PSCI 493
Senior Thesis: Political Science Fall 2022
Division II

The senior major, having applied for and been accepted into the honors program during the second semester of the junior year, will devote the senior year to designing, researching, and writing a substantial and original work of scholarship, under the supervision of a faculty mentor to be assigned by the department. The final work will be submitted to and evaluated by a committee chosen by the department. In the fall semester, thesis writers will participate in a seminar supervised by a faculty member in political science. The seminar (which is one component of the 493-W31-494 designation) will focus on a variety of readings and assignments designed to help students develop their proposed project while honing the skills needed to frame and execute a successful thesis. Students will regularly circulate work for peer review and critique. By the end of the seminar, each student will submit a substantial research proposal, including annotated bibliography, for thesis work to be carried out in Winter Study and the spring semester. Those whose proposals are accepted will continue on as thesis students for the remainder of the academic year; if a proposal is not accepted, the student will finish their project as an independent study in W31.