The Start of Something New (Thesis Work!)
Senior winter is here, which means a couple of things. First, there will be many days of extremely cold weather, which will make me more thankful for my nice coat and my thick sweaters. Second, I will see beautiful days of snow while walking across the Green or on the Dartmouth ski slopes. However, it also means I officially start my thesis!
Many seniors undertake a thesis during either one, two, or all three of their terms of senior year. And the subjects of these theses vary widely. One of my friends is doing her thesis in the English and Creative Writing Department on Transcendentalism and social media aesthetic posts! I will be doing my thesis in the same department, doing short stories set in an evangelical church youth group. I actually started this project in a fellowship in my junior spring, but now I will have two whole terms to work on this project. Thesis students have a thesis advisor, whom they meet with often to look over their current work and point their advisees in the right direction of their work. My thesis advisor is Professor Vievee Francis, and we meet weekly to discuss how I can better structure a specific story or what work I should read to better my own. Thesis advisors are invaluable resources in a thesis project, and I am thankful for mine and her expertise.
Thesis projects are not mandatory to graduate; however, if it is possible to do one in your major plan and D-Plan, I would highly recommend considering it. It allows you to truly focus on one topic that you are interested in, and at the same time get support from an expert in the field. Plus, if you are considering graduate school, the process gives you a picture of what research and long-term projects might look like.