english senior thesis topics

Best Senior Thesis Topics

Table of contents

• 0.1 Key Points:
• 1 The Importance Of A Good Senior Thesis Topics
• 2.1 1. Identify your interests and passions
• 2.2 2. Consider the scope and feasibility of the topic
• 2.3 3. Seek guidance from your professors and advisors
• 3 Good Senior Thesis Topics
• 4 Senior Thesis Topics For High School And College Students
• 5 Psychology Senior Thesis Ideas
• 6 English Literature Senior Thesis Topics
• 7 Graphic Design Senior Thesis Ideas
• 8 Political Science Senior Thesis Topics
• 9 History Senior Thesis Ideas
• 10 Criminal Justice Senior Thesis Ideas
• 11 Conclusion

Senior thesis topics are research projects students undertake in their final year of undergraduate studies or graduate programs. These senior thesis topics allow students to demonstrate their expertise in academic writing.

School senior thesis topics can cover a wide range of disciplines. This spans science and humanities to social sciences and engineering. All of these allow students to explore their academic interests in depth and make valuable contributions to their respective fields against any grade stereotypes or even gender stereotypes.

With a thousand ideas, it may be hard to nail a good topic. This article covers a series of college and high school senior thesis topics for different subjects.

Key Points:

• School senior thesis topics allow students to dig deep into a specific study area within their chosen field.
• A strong senior thesis topic can potentially make a valuable impact on the academic community and shape future research in the field.

The Importance Of A Good Senior Thesis Topics

Well-selected senior thesis topics capture the interest of the student and hold significance in their field of study. This is important for the following reasons.

Firstly, well-chosen school senior thesis topics provide students with an opportunity to explore a specific area of study. This fosters a sense of ownership and engagement with the research process. These personal investment projects enhance motivation and dedication, resulting in a higher quality of work. However, not every student had the luxury of time. In case you have a question like, who can write my thesis , there are professional platforms that can render such a service. With 24/7 customer support and experienced writers, for you to write a thesis becomes so easy.

Secondly, good high school senior thesis topics enable students to make original contributions to their field by conducting research, analyzing data, and generating new insights. This can lead to advancements in knowledge and potential solutions to existing problems.

Lastly, a strong senior thesis topic demonstrates students’ ability to think critically and develop analytical skills. It requires formulating search questions, designing methods, and interpreting complex data. These processes cultivate intellectual maturity, problem-solving abilities, and effective communication skills.

Tips On How To Select The Best Senior Thesis Topic?

Selecting the best high school senior thesis topic requires a thoughtful and systematic approach. With numerous options available, it is important to consider the topic selection process carefully. Nonetheless, you can buy thesis paper pieces online if you cannot spare that much time for the steps involved, with professors available to help. Listed below are some tips to help you choose the best senior thesis topics.

1. Identify your interests and passions

Choose topics in the subjects that excite you and the areas of study that keep you on your toes. This will keep you energetic throughout the search process and increase the worth of your work.

2. Consider the scope and feasibility of the topic

Ensure that the topic is manageable within the given timeframe and aligns with the resources and expertise available to you. It is essential to strike a balance between a topic that is challenging enough to showcase your abilities and one that is realistic and achievable.

3. Seek guidance from your professors and advisors

They possess valuable expertise and can provide insights into potential research areas or suggest topics based on your academic strengths. They can also provide ideas on how to write a thesis for research paper pieces – a crucial aspect of research writing. Engage in discussions with them to receive feedback and better understand the viability and relevance of your topic ideas.

Good Senior Thesis Topics

The right thesis topic showcases a student’s expertise and passion and sets the stage for a quality research experience.

However, the steps of choosing a senior thesis topic can be overwhelming. Below is a curated list of topic ideas for your next project.

• The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Job Automation: Analyzing the Effect on Employment Trends.
• Accessing the Effects of Plastics in the Evolution of Marine Ecology
• A Closer Look at the Relationship Between Social Media Usage and Mental Health Outcomes.
• Exploring the Thin Line Between Genetic Engineering and Moral Ethics
• A Case Study on the Impact of Climate Change on Ecological Biodiversity
• Analyzing the Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives on Consumer Behavior and Brand Perception.
• Exploring the Intersection of Gender and Leadership: A Comparative Study of Leadership Styles and Organizational Performance.
• Investigating the Psychological Effects of Virtual Reality: Examining its Potential in Therapy and Mental Health Treatment.
• Assessing the Impacts of Global Warming Policies on Energy Transition: Case Studies from Different Countries.
• Exploring the Representation of Race and Identity in Contemporary Literature: Comparative Analysis of Works by Diverse Authors.

Senior Thesis Topics For High School And College Students

When it comes to selecting senior thesis topics, both high school and college students are faced with a challenge. This challenge is finding a subject that aligns with academic interests and demonstrates their research abilities.

An important point to remember is to seek help from your professors. They provide valuable advice on questions like – how to finish my thesis and strategic planning to craft a good one if you feel unsure. Listed are some popular topics for both college and high school senior thesis.

• The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health: An Analysis of the Relationship between Social Media Usage and Psychological Well-being in Society.
• Renewable Energy Solutions: Assessing the Feasibility and Environmental Benefits of Implementing Solar Energy Systems in a Local Community.
• Cultural Differences in Perception of Beauty: Examining how cultural norms shape the perception of beauty and body image ideals.
• The Effects of Climate Change on Biodiversity: Investigating the Relationship between Global Warming and Species Extinction Rates.
• Gender Equality in the Workplace: Analyzing the Factors Affecting the Gender Pay Gap
• Cybersecurity and Data Privacy: Assessing the Best Practices for Protecting Personal and Organizational Data in the Digital Age.
• The Influence of Music on Emotion and Memory: Investigating the Cognitive and Psychological Effects of Music and Its Potential Therapeutic Applications.
• Evaluating the Effectiveness of Sports Injuries Prevention Programs among Professional Athletes
• Sustainable Agriculture Practices: Analyzing the Environmental, Economic, and Social Benefits of Organic Farming
• Urbanization and Urban Planning: Evaluating the Impacts of Rapid Urban Growth on Infrastructure, Transportation, and Quality of Life in Urban Society.

Psychology Senior Thesis Ideas

When selecting  psychology senior thesis topics and how to write them, the choices can be vast and exciting. This list explores some topics to help most students generate compelling senior thesis best topics.

• The Impact of Childhood Trauma on Adult Mental Health: Physiological Responses Study
• Examining the Effects of Mindfulness-Based Interventions on Social Anxiety Disorder and Stress in College Students
• The Relationship Between Social Media Use and Romantic Relationships in Adolescents
• Investigating the Role of Parenting Styles in the Development of Emotional Intelligence in Children
• Exploring the Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Cognitive Functioning and Executive Functioning
• The Influence of Personality Traits on Career Choice and Self Esteem
• Understanding the Psychology of Eating Disorders and Self-Esteem in Young Adults
• Investigating the Impact of Social Support Therapy on Depression Treatment and Anxiety Reduction
• The Relationship Between Sleep Quality and Cardiovascular Dysfunction in Children
• Examining the Effects of Exercise on Eating Disorders and Anxiety Symptoms in Individuals with Major Depression

English Literature Senior Thesis Topics

With a vast landscape of works in literature and critical theories to explore, finding the perfect English literature senior thesis topics can be exciting and challenging. Students can draw inspiration for writing from the following listed English literature senior thesis topics:

• Exploring gender roles in Shakespeare’s Tragedies: The Differences of Women like Ophelia, Lady Macbeth, and Desdemona.
• The Influence of Colonialism in Postcolonial Literature: A Study of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.
• Shakespearean Tragedy in Modern Context: A Comparative Study of Hamlet and Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
• An Analysis of Gothic Elements in the Books of Mary Shelley and Edgar Allan Poe.
• The Illustration of Mother Nature in Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth’s Poetry.
• Politics and Religion in Literature Periods
• The Portrayal of Social Class, Civil Rights and Inequality in Women from Jane Austen’s Novels.
• Social Critique and Satire in the Novels of Charles Dickens
• A Comparative Study of Gender and Sexuality in the Works of Virginia Woolf
• The Influence of Colonialism and Imperialism on Heart of Darkness and Wide Sargasso Sea.

Graphic Design Senior Thesis Ideas

Writing a senior thesis in graphic design can be interesting as it offers students an opportunity to showcase their creative prowess. Some topics to refine for creative folks in this field are:

• Designing Dynamic Interactions in the Digital World for the Human Mind.
• Visual Storytelling: Examining the Role of Graphic Design in Narrative Communication
• The Intersection of Graphic Design and Social Justice: Using Design as a Catalyst for Promoting Positive Social Impact.
• Sustainable Design Practices in Graphic Design: Exploring Eco-Friendly Approaches and Materials.
• The Evolution of Branding in the Digital Age: Analyzing the Shift from Traditional to Digital Branding Strategies.
• Graphic Design for User Experience: Investigating the Creation and Impact of Visual Design on User Engagement and Satisfaction.
• Visualizing Data: Exploring Innovative Techniques for Information Design and Data Visualization.
• Exploring Cultural Identity through Graphic Design: Examining the Representation of Identity and Diversity in Visual Communication.
• The Power of Color in Graphic Design: Investigating the Psychological and Emotional Effects of Color in Visual Communication.
• Designing for Accessibility: Examining Inclusive Design Principles and Practices in Graphic Design.

Political Science Senior Thesis Topics

Science senior thesis topics offer a chance to demonstrate your research writing skills and critical thinking abilities. The thesis topics you choose will shape your writing and research journey and ultimately determine the success of your thesis.

Therefore, getting all the help you need can help you generate interesting political science senior thesis topics. So, some interesting political science senior thesis topics to look into include:

• Analysis of European Union Protests and the Use of Social Media in Political Mobilization.
• Investigating how Gender Quotas Affect the Political Representation of Women in Parliamentary Systems.
• The Influence of Political Campaigns on Voter Behavior: A Case Study of a Recent National Election.
• Assessing the connection between governance stability and disparities in wealth in modern society.
• Analysis of Right- and Left-Wing Populist Leaders’ Political Rhetoric Use in Populist Movements.
• Evaluating how well international human rights treaties work to encourage adherence to human rights.
• An analysis of non-governmental organizations’ (NGOs) influence on environmental policy in modern society.
• Public Trust in Politics and National Scandals: A Comparative Analysis of Previous Cases.
• Exploring the Rise of Authoritarianism in Democracies: Factors and Challenges.
• Investigating the Influence of Media Ownership and Control on Media Bias in Political Reporting.

History Senior Thesis Ideas

History is a vast field with countless potential topics to explore for writing. This makes the selection process both exciting and daunting.

However, with careful consideration and planning process, researchers can write and find the perfect history senior thesis topics. Some history senior thesis topics that showcase history students’ analytical skills and intellectual prowess are:

• The Impact of the Industrial Revolution on Modern Society and Culture in the Renaissance Era
• Breaking Gender Limitations: The Contribution of Women to the Equal Rights Campaign
• The Causes and Consequences of the Cold War: A Comparison of the USA and the USSR
• Evaluating the Causes and Effects of the French Revolution
• The African-American Experience during the Reconstruction Era: Progress and Challenges
• The Role of Propaganda in World War II Development: Analysis of Nazi and Allied Strategies
• The Rise and Fall of Colonialism: Examining the Impact of European Powers on Africa
• The Origins and Development of Ancient Greece Culture
• The Great Depression: A Case Study on its Effects on the Society.
• The Impact of Rational Concepts on the American Revolution and the Rise of the US.

Criminal Justice Senior Thesis Ideas

Criminal justice senior thesis topics should address significant issues within the field. This gives students the chance to contribute to understanding the challenges and improvement of the criminal justice system. Listed are some senior thesis topics to consider:

• The Impact of Body-Worn Cameras on Police Accountability and Public Trust
• The Effectiveness of Restorative Justice Practices in Reducing Recidivism Rates
• A Look at the Correlation between Mental Health and Criminal Behavior
• Exploring the Impact of Race and Ethnicity in the Law Enforcement System’s Sentencing Inequalities
• Analyzing the Effectiveness of Drug Courts in Keeping Substance Abuse Offenders Out of the Regular Law Enforcement System
• The Use of Risk Assessment Tools in Sentencing and Parole Decision-Making
• Investigating the Factors Influencing False Confessions and Their Implications for the Criminal Justice System
• Evaluation of the Impact of Capital Punishment on Criminal Activity Suppression and Community Response.
• Investigating the Links Between Halt and Search and Racism in Policing
• Rates of Juvenile Delinquency and Relapse and the Effectiveness of Rehab Initiatives

Senior thesis topics chosen with careful deliberation allow students to demonstrate their prowess in academic research. It is an opportunity for students to make original contributions to their fields, advance knowledge, and potentially impact the broader academic community.

The selection of good senior thesis topics for writing should be based on personal interest, feasibility, and relevance. This ensures a meaningful and successful research project. Good luck!

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College of Arts & Sciences

Thesis Topics

You are invited to pursue any topic that falls under the English department’s purview, and the Honors Committee will assume that you will pursue it with scholarly rigor, intellectual seriousness, and artistic integrity. You should follow your own interests and commitments in defining your project, though you should avail yourself of the advice of those faculty members whose expertise will help you focus your ideas and give them depth. Again, we welcome critical, creative, interdisciplinary, mixed genre, and hybrid creative/critical projects. Most successful applicants have derived their projects from interests developed during their time as English majors at Georgetown. During the actual writing of the thesis, of course, you will work closely with a faculty mentor.

Here is a partial list of the kinds of literary and interdisciplinary topics that Honors students have pursued over the past few years:

• Polyphony in the novels of Cormac McCarthy
• Women in post-Stonewall gay male literature
• Madness and skepticism in Hamlet and Don Quixote
• Dialogism in Toni Morrison and Christa Woolf
• The Booker Prize as post-colonial phenomenon
• Jazz in the Harlem Renaissance
• The scientific revolution and 18th-century narratives
• Irvine Welsh and dialect writing
• Sound and structure in scripts
• Identity and memory in Maxine Hong Kingston
• Influence of the internet on writing
• The written legacy of oral narratives in Amerindian culture
• Medieval women troubadours
• African-American women writers and their Biblical heritage
• Adult-child discourse in real-life conversation and classic children’s literature
• The role of bible-making in the works of Blake, Wordsworth, and Hardy
• Morality plays in the Middle Ages and the twentieth century

In addition, Honors students have written short story collections, memoirs, and collections of poetry. Students have also written hybrid creative/critical projects, such as a critique of postcolonial memoir within a postcolonial memoir. Those students who propose creative projects should have developed their skills through taking courses with the Georgetown English Department creative writing faculty or through participation in campus and professional journals and other creative venues.

101+ Fascinating Senior Thesis Topics

As you approach the final leg of your academic journey, the senior thesis becomes a significant milestone that can set the stage for your future endeavors. Choosing the right topic is crucial, as it should reflect your passion, interests, and intellectual curiosity. To help you embark on this exciting academic adventure, we’ve compiled a list of 101+ senior thesis topics across various fields that are not only captivating but also provide ample room for exploration and critical thinking.

101+ Senior Thesis Topics

Humanities and social sciences.

• The Impact of Literature on Social Change
• Analyzing the Role of Religion in Contemporary Politics
• Gender and Identity in Modern Cinema
• Environmental Ethics: Balancing Nature and Progress
• The Influence of Social Media on Human Behavior
• Cultural Appropriation in the Fashion Industry
• The History and Evolution of Hip-Hop Music
• The Psychology of Online Dating
• Exploring the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare
• The Philosophy of Happiness: Can It Be Measured?

Science and Technology

• Quantum Computing: A Revolution in Information Processing
• Gene Editing and Its Ethical Implications
• Artificial Intelligence in Predictive Medicine
• Climate Change Mitigation Strategies
• Renewable Energy Sources: Future Possibilities
• Robotics and Automation in Industry 4.0
• Cybersecurity: Protecting Digital Frontiers
• The Mysteries of Dark Matter and Dark Energy
• The Impact of 3D Printing on Manufacturing
• The Science Behind Space Travel: Preparing for Mars

Business and Economics

• The Psychology of Consumer Behavior
• Cryptocurrency and Its Role in the Global Economy
• Sustainable Business Practices: Balancing Profit and Planet
• Entrepreneurship in the Digital Age
• Impact of Globalization on Local Economies
• Corporate Social Responsibility: Beyond Profits
• The Economics of Healthcare: Universal vs. Private Systems
• Financial Markets and Behavioral Biases
• E-commerce Trends and Future Projections
• Supply Chain Resilience in the Post-Pandemic Era

Politics and International Relations

• Geopolitical Conflicts in the 21st Century
• United Nations: Effectiveness and Reform
• Climate Diplomacy: International Agreements and Disparities
• The Role of Soft Power in Global Politics
• Populism and Its Impact on Democracy
• Humanitarian Interventions: Ethics and Outcomes
• Nationalism vs. Globalism: A Contemporary Debate
• Cyber Warfare: Threats and Responses
• The Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Historical Analysis
• The Future of European Integration

Arts and Creativity

• Evolution of Modern Art Movements
• Music as a Form of Cultural Expression
• Costume Design in Theater and Film
• The Impact of Digital Tools on Contemporary Art
• Creative Writing: Exploring Fiction Genres
• The Intersection of Science and Art
• Architecture and Sustainability
• Visual Storytelling in Graphic Novels
• Cultural Significance of Folklore and Mythology
• The Art of Culinary Innovation

Health and Medicine

• Mental Health Stigma: Breaking the Silence
• Precision Medicine: Tailoring Treatments for Individuals
• Healthcare Disparities and Access
• Emerging Infectious Diseases: Preparedness and Response
• Aging and Longevity: Medical and Social Perspectives
• Nutrition and Its Impact on Chronic Diseases
• Vaccine Hesitancy: Causes and Solutions
• Telemedicine: The Future of Healthcare Delivery
• Stem Cell Therapy: Promise and Controversy
• Global Health Challenges: Lessons from the Pandemic

Education and Psychology

• The Impact of Early Childhood Education on Cognitive Development
• Inclusive Education: Bridging the Gap for Special Needs Students
• The Psychology of Learning Styles
• Motivation and Achievement in Adolescents
• Digital Learning Environments: Benefits and Drawbacks
• Teacher Burnout and Strategies for Prevention
• Bullying in Schools: Understanding and Prevention
• Educational Policy and Its Effects on Student Outcomes
• Multilingual Education: Advantages and Challenges
• Homeschooling: Trends and Impacts

History and Archaeology

• Ancient Civilizations: Uncovering Lost Worlds
• World War II: Analyzing the Global Impact
• The History of Slavery and Its Legacy
• Women’s Suffrage Movement: A Century of Progress
• Decolonization: Shaping Modern Nations
• Indigenous Cultures: Preservation and Revival
• Medieval Europe: Myth and Reality
• Cold War Conflicts: Ideological Struggles
• Archaeological Discoveries in the 21st Century
• The Evolution of Human Society: From Hunter-Gatherers to Urbanization

Environmental Science and Sustainability

• Biodiversity Conservation in Urban Environments
• Ocean Acidification: Threats to Marine Life
• Sustainable Agriculture: Feeding a Growing Population
• Plastic Pollution: Finding Alternatives
• Deforestation and Its Consequences
• Green Building Technologies: A Sustainable Future
• Water Scarcity: A Global Challenge
• Indigenous Land Rights and Environmental Protection
• Renewable Energy Policy and Implementation
• The Impact of Climate Change on Wildlife Migration

Law and Justice

• Criminal Justice Reform: Balancing Punishment and Rehabilitation
• Cybersecurity Laws and Digital Privacy Rights
• Intellectual Property Rights in the Digital Age
• Racial Profiling: Addressing Bias in Policing
• Immigration Policies and Human Rights
• Environmental Law : Protecting Nature’s Rights
• The Death Penalty: A Contemporary Debate
• Restorative Justice: Healing Communities
• International Human Rights Tribunals: Effectiveness and Challenges
• Legal Ethics in the Age of Technology

Media and Communication

• Media Bias and Its Impact on Public Opinion
• Investigative Journalism in the Digital Age
• The Influence of Reality Television on Society
• The Evolution of Social Media Platforms
• Propaganda in the Information Age: Recognizing and Countering Misinformation

Selecting a senior thesis topic is a pivotal decision that can shape your academic journey and set the stage for your future career. These 105 senior thesis topics span a wide range of disciplines and offer exciting opportunities for research, exploration, and critical thinking. Whether you’re passionate about the humanities, sciences, business, or any other field, there’s a topic here to pique your interest and inspire your academic pursuits. Remember that the key to a successful senior thesis is not only the topic but also your dedication, curiosity, and willingness to explore new horizons. Good luck on your academic adventure!

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60 Best Senior Thesis Topics To Write On

After completing your high school or college, you finally sense a sight of victory at the end. However, one more hurdle remains for you to conquer – a senior thesis paper. It will determine whether you graduate or not.

Many students struggle when it comes to selecting proper senior thesis topics. You receive pressure from your professors and supervisor to present a professional topic.

If you still feel unsure about what topic to use for your senior thesis, our expert writers have you in mind. You will find the right idea and motivation to get you started with your thesis from the list below.

Are you ready to finish your course in style? Then scroll down for professionally handpicked senior thesis topics.

High School Senior Thesis Topics

• The role of the school administration in curbing bullying
• Pros and cons of giving students homework in high school
• What is the effectiveness of online learning for students in high school?
• The impact of policing in schools and the role of student participation
• How effective are group work assignments essential for students in high school?
• Does the teacher’s competency relate to his/her academic qualifications?

Political Science Senior Thesis Topics

• How third world countries are adapting to the emerging issues in political democracy
• The impact of the 2020 US presidential elections on world peace
• How do political ideologies affect freedom of speech in dictatorial countries?
• Using social media to advance political manifestos and campaign
• The role of political analysts in shaping public opinion
• How did Cambridge Analytica play a role in the US elections

History Senior Thesis Topics

• How peaceful protests have advanced over the years in championing civil rights
• The history of the immigration patterns on the US-Mexico border
• The rise of the birth of gay rights movements in the United States
• Sexual orientation in the US during the slavery period
• The history of the national flag and anthem
• The impact of the first and second World Wars affected the perspective of the world on unity

Graphic Design Senior Thesis Topics

• An investigation of how graphic design functions in marketing communications
• Similarities and differences between contemporary and conventional graphic design tools
• The evolution of graphic design in the technological era
• The role of graphic design in corporate branding and marketing
• An analysis of the use of colours in designing promotional materials
• The approach of women in design in comparison to men

Senior Thesis Topics Psychology

• How to moderate psychological and physiological responses to stress
• Evaluating the vulnerability to acute stress-induced anxiety and depression
• Examine the correlation between depression, sleep, and cardiovascular dysfunction
• How does the quality of sleep vary with executive functioning in adults
• How different sexes react to fear-conditioned behaviours
• The role of motivational speeches in enhancing self-esteem

Good Senior Thesis Topics

• How gender roles have continued to evolve in the 21st century
• Investigating the relationship between hangovers and work productivity
• Mapping the roles of supervisors in research projects and presentation
• How does loneliness lead to depression and anxiety among teens?
• How culture and traditions shape the moral aspects of a community
• The place of technology in preserving valuable cultural artifacts

Sociology Senior Thesis Topics

• How alcohol abuse among teenagers is affecting their performance in class
• What is the impact of life-time jail sentences on the victim
• How has female empowerment led to neglecting of the male gender
• Pains and struggles of a single mother
• The relationship between population pressure and increased crime rates
• Challenges facing women in a male-dominated workspace

English Literature Senior Thesis Topics

• Discuss the origins of Shakespeare’s novels
• The relationship between literature and the renaissance era
• How are fairy tales important in creating a narrative perspective in literature?
• The differences between criticism and symbolism in oral literature
• Evaluate the Gothic representations of gender
• How has technology shaped oral and written literature?

College Psychology Senior Thesis Topics

• Adjusting to physical illness through psychological therapy
• The relationship between self-esteem and egocentrism
• How to build your identity in modern society
• How interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships shape behaviours.
• The adaptability of the human mind to changing geographical locations.
• How eating disorders affect society’s productivity.

Criminal Justice Senior Thesis Topics

• Is capital punishment helping to reduce crime in society?
• The role of community corrections towards a moral society
• Are criminal courts serving their purpose to maintain justice?
• Criminal justice ethics in modern society
• The impact of technology in spreading war crimes and civil crimes
• Effective ways of preventing crime in schools and colleges

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Theses and Creative Projects 2

The Department of English strongly encourages all undergraduates to consider completing a senior thesis under the direction of a faculty advisor(s). Undergraduate theses may involve:

• The drafting of a scholarly research paper.
• The production of a novel, set of short stories, or collection of poems.
• The analysis of narratives and/or other qualitative data collected from a particular cultural or regional community.
• The creation of a digital media artifact.

Indeed, because of the wide variety of creative and scholarly work undertaken by our 100+ faculty members, our undergraduates have the opportunity to compose theses on a seemingly endless array of topics, in a seemingly endless array of forms. 

The thesis acts as a capstone experience for our undergraduates: it allows them to explore issues of personal, scholarly, cultural, historical and/or creative importance; to solve complex problems using the knowledge and skills they have gained throughout their undergraduate careers, and to produce new knowledge and new solutions that reflect their unique perspectives, talents and abilities. Students who complete a thesis graduate either "with research distinction" or "with honors research distinction;" while the latter phrasing is used for students who are members of the Arts and Sciences Honors Program, all students are encouraged to complete a thesis regardless of their honors status.      

For some students, the process of developing and completing a thesis project may seem a bit daunting at first; however, the following steps are designed to make this process manageable and to outline how students typically proceed. In addition to reading the information below, students interested in completing a thesis are encouraged to make an appointment and advisor. We can help students think through possible thesis topics, locate potential faculty advisors, and complete the appropriate thesis paperwork

Princeton Correspondents on Undergraduate Research

Senior Thesising 101: Choosing your Topic

      Senior thesis. Senior thesis. Senior thesis. By this time of year, you have most likely heard seniors in the middle of the night at Firestone or at Coffee Club study breaks, thinking about, stressing about, and working on their senior thesis. In my last post, I wrote about one of the first and most important steps of the senior thesis process, choosing the right adviser (see here ). Now, I walk through what I believe to be another pivotal moment for the senior thesis process: choosing a topic. For SPIA majors and presumably for many other majors as well, it may seem difficult to narrow down your project to one specific topic when the major is so broad and diverse. Throughout my time at Princeton, I have taken classes in law, environmental policy, psychology, economics, ethics and more, and I enjoyed them all. But, I eventually had to choose one topic to write a full thesis on. So, without further ado, here are some steps on choosing the right topic for you.

• Ask yourself the obvious

When you start brainstorming ideas for your thesis, there are no bad questions. Sometimes, it is best to close the laptop, go outside, and reflect on what you really want to get out of your thesis. If you write about something that you love, believe it or not, it really won’t feel like work. Specifically, I asked myself the following questions: What do I like? What do I enjoy writing about? What kind of impact do I want to have through my thesis? Should it be quantitative or qualitative? Who is my advisor and what research do they focus on? What do I want to learn more about? What type of thesis would I be proud of? Upon asking myself these questions, I realized that I really wanted to do some sort of experiment that changed minds for the better. As you may be thinking, this is extremely broad. But, it’s okay to only have a broad idea at the start (just not in March).

2. Reflect on Courses and Extracurriculars

     Upon reflecting on the “obvious”, you should also think back to the classes that you enjoyed most at Princeton and the extracurriculars that you participated in. Your senior thesis is an opportunity to bring together your academic interests, your leadership interests, maybe even your friendships, and so much more. When I thought back to my favorite classes and my junior papers, it reaffirmed my belief that I wanted to write a behavioral policy paper. Furthermore, when I started to think about my extracurriculars, I realized that education reform and the opportunity gap is what I am truly passionate about. I grew up tutoring in Newark and currently work as an after school teacher off campus. I realized after thinking about my love for education that this paper was an opportunity to dive deeper into issues that I have witnessed on the ground in the past, such as the opportunity gap in education.

3. Meet with your Adviser

     Number 3 is an obvious and quick step, but it had to be said! Your thesis adviser is your number 1 resource throughout the thesis process! My thesis adviser is absolutely amazing and he has been helpful from beginning to end. If you have trouble coming up with a topic, you should meet with your adviser and be honest with them and yourself about what type of thesis you would like to write and if they have any suggestions for resources or how to move forward.

4. Gather Sources

      If you have a few potential ideas, I would take a day to read up on them. If you are half asleep in the Whitman library after reading a singular paragraph, then that probably isn’t the topic for you! Get a sense for the literature on any topic that you are interested in to see if this is something that you want to look into for the next full year.

5. Ask Yourself: Would this Thesis Create Happiness?

     This might be a hot take, but I have absolutely loved writing my senior thesis. I was able to conduct an experiment on the opportunity gap in education and attempt to change minds for the better. It almost felt surreal in the moment because it was something that I always wanted to do, but never had the flexibility or resources to until beginning my thesis. I would try to view the thesis as an opportunity, rather than an assignment. Princeton has incredible resources and your thesis allows you to make use of them and explore the world, literally. I think the most important question to ask yourself while choosing your topic is: will you enjoy writing this thesis? Will this thesis make a positive impact on your life or others’? If the answer is no, my opinion is that you should move on. If yes, you just got yourself a senior thesis topic…Let’s gooooo!!!!!

—   Ryan Champeau, Social Sciences Correspondent

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Enjoy a completely custom, expertly-written dissertation. Choose from hundreds of writers, all of whom are career specialists in your subject.

Finding the Best Senior Thesis Topic (List Included)

We know the most difficult part of writing a senior thesis is finding a great senior thesis topic. Unfortunately, finding good topics is increasingly difficult. Your classmates are scouring the Internet in search of the best topics. Most often, you end up picking a topic that has already been taken.

This is a waste of your time and won’t get you far. The best way to get an original, interesting senior thesis topic is to either create it yourself or use our list of topics. Yes, we really do have a list of interesting senior thesis topic ideas that are also 100% original.

And the best part is that we are periodically updating this list. These topics are perfect for 2023 and you can expect new ones to be added quite frequently. Of course, choosing one of our topics is entirely free. You can even reword the topics as you see fit. Moreover, in case you need some new topics fast or you need the best topic possible, our experts are ready to help.

If you’re struggling to find a compelling senior thesis topic or need assistance in writing your thesis, consider seeking professional help. Our team of experts is ready to assist you and provide top-notch guidance. Contact us today and say, “ Write my thesis ” and we’ll ensure you receive the support you need to excel in your academic journey.

The Importance of a Good Senior Thesis Topic

Often, students don’t really understand just how important good senior thesis topics can be. Yes, they really do matter. And yes, the grade you get on your paper reflects the quality of the topic you choose. Here are some of the reasons why you should dedicate ample time to finding the best and most interesting senior thesis topics (or you could just pick one of ours, for free):

• Did you know that professors are bored of seeing the same old topics being used time and time again? Would you read 50 papers on the same topic every semester? Probably not. If you manage to come up with something new and interesting, you will immediately stand out from the crowd.
• A great senior thesis topic will surely win you some bonus points. At the very least, your professor will be more than happy to overlook some minor mistakes if he deems your paper to be interesting.
• Last, but not least, a good topic is one that you know at least something about. In other words, it will be easier for you to write a paper. Why spend an entire week trying to research something you don’t understand when you can spend just one day finding the relevant information about something you know?

Learn How to Choose a Senior Thesis Topic Quickly

Let’s face it: students don’t have much free time at their disposal. In other words, you may not have the necessary time to search for a topic for days. In many cases, students also postpone working on their senior thesis until it is too late. If you need to turn in the paper in two or three days, you definitely don’t have time to search for the best senior thesis topic. You can either choose a topic from our list or try to come up with one yourself. If you want to learn how to choose a senior thesis topic fast, here are some ideas that should be of great help:

• Give your local library or the campus library a try. Go through some journals or relevant works by renowned authors and try to find gaps in knowledge. You will surely find something that requires further research.
• Don’t have time to visit the library? You can find ideas or even senior thesis research paper topics by searching through online databases. These are just like brick and mortar libraries. You may, however, need to pay for a subscription.
• Another interesting way to get some topic ideas is to become active on relevant blogs and forums. Asking for some ideas politely will usually yield some surprising results.
• You can get in touch with an academic writing company. By getting in touch with an experienced academic writer, you will surely get some interesting ideas and even an entire list of original topics. Many of these companies, including ours, are not even expensive. Plus, you can get some additional help with writing the paper.

70 Free Senior Thesis Topics for High School and College Students

To speed things up and help as many students as possible, we have put together a list of topics you can choose from right now. The list is updated periodically, so there is a good chance at least some of these topics have not been picked by your colleagues.

High School Senior Thesis Topics

If you are a high school student and you need some of the best topics on the Internet, check out some of our high school senior thesis topics. Pick any one of these ideas and start writing today:

• Obesity and how it affects your health.
• Should children be vegetarian?
• The medical system is turning people into drug addicts.
• Social networking in your school.
• The impact of human settlements on surrounding forests.
• Online sources are phasing out newspapers.
• The effects of depression on your immune system.
• Latest breakthroughs in cryogenics.
• Pick a cultural revolution and discuss it.
• Where would we be today without mathematics?

Political Science Senior Thesis Topics

Are you looking for some original political science senior thesis topics? You have arrived at the right place. Here are some of the ideas we think will thrill your professor:

• Discuss the Anglo-Saxon traits of the American government system.
• Discuss the hierarchy of the communist party in China.
• The cause and effect of the Syrian war.
• The causes of the great American revolution.
• Discuss the Human Rights Act of 1998.
• Best ways to eliminate top level corruption.
• The most prominent Anarchism figures.
• How was the Yemen conflict resolved?
• Discuss the ethical guidelines for American Non-Government Organizations
• What is Strategic Planning and how does it work?

Graphic Design Senior Thesis Topics

Of course, we have some very interesting graphic design senior thesis topics for students. And remember, we will update this list periodically so you can get original topics any time you want:

• Analyze the evolution of graphic design over the last decade.
• Differences between approaches by male and female graphic designers.
• The use of AI in graphic design.
• The role of colors in graphic design.
• Can you create a great product with a low budget?
• Graphic design strategies that target elderly mobile users.
• Is hiring a graphic designer a good decision?
• Discuss the three most interesting graphic design projects in your opinion.
• Are cave drawings actually the first known graphic designs?
• The influences of technology on graphic design.

History Senior Thesis Topics

Would you like to research and write about a history topic? No problem! Take a look at just some of our highly interesting and 100% original history senior thesis topics:

• Discuss Roanoke (the lost American colony).
• Describe the process of creating a new race.
• Discuss WW2 by analyzing the diaries of soldiers.
• Discuss gender equality in the USA.
• How was the EU formed?
• Analyze political leadership in ancient Greece.
• Analyze the last 5 years of Vincent Van Gogh.
• Surrealism in Art: An in-depth analysis
• Top 3 major Soviet mistakes in WW2.
• Gertrude Bell and the creation of a nation (Iraq)

Psychology Senior Thesis Topics

If you are a psychology student, you probably need one or more psychology senior thesis topics. Fortunately, our experienced writers have put together a list of such topics just for you:

• Homophobia in the American culture.
• The effects of AIDS on the family.
• Discuss Sexism in the United Kingdom.
• Miscarriages caused by cultural influences.
• Racism in Western Europe.
• Does co-parenting really work?
• The science of dreams. (what happens when we dream?)
• The effect of school anxiety on college students.
• Causes and effects of PTSD.
• What causes PTSS in the workplace?

Criminal Justice Senior Thesis Topics

Researching and writing about criminal justice is not easy. You need to be careful about the topics you choose. Here are some criminal justice senior thesis topics that will make writing the essay a lot easier:

• Is capital punishment ethical?
• The causes of violence among college students.
• Top 3 ways to prevent substance abuse.
• The much needed reform in Criminal Justice.
• Discuss eyewitness gender bias in the US.
• Causes of homeless people assaults in Europe.
• How does a witness protection program work?
• Discuss NATO ethics during armed conflicts.
• Discuss sentence disparities across the United States.
• The psychological effect of getting imprisoned.

English Literature Senior Thesis Topics

Of course, we also have some very nice English literature senior thesis topics for you. These ideas are perfect for 2023 and will surely win you a nice bonus to the final grade:

• Compare and contrast two characters in a book of your choosing.
• The effects of World War II on English literature.
• Discuss the use of Symbolism in English literature.
• The rise of Feminism: an in-depth analysis.
• Renaissance: the golden age of English literature.
• The effect of the Victorian period on literature.
• Compare two different symbols in classical English literature.
• Religious books and their effect on shaping society.
• Three types of writing form in classical English literature.
• Differences between modern and classical literature.

Need Some Great English Major Senior Thesis Topics?

We do realize that the topics we’ve listed above may not be suitable for some students. Each senior thesis topic is original at the time of writing, but we are certain that each topic will eventually be used. Even though we make efforts to update the list of topics as often as possible, we know some students want to get topics that are guaranteed to be original. If you need a great topic and want to make sure none of your classmates is writing a paper on it, you can simply contact our experienced academic writers.

We will quickly send you a list of original and highly interesting senior thesis topics. In addition, you can get help with writing the essay, with editing and proofreading, and even with finding great resources and references. Our team is here to help you at any time of day or night. What are you waiting for?

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Search the site, search suggestions, picking a senior thesis topic.

A few weeks ago, I submitted my senior thesis at Harvard.

Titled “More than Missing: Analyzing Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Policy Trajectories in the United States and Canada, 2015-2019,” my thesis sought to compare and contrast two national governmental responses to the pattern of Missing and Murdered and Indigenous Women (MMIW), a violent and puzzling phenomenon that adversely affects Native American, First Nations, and other Indigenous women similarly in both nations. I study a joint concentration of Government and the Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality (WGS), so my thesis sought to join those two disciplines together.

Me with my completed thesis!

Every spring, seniors take pictures at Widener library with their completed theses to celebrate their hard work. Ashley Hamilton

However, when I began my first year of college four years ago, I had no idea that I wanted to write a thesis, let alone know I wanted to study a joint concentration in two departments that I had never taken a class in. In fact, when I applied to Harvard, I thought I was going to study Chemistry (and maybe even French). While I ended up pursuing neither of those fields in college, my four years at Harvard allowed me to explore and interact with fields I didn’t have the chance to in high school, and now leading me to be well-versed in feminist, Indigenous, and political theories.

At Harvard, you don’t declare your concentration (or major) until your sophomore year, and you are free to change it at any point during your Harvard career (with the appropriate advising , of course). In fact, I didn’t declare my joint concentration until the fall of my junior year, over two years after I arrived to campus. For all joint concentrations, a senior thesis is required to complete our degrees (and is meant to join the two concentrations together), so I started thinking about what I wanted to write about as soon as I started thinking about pursuing the joint concentration.

I knew that I wanted to write about an Indigenous-centered topic; I am Indigenous and throughout my studies I’ve always felt Indigenous people did not have a large enough presence in academia generally. I chose to write specifically on the pattern of MMIW, as though a lot of research exists that seeks to explain the pattern and provide history and background from a policy perspective, little work has been done to explain MMIW policies. Thus, I sought to not only marry my two disciplines but also produce knowledge on something I felt was understudied.

Two Friends, Two Completed Theses!

Here's a photo of me with my best friend, who really helped me through the entire thesis process. Ashley Hamilton

With the help of my thesis advisers (two incredible and brilliant scholars), my friends, and the limitations of existing research, I was able to narrow my focus into an answerable research question, which ended up with my completed thesis. Writing a thesis was one of the hardest and most time-consuming tasks I’ve ever completed as a student at Harvard, but it also was one of the most rewarding and enriching. While you spend most of your college career reading and writing about other scholars' works, the senior thesis is a rare opportunity for you to be the researcher and expert on a subject that you get to choose. Thus, picking a thesis topic, is the first stop on a student’s journey from a student pursuing knowledge to a teacher producing knowledge.

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• Dissertation & Thesis Outline | Example & Free Templates

Dissertation & Thesis Outline | Example & Free Templates

Published on June 7, 2022 by Tegan George . Revised on November 21, 2023.

A thesis or dissertation outline is one of the most critical early steps in your writing process . It helps you to lay out and organize your ideas and can provide you with a roadmap for deciding the specifics of your dissertation topic and showcasing its relevance to your field.

Generally, an outline contains information on the different sections included in your thesis or dissertation , such as:

• Your anticipated title
• Your abstract
• Your chapters (sometimes subdivided into further topics like literature review, research methods, avenues for future research, etc.)

In the final product, you can also provide a chapter outline for your readers. This is a short paragraph at the end of your introduction to inform readers about the organizational structure of your thesis or dissertation. This chapter outline is also known as a reading guide or summary outline.

Table of contents

How to outline your thesis or dissertation, dissertation and thesis outline templates, chapter outline example, sample sentences for your chapter outline, sample verbs for variation in your chapter outline, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about thesis and dissertation outlines.

While there are some inter-institutional differences, many outlines proceed in a fairly similar fashion.

• Working Title
• “Elevator pitch” of your work (often written last).
• Introduce your area of study, sharing details about your research question, problem statement , and hypotheses . Situate your research within an existing paradigm or conceptual or theoretical framework .
• Subdivide as you see fit into main topics and sub-topics.
• Describe your research methods (e.g., your scope , population , and data collection ).
• Present your research findings and share about your data analysis methods.
• Answer the research question in a concise way.
• Interpret your findings, discuss potential limitations of your own research and speculate about future implications or related opportunities.

For a more detailed overview of chapters and other elements, be sure to check out our article on the structure of a dissertation or download our template .

To help you get started, we’ve created a full thesis or dissertation template in Word or Google Docs format. It’s easy adapt it to your own requirements.

 Download Word template    Download Google Docs template

It can be easy to fall into a pattern of overusing the same words or sentence constructions, which can make your work monotonous and repetitive for your readers. Consider utilizing some of the alternative constructions presented below.

Example 1: Passive construction

The passive voice is a common choice for outlines and overviews because the context makes it clear who is carrying out the action (e.g., you are conducting the research ). However, overuse of the passive voice can make your text vague and imprecise.

Example 2: IS-AV construction

You can also present your information using the “IS-AV” (inanimate subject with an active verb ) construction.

A chapter is an inanimate object, so it is not capable of taking an action itself (e.g., presenting or discussing). However, the meaning of the sentence is still easily understandable, so the IS-AV construction can be a good way to add variety to your text.

Example 3: The “I” construction

Another option is to use the “I” construction, which is often recommended by style manuals (e.g., APA Style and Chicago style ). However, depending on your field of study, this construction is not always considered professional or academic. Ask your supervisor if you’re not sure.

Example 4: Mix-and-match

To truly make the most of these options, consider mixing and matching the passive voice , IS-AV construction , and “I” construction .This can help the flow of your argument and improve the readability of your text.

As you draft the chapter outline, you may also find yourself frequently repeating the same words, such as “discuss,” “present,” “prove,” or “show.” Consider branching out to add richness and nuance to your writing. Here are some examples of synonyms you can use.

If you want to know more about AI for academic writing, AI tools, or research bias, make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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When you mention different chapters within your text, it’s considered best to use Roman numerals for most citation styles. However, the most important thing here is to remain consistent whenever using numbers in your dissertation .

The title page of your thesis or dissertation goes first, before all other content or lists that you may choose to include.

A thesis or dissertation outline is one of the most critical first steps in your writing process. It helps you to lay out and organize your ideas and can provide you with a roadmap for deciding what kind of research you’d like to undertake.

• Your chapters (sometimes subdivided into further topics like literature review , research methods , avenues for future research, etc.)

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

George, T. (2023, November 21). Dissertation & Thesis Outline | Example & Free Templates. Scribbr. Retrieved September 16, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/dissertation/dissertation-thesis-outline/

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Senior Honors Thesis

English majors may apply to write a Senior Honors Thesis, which is a two-semester critical or creative project involving an advanced level of work in an area that students have already studied as part of their major. The thesis is guided by a faculty advisor and a second reader, both of whom should be full-time members in the English Department. The application process is different for critical and creative writing projects, so read below for specific instructions. Once the proposal is approved by the English Department, students register for ENG 0199A (Fall) and ENG 0199B (Spring), both 4 credit courses that also include a required year-long senior thesis workshop.

Please note that students cannot register for the Fall honors thesis course until a proposal has been approved by the English Department. Potential thesis writers should begin the proposal submission process early in the Spring semester of their junior year as proposals are due by April 19.

Qualifications

By Tufts policy, application to write a thesis is limited to students whose names have appeared on the Dean’s List at least twice before their senior year. Transfer students should have appeared on the Dean’s List at least once at Tufts. See “thesis types” for additional creative writing thesis prerequisites.  

Thesis Types

• Critical Writing:   The critical writing thesis is a substantial piece of work (generally between 35 and 60 double spaced pages) that demonstrates the student’s ability to develop and sustain a coherent and comprehensive critical argument. Students are expected to have done prior course work or other research in the proposed field, to demonstrate their ability to sustain an extended independent project, and to present a detailed and seriously thought-out proposal. Questions of organization, format, and length are determined in consultation with the faculty thesis advisor.
• Creative Writing:   The creative writing thesis can be either a unified set of works of varying lengths (poems, short stories, creative nonfiction essays, etc.) or a single creative work (minimum 80 double spaced pages). Students must have taken at least two courses in the relevant genre, one of them at the advanced level, if applicable, which means fiction writers must have taken Writing Fiction: Advanced-ENG 0013 (and received a grade of A or A-) and poets must have taken Writing Poetry: Advanced-ENG 0016 (and received a grade of A or A-).  

Thesis Advisors

Thesis advisors and second readers must be full-time faculty in the English Department   and are usually (though not always) professors with whom the student has already completed coursework in the area to be covered in the honors thesis.  See the current list of full-time faculty members . 

• Critical Writing: Students interested in doing a critical thesis are expected to confer with potential thesis advisor(s) about their projects well in advance,  normally by the start of the Spring term of their junior year . Once a faculty member has agreed to serve as thesis advisor, the student consults with them in developing a proposal to be submitted for approval to the English Department [[email protected]] by April 19th of their junior year. The English Department " Senior Honors Thesis Form " should be filled out, signed by the faculty thesis advisor, and submitted with the proposal.  
• Creative Writing: Students interested in doing a creative writing thesis are required to submit a proposal and writing sample to the English Department Office [[email protected]]  by April 1st of their junior year, as described below and consolidated in this handout .  A committee of faculty will review the applications and select proposals to go forward to submit to the Department for official approval. Students will be informed of the results at this stage will also be matched with a thesis advisor, who will work with them to refine their proposal before submitting to the Department by  April 19th of their junior year . The English Department " Senior Honors Thesis Form " should be filled out, signed by the faculty thesis advisor, and submitted with the proposal.  

Once the proposal (both critical and creative) is approved by the Department, the student will have permission to register for ENG 0199A.  At the start of Fall semester, they will determine a writing and meeting schedule and identify a second reader in consultation with the thesis advisor (if they have not already done so). The second reader should also be a full-time faculty member of the English Department except under extraordinary circumstances, in which case approval of the Department Chair should be sought as early in the Fall semester as possible.  

Written Proposal

After consulting with the potential advisor (or, for creative projects, the Director of Creative Writing), students who intend to apply to write an honors thesis are expected to produce a written proposal during the Spring term of their junior year to submit for final approval by the English Department by April 19th. The proposals should be submitted to the English Department  [[email protected]] with a completed " Senior Honors Thesis Form " signed by the proposed thesis advisor; when the proposal has been approved, students will be notified that they can register for ENG 0199A in SIS. 

• Critical Thesis Proposal:   The proposal for a critical writing thesis should be two to three pages (double spaced). It should present an overview of the topic, outline the specific questions to be explored, discuss the method of investigation or analysis, and describe the organization of the thesis by section or chapter. It should also include a short preliminary bibliography of works (both primary and secondary) that the thesis will engage.

Creative Thesis Proposal:   Though it is understood that creative projects will evolve during the writing process, the proposal for a creative thesis should act as a point of entry for the writing to be done. In one to two pages (double spaced), it should set out the genre/sub-genres the project will undertake (e.g. novella, story collection, poetry collection, memoir, long-form journalism, hybrid, etc.) and provide a sense of the project, including, when relevant, the premise, driving questions/themes, structures/forms, plot/characters, and influences. It should also name 1 or 2 preferred thesis advisors from the  full-time English Department faculty .  

In addition, along with the proposal, students should submit a writing sample in their intended genre, as follows: for poetry, 3-5 poems; for fiction/creative non-fiction/journalism/hybrid, 5-10 pages (double spaced).

Required Senior Thesis Workshop

All students doing senior honors theses are required to attend the Senior Thesis Workshop that accompanies registration for the Senior Honors Thesis. There will be 3-4 meetings of the Workshop scheduled and facilitated by the English Department Senior Honors Thesis Coordinator each term, including a Thesis Presentation event that will be held in April.

Senior Honors Thesis Registration

The senior honors thesis is a year-long course for which students need permission to register for the Fall semester. Once the thesis proposal has been approved by the English Department, students will be able to register for ENG 0199A for Fall and ENG 0199B for Spring by selecting the faculty member who is serving as the thesis advisor from the drop down list available on SIS. In addition, in the Fall students must complete the online Senior Honors Thesis Candidate Declaration Form required by the Registrar. 

Course Credits

• A Senior Honors Thesis counts for a total of two 4-credit courses, one for each semester registered.
• One course of a Senior Honors Thesis may count as one of the five elective courses required for the English Major. The second course of a Senior Honors Thesis is additional to the ten courses required for the English Major.
• Understanding that the thesis is a 4-credit course each term, students are expected to make on-going progress on their thesis work throughout the academic year. Progress should be assessed at the end of the Fall term in consultation with the thesis advisor.

Thesis Defense

The Senior Honors Thesis culminates in a thesis defense conversation, which is an hour-long discussion and critique of the thesis work with the thesis advisor and second reader. After the defense, the two faculty readers determine a letter grade and the level of honors to be awarded. The letter grade will be entered for both semesters.

Students are expected to hand in final versions of their theses to their faculty readers  at least two weeks before their defense date.  The defense usually takes place at the end of the Spring term, or at the latest by the last day of reading period. 

Archiving Manuscripts

After the defense and after making any necessary corrections, students should submit a final, corrected copy of their completed senior honors thesis to the Digital Collection and Archives (DCA) at Tufts either in digital form or as a hard copy.  Deposit Form for the Tufts Digital Library . Students are encouraged to provide a printed copy for the English Department archives. 

Fulfilling Major Requirements

One course of the Senior Honors Thesis can count as one among the five elective courses required for the ten course English Major. The second course of the Senior Honors Thesis is additional to the ten course English Major. Students can complete the other requirements for the English Major while working on their Senior Honors Thesis.

Further Information and Writing Support

Students are highly encouraged to visit the following websites for extensive support in planning and writing their senior honors thesis:  StAAR Center  and  Tisch Library .

Senior Thesis in Comparative Literature and Society

Senior Thesis in Medical Humanities

A vademecum

General Information

The Senior Thesis in Comparative Literature and Society and the Senior Thesis in Medical Humanities give students the opportunity to deepen and refine their interest in a particular subject, establish a sustained intellectual relationship with a Columbia or Barnard Faculty member, and be considered for ICLS Departmental Honors.

Students are advised to start thinking about their thesis, including possible topics and faculty members who might serve as Thesis Supervisors, in the Spring Semester of their junior year.

CLS and Medical Humanities majors are encouraged to consult with the DUS early in the process. The DUS can offer early advice on topic and Supervisor selection.

Note: Medical Humanities majors are also encouraged to consult with Professor Rishi Goyal ( [email protected] ), Director of Medical Humanities, for advice on the early steps of thesis construction. If you plan to use the Health Sciences Library, please see the slide show from this Fall 2022 orientation.

Students who decide to write a thesis will enroll in a year-long course (CPLS3995) starting in the Fall of their Senior Year. This year-long, 3-credit course (1.5 credits in Fall, 1.5 credits in Spring) will allow students to receive academic credits for their thesis, and to count the thesis towards completion of their major requirement when necessary (Requirement #10 of the CLS Course Chart).

The Thesis: What Is It?

The Senior Thesis is a piece of scholarly research, the model for which is an academic journal article. A translation or a piece of creative work, such as a piece of creative writing, can be submitted with the prior approval of the DUS, and must be accompanied by an explanatory introduction or foreword of no less than 5000 words in length.

The Senior Thesis must be between 11,000 and 15,000 words, in 12-point font, and double-spaced. The total page count includes the preface or introduction, the main body of the thesis, references and/or a bibliography, and appendices (when applicable). The following items (all of which are optional and are not required) do not count toward the total page number: Title page; Table of contents; List of charts, graphs, and illustrations.

The Thesis must be written in English unless the student has received permission to write in another language. The citational and bibliographical style will be decided in consultation with the Thesis Supervisor.

Who Can Be Your Thesis Supervisor?

Any Columbia and Barnard faculty member can serve as Thesis Supervisor.  This is usually a person you have worked with previously or taken a class with, or who is an expert in your subject matter. You are encouraged to discuss with your DUS before finalizing your choice.

Why Write A Senior Thesis?

The Senior Thesis is the culmination of a student’s journey through the major. It presents a unique opportunity to utilize one’s skills in research, critical analysis, and sustained written argumentation while developing a topic of choice and, in the process, gain valuable scholarly expertise. Being completed in close collaboration with a Faculty member, the Senior Thesis provides an occasion to develop a close academic relationship with someone who is an expert in their field, and to experience the rewards and demands of academic research during this year-long process.

The Senior Thesis is the capstone of a student’s undergraduate studies, and represents valuable experience – and precious training – for those considering a graduate career in academia, as well as any other endeavor involving research and writing.

Thesis Proposal in Junior Year

Students interested in writing a senior thesis (or, in the case of Barnard students, students who have to write one) will submit a thesis proposal in the Spring semester of their junior year. The proposal should be short,  no longer than 1 page single-spaced , and should include the name of your advisor. This early preliminary work on your thesis will help you prepare better for the challenge of writing it. The thesis proposal should ideally indicate your topic, justification, methodology, aims, questions that concern you, and a sketch of the overall argument. Your proposal should also include a tentative title. Of course, it is to be expected that all these might change over the course of your research and writing. For Spring 2024, thesis proposals for juniors are due on May 3.  Contact Profs. Bugnevicius and Goyal to discuss your thesis idea or if you need help with finding an advisor.

On the Construction and Completion of the Thesis

1  How to Find and Shape a topic?

If you are still reading, you may indeed end up writing a Senior Thesis in ICLS! Let me now address you directly, (future) thesis writer.

First, how do you find a topic? Topics arise from curiosity, interest, love at first sight with a text or work of art, and the desire to explore and learn more about a particular issue or a complicated question.  In the early steps of the process of identifying a topic, you should cast a wide net: What is it that you like to study? What are the areas, events, authors, exchanges, issues, or archives that have nourished your curiosity? How are they connected? In answering the last of these questions, you are beginning to shape your thesis comparatively . The way you decide to explore and organize the comparison will shape the structure of your work.

The topic for your thesis is often – but not necessarily – the result of your engagement with a particular question, theme, or set of works in a class you have taken. You have the option, in accordance with your Supervisor, to develop the Senior Thesis from a research paper you have already written.

After identifying the broader contours of your topic, your focus should shift to progressively scaling down and refining your topic so that a limited, manageable, yet clear and fruitful set of questions will guide your thesis. The nature of your revised frame of inquiry should remain comparative: How do texts, contexts, events, images, or social practices inform each other and amplify information when they are brought into shared frames of analysis? What might comparing, contrasting, or otherwise juxtaposing material allow us to see that we might not otherwise see when we read or interpret materials separately, or solely within their tradition, context, or medium?

Identifying your sources is crucial to defining your topic and to constructing an appropriate set of methodology(ies) for your thesis. Like other aspects of writing a senior thesis, deciding what kind of sources to use or what text/material to include or exclude is a process of refinement that will require time and that will invariably involve making a set of difficult choices. It is not possible, nor should one try, to write about everything at once!

Some helpful tips:

* Start locating and assembling the corpus of your thesis early, in terms of both primary sources (novels, art pieces, archival sources, etc.) and relevant secondary sources (scholarship).

* Continue to refine that corpus in conversation with your Supervisor while remaining attentive to your evolving interests and preoccupations, until the final core texts or authors become clear.

* Do not be afraid to change your mind, but at the same time bear in mind that this is just one serious piece of writing. There will be others.

* Because the thesis is limited in scope – and one of your first research experiences – it cannot encompass all of your interests. If you are dealing with a large quantity of material, in the very early stages of the process your attention should be directed to breaking down your interests (and the materials that will allow you to develop them) into smaller, more manageable chunks. Your thesis will grow out of this process of selection, execution, and imagination.

3) Research and early Writing: the Outline and a Preliminary Bibliography:

The goal of the Fall semester of your Senior year should be completing a good amount of research and reading. Do not wait for research to finish to start writing: research never finishes. To start and grow your work, take advantage of the structure of the Senior Seminar, which is aimed to encourage you to start writing early, even if that only means a few sentences, a paragraph, or a page. Make an outline and keep it up-to-date and useful. As you keep reading and narrowing the scope of your intervention, keep revising the outline and, in light of it, readjust the direction of your writing. Submit your abstract and writing to your Supervisor throughout the Fall semester, and by the time Spring comes, you will have a clear roadmap, as well as sufficient progress, to finish the thesis as thoroughly and carefully as it deserves, while preventing the April 15 th deadline from becoming a source of anxiety.

4) Funding your research You may apply through research funding through your college. Students in Columbia College see this page . Note the deadline is usually in the Fall term. Students in the College of General Studies may apply in either term, information can be found here . Consult these websites for application details and updated deadlines. Barnard College students can find funding resources here . *Note that this page also has additional funding resources for which CC and GS students may be eligible.

5) Coversheet details We do not have strict guidelines regarding the format of the coversheet but we ask that you include: the thesis title, the date, your name, the phrase “Senior Thesis in (your major) at the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society at Columbia University,” and your thesis advisor and their department.

Submission Deadline and Grading

The deadline for submitting the Senior Thesis is April 15 th .The Thesis will be submitted electronically to the DUS of ICLS and to the Thesis Supervisor. Medical Humanities majors will also submit, at the same time, to Professor Rishi Goyal, Director of Medical Humanities. The Thesis Supervisor is solely responsible for the final grade.

Submission Extension Policy

Short extensions of the submission deadline can be requested with prior approval of your Thesis Supervisor. Any request for extension should be submitted to your DUS by email as early as possible, and your Supervisor should be copied. Please be advised that being granted an extension makes you ineligible for Departmental Honors and Prizes .

Click here to watch the 2020 Senior Thesis presentations .

DOWNLOAD MATERIALS

Students who decide to write a thesis will enroll in a year-long course (CPLS3995) starting in the Fall of their Senior Year. This year-long, 3-credit course (1 credit in Fall, 2 credits in Spring) will allow students to receive academic credits for their thesis, and to count the thesis towards completion of their major requirement when necessary (Requirement #10 of the CLS Course Chart).

The deadline for submitting the Senior Thesis is April 15 th .The Thesis will be submitted both electronically and in hard copy to the DUS of ICLS and to the Thesis Supervisor. Medical Humanities majors will also submit, at the same time, to Professor Rishi Goyal, Director of Medical Humanities. The Thesis Supervisor is solely responsible for the final grade.

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The Senior Thesis at 100: Back to the Future

PAW’s Grace Ni ’23 puts a modern spin on the senior thesis process in a 3-by-8 metal carrel. Most carrels were removed in 2012, but three remain available to students at Firestone Library.

Photo: Sameer A. Khan h’21

Published April 25, 2024

AS PRINCETON MARKS THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY of the senior thesis, what anchors one of the University’s most revered — and arguably, most daunting — traditions is the belief that each and every student can surprise themselves if given the chance. Patricia Fernández-Kelly, who has taught sociology at the University since 1997, is one member of this thought camp. Having advised upward of 80 theses, one of Princeton’s most prolific thesis advisers claims “that a senior thesis does fulfill an extraordinary purpose.” It allows students, she says, “to discover things that they never thought that they’d discover.”

Discovery comes in many forms. Most of the time, it is a personal affair, a point of growth. On the rare occasion, it might make headlines. In early 2023, Edward Tian ’23 was in the news after launching an AI-detecting application derived from his thesis-in-progress. GPTZero, a tool that discerns whether a text was produced by ChatGPT based on its “burstiness,” or the degree to which its language and sentence structures are unpredictable to machines, was viewed by a quarter of a million people within its first 20 days on the internet, according to Tian.

Tian, a B.S.E. graduate of Princeton’s computer science department, didn’t have to write a thesis. (The thesis is mandatory for all seniors except those pursuing B.S.E. degrees in computer science, mechanical and aerospace engineering, and operations research and financial engineering.) But his interest in writing and journalism pushed him to produce something public facing. “There’s a lot of worlds colliding where the work needs to be done,” says Tian, who had spent a year between his sophomore and junior years with the BBC using data tools to investigate misinformation. When he told his former professor John McPhee ’53 — whose sentences Tian fed into GPTZero to demonstrate how the tool worked — about what he had accomplished, McPhee’s exhortation was surely and unsurprisingly “bursty,” Tian recalls: “He said, ‘Go dazzle the cyberzone.’”

It’s exactly the kind of thing any undergraduate would want to hear as they launch themselves into the rest of their lives. Because the Princeton senior thesis is no mean feat — nor is it a static event. Eleven years ago, PAW published a retrospective of the tradition with testimonies from a range of alumni. But with the advent of AI technologies and the coronavirus pandemic, the decade since has already pushed the thesis beyond what it has historically been. And what it has been is a blueprint for a young person coming of age in their intellectual and creative journey; an example of the extraordinary things Princeton students can do, given the right support; and an exercise requiring focus, persistence, and a dash of good humor, virtues that feel more timeless now that a hundred years have passed.

A NEW TRADITION

In recent years, students have started taking photographs with their senior thesis in front of nassau hall. these alumni shared their photos with paw. .

1. Camden Olson ’19, “Service Dog Tales: A Tri-fold Study Investigating Diabetic Alert Dog Accuracy, the Use of Animal-Assisted Therapy to Address Executive Functioning Skills, and the Function of Calming Signals in Service Dog Puppies”; 2. Evan Saitta ’14, “Paleobiology of North American stegosaurs: Evidence for sexual dimorphism”; 3. Zhan Okuda-Lim ’15, “Early to Rise? The Influence of School Start Times on Adolescent Student Achievement in the Clark County School District, Nevada”; 4. Connor Pfeiffer ’18, “Britain and the ‘German Revolution’: The European System and British Foreign Policy During the Franco-Prussian War”; 5. Brandon McGhee ’18, “The Blacker the Berry: The Black Church, Linked Fate, Marginalization, and the Electability of Black Candidates”; 6. Jimin Kang ’21, “Tales from Indigenous Brazil: A Translation of Daniel Munduruku’s Chronicles of São Paulo & The Lessons I’ve Learned from the Portuguese”; 7. Victoria Pan ’21, “Are Lockdown Orders Driving Job Loss? Characterizing Labor Market Weakness During the COVID-19 Recession”; 8. Daniella Cohen ’22, “Inter-Subject Correlation Analysis Reveals Distinct Brain Network Configurations for Naturalistic Educational Stimuli”; 9. Juliana DaSilva ’23, “Investigating the role of Hh signaling during embryonic germ cell migration in Drosophila melanogaster”; 10. Devin Kilpatrick ’19, “Sojourners from Central America: A Study of Contemporary Migrants & Migration from Guatemala to the United States”; 11. Alice Xu ’20, “Pretty, and The Promises and Compromises of Happiness: Idealism, Realism, and Choice in Jane Austen’s Novels.” 

THE IDEA FOR THE SENIOR THESIS was born in the immediate aftermath of World War I when Luther Pfahler Eisenhart, an effervescent math professor who quickly rose through the ranks to become Princeton’s dean of the faculty, proposed slashing the traditional five courses in an undergraduate curriculum to four. The resultant free time would go toward independent study of the student’s choosing, a policy that, at most other schools, had only ever been reserved for those seeking honors. (To this day, the pattern holds: Though some seniors at other U.S. universities write theses, the task is optional for those hoping to graduate with extra laurels.)

With the pedagogical magnanimity that Eisenhart was known for, he fervently believed that grades achieved in the first two years of one’s time at Princeton “did not constitute a reliable test of a student’s ability to qualify for honors,” writes Alexander Leitch 1924 in A Princeton Companion . Rather, only when given the chance to “function freely” on their own would students prove their academic mettle. 

It is this sense of possibility that renders the thesis a subject of enduring fascination for generations of alumni. Testimonies of the thesis-writing experience abound, both online and elsewhere: in the archives of this very magazine; the dozens of reflections collected in Nancy Weiss Malkiel’s 2007 anthology The Thesis: Quintessentially Princeton ; on bookcases across campus but most notably in the Mudd Manuscript Library, where thousands of theses — especially those submitted prior to the digitization of theses in 2013 — are kept. 

Before the internet and AI, students spent countless hours poring over microfilm to research their senior theses.

Photo: Princeton University Archives, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library

Then there are the senior theses about the senior thesis. Most readers of this article will open the work of Melissa Gracey DeMontrond ’00 to find themselves in the dedication. “First and foremost,” it begins, “I would like to dedicate this thesis to every individual who has ever gone through the torturous and merciless process of writing a senior thesis at Princeton University. I know your pain.” A handful might even find themselves in DeMontrond’s photographs of seniors burrowed away in Firestone’s metal carrels, metallic 3-by-8 boxes that thesis writers used as a kind of office, or in the stories of “cubby hole parties” that took place among these carrels, which Kelly Ehrhart ’97 describes in her own thesis about the thesis. (The carrels were removed in 2012, except for three that have been preserved in Firestone Library. By the time I arrived at Princeton, one couldn’t hide behind a sliding door, but they could overhear other people’s conversations on the other side of the open-air carrels.) 

John Bogle ’51: In his 2008 book, Enough, Bogle describes his senior thesis as “idealistic.”

Photo: Nassau Herald

Both DeMontrond and Ehrhart were anthropology majors fascinated by the thesis as a rite of passage. How a student might enter Princeton as a child but emerge, after being shepherded through a series of challenges within a community of like-minded peers, a worldly adult. “The thesis process has altered my state in the world and made me aware of what is to come in the way of responsibility and behavior,” Ehrhart writes in her conclusion. “However much it is complained about and however despised it may be, the thesis is one of the most integral events that I will ever endure.”

It’s true: The thesis calls upon young people for an ingenuity that emerges from no source but themselves. Often, the results become astounding contributions to society. The list and lore of “famous theses” are well-known: John C. Bogle ’51 created Vanguard, one of the world’s largest providers of mutual funds, from his thesis; Wendy Kopp ’89, Teach for America, which has impacted more than 5 million students across the United States; Jonathan Safran Foer ’99, his first novel, Everything Is Illuminated , which was adapted into a 2005 film and launched his writing career. 

Wendy Kopp ’89: Kopp’s groundbreaking senior thesis is the most requested thesis from Mudd Library.

There are dozens of other examples besides. One of the lesser known is how Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi ’00 — whose 2023 biopic Nyad was nominated for two Oscars — launched her filmmaking career with a documentary she made in Kosovo to fulfill part of her thesis requirement in comparative literature.

Co-directed with Hugo Berkeley ’99, A Normal Life , which follows a group of five remarkable young people building their lives under the shadow of war, won best documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2003. Fifteen years later, Vasarhelyi and her partner, Jimmy Chin, won an Oscar for their nail-biting documentary Free Solo , which follows professional climber Alex Honnold as he climbs a 3,000-foot-tall summit in California’s Yosemite Valley without any harnesses or ropes.

Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi ’00: The award-winning A Normal Life originated as Vasarhelyi’s thesis, “Reconstructing Kosovo.”

Vasarhelyi decided to major in comparative literature because of her fascination with “representing the unrepresentable,” she tells PAW. As the child of parents who emigrated from their respective countries due to religious and political persecution, she wanted to explore the tensions between people’s identities and their political contexts. Her project thus became not only her version of film school, but the culmination of four years spent pondering a question that she had really been asking all her life. “Finding the space academically to nurture this curiosity of mine was really meaningful,” she shares. “It defined my whole career. I’ve made films ever since.”

Importantly, most of Princeton’s star-studded theses are works-in-progress that later grow to become much more.

Vasarhelyi edited A Normal Life from her parents’ basement for another two years after graduation. Jordan Salama ’19, whose thesis was the first to become a University Pre-read for incoming freshmen, spent the pandemic rewriting what would become Every Day the River Changes , his nonfiction debut about the communities that live along Colombia’s Magdalena River. Ask him for the full story and you’ll learn that the real work took even longer than that. Salama, a Spanish and Portuguese concentrator, was first inspired to write about the river while pursuing an internship in Colombia after his freshman year. It took multiple returns and the encouragement of his adviser, Christina Lee *99, to create the final submission, which he presented at a fateful journalism colloquium where he was connected to an agent who sent a PDF of Salama’s thesis to some of the nation’s largest publishers.

But trace the story further back, and much like Vasarhelyi’s case, you’ll find that Salama’s story began long, long before he set foot in Old Nassau. Salama’s family is Argentine on his father’s side, and his great-grandfather — the main subject of his most recent book, Stranger in the Desert (2024) — emigrated there from Syria to work as a traveling salesman. Salama only became fluent in Spanish when he came to Princeton, where his experience was one of “opening [his] eyes to Latin America,” he says.  

Jordan Salama ’19: Salama’s thesis became his first book and a University Pre-read for the Class of 2026.

These days, Salama looks back on his Princeton trajectory not only with wonder, but a great deal of humility. “Nobody’s an expert in anything when you’re a senior in college,” he says. And so, throughout the many conversations he shared with strangers and the funny encounters he had — my personal favorite: Salama unexpectedly hearing his rendition of Oasis’ “Wonderwall” played on the sound system in a bar in Puerto Boyacá — he “leaned into it.” 

At the end of the day, perhaps that’s what a thesis is: an impressive feat, yes, but also little more than an honest testament to who a young person is and a proof-of-concept for how they mean to go on.

THOUGH ALL THESE ARE PIONEERING IN THEIR own ways, some are more pioneering than others. Given the immense range of senior theses produced each year, it’s difficult for any single thesis to jump out — or earn a legendary status — as soon as it’s written. But ask any Princeton math major from the past decade about the most fabled thesis they know, and you’ll surely hear about Mason Soun ’15. Inspired by the work of math writer Danica McKellar, Soun wanted a way to explore the trials and tribulations of studying math while championing what inspires people, as he writes in his introduction, “to fall in love with this subject in the first place.”

Combining his passions for math education and creative writing, he went on to produce something exceptional: a thesis composed of comical short stories — featuring fictionalized versions of Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian, and Kanye West — whose plots revolve around linear algebra and the experience of working with numbers. The first story, “To Beliebe,” follows an earnest and somewhat pitiable version of Bieber as he attempts to become a knife-seller with a company called Vector Marketing. 

In one archetypal scene, the Canadian superstar attempts to sell knives — which can be lengthened or fastened together, like vectors — to an old man surnamed Gomez, whose adamant refusal prompts the singer to respond, winking: “Never say never.”

“It was very much an outlier in the math department,” recalls his adviser Jennifer Johnson, who says she enjoyed working with Soun. “He was very serious about the idea of looking for ways to make math less frightening and to share his enthusiasm for mathematics with young students.” (Though it was an “interesting experiment,” she adds, she doesn’t think she “would want to try anything like this again.”)

Sometimes, it is not will but circumstance that calls for seniors to get inventive. Arguably, some of the most exceptional seniors in recent years — and I relinquish any bias — belong to the Class of 2021, who had to evacuate campus just as they were submitting proposals for their senior theses. 

Chris Gliwa ’21, a civil and environmental engineering graduate from East Rutherford, New Jersey, had anticipated research at a global scale. Instead, he found himself walking around his neighborhood amid a pandemic that had unexpectedly brought him home.

“It was during these walks that I became more perceptive of the industrial character of my neighborhood,” Gliwa says. In addition to exploring a nearby industrial complex that had once housed a bleachery during the American Civil War, he had socially distanced conversations with elderly neighbors who would share stories about the health problems that had proliferated in the area since the industrial boom in the 1960s. “They said that mysterious illnesses were common, but the companies and local leaders always assured them that there was nothing to worry about.”

Upon scouring a 1980s site assessment and decades-old news articles, Gliwa was compelled by a key culprit: benzene, a highly carcinogenic chemical used in industrial processes. With this discovery, a thesis was born. In the months that followed, Gliwa estimated airborne benzene concentrations using historical site data, then used wind records to build a model demonstrating how benzene would travel into the areas where his neighbors have lived for generations. Though his intention was “not to find conclusive evidence of wrongdoing,” Gliwa explains, his study’s confirmation of environmental pollution in East Rutherford was enough to vindicate his neighbors, whose response made Gliwa “very emotional.” 

“They are like family to me,” he reflects, three years on. “People from my community rarely go to schools like Princeton, so to exercise my education and research skills in this way was truly a once-in-a-generation opportunity.”

Though Gliwa chose not to publish his thesis due to the possibility of legal concerns, he continues to build upon the skills that made his project possible with a long view toward tangible policy change. These days, he is fulfilling his third year as part of the University’s Scholars in the Nation’s Service Initiative (SINSI). His first rotation was with a team working on climate and environmental issues at the White House.

Edward T. Cone ’39: Cone was the first to have an original musical composition accepted as a senior thesis.

Photos: Nassau Herald; Princeton University Archives, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library

DESPITE ITS REPUTATIONAL CHARGE, the senior thesis isn’t immune to change. (Nor is it immune to critique: In the 1990s, a debate on its potential abolition made it to The New York Times .) As each generation of Princetonians paints new strokes on the hallowed portrait of this timeless tradition, the University has had to reframe the assignment. Creative theses — in which seniors produce novels, films, plays, and dance performances, among other things — are a fantastic case in point. Since Edward T. Cone ’39 submitted the first creative thesis in the form of a self-composed string quartet, hundreds of Princetonians have followed suit, giving rise to “hybrid” theses in which students (in certain majors such as English and comparative literature) fulfill their thesis requirement with a creative project supplemented by a critical essay. Online records of creative writing submissions since 1995 document a rising trend: Since 2013, there have been consistently more than 20 seniors each year submitting creative theses, while the preceding class years are patchier, with anywhere between one and 18 theses on record.

In the early 1950s, the University granted Robert V. Keeley ’51 *71 permission to become the first student to submit a novel as a senior thesis. Less than a decade later, there were six seniors writing novels to graduate.

Looking forward to the next 100 years, what might we expect of the senior thesis? Will it continue in the same way it has, or become an entirely different affair altogether? Perhaps the most salient question hovering over the thesis’s future concerns the rise of new technologies, including the widespread availability of digital data and AI. 

“I have the impression that students are increasingly looking at small topics as opposed to trying to engage large ideas,” says Fernández-Kelly, referring to the use of large databases for research data instead of the slow, sometimes painstaking work of studying systemic issues on the ground. “But that isn’t a problem with the senior thesis, but a problem with our culture.”

In response to the popularity of generative AI tools, deans Jill Dolan, Kate Stanton, and Cecily Swanson (the latter two co-chairs of the University’s working group on such technologies) issued a campuswide memo in August stating that policy on using AI in assignments would be up to the discretion of teaching staff. “We believe that the powers and risks of generative AI should only deepen the University’s commitment to a liberal arts education and the insistence on critical thinking it provides,” they wrote. 

Should faculty permit, the future Tian envisions might just as well become reality soon: one in which thesis writing is a combination of AI-assisted and human-derived work. But this isn’t something that keeps the GPTZero founder up at night. 

“Standards of student writing are derived from best practices in the real world,” he explains. “This is an exciting opportunity in the reverse: How students are writing theses or using AI tools responsibly will help define how people are using a combination of these technologies after they graduate.”

Not long from now, Jeremiah Giordani ’25 — who for one PAW article described himself as “one of the biggest ChatGPT users at Princeton” — will be brainstorming thesis ideas. The computer science concentrator, who laments the view that generative AI is for lazy students seeking easy ways out, considers the tool on par with calculators or spellcheck functions: time-saving technologies that give people the cognitive freedom to focus on creative tasks. 

“These technologies are here,” he says. “They’re very useful, and to become as skilled as possible, it’s necessary to learn how to use these tools as well as you can.” Though Giordani is not yet sure what he’ll research, he plans to find an adviser who has a liberal, and even encouraging, approach to using ChatGPT.

Regardless of who (or what) will do the writing, that’s one thing computers will never change: the very human relationships students build with their advisers. True, some pairings may hardly ever meet, and some seniors have admitted to avoiding their advisers altogether. But when a senior and their adviser click, history shows that the learning and guidance often go both ways. 

Malkiel’s 2007 collection The Thesis , which gathers interviews with Class of 2006 seniors and their advisers on the thesis research process, includes the story of ORFE concentrator Lindsey (Cant) Azzaretti ’06, who, for her thesis, came up with the idea of applying modeling techniques to the optimization of human blood storage. Her adviser, Warren B. Powell ’77 — who had advised upward of 200 undergraduate theses before his retirement in 2020 — was inspired. “The problem is now featured in a book I am writing on approximate dynamic programming, and I have already used it in a tutorial I have given on the topic,” his section in the anthology reads. “All this for a problem that would never have occurred to me.” 

“This is an exciting opportunity in the reverse: How students are writing theses or using AI tools responsibly will help define how people are using a combination of these technologies after they graduate.” — Edward Tian ’23 on using AI in students’ work, especially theses

Lee, Salama’s thesis adviser, says she believes the advising experience has influenced her own approaches to scholarship. Published in 2021, her most recent monograph — which explores the life of saints and their believers in the Spanish Philippines — features a foreword in which Lee explains how her identity as a Korean Argentinian compels her to study the intersection of Asian and Hispanic worlds. “I realized that you can write a good, strong piece of academic work that has personal resonance,” says Lee, whose work with Salama and other students has often concerned the incorporation of the first-person voice. “I’m not sure I would’ve done this if I hadn’t directed a thesis,” she adds.

To summarize the sheer diversity of theses from the past century — and to predict what they will look like in the next — is to partake in the same quixotic fervor of Eisenhart’s original vision. But for each student who has cried in a carrel is one who has laid a cornerstone for an illustrious career, or, at the most basic level, realized that they had it in themselves to do something incredible, and in their early 20s, no less. How big the world seems after such an accomplishment, and the rest of life so doable — or perhaps it is simply the comic relief of shared suffering that buoys us along. That much hasn’t changed; when members of the Class of 1925 designed their Reunions beer jacket, they included a tiger being crushed under four massive tomes. And what about the Class of 1924, the last batch to escape the mandatory thesis? 

Their beer jacket featured a horseshoe. They couldn’t believe their luck. But whether that was a prescient choice, I’ll leave to the reader to decide. 

Jimin Kang ’21 is a freelance writer and recent Sachs scholar based in Oxford, England.

Published in May 2024 , Issue

11 Responses

Rocky semmes ’79.

The peerless and purposeful Princeton Alumni Weekly proves constantly and consistently captivating, capturing masterful content of mesmerizing merit, issue after incredible issue. One is hard-pressed to find better reading, in both content and style, in any other periodical of any kind.

The icing on the cake then (so to speak), is the accompanying artwork, which included the ingenious PAW-commissioned confectionary cover of May 2024 and also the brilliant eye-relieving illustrations complementing the June 2024 text of “Aaron Burr 1772’s Forgotten Family” by Kushananva Choudhury '00.

The PAW might — just possibly — outdo the inimitable one-of-a-kind P-rade as the most richly rewarding residual of matriculation at the "best damn place of all"!

Richard H. Eisenhart Jr. ’66, Douglas M. Eisenhart ’72

We are grateful to Jimin Kang ’21 for her thorough research and look back at the centennial of the Princeton thesis in “The Senior Thesis at 100: Back to the Future” (May issue). Kang’s article properly credits Dean Luther Eisenhart as progenitor of Princeton’s independent study and the senior thesis from his time as dean of the faculty in the early 1920s.   

Like many other readers of the piece, the pain of this ordeal and ultimately sense of accomplishment came back to us as we relived our own thesis sagas. What gives us additional pride, though, is how this capstone project of the Princeton undergraduate academic program has not only survived but thrived for a century, for reasons not only relayed in Kang’s piece but that Eisenhart himself understood as stated in his 1945 book, The Educational Process : “Many students have said that it was their first experience in college in feeling that what they were doing was really their own. Also graduates have testified that their work on a senior thesis was excellent training for investigations they made later, as part of their business or professional life, or as interesting avocation.”    

The true value of the thesis experience, it seems, is most often realized in retrospect. We say thank you to Jimin Kang for her fine article, and we also say thank you to Dean Eisenhart for this enduring contribution to Princeton.      

Editor’s note: The writers, brothers, are great nephews of Dean Luther Eisenhart. 

Susan P. Chizeck *75

Seeing a picture of the carrels brought back so many memories. They were a godsend when you had to use many heavy books for your research and it was so much easier to store them there. It was a dedicated study space with few distractions, and you could keep your research all organized and safe. Of course, after a while people on the same corridor became friends and took study breaks together, then shut ourselves back in to work. What a mistake to get rid of them. They were wonderful for me, and I wrote a great thesis, on some obscure artist, never to be seen again by humans. But it taught me so much.

Michael Richman ’85

I'm sure others will also point out that the photo on page 36 shows a machine for micro film , not micro fiche  (as indicated by the photo caption). Although I will acknowledge that when working on my thesis, I did look at some materials on a microfiche machine in Firestone. (Editor’s note: PAW has updated the caption above.)

To the extent I can remember it, like those quoted in the article, I recall working on my senior thesis as a history major as a rewarding experience (at least once it came to an end, following a short extension provided by the college after a problem at the computer center the day before they were due). What I wonder about, though, is what might have been if I had pursued a different topic.

At the beginning of senior year, I went to Professor James McPherson, who had not yet published Battle Cry of Freedom , about a research idea I had based on a project I had worked on the previous summer in the Firestone rare book room, organizing papers of a family that included a Civil War admiral — possibly the only member of the Virginia Lee family to have served on the Union side. But I had not taken any courses in Civil War-era history at Princeton, so he discouraged me from pursuing it.

If I had planned differently, I might have been able to engage with a topic that allowed for more in-depth work directly with conveniently located primary sources, possibly one of the first to work with those sources in any detail. But I was able to complete the work, got a decent grade and graduated, which is what mattered at that point in time.

Meanwhile, all the extra copies I made of my senior thesis for various family members have been coming back to me after the family members have passed on, so I now have several reminders of how I spent my senior year.

Patrick Bernuth ’62

I skated through Princeton. The ice was always thin, and it wasn’t until the senior thesis that it broke and I tumbled through. My grade — a six — meant I would not graduate with the rest of my class. Failure writ large. Princeton was kind to me and in the following year gave me another chance. The next year I got the degree: box checked and off to a life in business and publishing.

I was an ordinary undergraduate for those days — entitled white boy from the suburbs. I wasn’t an ordinary alumnus. I didn’t buy the blazer, go to football games, come to Reunions. If I thought about Princeton in those years after graduation it was a “been there, done that” sort of thing. And probably a little “how could they do this to me?”

In the middle of life, I became involved with Princeton again. My work in publishing brought me to the University Press, where I served on the board for 20 years. This experience put me in touch with a Princeton that was new for me a place of intellectual excitement and curiosity.

It wasn’t new of course. That Princeton had existed all along and I was simply late to recognize it. One of my most vivid memories of Princeton was Professor James Ward Smith’s final Philosophy 101 lecture. As he wound it down, Smith turned his back to the lecture hall. He was quiet for a moment. Then, suddenly he turned and delivered his final thought, “Be amazed!” he cried and stalked out of the room. 

That spark never died; it is a debt I owe to Princeton. Now, in my 80s, I have come to realize another debt to Princeton. It has to do with the uses of failure. Samuel Beckett put it best I think: “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail better.” The undergraduates I have encountered at Reunions and elsewhere fill me with admiration. I would never get into today’s Princeton and that’s fine. But I — as I suppose it is with all us old alums — would love to have another go.

Jay Paris ’71

Jimin Kang ’21’s excellent article about the vicissitudes of the senior thesis at Princeton — past, present, and future — reminded me of some true and some apocryphal stories that arose from my graduating class in 1971. In Kang’s examples of theses that lead to national distinction, I would add Scott Berg ’71’s work on Maxwell Perkins, editor extraordinaire to Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thomas Wolfe, and many others. Berg’s thesis turned into a bestselling biography, the first of many that he has created to critical acclaim.  

Frederick E. Lepore ’71

As the author of an unapologetically desultory thesis on the picaresque hero 53 years ago, I have utmost admiration for engaging theses which slipped the bonds of the Mudd Manuscript Library. Be forewarned that your list is incomplete without Scott Berg ’71’s thesis, which became  Maxwell Perkins: Editor of Genius  and garnered the National Book Award for biography (1980).

If Dean Eisenhart had prevailed with a senior thesis requirement a dozen years or so before 1925, we might be reading theses of nascent literary (or maybe callow) genius by the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald 1917, Eugene O’Neill 1910, or in neuroscience, Wilder Penfield 1913. (OK ... the first two never made it to senior year, but it’s nice to speculate.)

If we can keep LLMs/ChatGPT at bay, I think Princeton has got a good thing going.

Swati Bhatt *86

Based on my experience as adviser of over 240 senior theses in the economics department over the past 30 years, I feel compelled to share my thoughts on the role of professors in shaping this academic journey. The senior thesis experience is the pinnacle of undergraduate education, offering students a platform to dive deeply into their chosen topic and demonstrate their research, writing, and analytical ability. However, behind many successful theses there were professors who not only demonstrated expertise in their fields, but offered constructive feedback and support during moments of uncertainty. Not only were the professors instrumental in refining methodologies, articulating findings, and providing constructive feedback, but they often took a genuine interest in the academic and personal development of their advisees.

Editor’s note: The writer is a lecturer in the Department of Economics.

John Simon ’63

The PAW article on the history of the senior thesis (May issue) included a photo of Edward T. Cone ’39 and the information that his was the first work submitted as a “creative thesis.” This brought back quite a few memories for me. 

Ed Cone was my mother’s distant cousin and probably the most compelling reason for my attending Princeton. I was a music major and, when thesis time came around, I applied to write a cantata based on the Garcia-Lorca play “The House Of Bernarda Alba.”

All was going well and, since I’d composed music since high school, I thought, “This is a piece of cake!” I submitted it two days early to my thesis adviser, the brilliant composer and educator Milton Babbitt *42 *92, who said, “Fine. Now orchestrate it.”

Holy Humperdinck! I had two days to take my piano score, break it down, and expand it into parts for a full orchestra! I went through boxes of No-Doz but got it done.

A year earlier I had put in a lot of work on my junior paper: “Simultaneous Composition In Jazz And Classical Music,” an examination of the music of Stravinsky, Ellington, et al. I got a disappointing grade. But, without my knowledge, Ed Cone read it and raised the grade. My J.P. adviser didn’t appreciate jazz. Ed Cone did.

David G. Robinson ’67

The recent PAW thesis piece honors the glories of the senior thesis, but doesn’t spend much time on the agonies.

As a Nassoon, I spent year after year watching my good friends senior to me go through the rituals of getting their theses done, such that I had acquired a good case of “thesis PTSD” by my senior year.

I hated my carrel, used only for working with books that had to say in the “libe”; wrote my thesis in a two-week marathon session of getting up at noon, eating lunch, then writing until 6 the next morning (visited nightly at 3 a.m. by the herds of cockroaches who lived in Laughlin Hall); and finished a pedestrian effort that earned me the Princeton equivalent of a B+, then graduated.

Looking back, I so regret the lost opportunity to really do something with my thesis (as I regret not majoring in history to study the 20th century, as I do now on my own). I also marvel at how that effort seemed so daunting looking back from much higher hills conquered in later life.

For decades afterward, I periodically had the thesis equivalent of the famous “exam dream” —  It’s due today! Have I started it? Where do I turn it in? No wait, I was an early concentrator and actually wrote it last year — whew! Or did I? Ugh!

Richard M. Waugaman ’70

What a wonderful article, with inspiring examples of noteworthy theses. I’m now even prouder to be a Princeton alum. Thank you for highlighting the fact that Princeton alone requires a senior thesis. We’re all indebted to Dean Luther Eisenhart for having such confidence in Princeton’s students that he introduced the thesis opportunity more than a century ago. And it is a wonderful opportunity, not an onerous requirement!

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