Students guide 1 - fdsfds PDF

Preview

Summary

fdsfds...

Description

Writing Your Senior Thesis

1

WRITING YOUR SENIOR THESIS Student guide to planning, writing and presenting your diploma work

The American University in Central Asia Department of Psychology 2007-2008

Writing Your Senior Thesis

WRITING YOUR SENIOR THESIS Student guide to planning, writing and presenting your diploma work A brief guide for undergraduate students of Psychology at the American University in Central Asia

The American University in Central Asia

2

Writing Your Senior Thesis

This guide has been developed by the Department of Psychology at the American University in Central Asia. It is based on Surviving Your Senior Thesis (2000-2001) by the Department of Sociology at the American University in Central Asia, and uses Guides for Students from other universities.1

1

Grand Valley State University Senior Thesis Guide, Davidson University Senior Thesis website, Columbia University Barnard College Senior Thesis Guide, The APA style paper by Elizabeth F. Henderson, Thomas A. Looney, and Krista N. Gilley (2003) from Lynchburg University were used as models for writing this guide.

3

Writing Your Senior Thesis

Table of Contents 1. General Information 1.1 What is a senior thesis? 1.2 Objectives of a thesis 1.3 Who is eligible for writing a senior thesis 1.4 When should I begin my thesis work 1.5 What kinds of topics are appropriate for a thesis? 1.6 What a thesis should include 1.7 How long a thesis should be 1.8 Language of your thesis 2. Advisors and committees 2.1 How should I select a thesis advisor? 2.2 When should I select my thesis advisor? 2.3 What is the role of my thesis advisor? 2.4 How often should I meet with my advisor? 3. Research and writing 3.1 How do I choose a topic? 3.2 Gathering resources and materials 3.3 Taking notes 3.4 Organizing your notes 3.5 Literature review 3.6 Outlining your arguments 3.7 Presentation and publication 3.8 Citations and bibliographies 3.9 Plagiarism – causes and consequences 4. Thesis organization 4.1Title Page 4.2 Abstract 4.3 Introduction 4.4 Methods 4.5 Participants 4.6 Apparatus 4.7 Design 4.8 Procedure 4.9 Results 4.10 Discussion 4.11 References 4.12 References in the text 4.13 Other sections (Tables, Figure captions, Figures) 4.14 Other resources you may find useful for writing and formatting 5. Defending your thesis 5.1 What is a thesis defense? 5.2 Why do I have to defend my work? 5.3 When will I defend my thesis work? 5.4 Who will be the defense committee?

4

Writing Your Senior Thesis 5.5 What kinds of questions will I be asked? 5.6 What kind of answers should I be prepared to give? 5.7 Can I fail my thesis defense? 6. Formatting samples 6.1 Title page 6.2 Abstract 6.3 Introduction 6.4 Methods 6.5 Results 6.6 Discussion 6.7 References 6.8 Tables 6.9 Figure Captions 6.10 Figures

5

Writing Your Senior Thesis

6

GENERAL INFORMATION What is a Senior Thesis? A senior thesis (diplomnaya rabota) is an extended in-depth research paper in psychology that is written during your final year of study. Your thesis can be experimental or applied, but it must be original, analytical and argumentative. Senior Thesis offers seniors the opportunity and challenge of completing a significant, extended study that is the culmination of their baccalaureate work. Drawing on and providing evidence of the background and skills acquired during the previous three years, it allows students to devote themselves wholeheartedly in their final year to learning on a topic they themselves have defined and developed. A senior thesis is also a potential source of great satisfaction, tempered by periods of frustration, revelation, and discovery. No two theses are alike. Each is an individual reflection of an emerging scholar, researcher, critic, artist, or thinker. A thesis should provide a culminating experience for your work in one or more disciplines at the University. The thesis is not the place to explore a discipline for the first time. You and your adviser may develop methods of inquiry that bridge disciplines you have already studied. Objectives of the Thesis The faculty's objectives in requiring that every senior complete a thesis are to provide the student with an intellectual project of substance that will develop and demonstrate  the ability to undertake and complete independent work at an advanced level in the major;  the ability to think critically: to analyze, synthesize, and reason with the degree of sophistication that is to be expected of a graduate of the college program;the ability to work creatively and with discipline, as well as to respond productively to criticism;  the ability to understand the assumptions and approaches that underlie the disciplines relevant to the thesis;  the ability to express ideas in writing with clarity and precision. Who is eligible to write a senior thesis project There is a strict rule about which students will be allowed to write their senior thesis project. The department requires students to have a GPA of 3.2 or higher in order to be permitted to write and defend their senior theses projects. Students with their GPA lower than 3.3 will write a smaller research project within the course entitled “Senior Thesis Seminars” and will take State Exams at the end of the senior year. When should I start my thesis work? By the end of your second year, you should have a general sense of the themes you would like to focus on in your academic work, and should choose courses that will help you develop your understandings of those themes. By the end of your third year, you should be thinking about possible thesis topics that you would like to pursue. This is also a good time to begin planning for your thesis work – recruiting advisors, gathering materials, and brainstorming.

Writing Your Senior Thesis

7

During your fourth year of study the bulk of your thesis work will be conducted. See 2.4 What kinds of topics are appropriate for a thesis? Although a senior thesis does not have to be an earth-shattering breakthrough in modern theory or practice, it should contribute something unique to the existing body of knowledge about your particular topic. Therefore, your thesis must be more than a description or compilation of existing information. Your goal is to use what you already know to tell us something new and to analyze relationships between ideas, variables, theories, events, etc. Your thesis must be interesting to you and significant to others. Before you decide on a topic, ask yourself, “Do I really want to spend the next six months reading and writing about this? If your answer is “yes”, then take the next step and ask, “will anyone else care about the results if I do?” It is important that your diploma work is meaningful for you, but also important that it contributes to the scholarly community at large. Your thesis must be psychological. This does not mean that you have to choose a topic that has been defined by others as “psychological”, but it does mean that you must approach your questions from a psychological perspective, using methods, terms and concepts that are acceptable within the discipline. How long my thesis should be? Senior theses must be at about 60 pages long (excluding appendixes and back material), typed in 12 point font, double-spaced, with appropriate margins. There is no limit on the maximum number of pages you can write, however, in general, undergraduate senior theses should be under 80 pages.

Writing Your Senior Thesis

8

2. ADVISORS AND COMMITEES 2.1 How should I select a thesis advisor? 2.2 When should I select my thesis advisor? 2.3 What is the role of my thesis advisor? 2.4 How often should I meet with my advisor?

2.1 How should I select a thesis advisor? First of all, choose an advisor whom you trust, respect and work well with. Beyond this, consider how much time that person has to devote to supervising your thesis work, and how much experience she or he has in advising, academic writing, and the topic that you will be working on. Your advisor should be a specialist or have a special interest in your thesis topic and must have a graduate university degree. 2.2 When should I select my thesis advisor? The earlier the better. At the latest, you should recruit your advisor early in the first semester of your senior year. It is advisable to speak to a range of possible advisors before making your final decisions. More importantly, talk to other students about their experiences – which advisors are most helpful? Who spends the most time with students, has the most experience in thesis writing or in a particular subject? 2.3 What is the role of my thesis advisor? Your thesis advisor is responsible for a wide variety of things – everything from checking with your writing to keeping you sane! In general, you can expect your advisor to:        

Guide you through the process of selecting and defining a topic Give recommendations regarding the formulation of hypotheses Supervise the organization of your material Make suggestions about important materials and ideas you may overlook Answer questions about the research and writing process Review, revise, and edit drafts of your paper Provide information about logistics such as formatting and defense procedures Agree upon deadlines for your work and expect you to observe them

Remember: your senior thesis is your independent research, and as a fourth-year student, you are expected to supervise and regulate your own work. You cannot depend on you advisor to chose your topic, give you materials, correct your argumentation, plan your defense, or be responsible for your work. Your advisor’s role is to assist you in this independent project, not do it for you. It is best to schedule regular meetings – at least once a month, and weekly during the last monthwith your advisor to discuss your work.

2.4 How often should I meet with my advisor? It is important to remain in close contact with your advisor; therefore, you should schedule monthly meetings throughout your senior year and weekly meetings during the final month of your thesis work. Collaborate with your advisor to establish deadlines for drafts and revisions

Writing Your Senior Thesis

9

to keep you on track. Other faculty members serve as advisors and evaluators, and meet regularly with the student throughout the senior year to assess progress and provide guidance in. These meetings will be arranged by the department and involve all faculty members.

3. RESEARCH AND WRITING 3.1 How do I choose a topic? 3.2 Gathering resources and materials 3.3 Taking notes 3.4 Organizing your notes 3.5 Literature review 3.6 Outlining your arguments 3.7 Presentation and publication 3.8 Citations and bibliographies 3.9 Plagiarism – causes and consequences

3.1 How do I choose a topic? Your topic should examine a debatable issue that requires evidence for its evaluation. If everyone agrees with you, if there is no scholarly controversy, if the answer is obvious, or if you haven’t posed an answerable question, then you do not have a valid topic. A thesis that is not driven by a research question is inherently weak (for example, a thesis that is primarily descriptive or simply compares the relationship between x and y without first posing a question about the relationship). Since such a thesis does not have a question to answer, it does not require any specific evidence or evaluation and has no persuasive authority. Further, it will not be clear to either you or the reader when you have done enough (or the appropriate) research or reached a logical end to the thesis. For example, you may wish to study Problem Solving. But this is a general topic, not a specific issue for investigation. A research question might be: Does problem perception have an influence on problem solving ability? Then, you hypothesis may be formulated as: People who believe that a problem is difficult will in general take longer to solve it than those who believe that it is easy, even if there is no difference between the problems in terms of difficulty. You should be able to explain to the reader why you are asking your question and why your findings will be of significance or interest – this is your response to the reader who says “So What?” when informed of your topic. You should tell the reader about the issue that generated your topic, why will it matter if we know the answer to your question and what your thesis will add to our knowledge.

Writing Your Senior Thesis 10 You will probably begin your search for a thesis topic with only a general area of interest. You must then review scholarly work in this area in order to develop an issue worthy of investigation and to find out whether sufficient primary and secondary sources exist for you to do meaningful research. Consult with your adviser or/and talk to the librarians. You should not be overly dependent on information that you will have to develop yourself; while interviews and surveys can greatly improve the quality of a thesis, they both rely on third parties who may or may not be available when you need them. During this initial process, it is not unusual for students to revise topics or adjust their research aims. Only some topics can be completed in the time you have available. It is important that you make sure that the topic is manageable given the established deadlines. Again, consultations with your adviser are essential on the issue.

In developing your topic, you should ask yourself the following questions: 1. What is my general area of research? 2. What have scholars and practitioners written about this topic? 3. What is my specific research question and hypothesis? 4. What evidence (and methodology) will I need to support my claim or answer my question? 5. Where will I find the evidence? 6. Do I have confidence in the validity of my sources? 7. Can I complete the research and writing by the established deadlines?

Originality: What if I don't have an original idea? The question of originality plagues scholars of all levels. Anyone in the world of academics would be disingenuous to say that an academic work is ever entirely original. We all build upon libraries of information and resources that have come before us. An important part of academic work is acknowledging our debt to other scholars fully and clearly. Rather than asking if a thesis is completely original, ask if you can deal with a subject in such a way as to add to the conversation already begun on this topic. You will draw upon the research and ideas of many other scholars, creators, and thinkers, citing their work as you go. Your contribution may come out as a re-evaluation of the material, or as fresh perspective. You may not have that insight as you begin the project, but as a critical and creative student, you can find that element during your research. Remember, no two theses are alike, even if they deal with the same information and topic. 3.2 Gathering resources and materials Searching for materials is a tough job which must be conducted in a systematic way. Good scholarship does not spring from throwing together everything you find on a particular topic in the library. To begin gathering sources: -sit down with a pen and paper and list all the kinds of information that you need. -then, list the types of sources that might help you to discover this information – books, journal articles, internet-sites, online databases, newspapers, interviews, archival materials, surveys, statistical data, unpublished manuscripts, conference papers, organizational records etc. -after this, think about all the possible places, where you can access these resources, or methods that you will need to employ to get them. To aid in your research:

Writing Your Senior Thesis 11

-make a list of all the themes that may be included in you research. Keep this file and add to it periodically as you come across new ideas. -for each theme, list all the synonyms for terms, and imagine how other people might categorize them. You might need to ask for the same information using different terms. After you do this, use these lists to systematically explore the body of information available to you. To aid in collection: -keep a list of all sources you use, including as much bibliographic information as possible -make sure you include, next to each entry, the place where you retrieved it and any information that you will need to find it again (call number, card number, access code, internet address, contact person etc.) 3.3 Taking notes Don’t be sloppy with your notes! Develop a system for taking notes on sources, either by using note cards or by organizing your notes on a computer. In general: 1. Try to complete a preliminary bibliography before taking notes. Use this as a master list; code the sources to speed up the note-taking process. (This way, instead of writing the same information on each card/page o notes, you can simply write “1”, “2”, “3” etc.) 2. Use paraphrase and summary to note main ideas. 3. Use direct quotations to note specific sentences and phrases. 4. Use notes to yourself to record your reactions to the material, write down possible connections to other material. 5. Differentiate your own ideas from those you are paraphrasing/quoting. 6. Make sure you notes make sense and you can read your handwriting. 7. Always include bibliographical information and page numbers in your notes. 3.4 Organizing your notes As you work, organize and reorganize your notes from time to time. This will keep your mind fresh, help you make connections between seemingly disconnected sources, and enable you to develop logical conclusions from multiple sources. You can group your notes: -by source -by topic -chronologically 3.5 Literature review Before beginning your writing, you should familiarize yourself with existing research and work about your theme. This way you can be sure that you build upon what other scholars have already done, and can ensure that you have sufficiently explored the theme. You will need to include a summary of this review in your thesis to situate your work for your reader. 3.6 Outlining your arguments

Writing Your Senior Thesis 12 Before you begin writing your thesis, draw up a plan of your argument. List all of the major subheadings of your paper in logical order - this will give you a framework for organizing your notes, ideas, interpretations, and conclusions. Before you begin to write, you should have a rough outline of your: -audience and readers -research question -main claim or point -evidence for this claim -reasons that this evidence is relevant, valid and reliable -objections that may arise against your claim -sequence of the parts of you paper 3.7 Presentation and publication Your senior thesis should be correctly formatted (see later) and spiral bound. 3.8 Citations and bibliographies Citations Citations – footnotes, endnotes, or parenthetical references – serve two major purposes. Firstly, they are evidence that you have read a body of academic work and have used it properly in your own arguments. Secondly, citations enable other researchers to find the information that you yourself have used. Bibliographical references are tools to ensure that social scientific work is communistic, i.e. that we share our information freely and use other people’s information fairly. Remember that everything you use as a source must be cited. This includes interviews, unpublished documents and reports, Internet sources, radio and television broadcasts, and personal communications. 3.9 Plagiarism – causes and consequences Plagiarism – the theft of someone else’s intellectual property – can be caused by a lack of awareness, carelessness, or deliberate dishonesty. Whether you “mean to” plagiarize or not, the consequences of plagiarizing your senior thesis are severe: you will fail your thesis and risk being prevented from graduating. How does plagiarism happen? You risk plagiarizing if you do not understand what ...