By June, seniors at Princeton and Yale will enter the real world with not only an Ivy League diploma under their belts, but also a senior thesis. At Dartmouth, only a third of the graduating seniors can boast the same.
At Princeton, students are actively encouraged during their junior year to begin conducting independent research consisting of essays or reports in their field of concentration, in addition to their regular courseload.
Such research is continued is continued throughout their senior year, culminating in a long-term writing project or extensive laboratory research. After the seniors graduate, their thesis projects are stored in the library archives so researchers have access to them.
At Yale, all seniors are required to complete a project in their major by the second semester of their senior year. Each discipline has a different requirement -- either a long-term writing or research project.
The senior thesis can be a welcome opportunity for students with a driving interest in a particular topic to pursue it further, but according to faculty and students, Dartmouth seniors face a unique set of challenges that hinder them from pursuing an extended senior project.
Dartmouth's difficulties
Many faculty members said they consider the Dartmouth Plan to be the biggest impediments to student who might consider writing a thesis.
Students, who are considering writing a senior thesis, should really devote their time narrowing down a topic and conducting preliminary research during their junior year, according to Barry Scherr, associate dean of faculty for the humanities.
However, many juniors are off campus during this pertinent time period, he said.
Chair of the History Department Michael Ermarth agreed that the D-plan and Dartmouth's short 10-week terms were inconducive to writing a thesis. Although seniors take three terms to write a history thesis, Ermarth described the process as hectic and "head over heels."
John Campbell, the chair of the sociology department, said two terms are not long enough to write a thesis. More Dartmouth seniors might consider writing a thesis if they were given more time, he said.
"It comes to crunch-time pretty fast in only 20 weeks," he said.
Dean of Faculty Ed Berger said the lack of faculty members who are willing to devote large amounts of time to advise seniors writing a thesis is also a problem.
Berger said he hoped the culminating experience requirement in every major would lead more seniors to write an honors thesis.
As a culminating experience, writing a thesis is much more valuable than attending a seminar, Berger said. The process of inquiry-based learning, working closely with a faculty member and independently developing a hypothesis are useful skills in the "real world," he said.
By the department
In the Sociology department, only two out of 13 majors are currently writing senior theses this year.
Campbell said faculty members are likely to encourage Presidential Scholars or students with whom they have conducted independent study projects to write a thesis. Others who choose to write a thesis are motivated by a special interest in a certain subject or hope to graduate with honors, he said.
In the Art History department, five of the 23 majors have chosen to write a thesis.
Assistant Professor of Art History Angela Rosenthal said her department has been more encouraging recently than it used to be toward seniors intending to write a thesis, especially those intending to pursue a career in the field of art history.
Stressing the rigorous procedure of developing the topic and presenting the thesis, Rosenthal emphasized that the art history department regards writing a thesis as a "serious enterprise."
"We take it seriously, and it's something special for people who take it seriously," she said.
Writing a thesis helps students test whether their interest in a certain field is strong enough to lead them into a career in that field, Rosenthal said. Independent research for the thesis can also help to prepare students for a career in their field of choice, she said.
Students usually feel very empowered when they write a thesis, Rosenthal said. As "quasi professionals" on the topic of their thesis, they "get a slice of life out of it," she said.
The Philosophy Department has a slightly different requirement for majors intending to write a thesis, Philosophy Professor Bernie Gert explained.
In addition to a regular courseload, juniors thinking about writing a thesis must participate in an honors program, a seminar offered every term but not recorded as an official class.
The discussion seminar, ideally devised for four people, meets four times during the term and requires majors to write four to five-page papers. Students do not receive credit for the program and are free to drop out at any time during the term. The junior honors program is designed to help students decide whether they can handle the work, Gert said. Faculty members leading these seminars are willing to put in additional effort to make sure those students writing a thesis will be qualified, he said.
Half of the students who participate in the junior honors program decide to write a thesis their senior year, Gert said. Over the past few years, he said, four to five majors have chosen this option every year.
Writing a thesis requires a "high level of excellence," and students are expected to work at the level of a first-year graduate student, Gert said.
The experience offers good preparation for graduate school work and offers insight into independent work, he said.
Gert described supervising an honors thesis as immensely time-consuming, as students meet with their advisors every week. The thesis must reach a minimum of 70 pages and must be finished by the seventh week of senior spring.
Dan Epstein '99, a Philosophy major writing a thesis on intellectual property rights said he decided early in his junior year that he wanted write a thesis because he thought it would be a challenge. He said he believes his thesis will be rewarding experience once the process is completed.
Epstein said he did not find the Philosophy Department's junior honors program too rigorous, although it covered material in considerable depth.
Of more than 100 senior history majors, 14 are currently writing a thesis, according to Ermarth.
Seniors must be willing to spend "senior year in the library," he said. Many history majors write a thesis that is anywhere from 110 to 250 pages long.
"When you get into that area, you're talking about writing a books," Ermarth said. "It's a superb way to finish off the major."
The number of government majors writing a thesis is also slightly lower than normal, Government Professor Mlada Bukovansky said. The department has 16 students in its honors program this year, while it usually has about 20, she said.
A government thesis involves finding answers to political science questions using both theories and empirical data, Shapiro explained. Students should start thinking about their thesis as early as their sophomore year, she said.
She said she thinks spending more than 10 weeks on writing a thesis offers the chance to work independently, and to become total immersed in a certain field.
