Senior Thesis

[mewtoo]

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I was wondering if the research and manuscript I just completed would be considered a senior thesis. At my school there is no "senior thesis" class or anything for psych students. I wrote my proposal in my research design course and this past semester conducted and finished the manuscript for credit with my professor. I was one hour away from being classified a senior when I completed this.

So, would this be considered a senior thesis? Does what its called even really matter? I don't know what it'd really be called otherwise. My professor named the course "Advanced Experimental Research."

 

[ZsMusings]

I am not totally sure.. I imagine if your school does not have a specific Senior Thesis or Senior Honors Thesis.. you can't call it that. What you can call it is Undergraduate Independent Research Project. At least that is what I did.

 

[4410]

Mostly Ivy League Schools have the BS/BA Senior Thesis. For psychology majors, normally you enroll in a Independent Study course your Junior and Senior year and gain experience in research as part of a team being a research assistant for doctoral level students and faculty. I believe the concept for Senior Thesis is based on Private Ivy League School curriculum and generally is not a research project where you collect data. I believe it is more of a intellectual endeavor or creative project. The FedEx founder, Fred Smith did his Senior Thesis or paper on the concept of overnight delivery or overnight mail. He was actually mocked by faculty at Yale claiming it was poorly thought through and it would never be a practical concept and he received a C grade. I wonder what they would have thought about our current system of emailing legal documents!

 

[Member1928]

A lot of psychology departments offer undergraduate students the opportunity to write a senior thesis. I agree with a previous reply that said if your department does not offer students the opportunity to complete a senior or undergraduate thesis, then you probably shouldn't call it a senior thesis.

Perhaps you could work with your mentor/advisor and submit your manuscript for publication. I might suggest a journal that is tailored to undergraduate research: Psi Chi Journal or Journal of Psychological Inquiry. In my mind, a publication will be just as helpful, if not more helpful, than a senior thesis when applying to graduate school.

 

[4410]

The Senior Thesis



From the outset of their time at Princeton, students are encouraged and challenged to develop their scholarly interests and to evolve as independent thinkers. The culmination of this process is the senior thesis, which provides a unique opportunity for students to pursue original research and scholarship in a field of their choosing. At Princeton, every senior writes a thesis or, in the case of some engineering departments, undertakes a substantial independent project.

Integral to the senior thesis process is the opportunity to work one-on-one with a faculty member who guides the development of the project. Thesis writers and advisers agree that the most valuable outcome of the senior thesis is the chance for students to enhance skills that are the foundation of future success, including creativity, intellectual engagement, mental discipline and the ability to meet new challenges.

Many students develop projects from ideas sparked in the classes they've taken; others fashion their topics on the basis of longstanding personal passions. Most thesis writers encounter the intellectual twists and turns of any good research project, where the questions emerge as they proceed, often taking them in unexpected directions.

Planning for the senior thesis starts in earnest in the junior year, when students complete a significant research project known as the junior paper. Students who plan ahead can make good use of the University's considerable resources, such as receiving University funds to do research in the United States or abroad. Other students use summer internships as a launching pad for their thesis. For some science and engineering projects, students stay on campus the summer before their senior year to get a head start on lab work.

Writing a thesis encourages the self-confidence and high ambitions that come from mastering a difficult challenge. It fosters the development of specific skills and habits of mind that augur well for future success. No wonder generations of graduates look back on the senior thesis as the most valuable academic component of their Princeton experience.

 

[4410]

Hillary Rodham's Senior Thesis

The thesis offered a critique of Alinsky's methods as largely ineffective, all the while describing Alinsky's personality as appealing. The thesis sought to fit Alinsky into a line of American social activists, including Eugene V. Debs, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Walt Whitman. Written in formal academic language, the thesis concluded that "[Alinsky's] power/conflict model is rendered inapplicable by existing social conflicts" and that Alinsky's model had not expanded nationally due to "the anachronistic nature of small autonomous conflict."[1]
In the acknowledgements and end notes of the thesis, Rodham thanked Alinksy for two interviews and a job offer. She declined the latter, saying that "after spending a year trying to make sense out of [Alinsky's] inconsistency, I need three years of legal rigor." Rodham, an honors student at Wellesley, received an A grade on the thesis.[1]

 

[mewtoo]

Thanks for all the input, guys.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it would not be considered a senior thesis in the sense that ya'll were saying. I know we are submitting it for poster sessions in national and regional conferences and I'm going to talk to her about submitting to a journal. I guess whenever I put in on my CV I'll just count it as a publication or poster.

 

[Jeina]

Mostly Ivy League Schools have the BS/BA Senior Thesis. For psychology majors, normally you enroll in a Independent Study course your Junior and Senior year and gain experience in research as part of a team being a research assistant for doctoral level students and faculty. I believe the concept for Senior Thesis is based on Private Ivy League School curriculum and generally is not a research project where you collect data. I believe it is more of a intellectual endeavor or creative project. The FedEx founder, Fred Smith did his Senior Thesis or paper on the concept of overnight delivery or overnight mail. He was actually mocked by faculty at Yale claiming it was poorly thought through and it would never be a practical concept and he received a C grade. I wonder what they would have thought about our current system of emailing legal documents!

I went to a large state school and completed a senior thesis (we called it an "honors thesis"). This is definitely not a concept that is "mostly" used in the ivy league schools, and it normally IS a research project where you collect data, at least in psychology (not sure about other majors).

To the OP: I think the experience matters more than the title you give it, so I wouldn't worry too much about this issue. Good luck!

 

[mewtoo]

I went to a large state school and completed a senior thesis (we called it an "honors thesis"). This is definitely not a concept that is "mostly" used in the ivy league schools, and it normally IS a research project where you collect data, at least in psychology (not sure about other majors).

To the OP: I think the experience matters more than the title you give it, so I wouldn't worry too much about this issue. Good luck!

Thanks! I think I'm worrying too much also. 😛

 

[Jeina]

Thanks! I think I'm worrying too much also. 😛

Aw, I didn't mean to criticize you. I was really concerned about this small stuff last year when I was preparing my application materials. Going through the process, I eventually realized that small details like this probably wouldn't be the make or break factor, so I was just trying to ease your mind!

 

[mewtoo]

Oh, I didn't interpret you as criticizing me! I just agree because I am like that too and worry about the little things too much. In my original post I was going to put, "Am I worrying about this too much? (Yes.)," but I deleted it. 😛

 

[Featheredwyngs]

Mostly Ivy League Schools have the BS/BA Senior Thesis. For psychology majors, normally you enroll in a Independent Study course your Junior and Senior year and gain experience in research as part of a team being a research assistant for doctoral level students and faculty. I believe the concept for Senior Thesis is based on Private Ivy League School curriculum and generally is not a research project where you collect data. I believe it is more of a intellectual endeavor or creative project. The FedEx founder, Fred Smith did his Senior Thesis or paper on the concept of overnight delivery or overnight mail. He was actually mocked by faculty at Yale claiming it was poorly thought through and it would never be a practical concept and he received a C grade. I wonder what they would have thought about our current system of emailing legal documents!

Typically a 'senior' thesis is known as an 'honors' thesis in most undergraduate institutions. I would call your work an independent project and detail what you did and learned from it - but would not try to pass it off as an honors thesis, as that usually implies different things (e.g., at some universities you can only graduate with honors if you did an honors thesis).

"I wrote my proposal in my research design course and this past semester conducted and finished the manuscript for credit with my professor."

Also -- it's unclear to me whether you just wrote a proposal for a study, or whether you actually carried out the study, analyzed the results, and wrote it up. If the latter, it will have more weight and be something you should mention in applications/interviews (otherwise, if the former, I would consider it more like any other final paper we do in undergraduate courses at universities... which I never mentioned in applications).

Finally, I went to Harvard undergrad. and we call ours an 'honors' thesis and not everyone has to do one.... so the Ivy league specific thing, isn't as accurate anymore (i.e., as another poster said, it's not just an ivy league thing... unless you're differentiating senior vs. an honors thesis). It depends the field on whether an undergraduate honors thesis is experimental research or not. My friends who majored in history, for example, would complete a thesis that was essentially a big literature review whereas those in biology, chemistry, psychology, etc. had to conduct a study --- all where considered an honors thesis (requirements were defined by the specific department).

Anyway, although I am advising you not to necessarily call this project an honors/senior thesis - I would encourage you (whether you publish it or not) to mention it in your application as an undergraduate research project and to detail it (and be ready to talk about it during interviews). [On your cv you can do a poster, or manuscript in preparation until you get it published... and if this is a study you designed and conducted, analyzed and wrote up (which is the way I read your post originally) it is a notable accomplishment and something you should mention either in your personal statement or somewhere in a statement on research experience; some schools will even ask for writing samples and you can submit it 🙂].

 

[mewtoo]

You interpreted it correctly. I ran, analysed, and finished writing it this past semester. I had written the proposal for a class and then actually carried out the experiment the next semester. By credit I mean it counted for 3 hours as a "special problems" class. I won't try to pass it as a senior thesis now that I understand what it means. I guess I just did not really know what a senior/honors thesis was since they don't do that at my school and thus no one ever talked about it. Thanks for the help. :]

 

[cara susanna]

I think you have to defend a thesis, don't you?

 

[Jeina]

I think you have to defend a thesis, don't you?

I did, but I'm not sure if that's a universal thing or was specific to my school. Like you, my guess would be that a thesis defense meeting is typically required for seniors/honors theses.

 

[Jeina]

Oh, I didn't interpret you as criticizing me! I just agree because I am like that too and worry about the little things too much. In my original post I was going to put, "Am I worrying about this too much? (Yes.)," but I deleted it. 😛

Though it produces a lot of anxiety in the moment, I promise the admissions process will fly by when viewed from a more long-term perspective. Hang in there!