window during normal business hours.

You may also print your thesis yourself, but please provide one copy on 100% cotton paper for the Library copy.

SUBMITTING YOUR THESIS

Your final thesis package must be submitted in-person at the Armacost Library, and online via the Thesis Submission Form.  The printed thesis package is sent out for binding while the electronic thesis document is for archival purposes.

Before submitting your thesis, do one final check.   Verify that ALL printed copies of your thesis are free from errors and include all elements required.  The Library is not responsible for any errors that may result from printing as only you can verify the quality of your thesis.

Once your thesis package is complete, fill out a  Final Thesis Submission Checklist  to be used as the cover page to your package.  Bring your thesis package to the Library and pay any binding fees for additional copies. A credit card is required to pay for binding.

Online Submission.   Finally, submit a PDF version of your thesis including the scanned, signed Committee Report and any IRB approvals (if applicable) via the Online Thesis Submission Form at  http://bit.ly/thesisSubmission .

COPYRIGHT PERMISSIONS & YOUR THESIS

COPYRIGHT OWNERSHIP

A thesis is a tangible form of intellectual property that is protected by U.S. Copyright Law. Therefore, Eckerd College requests the following pertaining to the creation and submission of theses for publication:

Students and their research partners (if applicable)  shall retain the copyright of their original thesis . Researchers are asked to respect copyright policy for any copyrighted excerpts, charts, tables, or images used within their thesis.

ECKERD COLLEGE’S ELECTRONIC ARCHIVE OF UNDERGRADUATE THESES

The Eckerd College Library maintains an electronic archive of undergraduate theses published at Eckerd College (EC) for the purposes of long term preservation. This archive is permanent. By adding your thesis to the archive, you have given permission for it to be discoverable via the Library catalog. At this time, theses are not available in full text online but the Library may choose to make theses fully searchable online at some point in the future. Your copyright protects you against the unauthorized use of your work. Therefore, you will be asked your sharing preferences in the event that this collection is more widely shared. With the rights you have with your copyright, there are also responsibilities.

Please review the following sharing options for your thesis and determine which you feel most comfortable with. You will be asked your preferences upon submission of your electronic thesis.  Students should work with their Thesis Committee and relevant collaborators to agree upon the level of sharing that they would prefer for their thesis.   You may change your sharing settings at any point by letting the library know your preferences.

• I agree to make my thesis available to the Eckerd College Community and to the larger community of scholars upon its deposit into the digital archive or successor technology. My thesis will be available in print in the EC Library or on Interlibrary Loan.
• I agree to make my thesis available ONLY to the Eckerd College Community upon its deposit into the EC Scholar institutional repository, or successor technology. My thesis will be available in print in the EC Library.
• I agree to make my thesis available in print in the EC Library, and in an electronic copy to be deposited for preservation purposes only. The electronic copy will not be made available to any users.

If you have any questions about the sharing options above, please contact the library prior to submitting your thesis package.

ADDITIONAL ETHICAL & LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS RELATED TO YOUR THESIS

The use of copyrighted materials within your thesis

If your thesis includes images that are not your original work, you must include permissions from the provider of the original content or the images will not be included in the EC digital archive. If your thesis includes videos, data sets, or other accompanying material that is not your original work, the same copyright stipulations apply. If your work includes interviews, a statement that you have the permission from the interviewees to make their interviews public must be included. For information about obtaining permissions and sample forms, see  https://copyright.columbia.edu/

Notice of Approval to Use Human Subjects By the Eckerd College Institutional Research Board (IRB)

If your research includes human subjects, you must include a letter of approval from the Eckerd College IRB in your Appendix. For more information, see:  http://www.eckerd.edu/irb/

Notice of Submitted Work as Potentially Constituting an Educational Record Under FERPA:

According to FERPA (20 U.S.C. 1232g), a thesis may constitute an educational record. Upon submitting your thesis, you acknowledge this fact and consent to the use of this work according to the terms of this agreement.

To ensure that all theses submitted are compliant with these ethical and legal considerations, you will be asked to check a box to confirm your consistency  upon submitting your electronic thesis .

Your discipline librarian is available if you need support with  research, research organization, and citing sources.  For general questions about the thesis submission process, please contact us at [email protected] .  

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Journalism and communication menu, journalism and communication, five tips for tackling the undergraduate thesis.

By Becky Hoag and Meg Rodgers

Theses aren’t just for graduate students. Many UO School of Journalism and Communication undergrads write theses for the SOJC Honors Program , for Clark’s Honors College or just to gain research experience. Any of them can tell you that thesis-writing takes a lot of work and can be quite daunting.

Wondering how you would even get started on it?

SOJC media studies alum Meg Rodgers ’18 totally understands how you feel. But she made it happen! She spent her senior year writing an undergrad thesis for the Honors College about TV anti-heroines that was selected for the 2018 UO Undergraduate Research Symposium .

Here are a few lessons she learned along the way:

1. Make use of your thesis advisor.

If you don’t have one assigned to you, find one and make that connection as soon as you can.

“They are the experts in their field, and you are learning how to become an expert,” Rodgers said.

She said her advisor, Assistant Professor Erin Hanna, helped her break down her project into doable steps and approach the research process in a smart manner.

2. Dive into the research.

Collect as much knowledge as you can. Even if some of the sources don’t end up in your final reference list, they will all help develop your overall understanding of the topic.

Rodgers found that about one-third of her process was research, one-third was writing and one-third was editing. It might be surprising and a bit nerve-wracking not to write anything down for the first part of the thesis process, but that’s normal. If you start writing too soon, you might find yourself making more assumptions about what you will find, rather than writing about what you actually found.

3. Start citing sources early.

You’ll thank yourself later. Programs like Mendeley or Zotero can help with this. Make sure you know what citation style to use.

4. Break down your thesis into workable sections.

Looking at the whole thing at once can be overwhelming. What are the individual points you want to cover in your paper? Make a list and start checking them off one at a time.

5. Mentally prepare yourself for lots of editing.

Try not to take it personally when your paper gets torn apart. It just means that it’s getting better. Trust the process and be grateful for feedback.

You can do it! And all the work’s definitely worth it. Rodgers found the thesis-writing process helped her learn about her strengths and weaknesses as a researcher and what work environments are best for her. Sometimes the more challenging endeavors can be the most rewarding too.

Becky Hoag is a senior double-majoring in journalism and environmental science (with a marine focus). This is her second year writing for the SOJC Communication Office. This past summer, she worked as an intern at the  KQED science  desk in San Francisco, producing content for the new program about climate change, “ This Moment on Earth .” She is also a science writer for The Daily Emerald and the student-run environmental magazine Envision Magazine , and a web designer/researcher for marine conservation outreach organization Ocean Everblue . She wants to become an environmental/scientific journalist. You can view her work at  beckyhoag.com .

Welcome to the Undergraduate Thesis & Capstone Online Submission System

We are currently processing undergraduate theses for the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences ONLY . If you are a student in another department, please use the process as outlined by your department for 2024.

Please review the LAS Senior Thesis Submission Guide for specific details including formatting guidelines. Complete the Thesis Certification Form with signatures from the “Instructor in Charge” and “Head of Department Academic Unit” according to their senior thesis deadline.

Please review the   Guide to Online Theses and Capstone Projects Submission System before submitting your Bachelor’s thesis to the Illinois Theses and Capstone Projects Submission System.

If you have additional questions or need help with the Illinois Theses and Capstone Projects Submission System, please reach out to [email protected]. Regarding LAS Honor’s related questions, please contact LAS Honors at [email protected] or 217.333.1158. For the Spring 2024 semester and prior, all undergraduate theses and capstone projects will be collected for processing and archival purposes only with access being granted only to the LAS Honors Program, your home department, and the University Library.

To get started with your submission, click the link below. You will be asked to authenticate using your NetID:

Start your submission

Your help can make things better

You feedback is very important to us; it allows us to continue to improve the system. Please feel free to notify us directly at [email protected] if you have any suggestions to increase the usability or effectiveness of this application. You can also contact us if you any issues arise during the submission process.

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23 catalog results, online 1. a predictive model of human transcriptional activators and repressors [2023].

• Liongson, Ivan (Author)
• May 4, 2023

Online 2. A Representative Role for the Alternative Splicing of Synaptic Genes [2023]

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Online 3. Building a B Cell Differentiation Model for X-Linked Agammaglobulinemia Using Pluripotent Stem Cells [2023]

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• May 5, 2023

Online 4. Dissecting the Parasympathetic Neural Circuits of the Heart [2023]

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Online 7. Identifying Endocrine Bases of Parental Neglect and Infanticide in the Mimic Poison Frog [2023]

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Online 9. Internalization of anti-GD2 antibodies as a key component of the antibody-induced cell death mechanism in pediatric neuroblastoma [2023]

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Online 10. Investigating impacts of heat stress on symbiosis in cnidarian larvae using high-throughput fluorescence-based quantification [2023]

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Online 11. Mechanisms of Ferroptosis Evasion Promoted by Extracellular Metabolites [2023]

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Online 12. Morphological Analysis of Axo-Axonic Cell Variability [2023]

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Online 17. Stuck in the Matrix- Patch Matrix Dynamics in Florida Scrub [2023]

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Online 18. The Junctional Epithelium Organoid: A Novel System for Periodontitis Research [2023]

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Online 20. We Are What We Eat: The Impact of Agricultural Intensity on the Microbiome of Honeybee Guts [2023]

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• May 17, 2023

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Undergraduate Research Theses and Honors Research Theses

Instructions for students  |  Instructions for Honors Program Directors

The Ohio State University develops and supports an environment that promotes the intellectual and personal development of high-ability undergraduate students. Undergraduate students submit their  research theses and honors research theses  to the Knowledge Bank. If you have questions or problems with the procedures below, please send a message to  [email protected] .

  Instructions for students:

• MANDATORY:   Login (Auto-Register)  with the Knowledge Bank
• MANDATORY:  Fill out  authorization  form
• MANDATORY:   Convert thesis to PDF
• Delay of Dissemination  process , and  policy and request form  information
• Submitting an item to the Knowledge Bank

Delay of Dissemination (embargo)  policy and request form . (If you would like to delay dissemination of your thesis in the Knowledge Bank, you must request an embargo from the Honors and Scholars Center. Policy information and the request form can also be found at the  Honors and Scholars Center ).

Whether or not you request a delay, you must complete steps 1-5 to electronically submit your thesis. You will have an opportunity in the submission process to  alert the Libraries  that your thesis PDF should not be made available in the Knowledge Bank immediately. Though the file(s) attached to an item record will be inaccessible while embargoed, the record itself will be publicly visible.

You can do steps 1 and 2 any time during the semester that you intend to submit your thesis to the Knowledge Bank.

1. Login to the Knowledge Bank to auto-register.

• Go to:  https://kb.osu.edu
• Click on the "Login" dropdown.
• Click on the "Login with Shibboleth" button.
• Sign in with your OSU account (lastname.# and password)
• OR if your OSU login is already in effect in your browser, you will be logged in automatically.
• Once logged in, click on the Profile icon dropdown and select "MyKB" to be taken to your Submissions page.

NOTE: You will not be able to select a collection to submit to until you are authorized to submit to the appropriate collection (see step 2 below).

2. Fill out the web form below and click on [Submit] to inform the Knowledge Bank staff that you have registered. They will authorize you to submit your thesis to the appropriate collection. Knowledge Bank staff will send you an e-mail when you have been authorized. If you have not heard back from Knowledge Bank staff within two business days, please email  [email protected] .

Once authorized, when you start a new submission after logging in you will see the name of your selected collection in the pop-up window dropdown. Before you are authorized this collection will not be available.

Note: This form will not automatically authorize you.  The Knowledge Bank staff will receive your request via this form and they will authorize you.

3. Convert your thesis to  PDF  format. (Microsoft Word documents will not be accepted.)

Note:  Please  do not use spaces or special characters in your PDF filename.  Spaces and special characters — such as [ , ] , ( , ) , ! , é , and ü — can prevent access to your thesis via the web once it is in the Knowledge Bank. Examples of properly named PDFs include: thesis.pdf, your_name_thesis.pdf, honors_thesis.pdf, HonorsThesis.pdf, myThesis_20080602.pdf. Also, please remember that the filename of your thesis  will be visible  to the general public.

4. Submit your thesis to the Knowledge Bank.

• Go to  https://kb.osu.edu
• Click on "Login".
• After logging in, hover over the plus sign at the top of the left-hand menu. Click "New" and select "Item" from the dropdown list.
• In the new pop-up window, click on the name of the desired collection listed below the search box. Note: you will not be able to select a collection until you are authorized to submit ( step 2  above).
• Follow the steps of the submission form.

NOTE:  During the submission process, you will be asked whether or not you requested an embargo (or delayed dissemination) for your thesis and for how long. You must request an embargo through the Honors and Scholars Center. Policy information and the request form are available online from the  Knowledge Bank  or the  Honors and Scholars Center .

Note:  As a repository for digital assets, OSU's Knowledge Bank acts as a permanent archive. All items submitted remain as is at the time of submission, just as books once published remain in the form in which they were printed.  PDF files once placed in the Knowledge Bank will not be modified.

Problems? Email us at  [email protected] .

5. Your work is done but it may take the Knowledge Bank staff 1 to 2 business days to add your thesis to the Knowledge Bank. The system will send an email to you when it has been added informing you of the web address of your thesis. If you have requested an embargo, you will still receive an email with the link to your thesis item record, but the file(s) attached to your item will not be available until after the embargo period. Items in the Knowledge Bank are indexed by Google but it may take two weeks before you will be able to find it in Google.

  Instructions for Honors Program Directors:

1. Near the beginning of every semester, send an email to your students with a link to the instructions above:  http://go.osu.edu/kb-honors-instructions . (Near the beginning of every semester, you will receive an email from the Honors & Scholars Center with a link to this page of instructions. This should prompt you to forward the email to your students that will be submitting a thesis that semester.)

2. Subscribe to your collection to get an email alert when a student's thesis has been added to the Knowledge Bank. You only have to follow the procedures below once. If you continue to be the Honors Program Director for your college, you will automatically receive email alerts every semester. If you would like to be notified by email when a student's thesis has been added to the Knowledge Bank follow the procedures below:

• Navigate to the desired collection home page and click the red bell icon at the top right. 
• In the pop-up window, select your preferred schedule for receiving email updates, then click "Submit." You should now be subscribed.
• To view your current subscriptions, click on the Profile icon dropdown and select "Subscriptions."

If you ever step down from being a Honors Program Director and do not wish to receive the email alerts any longer, you may unsubscribe from your collection:

• Click on the Profile icon dropdown and select "Subscriptions."
• Find the collection you wish to unsubscribe from, and click the red trash can icon to delete it from your list.

Link to this page: http://go.osu.edu/kb-research-and-honors-theses-instructions

While Sandel argues that pursuing perfection through genetic engineering would decrease our sense of humility, he claims that the sense of solidarity we would lose is also important.

This thesis summarizes several points in Sandel’s argument, but it does not make a claim about how we should understand his argument. A reader who read Sandel’s argument would not also need to read an essay based on this descriptive thesis.  

Broad thesis (arguable, but difficult to support with evidence) 

Michael Sandel’s arguments about genetic engineering do not take into consideration all the relevant issues.

This is an arguable claim because it would be possible to argue against it by saying that Michael Sandel’s arguments do take all of the relevant issues into consideration. But the claim is too broad. Because the thesis does not specify which “issues” it is focused on—or why it matters if they are considered—readers won’t know what the rest of the essay will argue, and the writer won’t know what to focus on. If there is a particular issue that Sandel does not address, then a more specific version of the thesis would include that issue—hand an explanation of why it is important.  

Arguable thesis with analytical claim 

While Sandel argues persuasively that our instinct to “remake” (54) ourselves into something ever more perfect is a problem, his belief that we can always draw a line between what is medically necessary and what makes us simply “better than well” (51) is less convincing.

This is an arguable analytical claim. To argue for this claim, the essay writer will need to show how evidence from the article itself points to this interpretation. It’s also a reasonable scope for a thesis because it can be supported with evidence available in the text and is neither too broad nor too narrow.  

Arguable thesis with normative claim 

Given Sandel’s argument against genetic enhancement, we should not allow parents to decide on using Human Growth Hormone for their children.

This thesis tells us what we should do about a particular issue discussed in Sandel’s article, but it does not tell us how we should understand Sandel’s argument.  

Questions to ask about your thesis 

• Is the thesis truly arguable? Does it speak to a genuine dilemma in the source, or would most readers automatically agree with it?  
• Is the thesis too obvious? Again, would most or all readers agree with it without needing to see your argument?  
• Is the thesis complex enough to require a whole essay's worth of argument?  
• Is the thesis supportable with evidence from the text rather than with generalizations or outside research?  
• Would anyone want to read a paper in which this thesis was developed? That is, can you explain what this paper is adding to our understanding of a problem, question, or topic?
• picture_as_pdf Thesis

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These students either “joint-majored”, “double/second-majored” or did a second degree in STS, along with a science/engineering field.

AKERA, ATSUSHI “A Social Technology: Ethnography of a Computer Terminal Room” June 1986 (Charlie Weiner, thesis advisor)

ARDHASSERIL, ROSHAN “Nuclear State: Pakistan, Domestic and International” June 2013 (Theodore Postol, thesis advisor)

BARRETT, BERTRAND H. “Theory and Design of an Educational Computing Environment” June 1985 (J.C.R. Licklider, thesis advisor)

BECERRA, JUANA C. “Herman Feshbach: What it Meant to be a Physicist in the Twentieth Century” June 2015 (David Kaiser, thesis advisor)

BELAND, CHRISTOPHER D. “Digital Technology and Copyright Law” February 2002 (David I. Kaiser, thesis advisor)

BESPOLKA, CARL G. “Green Energy Policy in the Federal Republic of Germany” May 1983 (Michael Geisler, thesis advisor)

BEST, WALDO T. “Subjective Confidence in Technology” May 1988 (Thomas Sheridan, thesis advisor) [double S.B. degrees in Humanities and Engineering]

BROWN, DAVID J. “A Framework for Analyzing Residential Electricity Consumption” May 1983 (Ted Greenwood, thesis advisor)

BRYAN, ERIC FAIN “Financing Invention” May 1988 (Robert Rines, thesis advisor)

BYFIELD, LAINI “Modern Medicine vs. Traditional Medicine” June 1999 (Joe Dumit and Hugh Gusterson, thesis advisors)

COWAN, THOMAS “Network Control in a Globalized World: How Visa and Swift’s Founding Structures Serve Their Stakeholders on the International Stage” June 2017 (William Deringer, thesis advisor)

CUNNINGHAM, KEVIN “Contemporary Computer Software and the Writing Process” February 1984 (James Paradis, thesis tutor)

DUBRANSKY, JULIAN “The politicization of science during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States” June 2021 (John Durant, thesis advisor)

FRANCO, KATHERINE A. “The Idealists and the Pragmatists. A Comparative History of Free Software and Open Source Software” May 2005 (Rosalind Williams, thesis advisor)

GARFINKEL, SIMSON L. “The Context of Funding in the Sociological Research of Paul F. Lazarsfeld” June 1987 (Peter Buck, thesis tutor) [Simson graduated in 1987 with 3 separate S.B. degrees in Chemistry, Political Science, and Humanities]

GILLESPIE, JAMES JUDSON “Going Nowhere: Pittsburg’s Attempt to Build a Subway, 1910-1935” 1990 (Robert Fogelson, thesis advisor)

GLAVIN, MITCHELL “School Attendance for Children with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome: An Example of AIDS Policy” June 1987 (Harvey Sapolsky, thesis advisor)

GLENHABER, MEHITABEL “‘Space Became Their Highway’: The L-5 Society and the closing of the Final Frontier” June 2019 (William Deringer, thesis advisor)

GORDON, EDWARD A. “The Impact of Internet Content Regulation on the Freedom of Expression Around the World” June 1999 (David Mindell, thesis advisor)

HANSON, ELIZABETH A. “Scientific Motherhood: American Childrearing, 1890-1915” June 1984 (Merritt Roe Smith, thesis advisor)

HE, YIRAN “Breakout: How Materials Start-Ups Separate from and Stay Connected to Academic Spaces” May 2020 (William Deringer, thesis advisor)

HEIM, STEVEN F. “Sustaining Vermont: Cooperatives in Vermont’s Economic Development” February 1997 (Deborah Fitzgerald and Alice Amsden, thesis advisors)

HONG, HYEONSIL June 1990 [S.B. in Humanities and Engineering]

HORO, UZUKI “Can MIT Tolerate Its Self-criticism? – a Case of David Noble” May 2023 ( John Durant and Robin Scheffler, thesis advisors)

HUANG, TERESA “Between the Real and the Virtual: Development of Complex Relationships and Communities in the Age of the Internet” June 1997 (Sherry Turkle, thesis advisor)

JONES, BRIANNA “Defining ‘Good Science’ in Today’s World: A Video Compilation of Perspectives and Advice for Incoming Graduate Students” June 2015 (Rosalind Williams, thesis advisor)

KEEGAN, BRIAN “Defending New Jerusalem: The Foundation and Transformation of MIT’s Program in Science, Technology, and Society” June 2006 (Rosalind Williams, thesis advisor)

LEE, JENNIFER JUNG-WUK “Engineering a Sanitary Environment: William Thompson Sedgwick and Public Health Work, 1884-1921” May 1994 (Evelynn Hammonds, thesis advisor)

LYNCH, ALISON June 1990 [S.B. in Humanities and Science]

MANOLIU, MIHAI “Synthesis and Transformation: Moving Beyond Doomsday” June 1984 (John R. Ross, thesis advisor)

MARTIN, MARISSA L. “Defining a New Science: Lessons from a Brief History of the Brain Sciences at MIT” May 2000 (Joe Dumit, thesis advisor)

McBATH, BRUCE COURTNEY 1981 [S.B. in Humanities and Science]

NICHOLLS, GINA-MONIQUE R. “The Offensive and Defensive Politics of Deploying Theater Ballistic Missile Defenses in East Asia” June 2000 (Theodore Postol, thesis advisor)

PRATHER, DARCY 1991 [double B.S. degrees in Humanities and Engineering]

RAHL, GARY M. “The Auditorium and the Space Station: The Death of the American Myth” June 1989 (Leon Trilling, thesis advisor)

REUSS, RONALD “Computer-Aided Reading” June 1986 (David Clark, thesis supervisor) [double B.S. degrees in Humanities and Engineering]

REZA, FAISAL “Human Cloning: Science, Ethics, Policy, Society” February 2003 (Hugh Gusterson, thesis advisor) [double S.B. degrees in Humanities and Science]

SAWICKI, ANDRES “The Paradox Theory in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: From Research to Marketing” January 2003 (Joseph Dumit, thesis advisor) [double S.B. degrees in Humanities and Science]

SAYLOR, MICHAEL “A Machiavellian Interpretation of Political Dynamics” June 1987 (John Sterman, thesis advisor) [double S.B. degrees in Humanities and Engineering]

SHAH, SAMEER “Perception of Risk: Disaster Scenarios at Brookhaven” June 2003 (Hugh Gusterson, thesis advisor) [double S.B. degrees in Humanities and Science]

SHAH, VAIBHAVI “The Politics and Perceptibility of Breath During The COVID-19 Pandemic” February 2021 (Robin Scheffler, thesis advisor)

SHARIFI, JAMSHIED 40-minute original music composition in lieu of thesis May 1983 [S.B. in Humanities and Engineering]

SHAWCROSS, PAUL J. “The American Civil Space Program: Preparing for the Next Twenty-Five Years” February 1988 (Kosta Tsipis, thesis advisor)[double major in STS and Aero/Astro]

SKLAR, BRANDON “The Philosophical Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics” June 1982

SOLORZANO, RAMON “An Appropriate Technology: Movement Towards a Value-Laden Approach to Technology” September 1984 (Larry Bucciarelli, thesis advisor)

STICKGOLD-SARAH, JESSIE “Form and Usage: The Evolving Identity of the Computerized Medical Record” February 1997 (Deborah Fitzgerald, thesis advisor)

THOMPSON, ELIZABETH “Artificial Skin: Its Path to Adoption” February 1986 (John Sterman, thesis advisor)

WEIGEL, ANNALISA May 1995 [double major in STS and Aero/Astro]

WIENER, MATTHEW CHARLES “Attitudes Towards Computers in the Soviet Union, 1970-1986: An examination of popular-science writing” May 1987 (Paul Josephson, thesis advisor) [double S.B. in Humanities and Science]

XU, SHEILA ZHI “The Emergence of a Deaf Economy” June 2014 (Rosalind Williams, thesis advisor)

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Program Code: MA_237B CIP Code:  45.0701

Program of Study for the Master of Arts in Geography (Non-Thesis Options)

Admission Requirements: Baccalaureate degree* from an accredited college or university; complete application to the Graduate School   ; cover letter (not to exceed two pages) stating reasons why applicant wishes to enter the program.

*Students entering the graduate program without a baccalaureate degree in geography are required to make up deficiencies in the areas of physical geography, human geography, and geographic techniques in consultation with the graduate committee.

To be considered for admission, applicants must meet the criteria for admission to the Graduate School   . Meeting these criteria does not guarantee admission.

Location: Boone Campus

Accelerated Master’s Program

This program offers an Accelerated Master’s     option for undergraduate students with a 3.2 or higher currently enrolled at Appalachian State University.

Course Requirements for the Master of Arts in Geography (Non-Thesis Option)

Total required (minimum 36 hours), required courses (6 hours).

• GHY 5000 - Research Themes in Geography (3)
• GHY 5800 - Advanced Quantitative Methods in Geography (3)

Concentration Requirements (30 Hours)

• 24 to 27 hours of interdisciplinary graduate electives

*The Internship will not be initiated until the degree Program of Study has been approved. The student will complete a research project dealing with the internship experience and an oral defense of the project in lieu of a thesis.

• GHY 5858 - Directed Research (3) [CL]
• PLN 5858 - Directed Research (3) [CL]
• GHY 5900 - Internship in Geography (3-12) *

Other Requirements for the MA in Geography (Non-thesis)

• Thesis: Not required
• Proficiency: Not required
• Candidacy: Not required
• Comprehensive: Required
• Product of Learning: Not required

Outstanding Senior Spotlight: Jared Ura

• by College of Engineering Communications
• June 07, 2024

Jared Ura was inspired to major in materials science and engineering at the University of California, Davis, by his grandfather, who was also an engineer.   

“He sparked my interest in chemistry and physics at a young age, and I was always in awe of how he understood the world around him at a fundamental level,” Ura said. “He taught me how to dig deeper and understand topics in full, which continues to guide me in researching the structures and properties of novel materials at the smallest of scales.”  

At UC Davis, Ura was among the five founding members of the Davis Undergraduate Engineering Network , which focuses on fostering interdisciplinary collaboration among engineers at UC Davis. Through the club, Ura found lifelong connections and hopes that incoming engineering students will also find community with the legacy he is leaving behind.   

As Ura looks ahead to his Ph.D. program at the University of California, Irvine, he also looks fondly at the people who helped him achieve his academic goals. He appreciates Susan Gentry , associate professor of teaching in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, for her dedication to her students and for teaching him marketable skills like machine learning for materials informatics.   

He also appreciates Erika La Plante , assistant professor of materials science and engineering. He never took any of her classes, but he joined her research group last fall to research the precipitation of magnesium-based cement, and her mentorship, Ura says, has been pivotal in his decision to pursue a graduate degree.   

“Professor La Plante has provided me with the tools and opportunities to realize my potential as an independent researcher. I'm beyond grateful that she took a chance on me as her first undergraduate researcher at UC Davis.”  

While Ura encourages new students to take advantage of UC Davis’ ample resources, apply for leadership positions in campus organizations and say “yes” to as much as possible, he emphasizes the value of taking the time to be present as well.     

“Your undergraduate years go by so much faster than you may think,” he said. “You're currently making the college memories that you'll look back on, so take the time to hang out with friends, watch the sunset and eat good food.”  

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• Dissertation

How to Write a Dissertation | A Guide to Structure & Content

A dissertation or thesis is a long piece of academic writing based on original research, submitted as part of an undergraduate or postgraduate degree.

The structure of a dissertation depends on your field, but it is usually divided into at least four or five chapters (including an introduction and conclusion chapter).

The most common dissertation structure in the sciences and social sciences includes:

• An introduction to your topic
• A literature review that surveys relevant sources
• An explanation of your methodology
• An overview of the results of your research
• A discussion of the results and their implications
• A conclusion that shows what your research has contributed

Dissertations in the humanities are often structured more like a long essay , building an argument by analysing primary and secondary sources . Instead of the standard structure outlined here, you might organise your chapters around different themes or case studies.

Other important elements of the dissertation include the title page , abstract , and reference list . If in doubt about how your dissertation should be structured, always check your department’s guidelines and consult with your supervisor.

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Table of contents

Acknowledgements, table of contents, list of figures and tables, list of abbreviations, introduction, literature review / theoretical framework, methodology, reference list.

The very first page of your document contains your dissertation’s title, your name, department, institution, degree program, and submission date. Sometimes it also includes your student number, your supervisor’s name, and the university’s logo. Many programs have strict requirements for formatting the dissertation title page .

The title page is often used as cover when printing and binding your dissertation .

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The acknowledgements section is usually optional, and gives space for you to thank everyone who helped you in writing your dissertation. This might include your supervisors, participants in your research, and friends or family who supported you.

The abstract is a short summary of your dissertation, usually about 150-300 words long. You should write it at the very end, when you’ve completed the rest of the dissertation. In the abstract, make sure to:

• State the main topic and aims of your research
• Describe the methods you used
• Summarise the main results
• State your conclusions

Although the abstract is very short, it’s the first part (and sometimes the only part) of your dissertation that people will read, so it’s important that you get it right. If you’re struggling to write a strong abstract, read our guide on how to write an abstract .

In the table of contents, list all of your chapters and subheadings and their page numbers. The dissertation contents page gives the reader an overview of your structure and helps easily navigate the document.

All parts of your dissertation should be included in the table of contents, including the appendices. You can generate a table of contents automatically in Word.

If you have used a lot of tables and figures in your dissertation, you should itemise them in a numbered list . You can automatically generate this list using the Insert Caption feature in Word.

If you have used a lot of abbreviations in your dissertation, you can include them in an alphabetised list of abbreviations so that the reader can easily look up their meanings.

If you have used a lot of highly specialised terms that will not be familiar to your reader, it might be a good idea to include a glossary . List the terms alphabetically and explain each term with a brief description or definition.

In the introduction, you set up your dissertation’s topic, purpose, and relevance, and tell the reader what to expect in the rest of the dissertation. The introduction should:

• Establish your research topic , giving necessary background information to contextualise your work
• Narrow down the focus and define the scope of the research
• Discuss the state of existing research on the topic, showing your work’s relevance to a broader problem or debate
• Clearly state your objectives and research questions , and indicate how you will answer them
• Give an overview of your dissertation’s structure

Everything in the introduction should be clear, engaging, and relevant to your research. By the end, the reader should understand the what , why and how of your research. Not sure how? Read our guide on how to write a dissertation introduction .

Before you start on your research, you should have conducted a literature review to gain a thorough understanding of the academic work that already exists on your topic. This means:

• Collecting sources (e.g. books and journal articles) and selecting the most relevant ones
• Critically evaluating and analysing each source
• Drawing connections between them (e.g. themes, patterns, conflicts, gaps) to make an overall point

In the dissertation literature review chapter or section, you shouldn’t just summarise existing studies, but develop a coherent structure and argument that leads to a clear basis or justification for your own research. For example, it might aim to show how your research:

• Addresses a gap in the literature
• Takes a new theoretical or methodological approach to the topic
• Proposes a solution to an unresolved problem
• Advances a theoretical debate
• Builds on and strengthens existing knowledge with new data

The literature review often becomes the basis for a theoretical framework , in which you define and analyse the key theories, concepts and models that frame your research. In this section you can answer descriptive research questions about the relationship between concepts or variables.

The methodology chapter or section describes how you conducted your research, allowing your reader to assess its validity. You should generally include:

• The overall approach and type of research (e.g. qualitative, quantitative, experimental, ethnographic)
• Your methods of collecting data (e.g. interviews, surveys, archives)
• Details of where, when, and with whom the research took place
• Your methods of analysing data (e.g. statistical analysis, discourse analysis)
• Tools and materials you used (e.g. computer programs, lab equipment)
• A discussion of any obstacles you faced in conducting the research and how you overcame them
• An evaluation or justification of your methods

Your aim in the methodology is to accurately report what you did, as well as convincing the reader that this was the best approach to answering your research questions or objectives.

Next, you report the results of your research . You can structure this section around sub-questions, hypotheses, or topics. Only report results that are relevant to your objectives and research questions. In some disciplines, the results section is strictly separated from the discussion, while in others the two are combined.

For example, for qualitative methods like in-depth interviews, the presentation of the data will often be woven together with discussion and analysis, while in quantitative and experimental research, the results should be presented separately before you discuss their meaning. If you’re unsure, consult with your supervisor and look at sample dissertations to find out the best structure for your research.

In the results section it can often be helpful to include tables, graphs and charts. Think carefully about how best to present your data, and don’t include tables or figures that just repeat what you have written  –  they should provide extra information or usefully visualise the results in a way that adds value to your text.

Full versions of your data (such as interview transcripts) can be included as an appendix .

The discussion  is where you explore the meaning and implications of your results in relation to your research questions. Here you should interpret the results in detail, discussing whether they met your expectations and how well they fit with the framework that you built in earlier chapters. If any of the results were unexpected, offer explanations for why this might be. It’s a good idea to consider alternative interpretations of your data and discuss any limitations that might have influenced the results.

The discussion should reference other scholarly work to show how your results fit with existing knowledge. You can also make recommendations for future research or practical action.

The dissertation conclusion should concisely answer the main research question, leaving the reader with a clear understanding of your central argument. Wrap up your dissertation with a final reflection on what you did and how you did it. The conclusion often also includes recommendations for research or practice.

In this section, it’s important to show how your findings contribute to knowledge in the field and why your research matters. What have you added to what was already known?

You must include full details of all sources that you have cited in a reference list (sometimes also called a works cited list or bibliography). It’s important to follow a consistent reference style . Each style has strict and specific requirements for how to format your sources in the reference list.

The most common styles used in UK universities are Harvard referencing and Vancouver referencing . Your department will often specify which referencing style you should use – for example, psychology students tend to use APA style , humanities students often use MHRA , and law students always use OSCOLA . M ake sure to check the requirements, and ask your supervisor if you’re unsure.

To save time creating the reference list and make sure your citations are correctly and consistently formatted, you can use our free APA Citation Generator .

Your dissertation itself should contain only essential information that directly contributes to answering your research question. Documents you have used that do not fit into the main body of your dissertation (such as interview transcripts, survey questions or tables with full figures) can be added as appendices .

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Student Highlight: Afiya Rahman awarded 2024 Alwaleed Bin Talal Undergraduate Thesis Prize in Islamic Studies 

• Publication date June 5, 2024

After reviewing many excellent submissions, the Selection Committee has chosen  Afiya Rahman  ’24 (Social Studies and South Asian Studies)as the winner of the 2024 Alwaleed Bin Talal Undergraduate Thesis Prize in Islamic Studies for her thesis entitled, “ We Are Children of Genocide: Charting Transnational Solidarity and Racial Politics in the Bangladeshi Diaspora .”

Afiya conducts an impressive and original historical and ethnographic study of Bengali Muslim and Black communities in London and New York. She reflects on the ways in which the Bangladeshi diaspora aligned its protest against police violence with that of Black communities in the aftermath of the murder of 20-year-old Syed Arif Faisal by police in Cambridge, MA in January 2023. Afiya explores how historical tensions within Bangladeshi identity intersect with the socioeconomic and racial landscape of Western nations, how transnational connections and the geographies of empire factor into that identity, and how these configurations lead to political consciousness and mobilization.

https://islamicstudies.harvard.edu/news/2024-alwaleed-bin-talal-undergraduate-thesis-prize-announcement