Honors Thesis

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immortalavalamp

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I searched the forum, but didn't find a thread specifically on honors thesis (with the exception of how they relate to getting in to graduate school), so I thought I'd start one.

Are there any other undergrads out there working on a thesis? I'm completing the second draft of my intro and methods sections, and (as much as I love research--really, I do) I'm beginning to wonder why I did this to myself. I have an advisor who absolutely tore my first draft apart. This is wonderful and exactly what I want her to do, and yet....so overwhelming. Anyone else in the same boat?

Thesis is on possible interventions for perfectionism, and I've only tested 24 of 75 people (IRB forms didn't go through forever).
 
You did this to yourself because it really is the best experience you can get for grad school😉 Just keep reminding yourself of that. I didn't do one and despite all the work it is, I greatly regret it.

This is what grad school is all about. Running projects, and having every aspect of them torn apart and rebuilt by your advisor, your classmates, your professors, the administration, etc. Just remember its worth it in the end🙂
 
You're so right! I know this experience will be worth it, and I really love what I'm doing my thesis on. I just have moments, every once in awhile, when I begin to wonder what I got myself in to (particularly when I have dreams about my thesis advisor being IN MY BED. My subconscious doesn't exactly know the meaning of "subtle," now does it?). It's always nice to know there are others out there slaving away on a senior project.

Thanks, Ollie. 👍
 
I'm working on an Honors Thesis too. My advisor is wonderful. But I'm so scared to submit what I've written so far. I conducted my study last year and I'm finally pulling things together. I can't belief I have to wrap it all up by May!

😱
 
I'm working on a thesis, too... yay!
 
immortalavalamp said:
You're so right! I know this experience will be worth it, and I really love what I'm doing my thesis on. I just have moments, every once in awhile, when I begin to wonder what I got myself in to (particularly when I have dreams about my thesis advisor being IN MY BED. My subconscious doesn't exactly know the meaning of "subtle," now does it?). It's always nice to know there are others out there slaving away on a senior project.

Thanks, Ollie. 👍
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I'm not in undergrad, but a MA program. I'm working on my own project in addition to my thesis. After many revisions of just the IRB proposal, the project was accepted 2 weeks ago and now I'm collecting data. My ideas have been ripped apart by faculty, questioned, attempted to be changed, refined, operationalized, and finally accepted. You are not alone. However, I don't dream of my advisor, so you may be alone on that one!😉😛 Keep up the great work.
 
I'm doing my Honors Thesis right now as well, in fact, I'm just pulling it all together for the poster presentation on Friday.

Mine is on whether there may be a link between a person's specific learning style and their cognitive style.

Though it's a ton of work, I think it's definitely worth it if you want to go onto graduate school (be it a Masters, PhD, PsyD, anything...). I think the schools really look favorably on those candidates who completed (and did well on) an Honors Thesis.

Definitely been a worthwhile experience for me (but man, do I hate SPSS now!)
 
I did an honors thesis in my undergrad. I know its a lot of work but just like everyone has said, its definitely worth it! My thesis was on the prevalence of psychopathology in psychology majors versus non-majors. It was a great project and a lot of fun.
 
immortalavalamp said:
You're so right! I know this experience will be worth it, and I really love what I'm doing my thesis on. I just have moments, every once in awhile, when I begin to wonder what I got myself in to (particularly when I have dreams about my thesis advisor being IN MY BED. My subconscious doesn't exactly know the meaning of "subtle," now does it?). It's always nice to know there are others out there slaving away on a senior project.

Thanks, Ollie. 👍
Click to expand...
hmmm- do you see your advisor as an enemy sometimes?

- could it be that you are moving away from being dependant on them and it feels like leaving a lover who once shared your bed?

I think this is interesting that yourself is trying to tell your consious self something. did you have other dreams that night- sometimes it can be the same message in different formats.

If it made you feel uncomfortable to see them it would remind me of psychoanlytic writings on cutting apron strings and growing up etc. not to imply your immature or anything like that...just that your fortunate to have such a poingnant dream

i fell apart after my thesis was handed in - life was so empty and i had no idea what i was getting up in the morning for anymore...if your sweating blood and confused that is a good thing i think- very shamanic and initiatory

i think your dream was a positive message from you to you
 
> Thesis is on possible interventions for perfectionism...

> I have an advisor who absolutely tore my first draft apart.

Have your thought about trying out some of your possible interventions??
:laugh:
 
I am just finishing my thesis up now as well. It's on the body esteem differences between women who are in relationships and those who are single.

I have a love/hate thing with the whole process. I know it's giving a ton of experience I'll use in grad school (plus I know it helped me get in), and the SPSS and data side of it has really interested me. (i'm one of those people who like stat) But I'm like you, sometimes I just sit there and wonder how/why did I get myself into all this? No dreams about my adviser yet though : )
 
I literally just got started on mine - I'm working on the thesis as a collaboration between my internship at a psych. rehabilitation center and my school. The internship's giving the funding and the population, and the school is giving me my adviser and credits! It's great. I'm not sure if I can go into specifics, but it's generally on the effects of omega-3 on mental illness. We're still in the background research stage, but should have the research proposal and grant proposal finished by July.

I'm also heading an evidence-based practice study, which I'm not going to write a thesis on, but am going to be writing something up for it.
 
Glasscandi, that sounds so interesting! I hope it goes really well.

I hadn't checked this board in forever...I had no idea there were so many replies! I just defended my thesis yesterday, and it went really well. I had a GREAT time with it, after getting through that rough period in January. I wouldn't trade the experience for the world...in fact, I am now absolutely positive that I want to continue on with research. Good luck to the rest of you working on projects (and finishing up finals)!
 
Resurrecting this thread because I am dreaming about my data collection and explaining my thesis to random dream people :scared:
 
Haha, I definitely had a dream that my thesis advisor was IN MY BED one night. I feel for ya.
 
I'm starting my honors thesis this upcoming school year. I'm excited to really learn a lot about the research process and have that great experience for grad school but I somewhat nervous about the ton of extra work I'll have. My psych department is already demanding enough for non-honors projects:scared:🙂
 
I just meet with my advisor to propose my thesis & it got approved! onto IRB apps now & writing intro & methods section. Im sorta excited for it but a bit taken back by how much work its going to be....
 
Hello Everyone!

I'm doing my Honours thesis this year. And I'm working on my research proposal at the moment. It's really really hard to stay motivated, and obviously I can't afford to goof off (which I've been doing a lot of lately). I just can't seem to get started and in the zone.

I feel like everything i type sounds ******ed and there's no structure/order nor do I have a clear cut hypothesis or expt'l design 🙁 I'm feeling super hopeless and all I'd rather do is 😴 hehe.

SOOO, is anyone else out here still doing their thesis? I see that these posts are a wee bit dated. I would LOVE to have some company. We can perhaps keep each other on track and on task. We can do an online thesis group.

Let me know if anyone is interested! God I HOPE I'm not the only one doing a thesis this year. haha.

Good luck everyone!
 
I am still collecting data and should be done with that soon, then onto statistical analysis!
 
twilson said:
I am still collecting data and should be done with that soon, then onto statistical analysis!
Click to expand...

Nice!

I'm going to do a very rough draft of my lit review right now. I don't care if it's not perfect. It's my first draft...I'm giving myself a solid 2 hours...and then i'll report back with how much I've accomplished. I'm sooo glad I'm not alone! Thanks for replying twilson!
 
AG22 said:
Nice!

I'm going to do a very rough draft of my lit review right now. I don't care if it's not perfect. It's my first draft...I'm giving myself a solid 2 hours...and then i'll report back with how much I've accomplished. I'm sooo glad I'm not alone! Thanks for replying twilson!
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Okay, It took me a loooong time, but I wrote three pages of my lit review. 👎 How not awesome is that. Tmr's a new day! I'm hoping to finish my talk about mindfulness and its decentering, and then move onto self construal. I want to finish mindfulness and self construal by noon tmr! And then, move onto priming studies. And then read my abnormal psych chapter 4, and then write the proposed study + hypothesis.

Ay caramba! May the force be with me :xf:. haha.

Where are all the other hon thesis students?? Are you guys almost done or what? Here in Cda we have a difft school schedule. We start in sept, and end in April.
 
I'm doing three theses (yes, really, and yes, they're all full-on theses with full committees and all that jazz):

Thesis I--I picked a doubly hard group to recruit from, so recruitment is taking forever! If I can just get enough people to run my focus group, I'm actually looking forward to the analysis! Wish me luck!

Thesis II--Done with everything, except the final defense. I have to revise my write-up of my results and discussion and then, well, defend. Should be done next month, hopefully.

Thesis III--Hopefully, I should be done with data collection this week. I'm aiming for a December or January defense.

I'd love to have all three done by February if the stars align! Recruitment for Thesis I is the big question mark, but I'm slightly comforted to know that all the grad students who work with this general population seem to have long recruitment waits--in other words, it isn't just me....
 
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AG22 said:
Okay, It took me a loooong time, but I wrote three pages of my lit review. 👎 How not awesome is that. Tmr's a new day! I'm hoping to finish my talk about mindfulness and its decentering, and then move onto self construal. I want to finish mindfulness and self construal by noon tmr! And then, move onto priming studies. And then read my abnormal psych chapter 4, and then write the proposed study + hypothesis.

Ay caramba! May the force be with me :xf:. haha.

Where are all the other hon thesis students?? Are you guys almost done or what? Here in Cda we have a difft school schedule. We start in sept, and end in April.
Click to expand...

Good luck with the lit review! Its my least favorite part, but I find outlines to be very very helpful to make sure everything flows from general info -> detailed.

futureapppsy2,
I have been collecting data since May, but it is ridiculously difficult to get people to return the follow up surveys, then when people do they ignore instructions and do it wrong making it so I probably won't be able to use them in my final analysis. I'm supposed to defend it in Dec.😡 I'm not sure I'll reach the numbers I need for power unless 10 people suddenly remember that they need to send it in lol
 
Oh wow! Futureappsy2... you're hard core! I'm having trouble with just one thesis and a full course load, but you're doing three!! Good luck!

And good luck to you too twilson with the data collection and participant recruitment.

i totally had a brand new idea of arranging everything, so I'm going to re-write my three pages hehe and then add some more.

Yeah, lit reviews can be quite the bore. But i'm lying to myself, and am pretending that this stuff is SOOOOO exciting!! Eventually, i'll start believing it! Woo.

hey do you guys study with music? I need some good study tunes.

Luck everyone!
 
AG22 said:
Oh wow! Futureappsy2... you're hard core! I'm having trouble with just one thesis and a full course load, but you're doing three!! Good luck!

And good luck to you too twilson with the data collection and participant recruitment.

i totally had a brand new idea of arranging everything, so I'm going to re-write my three pages hehe and then add some more.

Yeah, lit reviews can be quite the bore. But i'm lying to myself, and am pretending that this stuff is SOOOOO exciting!! Eventually, i'll start believing it! Woo.

hey do you guys study with music? I need some good study tunes.

Luck everyone!
Click to expand...

*sigh* so.. I finished another two and a half pages today. Thus far, my lit review is 4.5 pgs. :meanie: But I do have my outline ready. Now, it's just a matter of wading through the required references ... (which takes me forever!) and then distilling the info and writing it up.

Then comes hypothesis and proposed analysis and methods. aaarrggh! 😱 I am under a strict deadline. has to be done by wed (Earliest) and thu (latest). Oh dear god, please guide me. hehe.

now off to read text book.
 
AG22 said:
*sigh* so.. I finished another two and a half pages today. Thus far, my lit review is 4.5 pgs. :meanie: But I do have my outline ready. Now, it's just a matter of wading through the required references ... (which takes me forever!) and then distilling the info and writing it up.

Then comes hypothesis and proposed analysis and methods. aaarrggh! 😱 I am under a strict deadline. has to be done by wed (Earliest) and thu (latest). Oh dear god, please guide me. hehe.

now off to read text book.
Click to expand...

If it helps I did a fleshed out outline.I put the references I would be using for each section on the outline(because I'm anal, I put the authors in order of how I would be discussing studies) that way when you get to the nitty gritty of the paper you don't have to flail around figuring out which studies should go where. Looks like you'll be up for a while today finishing that up, may be too late for the fleshed out version😛
 
twilson said:
If it helps I did a fleshed out outline.I put the references I would be using for each section on the outline(because I'm anal, I put the authors in order of how I would be discussing studies) that way when you get to the nitty gritty of the paper you don't have to flail around figuring out which studies should go where. Looks like you'll be up for a while today finishing that up, may be too late for the fleshed out version😛
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So, 8 pages done! I think once I get the majority of my thoughts down on paper, and show my supervisor that I have actually been working, all I'd have to do is tweak it 🙂 It's been really rough finding articles on wilderness rapture, and decentering through sensation seeking. ugh. But, such is the process...can't complain!! I chose to do this hehe.

So it's off to more lit-reviewing for me. Refworks broke down last night, can you believe it? So uhm, yeah....i have t-minus 3 hours to churn out something good! Then it's class...And then I send it off to my proff tomorrow. Then I do revisions, and present to my faculty my thesis...then revise revise revise until november, then send it to my second reader! Then in December I present to faculty, grad students, and university community...Then it's off to ethics review!! And then, pending approval, I start recruiting in January. Zat is zee plan at zee moment.

may the force be with us :luck:
 
Am I the only one who never writes with formal outlines? I just read the literature, get a sense of what's out there and what's not been done, write, and then revise. I actually really enjoy writing lit reviews. I have to always make sure my results section doesn't become a discussion section, though!

That's an interesting process, Ag22! Here, ours is: select adviser/chair -> propose and agree on idea -> draft full prospectus -> get adviser feedback -> revise -> send to committee (3-4 people, including the chair, no extra-departmental member required for undergrad theses, but you can have one if you want) -> defend to full committee -> pass (hopefully!) -> revisions, IRB approval -> collect and analyze data -> draft results and discussion and give to adviser -> revise to adviser approval -> send to committee -> defend to full committee -> pass (hopefully!) -> revise
 
futureapppsy2 said:
That's an interesting process, Ag22! Here, ours is: select adviser/chair -> propose and agree on idea -> draft full prospectus -> get adviser feedback -> revise -> send to committee (3-4 people, including the chair, no extra-departmental member required for undergrad theses, but you can have one if you want) -> defend to full committee -> pass (hopefully!) -> revisions, IRB approval -> collect and analyze data -> draft results and discussion and give to adviser -> revise to adviser approval -> send to committee -> defend to full committee -> pass (hopefully!) -> revise
Click to expand...

Your process is similar to mine but I lucked out and didnt have to do my IRB because it is an extension of a current project in the lab, so I missed out on the horrors of that 😛
 
Thanks for the support you two! I'm so relieved, my first draft has gone in, and my supervisor was pretty pleased. So now, all I've got to do is elaborate, make some changes, delete some superfluous stuff, then detail my methods...it's looking like it'll be a mediational model, and may possibly involve a qualitative part with a focus group?

All I know is that I can finally catch up on my 😴 Swweeett. :laugh:

G'luck!
 
I am doing my honours thesis too - and trying to prepare for 3 exams in the next few weeks... its quite stressful!

My first lit review draft had about 2000 words that were completely irrelevant, but thankfully my supervisor was very kind with her words and gave me some really good feedback. My second draft just needs a bit more 'crafting', then I'm off into my methods section.. YAY! Seems like the lit review has taken forever!

I can't even imagine what its going to be like when I *hopefully* make it to doctoral level study!
 
ClinPsyNut said:
I am doing my honours thesis too - and trying to prepare for 3 exams in the next few weeks... its quite stressful!

My first lit review draft had about 2000 words that were completely irrelevant, but thankfully my supervisor was very kind with her words and gave me some really good feedback. My second draft just needs a bit more 'crafting', then I'm off into my methods section.. YAY! Seems like the lit review has taken forever!

I can't even imagine what its going to be like when I *hopefully* make it to doctoral level study!
Click to expand...

welcome! 🙂
 
Setting up a defense meeting for a time that works for everyone is like herding cats, I swear 🙄
 
twilson said:
Setting up a defense meeting for a time that works for everyone is like herding cats, I swear 🙄
Click to expand...

Oooh, defense already?? You're done?! 👍 Congrats!! Must feel awesome 😀 That'll be moi in April!!
 
AG22 said:
Oooh, defense already?? You're done?! 👍 Congrats!! Must feel awesome 😀 That'll be moi in April!!
Click to expand...


Thanks! i'll defend in December during finals week..:scared:
 
twilson said:
Thanks! i'll defend in December during finals week..:scared:
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And thus begins my Sunday of Scale hunting 🙂 1:22pm until.. 4pm ? Muzac? Check.
Water? Check.
Laptop? Check.
Good food (perogies!)? Check.

👍 This shall be epic. hehe.
 
Thesis approved with revisions!:soexcited:

...now to study for the rest of my finals 🙁
 
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