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A Few Thoughts on the Senior Thesis
Tomoharu Nishino
Every year the IR program hosts a senior thesis meeting for rising seniors to discuss the thesis writing process. This page is by no means a substitute for that meeting, but attempts to capture some of the key points we try to convey.
Some "instrumental" benefits of the thesis
The structure of a typical thesis
We are one of the few majors in the university that requires all of our students to write a senior thesis. We believe that the senior thesis is an opportunity for you to show case what you have learned over the last four years, and is one of the most important (and rewarding) aspects of the IR major.
The thesis is meant as a capstone experience. We expect you to bring everything you have learned at UPenn---the substantive knowledge you have gained from your classes, the analytical techniques and approaches to knowledge you have mastered in the various disciplines, any language skills that might be relevant, the experiences you have had abroad---to bear on your thesis topic. It truly is a culmination of your academic experience here.
When you began as IR majors, we stressed that by the time you leave the program we expect you to have acquired expertise in some aspect of international relations. Choosing an area of focus was the start of that process, and the thesis is the culmination. The thesis will allow you to further refine your knowledge of your field of specialization and hone your analytical and writing skills. The thesis will start you on your way to being a truly knowledgeable specialist.
Up to this point, your entire academic training has consisted of consuming knowledge produced by others. Now it is your turn to give something back---to contribute new and original insights to the collective pool of knowledge that informs us all.
Aside from the intellectual challenges and rewards of the thesis, the thesis will be useful to you in other ways.
The thesis constitutes (probably) your first major work of independent intellectual output. As such, it will be the focus of any job or other similar interviews you will have for some time to come. Excerpts of your thesis will most likely constitute any "writing samples" you might submit for job applications, graduate schools, scholarships or fellowships. In short, a good thesis will contribute substantially to your immediate post-graduate career plans.
I recently spoke to a long time consultant at McKinsey, and asked her what consultants do day in and day out. She gave a very lengthy reply (peppered with jargon that only an MBA could love), but her reply was essentially: they do theoretically motivated, hypothesis driven, empirical analysis. I have spoken to many people in a variety of professions, and by and large anyone involved in an intellectually demanding profession---whether it be law, business, government, think tanks or public service work---will say that their work can be summarized as such. The output of such an exercise often needs to be written up, and presented to others. Your thesis, too, will be a theoretically motivated, hypothesis driven, empirical analysis which will be written up (obviously) and presented to your peers. This is a short way of saying, your thesis just might be the best training for the rest of your life that you will get from Penn.
In short, in addition to the immense satisfaction that comes from tackling a difficult intellectual problem and finding creative solutions to it, doing a thesis and doing it well will help you significantly in advancing your immediate post-graduation career.
Unlike previous years, we will not require that you pre-declare yourself as an honors candidate to register for an honors thesis seminar. Instead, all of you (with the exception of those grandfathered-in to the old curriculum and opt to take the one semester non-honors thesis), will register for the two semester INTR390-391 sequence. This means that potentially everyone is eligible for honors. After you have completed the senior seminar, we will grant honors standing in IR based to the following requirements:
A grade of "A" or "A-" on the thesis paper (which may be different from your overall thesis seminar grade);
A GPA of 3.6 in the major, and 3.5 overall, and;
One CU of language training beyond the college requirement, or a demonstration of advanced proficiency in a language that is not your native tongue.
The IR Program keeps an archive of past theses that received a grade of "A-" or higher. You should skim through a few examples to get a sense of what the thesis is supposed to look like.
Some of you may be daunted by the prospect of writing a thesis, but you need not be. To be sure, writing a good thesis is really hard. But, it turns out that writing a decent thesis is not that difficult, just as long as you do what you are supposed to do, when you are supposed to be doing them. The thesis is entirely manageable when broken up into its constituent parts.
The purpose of the thesis seminars is to break up the process into smaller constituent parts, and get you through the process of writing the thesis one step at a time.
A typical thesis will include:
Introduction (topic proposal): 3-5 pages
Literature Review: 7-10 pages
Arguments: 7-10 pages
Research Design: 7-10 pages
Evidence and Analysis: 30 pages
Conclusion: 3-5 pages
The page counts are provided here simply to give you a sense of scale, and will vary considerably according to project. The important thing to note here is that the page count very quickly adds up to the 60-70 page range. Moreover, you can write your thesis as a series of discrete exercises and papers, tackling each of the above 6 parts one at a time. So, you can think of writing your thesis as a series of medium length papers (something we have all done) rather than as one single giant project to be tackled at once. In fact, most senior thesis seminar leaders will structure the assignments such tha tyou will do each of these sections as discrete assignments. With a typical two semester thesis, you will complete parts 1 through 4 in the first semester, with the second semester allocated to the evidence and analysis.
One important thing to keep in mind. If you get your proposal (that is the thesis topic question) right, and if you get your research design right, the rest of the thesis will pretty much write itself (assuming, of course, that you do the work). On the other hand, if you get either one of these wrong, no amount of subsequent effort on your part will salvage your project. This means that your thesis writing will be a heavily front-loaded process. You should be prepared.
The purpose of the thesis seminar is to guide the you through the process of putting together a thesis. While writing a thesis may seem like a dauntig prospect, we can confidently say (based on our experience of having seen thousands of seniors through their projects) that if you do each assignment in the seminar on time, and if you put in the necessary effort, the thesis will get done. (Trust us!)
The thesis seminar will focus on the mechanics of writing a thesis. The seminars will not be focused around a particular substantive theme or content. The thesis seminars will discuss:
What makes for a good thesis topic, and how to come up with one;
How to do a survey of the literature and write a literature review;
How to construct good valid arguments;
How to empirically test arguments;
How to design a valid study, and;
Problems of data and research
In addition, most thesis seminars include a substantial presentation component, where you will hone your ability to share your research with others.
While you will meet individually with your seminar advisors from time to time to discuss your thesis, much of the discussion will be about the shape, structure and quality of the thesis rather than its specific content. After all, you will be participating in a seminar with 15 other students who will be writing on radically different topics. It is thus unlikely that the seminar leader will be a subject matter on precisely your chosen topic. That said, you may want to consult the faculty bio page to learn about the interests and expertise of each of the faculty members to find someone who has interests or expertise closest to your thesis topic.
Regardless, it is a good idea to find a subject matter expert who will help you along the way---first by helping you to settle on a manageable topic, then by pointing you to background research materials, and finally by acting as a "sounding board" for your ideas and analysis. The person you choose for this role need not be Penn faculty (though that is often convenient), and the amount of involvement by that individual is entirely up to you and that person to determine. Some students have consulted a few times a month with their content advisors, others have done so early in the process and much less so once the research was in full swing, still others meet only a few times a semester with their subject matter advisors. The important thing is for you and that person to figure out what works for the both of you.
Let's start with the basics. What is a thesis topic? A thesis topic is a single question. When you are asked what your topic is, you should be able to answer that query with a single sentence that begins with the word "why" or "how" and ends in a question mark. (Generally, factual questions of who, what, where, and when are uninteresting.) If you cannot phrase your topic in the form of a concise question, you do not have a topic.
At the first seminar meeting next year we will ask you what your topic is. If you answer is something like “economic development in China” or “Russian foreign policy” or “war on terrorism”, you have not thought hard enough about your topic---those are not topic statements, they are merely general subject areas of interest.
Now that we have clarified what a topic is, let’s discuss what makes for a good topic.
A topic of genuine interest to you. Remember, the thesis is going to own your mind and soul your senior year, so be sure that it is something you are willing to spend a big chunk of time and energy working on.
A topic should be manageable. Do not come to the seminar with a book proposal. Remember, in the end, the only kind of thesis that matters is a finished thesis. Moreover, your thesis will be at most 80 pages long, usually less. Your topic should be manageable enough that you will be able to conduct a meaningful (not superficial) analysis in less than 6 months and under 80 pages.
This means your topic should be narrow and specific . You should focus on a single area, a single event, or single policy debate. Of course, we hope that your topic will have broader implications, but the topic itself should be very narrowly focused.
Hopefully, after you are done, someone other than you, your advisor, and your Mom and Dad will want to read your thesis. That is, your thesis should be about something that is of broader importance or interest.
Let’s also discuss what is not a good topic.
A thesis should not be on a normative topic. It should also not be about future policy or outcomes. In short, your thesis topic question should not begin with either the word “should” or “will”. While moral/ethical questions or issues of ongoing policy may motivate your choice of topic, your thesis itself should be an empirical analysis of an issue or event that is firmly (even if recently) in the past.
A thesis should not be a polemic. The thesis question must be genuine. You cannot write on a topic about which you already know the answer. That would be pointless
If you would like a sense of the topics that seniors have worked on in the past, you should consult the archive of IR theses we have in the IR library.
Read Dr. McDougall's Guidelines for the Senior Thesis, with particular attention to the first half.
Read it again.
Start the process of coming up with a list of potential thesis topics (questions).
Go and discuss your thesis ideas with subject matter experts. Contact professors you have had in classes, contact people you might have met during internships or summer jobs, contact people you met while studying abroad. At this point, seek as much expert input as you try to come up with a good thesis topic. You might also try contacting experts in the field that you have not had prior interactions with---the worst they can do is turn you down.
As you discuss your ideas with subject matter experts, you should also try to recruit one of them to be your subject matter advisor---someone who would be willing to help you in the research, perhaps read a draft or two, and generally be available for substantive guidance would be immensely useful. Of course, the exact nature and degree of involvement by that person is entirely up to you and that person to determine.
Reacquaint yourself with IR theory---particularly those relevant to your topic. Reread materials from PSCI150/INTR101, and other courses you have taken more directly relevant to your thesis.
Over the summer start the process of figuring out what resources might be available for your research. Familiarize yourself with various archives, libraries, and online materials. Read the web pages of relevant government organizations, IOs, NGOs, etc. Start the process of figuring out what sources you might be able to use in your thesis.
Some of you are double majors and may be interested in writing a joint thesis. We will allow joint submissions under certain circumstances. If you think you would like to explore the possibility of writing a joint thesis, please first read the Guidelines for Joint Theses, and then schedule an appointment with an advisor as soon as possible.
| Copyright 2007: International Relations Program University of Pennsylvania |
Maintained by: Tomoharu Nishino Last Modified: November, 2007 |