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The senior thesis in history is a two-term independent research project based on original research.


Mark Walker
Lippman Hall 216
Office hours: Tuesdays, 2:00-4:00, Wednesdays, 10:00-12:00, Thursdays 2:00-4:00, and by appointment
walkerm@union.edu


Requirements

(1) Meet with me during the first week of the first term of your senior thesis in order to discuss thesis topics. If this is an interdepartmental senior thesis, then you should meet with me together with your other senior thesis advisor to discuss how the requirements of the two majors will be coordinated.

(2) Meet with me weekly throughout the term, sending or sharing your research log (see below), the thesis proposal, chapter outline, and drafts on the schedule provided below.

(3) Hand in one complete chapter with references properly cited by the end of the first term.

(5) Submit a complete draft of your thesis no later than Monday of the tenth week of the second term of your senior thesis.

(6) Submit an abstract and complete an oral thesis assessment during the ninth week of the second term of your senior thesis. The assessment most be completed before the oral exam.

(7) Submit the final copy of the thesis no later than the last day of winter term final exams. If this is an interdepartmental senior thesis, then the deadline may be earlier.


Evaluation

History theses are awarded grades based on four criteria:

(1) We encourage students to show originality and intellectual ambition in framing historical questions. You may apply new methods or techniques to old research questions. But you should not just retell a story already told by other historians.

(2) We encourage students to base their theses, whenever possible, on research in primary source materials. Primary source research offers you the rewarding and often exciting experience of encountering first-hand evidence and developing with your own new ideas about what it means.

When language and/or inaccessibility of sources present significant barriers to primary source research, you may develop a thesis by one of two other methods: You may develop a new interpretation or synthesis based on existing secondary literature. Or you may write an historiographical thesis, in which you examine all or most of what historians have written on and ask what has emerged of most value in the process.

(3) We encourage thesis-writers to construct sound historical arguments that are logically organized and analytically persuasive. You will have to assemble evidence and then reason about what that evidence does (and does not) prove. You should avoid confusion, aim for clarity, and organize your thesis in a way that facilitates your reader’s understanding. The best theses move beyond obvious points to consider the complexity of historical phenomena.

(4) We care about grammar and style. We expect your writing to be simple, unambiguous, and grammatically correct. In the best theses a lively, intelligent voice seems to speak; it has something interesting to say, and it speaks clearly and gracefully.


Grading

Thesis grades are based on a combination of these four factors. A good, solid thesis based on conscientious effort and hard work will normally fall in the “B” range. An “A” thesis requires a truly outstanding performance.


Research Log

You will only be able to do research of high quality if you also do research of high quantity, and do it consistently. The research log is a running collection of the relevant secondary and primary sources that you have found and read for your thesis.

Each source must be cited correctly, with the citation being complete and in the citation format you are using for your thesis.

Pick a bibliographic format and use it consistently. In particular, if you cut and paste citations from other sources, you have to make sure that they are in the format you are using. Shaffer Library has a great deal of relevant information.

http://libguides.union.edu/citationguides?_ga=2.13646583.199014189.1505082189-421 645577.1505082189

You must also make clear whether or not you have read this source by annotating it, providing a brief description of its contents.

There is no specific number of sources that you must have for the research log. It should reflect the work you have done thus far as you have been tracking down sources. Since this log is cumulative, every time you submit the log, you must make clear which sources are new, either new on the list, or new in the sense that you have read them, or both.​ ​You should also divide the log into sections by category – primary in one section; secondary in the other. If a source is both, then list it in both sections.

You will not be able to read all of the materials you find right away. Instead you should skim, focusing on the preface or introduction and the first and last paragraphs of book chapters or articles. Take notes as you do this quick reading – noting content, argument, and your initial opinion of the work. You will have time to go back to read the most important sources you find later.

Beginning the third week of the term, you are required to either share your research log with me via Google Docs (my preference) or email your document to me via email once a week at least one day before our next thesis meeting. If this is a interdepartmental thesis, then you should share it with me and the other thesis advisor.


Senior Thesis Proposal

Proposals are inherently tentative because what’s being proposed has yet to be done. However, in this proposal you are trying to communicate what you anticipate doing in your senior thesis.

(1) What topic you are researching? Provide a background of the topic to set the issue, question, or theme in context. Be as precise and focused as possible. If you have a tentative argument or research question, include it here.

(2) Why are you pursuing this issue? What makes your topic important and worth researching? Explain what the secondary literature (scholarship) and primary sources you have read so far says about this.

As you skim, annotate, and read your secondary sources, you will get a sense of how the scholarship has evolved, or what particular issues recent scholarship has examined, or if scholars’ methods or approaches vary significantly in how they approach your issue. All of these can be important.

(3) How will you accomplish your analysis? What are the research questions you might use to guide your reading of sources? Are you doing a case study? Are you drawing comparisons and/or contrasts between types of sources? Are you concerned with cause & effect and/or change or continuity over time?

(4) Include a preliminary chapter by chapter outline of the entire senior thesis, with each chapter accompanied by a few sentences describing what will be in it, and including a designation of which chapter will be submitted at the end of the first term.

(5) Not counting the chapter outline, the proposal should be a minimum of seven pages double spaced, and include page numbers. You do not need to provide a bibliography because you are keeping a research log. Be clear and concise in your prose and argument. Use footnotes for citations.


Format and other Senior Thesis Information (Shaffer Library)

http://libguides.union.edu/researchservices/senior-thesis?_ga=2.46284069.348598455.1535383384-1444430024.1525415582


General Comments

Please make a distinction between seeing me, and giving me something to read. It makes most sense to first of all email me something, and then come meet with me after I have had a chance to read it.

Read your prose aloud and thereby improve your writing before submitting it to me.

When writing about the past, you usually should use the past tense.

Each chapter must include complete references. If this is a history senior thesis, then footnotes are required. If this is an interdepartmental senior thesis, then references in the text may be accepted.

Whereas in a bibliography, the last name of the author comes first, in footnotes the first name is first—make sure that you use them in this way.

References are not reserved for direct quotations. If all of your references refer to direct quotations taken from the sources, then you may not understand how to use references correctly.

All of the citations in your footnotes must be in the same format. When you import citations from other sources, make sure that they are in the proper format.

Shaffer Library has very useful links to sources and other suggestions for helping you in your research. In particular, I recommend that you use RefWorks for your senior thesis.


Timetable

Beginning the third week of the term: Share with or send me your updated running research log a day before we meet.

Friday, October 11, 2019: Senior thesis proposal (see above).

Friday, November 22, 2019: Complete draft of a chapter, including complete footnote references, and an updated research log (the last one before the beginning of the winter term)..

Friday, January 24, 2020: Complete draft of a second chapter.

Friday, February 14, 2020: Complete draft of a third chapter and an updated research log.

Friday, February 28, 2020: Abstract for oral exam.

Monday March 2-Friday, March 13, 2020: An oral exam with me and another professor, who normally will have read only your abstract. If this is an interdepartmental thesis, then the other advisor will be the second examiner.

Friday, March 6, 2020: Complete draft of a fourth chapter (if there are four), introduction, and conclusion.

Thursday, March 19, 2020: Final draft of the entire thesis. Please only send me an electronic copy, not a paper one. If this is an interdepartmental senior thesis, then the deadline may be earlier.