Senior Project and Thesis

Doing a senior project or thesis is required for the class of 2015 and beyond.

It's up to you. In order to do an honors thesis, you must be on the dean's list twice. Otherwise, your final project could be a seminar paper or a write up of an important internship, or major project you've done for another class. Whether you do a senior project or a thesis, you can point to it as something your wide-ranging study as an ILVS major allowed you to accomplish. Future employers or graduate schools will be interested in it.

With an idea, question, or project that interests you enough to pursue it independently for a considerable length of time.

The process should begin when you're a sophomore, as you begin to discover your passion. During your junior year, you should gravitate toward a general topic. By the beginning of senior year, you should have done some preparation for the project. Throughout your senior year, you'll be spending a lot of time developing your idea into something presentable.

Try not to take more than three or four courses a semester if you're in the midst of a senior project or thesis.

Yes. For the project, you'll be signing up for an independent study: ILVS 0193 or ILVS0194 depending on the semester. For a thesis, you'll be signing up for ILVS 198. List your primary advisor's name.

For thesis writers, you also need to fill out an honors thesis form and turn it in to Dowling Hall by November 15.

Ideally, this will be someone who shares your interests, and is someone you already know from prior coursework. When you approach someone to be your advisor, have a brief proposal of your project in mind so you can make the pitch effectively. Please review the list of ILVS advisors.

One for a project. Two (or more) for a thesis. You will meet frequently with your main advisor, less frequently with your other advisors. If you're doing something that brings disparate fields together, it's good to have different advisors who know something about this or that area.

Ideally, yes. But not necessarily.

For some it is a challenge, especially if you declared your major late and went abroad your junior year. This is why it's important to try to get to know your professors well, beginning freshman year if possible.

Preferably.

Yes.

Projects are shorter than theses, say 20 pages or so. A thesis should be about three chapters long (or 45-60 double-spaced pages). A few have been much longer, and a few have been much shorter. Quality matters more than quantity, but quantity often builds quality.

This varies a great deal. Some write essays, some make movies, some write stories, some create photo essays, some do translations.

Yes. Write something that introduces and analyzes the piece.

Yes. Write something that frames the piece.

Yes, but you need to add something, such as an essay that introduces or analyzes what you've done.

Sophomore Year

• Begin to develop an idea for your thesis or project

Junior Year

• Start to narrow your topic
• Take courses that will help you gain a better understanding of your topic
• Talk with potential advisors. This can be done by email if you are abroad

Summer before Senior Year

• Begin to formulate a few questions you'd like to pursue
• Consider being a summer scholar

Senior Year

• Have a principle advisor by the first week of the fall semester. Have a secondary reader by the end of September
• Come up with an outline by October
• Continue reading, taking notes, and start writing, fall semester
• Finish a draft of one chapter by December
• Finish second chapter over winter break
• Finish rough draft of entire thesis by Spring Break
• Revise and submit your draft two weeks before finals begin
• YOU set up a time for your defense, which usually happens during reading period spring semester
• Defend your thesis during reading period or finals period, spring semester
• Rewrite immediately after defense
• Submit final hard copies to advisors and one digital copy to library.

Yes. The application process should start the summer before your senior year.

Depends on the field, but most programs will want to see what you can do. Many graduate programs ask you to submit a sample of your work.

For projects, your advisor will give you a grade. For a thesis, you'll get a grade for two semester of course work, plus a designation for the thesis itself: no honors, honors, high honors, or highest honors. This all gets decided at your defense. Highest honors and no honors are rare.

You'll be asked to give a 10-minute summary of what you've done. Readers will then ask questions. You'll leave the room, and they'll deliberate. You'll get called back into the room, and they'll tell you how you did. Usually, there's a celebration.

Yes, plus your thesis honors designation will be announced at commencement (along with Latin honors—cum laude, magna cum laude, summa cum laude—and any other prizes you win).

Yes, the Summer Scholars program will pay you to work on your thesis. Funds are also available through the undergraduate research fund. Contact Dean Carmen Lowe for possible funding.

Yes. There is a workshop you have to attend in order to do this kind of research. If you're going to be doing interviews, surveys, testing on human subjects, and so forth, you need to be trained. It's the law.

A project or thesis will allow you to bring your wide-ranging study of different cultures, languages, literatures, films, and visual arts to a satisfying conclusion. It will also help you get into the habit of pursuing your own ideas in a creative fashion—a skill that will help you tremendously in your life after Tufts. Finally, it will leave you with something you can point to as a tangible result of your four years of undergraduate education.