Interested in joining us for one of our Thursday Thesis Think Tank meetings?
Every thesis writer and thesis project is unique, and arguably the single most important thing that you can do as a thesis adviser is to get to know your student well and to be supportive and attentive as they work towards their spring deadline. The amount of structure that different concentrations offer their students can also have a significant impact on how you think about your role as an adviser. In some cases you may feel like an extension of the department’s undergraduate office, encouraging your student to follow its well-articulated pathway towards completion and nudging your student to heed (albeit perhaps with some discretion) its recommended proposal or draft deadlines. In other cases you may be the one responsible for translating the concentration’s somewhat vague guidelines into an actionable roadmap of recommended thresholds and dates. It’s well worth establishing a healthy line of communication with the concentration’s undergraduate office (and with anyone else involved in advising your student’s academic work) from the start of your advising relationship.
Regardless of the precise structure and obligations surrounding your position as an adviser, there are a number of things which you can do to help just about any student have a meaningful, and successful, experience with the senior thesis. Here are five key contributions which you can make:
In an ideal world, every student would enter the thesis process fully prepared for every aspect of scholarly work. They all would know how to ask an analytical question suitable for a 60- or 100-page paper, how to find relevant data, how to draw lucid figures, how to format every footnote or methods section, … . Likewise, we might wish that every thesis topic lent itself equally well to the particular constraints of Harvard’s resources and academic calendar. If only that essential cache of Russian manuscripts existed in a published English translation in Widener! If only this experimental protocol took two weeks rather than four months! In reality, however, every thesis involves some compromise—perhaps significant compromise. One of your most important jobs as a thesis adviser is to roleplay your student’s future audience, and to help your student understand that the most successful theses ask questions that are not only meaningful, but that can be answered at least somewhat plausibly by the set of skills, resources, and time that is available to a Harvard undergraduate. Insofar as a student is determined to tackle a dissertation-sized question, the adviser can at least remind the student that it will be important to frame the results as a “partial” answer or a “contribution towards” an answer in the introduction.
As with the previous point about managing expectations, it is important that an adviser be able to remind their student that the senior thesis is not, and will not be, the moment when students magically become “better” people than they already are. Students who have been night owls during their first three years of college are unlikely to transform miraculously into the type of scholars who rise at 6am and write 1000 words before breakfast—no matter how much they yearn to emulate some academic role model. Students who have participated actively in a sport or other extracurricular are unlikely to be able to simply recoup those hours for thesis work—cutting back three hours/week at The Crimson is at least as likely to translate into three more hours spent bantering in the dining hall as it is into three hours spent poring over the administrative structure of the Byzantine Empire. The point is that students can benefit from being reminded that they already know how to do the kind of work expected of them on the thesis, and that it may be counterproductive—if not downright unhealthy—to hold themselves to new or arbitrary standards.
With relatively few exceptions, most of the writing projects assigned in college are sufficiently modest that students can wait to start writing until they have figured out the full arc of what they want to say and how they want to say it. It’s possible, in other words, to plan and hold the entirety of a five-page essay in one’s head. This is simply not true of a senior thesis. Theses require the author to take a leap of faith—to start writing before the research is done and long before they know exactly what they want to say. Students may be reluctant to do this, fearing that they might “waste” precious time drafting a section of a chapter that ultimately doesn’t fit in the final thesis. You can do your student a world of good by reminding them that there is no such thing as wasted writing. In a project as large as a thesis, writing is not merely about reporting one’s conclusions—it is the process through which students come to figure out what their conclusions might be, and which lines of research they will need to pursue to get there.
While academic research and writing can and should be a creative endeavor, it is also undeniably true that even professional scholars draw upon a relatively constrained set of well-known strategies when framing their work. How many different ways, after all, are there to say that the conventional wisdom on a topic has ignored a certain genre of evidence? Or that two competing schools of thought actually agree more than they disagree? Or that fiddling with one variable has the power to reframe an entire discussion? Students may struggle to see how to plug their research into the existing scholarly conversation around their topic. Showing them models or templates that demystify the ways in which scholars frame their interventions can be enormously powerful.
As noted above, the senior thesis is a long process, and while it’s rarely a good idea for students to change their work habits in an effort to complete it, it is important that they be working early and often. Occasionally students do become overwhelmed by the scope of the project, and begin to feel defeated by the incremental nature of progress they are making. Even a good week of work may yield only a couple of pages of passable writing. Ideally a student feeling overwhelmed would come to their adviser for some help putting things into perspective. But for a student used to having a fair amount of success, the struggles involved in a senior thesis may be disorienting, and they may worry that they are “disappointing” you. For some, this will manifest as a retreat from your deadlines and oversight—even as they outwardly project confidence. They may begin bargaining with themselves in ways that only serve to sink them deeper into a sense of panic or shame. (“I’m long past the deadline for my first ten pages—but if I give my adviser a really brilliant fifteen-page section, he won’t mind! Surely I can turn these four pages into fifteen if I stay up all night!”) One of the best things that you can do as an adviser is keep contact with your student and make sure to remind them that your dynamic is not one of “approval” or “disapproval.” It is important that they maintain a healthy and realistic approach to the incremental process of completing the thesis over several months.
The Art of Thesis Writing: A handout for students
Harvard's Academic Resource Center on Senior Theses
Senior Thesis Tutors at the Harvard College Writing Center
Here are some tips for finding and approaching a potential project advisor.
Graduate School
Responsibility
A thesis is required for all programs leading to a Plan A master’s degree, and a dissertation is required for the doctor of philosophy degree. This manual was written by the Graduate School to help you and your committee members to prepare theses and dissertations. Its purpose is to define uniform format standards. The word “thesis” refers to both the thesis and the dissertation unless otherwise noted.
Your advisor serves as a mentor both while you are doing the thesis work and while the results of that work are prepared for the thesis. Although you have primary responsibility for the content, quality, and format of the thesis, the advisor and the Graduate Advisory Committee must be consulted frequently. They approve the final document before it is submitted to the Graduate School. Advisors are particularly asked to insure that the abstract summarizes clearly and concisely the major points of the thesis.
Your are responsible for making all arrangements for the preparation and submission of the thesis as well as any additional copies required by the department. you should also consider the following:
1. Consult a style manual approved by your department for correct format for quotations, footnotes, and bibliographical items. 2. Refer to the Graduate School Thesis and Dissertation Formatting Guide for guidelines regarding correct format for thesis presentation (including illustrative materials). 3. Edit draft for correct sentence structure, grammar, paragraphing, punctuation, and spelling. 4. Prepare tables in the form in which they are to be printed. 5. Furnish numbering and legends for all tables and illustrative materials. 6. Proofread final copy and check to see that corrections are made accurately. 7. Present a copy to the Graduate Advisory Committee for their review. 8. Submit the final committee approved version electronically.
Students should use this to identify thesis advisors who match their interests and possible thesis topics. This tool is organized by faculty issue and regional expertise.
Narrow your search for an advisor by selecting a policy area or region.
Your success as a graduate student in research psychology may depend on it. Here's advice from experts on finding the best fit
By Laura Zimmerman, PhD
January 2017, Vol 48, No. 1
Print version: page 58
Undergraduate students who want to pursue psychology research careers often believe that where they choose to go to graduate school is the most important decision they'll make about their education. While that is one key factor, choosing the right advisor can be even more crucial. Advisors serve as supervisors and mentors who ensure students meet graduate school requirements, oversee research and writing, help obtain funding, provide feedback on papers and talks, and give career advice.
"Your mentor will be a huge factor in the next four to six years of your life," says Ana Hernandez Kent, a doctoral candidate in experimental psychology at Saint Louis University. "[That's why it's important to] really focus on the professors you want to work with, rather than the school or program."
How can students do that? Here are seven suggestions from psychology professors and fellow students.
Start your search by matching your interests to laboratories doing similar work. "I thought a lot about my research interests," says Jenna Cummings, a doctoral candidate in health psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles. "I wanted to be where I would enjoy researching a topic for the next five years."
Enlist the help of your undergraduate advisor. "Get to know at least one professor outside of classes by working in a lab or doing a thesis," says Cummings. "When you have a closer relationship with your undergraduate advisor, they are interested in your success and motivated to help."
As an undergrad, Justin Strickland, a doctoral candidate in behavioral neuroscience and psychopharmacology at the University of Kentucky, asked his advisor for research experience. "My advisor lined me up with a former student who is now my grad school advisor. I spent the summer of my junior year in my current advisor's lab," he says.
Research and laboratory experience as an undergraduate will also help you get into a lab in graduate school, says Tammy Allen, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of South Florida. "Having worked on an honors thesis demonstrates you have some familiarity with the research process."
If you don't have the opportunity to work in a lab before graduation, you might consider taking a gap year before entering graduate school to gain research experience by working in a lab and exploring your research interests. You can also apply for a postbaccalaureate research internship, which helps students gain research experience. Many universities offer postbaccalaureate opportunities, as do many medical centers and agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
When evaluating possible advisors, consider where they are in their careers. "Assistant professors might have more projects and diverse interests, but might not have much funding," says Cummings. More established professors might have more focused research interests, and more funding, she says.
In the end, it comes down to qualities that best match your needs. For example, Renee Cloutier, a doctoral candidate in experimental psychology at the University of North Texas, was the first graduate student to join her advisor's new lab. "I liked the opportunity to build up a lab from scratch because, ultimately, I want to go into academia, and this let me see how to do it."
Factors such as funding, publishing opportunities and support for conferences are also important to consider. You need to think about how much funding your advisor has and whether he or she will be able to support your research activities, says Strickland. "It shouldn't be your sole determinant, but you have to think about it."
To determine if a lab offers publishing opportunities, "look at faculty CVs to figure out if students are included on publications or if they are first authors," says Cloutier. "This indicates the advisor is mentoring and helping students along with publications."
Once you've identified possible advisors, find out if they are accepting students. Email the faculty you want to work with and tell them what you are interested in and why you want to work with them, Cloutier says.
Also ask them about the research they are currently conducting, Cummings suggests. "This is a good way to learn about their ongoing projects because their publications may not reflect their current activities and interests."
But, be mindful of the time it takes for them to respond. "Questions are fine, but remember that faculty receive many inquires so it is best to ask questions that are not going to take the potential advisor a long time to answer," says Allen.
Also, skip sending questions you can answer on your own. For example, don't ask advisors about admission requirements or questions you can find the answers to on department websites.
When it's time to apply to graduate schools, use your personal statement to catch the attention of potential advisors. Personal statements can be very telling, says Linda Spear, PhD, a professor of psychology at Binghamton University in New York, who tries to answer these three questions when she reviews applicants: "Do they seem interested in the kind of work we do? Do they write well? Do they have solid reasons for wanting to go to graduate school?"
In addition, letters of recommendation provide important insights. "I look for indication of responsibility, reliability, creativity, common sense, high ethical standards, dedication and enthusiasm," she adds.
After graduate schools accept your application, you may get the opportunity to tour their campuses and meet potential advisors. If travel isn't possible, advisors are increasingly doing web-based interviews. These meetings will give you a sense of compatibility, which may matter more than similar research interests. "An advisor is a research collaborator, as well as a mentor, so it's important to get along," says Strickland.
Lab work conditions and requirements are also important to consider. "Some advisors need you to be in the lab a lot, while others don't care where you do your work as long as you get it done," says Hernandez Kent. "My lab is very communal, with a round table where we bounce ideas off each other. Other labs are less collaborative, with individual offices or no shared space."
You can gather a sense of the lab atmosphere by talking to other students. "Grad students will know the most about what it means to work with that advisor," says Strickland. "Students are the most honest about their advisor's personality, their expectations for students, and how they run the lab."
Remember advisors are also looking to see if you can work well together. "Most of what one learns in graduate school occurs outside the classroom and in the lab, and a lot of that training involves one-on-ones with others, including other graduate students and staff, as well as faculty," says Spear.
After you meet with faculty and students, they will discuss your social interactions. "Faculty will ask their students about the type of questions you asked and if you seemed collaborative," says Allen. "I want to assess your intellectual curiosity and determine if you will be a good colleague to other students."
To be able to ask good questions, do your homework in advance, says Allen. "Become familiar with the research conducted by the department faculty, not just the advisor you are interested in working with, and have questions ready."
However, beware of coming across as a sycophant. "There are cases where students bend too far and say whatever they believe faculty members want to hear, but a lot of times faculty can see right through that," says Allen.
Also, be sure to talk up your nonacademic activities and interests, which can spark faculty interest more than GPA and GRE scores. "Evidence from applicants' records that they can efficiently balance various interests and competing demands when scheduling their time is a major plus," says Spear.
Once you've made your final graduate school choice and have been accepted into a lab, it's time to make a great initial impression. For starters, don't wait until the beginning of the fall semester to get involved. Instead, do some literature review work or volunteer to help conduct research over the summer, advises Allen. "It demonstrates you are eager to get started."
When you get to the lab, remember that most of your co-workers have been working together for years. "Don't be afraid to ask questions," says Cloutier. "You are coming into a lab with older students who were once new, too, so usually they are more than happy to share advice."
Also, be sure to establish your dependability, says Allen. "Right away work on existing projects, make deadlines and generate ideas for research projects you want to carry out."
Another key to success is to talk to your advisor about your goals and expectations, says Cummings.
"Be clear about what your needs are as a student and voice them to your advisor so he or she can meet your needs better."
Sometimes students realize they are not a good fit with their advisor or lab.
If you are having trouble with your advisor, first try to work it out with him or her. If it becomes apparent that switching labs is the best solution, talk with someone else in the department to help with the transition. For example, meet with the department chair, the dean of graduate studies, or another faculty member whom you trust for guidance on how to change labs and to learn about any formal departmental procedures. Go to these meetings prepared to suggest possible solutions, rather than just complaining. For example, suggest other labs you could join.
"Students might have anxiety about switching labs, but the people I've known who've done it have had very positive experiences," says Cummings. "I think universities are generally supportive of those kinds of transitions."
The last thing you should do is stay in a situation that is not working for you, says Cloutier. "The advisor really matters a lot to your academic future and your career. If you don't get along, you can't move forward with your master's thesis and dissertation. They are the gatekeepers to your success."
Navigating the Power Differential www.apa.org/gradpsych/2016/01/power-differential
Dear Advisee: What Your Advisor Wants You to Know www.apa.org/monitor/2012/07-08/advisee
Mentorship for Life www.apa.org/gradpsych/2013/01/mentorships
What this handout is about.
This handout suggests strategies for developing healthy writing habits during your dissertation journey. These habits can help you maintain your writing momentum, overcome anxiety and procrastination, and foster wellbeing during one of the most challenging times in graduate school.
Because dissertations are, of course, big projects, it’s no surprise that planning, writing, and revising one can pose some challenges! It can help to think of your dissertation as an expanded version of a long essay: at the end of the day, it is simply another piece of writing. You’ve written your way this far into your degree, so you’ve got the skills! You’ll develop a great deal of expertise on your topic, but you may still be a novice with this genre and writing at this length. Remember to give yourself some grace throughout the project. As you begin, it’s helpful to consider two overarching strategies throughout the process.
First, take stock of how you learn and your own writing processes. What strategies have worked and have not worked for you? Why? What kind of learner and writer are you? Capitalize on what’s working and experiment with new strategies when something’s not working. Keep in mind that trying out new strategies can take some trial-and-error, and it’s okay if a new strategy that you try doesn’t work for you. Consider why it may not have been the best for you, and use that reflection to consider other strategies that might be helpful to you.
Second, break the project into manageable chunks. At every stage of the process, try to identify specific tasks, set small, feasible goals, and have clear, concrete strategies for achieving each goal. Small victories can help you establish and maintain the momentum you need to keep yourself going.
Below, we discuss some possible strategies to keep you moving forward in the dissertation process.
Get familiar with the Graduate School’s Thesis and Dissertation Resources .
Create a template that’s properly formatted. The Grad School offers workshops on formatting in Word for PC and formatting in Word for Mac . There are online templates for LaTeX users, but if you use a template, save your work where you can recover it if the template has corrruption issues.
Learn how to use a citation-manager and a synthesis matrix to keep track of all of your source information.
Skim other dissertations from your department, program, and advisor. Enlist the help of a librarian or ask your advisor for a list of recent graduates whose work you can look up. Seeing what other people have done to earn their PhD can make the project much less abstract and daunting. A concrete sense of expectations will help you envision and plan. When you know what you’ll be doing, try to find a dissertation from your department that is similar enough that you can use it as a reference model when you run into concerns about formatting, structure, level of detail, etc.
Think carefully about your committee . Ideally, you’ll be able to select a group of people who work well with you and with each other. Consult with your advisor about who might be good collaborators for your project and who might not be the best fit. Consider what classes you’ve taken and how you “vibe” with those professors or those you’ve met outside of class. Try to learn what you can about how they’ve worked with other students. Ask about feedback style, turnaround time, level of involvement, etc., and imagine how that would work for you.
Sketch out a sensible drafting order for your project. Be open to writing chapters in “the wrong order” if it makes sense to start somewhere other than the beginning. You could begin with the section that seems easiest for you to write to gain momentum.
Design a productivity alliance with your advisor . Talk with them about potential projects and a reasonable timeline. Discuss how you’ll work together to keep your work moving forward. You might discuss having a standing meeting to discuss ideas or drafts or issues (bi-weekly? monthly?), your advisor’s preferences for drafts (rough? polished?), your preferences for what you’d like feedback on (early or late drafts?), reasonable turnaround time for feedback (a week? two?), and anything else you can think of to enter the collaboration mindfully.
Design a productivity alliance with your colleagues . Dissertation writing can be lonely, but writing with friends, meeting for updates over your beverage of choice, and scheduling non-working social times can help you maintain healthy energy. See our tips on accountability strategies for ideas to support each other.
Write when you’re most productive. When do you have the most energy? Focus? Creativity? When are you most able to concentrate, either because of your body rhythms or because there are fewer demands on your time? Once you determine the hours that are most productive for you (you may need to experiment at first), try to schedule those hours for dissertation work. See the collection of time management tools and planning calendars on the Learning Center’s Tips & Tools page to help you think through the possibilities. If at all possible, plan your work schedule, errands and chores so that you reserve your productive hours for the dissertation.
Put your writing time firmly on your calendar . Guard your writing time diligently. You’ll probably be invited to do other things during your productive writing times, but do your absolute best to say no and to offer alternatives. No one would hold it against you if you said no because you’re teaching a class at that time—and you wouldn’t feel guilty about saying no. Cultivating the same hard, guilt-free boundaries around your writing time will allow you preserve the time you need to get this thing done!
Develop habits that foster balance . You’ll have to work very hard to get this dissertation finished, but you can do that without sacrificing your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. Think about how you can structure your work hours most efficiently so that you have time for a healthy non-work life. It can be something as small as limiting the time you spend chatting with fellow students to a few minutes instead of treating the office or lab as a space for extensive socializing. Also see above for protecting your time.
Write in spaces where you can be productive. Figure out where you work well and plan to be there during your dissertation work hours. Do you get more done on campus or at home? Do you prefer quiet and solitude, like in a library carrel? Do you prefer the buzz of background noise, like in a coffee shop? Are you aware of the UNC Libraries’ list of places to study ? If you get “stuck,” don’t be afraid to try a change of scenery. The variety may be just enough to get your brain going again.
Work where you feel comfortable . Wherever you work, make sure you have whatever lighting, furniture, and accessories you need to keep your posture and health in good order. The University Health and Safety office offers guidelines for healthy computer work . You’re more likely to spend time working in a space that doesn’t physically hurt you. Also consider how you could make your work space as inviting as possible. Some people find that it helps to have pictures of family and friends on their desk—sort of a silent “cheering section.” Some people work well with neutral colors around them, and others prefer bright colors that perk up the space. Some people like to put inspirational quotations in their workspace or encouraging notes from friends and family. You might try reconfiguring your work space to find a décor that helps you be productive.
Elicit helpful feedback from various people at various stages . You might be tempted to keep your writing to yourself until you think it’s brilliant, but you can lower the stakes tremendously if you make eliciting feedback a regular part of your writing process. Your friends can feel like a safer audience for ideas or drafts in their early stages. Someone outside your department may provide interesting perspectives from their discipline that spark your own thinking. See this handout on getting feedback for productive moments for feedback, the value of different kinds of feedback providers, and strategies for eliciting what’s most helpful to you. Make this a recurring part of your writing process. Schedule it to help you hit deadlines.
Change the writing task . When you don’t feel like writing, you can do something different or you can do something differently. Make a list of all the little things you need to do for a given section of the dissertation, no matter how small. Choose a task based on your energy level. Work on Grad School requirements: reformat margins, work on bibliography, and all that. Work on your acknowledgements. Remember all the people who have helped you and the great ideas they’ve helped you develop. You may feel more like working afterward. Write a part of your dissertation as a letter or email to a good friend who would care. Sometimes setting aside the academic prose and just writing it to a buddy can be liberating and help you get the ideas out there. You can make it sound smart later. Free-write about why you’re stuck, and perhaps even about how sick and tired you are of your dissertation/advisor/committee/etc. Venting can sometimes get you past the emotions of writer’s block and move you toward creative solutions. Open a separate document and write your thoughts on various things you’ve read. These may or may note be coherent, connected ideas, and they may or may not make it into your dissertation. They’re just notes that allow you to think things through and/or note what you want to revisit later, so it’s perfectly fine to have mistakes, weird organization, etc. Just let your mind wander on paper.
Develop habits that foster productivity and may help you develop a productive writing model for post-dissertation writing . Since dissertations are very long projects, cultivating habits that will help support your work is important. You might check out Helen Sword’s work on behavioral, artisanal, social, and emotional habits to help you get a sense of where you are in your current habits. You might try developing “rituals” of work that could help you get more done. Lighting incense, brewing a pot of a particular kind of tea, pulling out a favorite pen, and other ritualistic behaviors can signal your brain that “it is time to get down to business.” You can critically think about your work methods—not only about what you like to do, but also what actually helps you be productive. You may LOVE to listen to your favorite band while you write, for example, but if you wind up playing air guitar half the time instead of writing, it isn’t a habit worth keeping.
The point is, figure out what works for you and try to do it consistently. Your productive habits will reinforce themselves over time. If you find yourself in a situation, however, that doesn’t match your preferences, don’t let it stop you from working on your dissertation. Try to be flexible and open to experimenting. You might find some new favorites!
Schedule a regular activity with other people that involves your dissertation. Set up a coworking date with your accountability buddies so you can sit and write together. Organize a chapter swap. Make regular appointments with your advisor. Whatever you do, make sure it’s something that you’ll feel good about showing up for–and will make you feel good about showing up for others.
Try writing in sprints . Many writers have discovered that the “Pomodoro technique” (writing for 25 minutes and taking a 5 minute break) boosts their productivity by helping them set small writing goals, focus intently for short periods, and give their brains frequent rests. See how one dissertation writer describes it in this blog post on the Pomodoro technique .
Quit while you’re ahead . Sometimes it helps to stop for the day when you’re on a roll. If you’ve got a great idea that you’re developing and you know where you want to go next, write “Next, I want to introduce x, y, and z and explain how they’re related—they all have the same characteristics of 1 and 2, and that clinches my theory of Q.” Then save the file and turn off the computer, or put down the notepad. When you come back tomorrow, you will already know what to say next–and all that will be left is to say it. Hopefully, the momentum will carry you forward.
Write your dissertation in single-space . When you need a boost, double space it and be impressed with how many pages you’ve written.
Set feasible goals–and celebrate the achievements! Setting and achieving smaller, more reasonable goals ( SMART goals ) gives you success, and that success can motivate you to focus on the next small step…and the next one.
Give yourself rewards along the way . When you meet a writing goal, reward yourself with something you normally wouldn’t have or do–this can be anything that will make you feel good about your accomplishment.
Make the act of writing be its own reward . For example, if you love a particular coffee drink from your favorite shop, save it as a special drink to enjoy during your writing time.
Try giving yourself “pre-wards” —positive experiences that help you feel refreshed and recharged for the next time you write. You don’t have to “earn” these with prior work, but you do have to commit to doing the work afterward.
Commit to doing something you don’t want to do if you don’t achieve your goal. Some people find themselves motivated to work harder when there’s a negative incentive. What would you most like to avoid? Watching a movie you hate? Donating to a cause you don’t support? Whatever it is, how can you ensure enforcement? Who can help you stay accountable?
Build your confidence . It is not uncommon to feel “imposter phenomenon” during the course of writing your dissertation. If you start to feel this way, it can help to take a few minutes to remember every success you’ve had along the way. You’ve earned your place, and people have confidence in you for good reasons. It’s also helpful to remember that every one of the brilliant people around you is experiencing the same lack of confidence because you’re all in a new context with new tasks and new expectations. You’re not supposed to have it all figured out. You’re supposed to have uncertainties and questions and things to learn. Remember that they wouldn’t have accepted you to the program if they weren’t confident that you’d succeed. See our self-scripting handout for strategies to turn these affirmations into a self-script that you repeat whenever you’re experiencing doubts or other negative thoughts. You can do it!
Appreciate your successes . Not meeting a goal isn’t a failure–and it certainly doesn’t make you a failure. It’s an opportunity to figure out why you didn’t meet the goal. It might simply be that the goal wasn’t achievable in the first place. See the SMART goal handout and think through what you can adjust. Even if you meant to write 1500 words, focus on the success of writing 250 or 500 words that you didn’t have before.
Remember your “why.” There are a whole host of reasons why someone might decide to pursue a PhD, both personally and professionally. Reflecting on what is motivating to you can rekindle your sense of purpose and direction.
Get outside support . Sometimes it can be really helpful to get an outside perspective on your work and anxieties as a way of grounding yourself. Participating in groups like the Dissertation Support group through CAPS and the Dissertation Boot Camp can help you see that you’re not alone in the challenges. You might also choose to form your own writing support group with colleagues inside or outside your department.
Understand and manage your procrastination . When you’re writing a long dissertation, it can be easy to procrastinate! For instance, you might put off writing because the house “isn’t clean enough” or because you’re not in the right “space” (mentally or physically) to write, so you put off writing until the house is cleaned and everything is in its right place. You may have other ways of procrastinating. It can be helpful to be self-aware of when you’re procrastinating and to consider why you are procrastinating. It may be that you’re anxious about writing the perfect draft, for example, in which case you might consider: how can I focus on writing something that just makes progress as opposed to being “perfect”? There are lots of different ways of managing procrastination; one way is to make a schedule of all the things you already have to do (when you absolutely can’t write) to help you visualize those chunks of time when you can. See this handout on procrastination for more strategies and tools for managing procrastination.
By the time you’ve reached this stage, you have probably already defended a dissertation proposal, chosen an advisor, and begun working with a committee. Sometimes, however, those three elements can prove to be major external sources of frustration. So how can you manage them to help yourself be as productive as possible?
Remember that your topic is not carved in stone . The research and writing plan suggested in your dissertation proposal was your best vision of the project at that time, but topics evolve as the research and writing progress. You might need to tweak your research question a bit to reduce or adjust the scope, you might pare down certain parts of the project or add others. You can discuss your thoughts on these adjustments with your advisor at your check ins.
Think about variables that could be cut down and how changes would affect the length, depth, breadth, and scholarly value of your study. Could you cut one or two experiments, case studies, regions, years, theorists, or chapters and still make a valuable contribution or, even more simply, just finish?
Talk to your advisor about any changes you might make . They may be quite sympathetic to your desire to shorten an unwieldy project and may offer suggestions.
Look at other dissertations from your department to get a sense of what the chapters should look like. Reverse-outline a few chapters so you can see if there’s a pattern of typical components and how information is sequenced. These can serve as models for your own dissertation. See this video on reverse outlining to see the technique.
Embrace your evolving status . At this stage in your graduate career, you should expect to assume some independence. By the time you finish your project, you will know more about your subject than your committee does. The student/teacher relationship you have with your advisor will necessarily change as you take this big step toward becoming their colleague.
Revisit the alliance . If the interaction with your advisor isn’t matching the original agreement or the original plan isn’t working as well as it could, schedule a conversation to revisit and redesign your working relationship in a way that could work for both of you.
Be specific in your feedback requests . Tell your advisor what kind of feedback would be most helpful to you. Sometimes an advisor can be giving unhelpful or discouraging feedback without realizing it. They might make extensive sentence-level edits when you really need conceptual feedback, or vice-versa, if you only ask generally for feedback. Letting your advisor know, very specifically, what kinds of responses will be helpful to you at different stages of the writing process can help your advisor know how to help you.
Don’t hide . Advisors can be most helpful if they know what you are working on, what problems you are experiencing, and what progress you have made. If you haven’t made the progress you were hoping for, it only makes it worse if you avoid talking to them. You rob yourself of their expertise and support, and you might start a spiral of guilt, shame, and avoidance. Even if it’s difficult, it may be better to be candid about your struggles.
Talk to other students who have the same advisor . You may find that they have developed strategies for working with your advisor that could help you communicate more effectively with them.
If you have recurring problems communicating with your advisor , you can make a change. You could change advisors completely, but a less dramatic option might be to find another committee member who might be willing to serve as a “secondary advisor” and give you the kinds of feedback and support that you may need.
Design the alliance . Talk with your committee members about how much they’d like to be involved in your writing process, whether they’d like to see chapter drafts or the complete draft, how frequently they’d like to meet (or not), etc. Your advisor can guide you on how committees usually work, but think carefully about how you’d like the relationship to function too.
Keep in regular contact with your committee , even if they don’t want to see your work until it has been approved by your advisor. Let them know about fellowships you receive, fruitful research excursions, the directions your thinking is taking, and the plans you have for completion. In short, keep them aware that you are working hard and making progress. Also, look for other ways to get facetime with your committee even if it’s not a one-on-one meeting. Things like speaking with them at department events, going to colloquiums or other events they organize and/or attend regularly can help you develop a relationship that could lead to other introductions and collaborations as your career progresses.
Share your struggles . Too often, we only talk to our professors when we’re making progress and hide from them the rest of the time. If you share your frustrations or setbacks with a knowledgeable committee member, they might offer some very helpful suggestions for overcoming the obstacles you face—after all, your committee members have all written major research projects before, and they have probably solved similar problems in their own work.
Stay true to yourself . Sometimes, you just don’t entirely gel with your committee, but that’s okay. It’s important not to get too hung up on how your committee does (or doesn’t) relate to you. Keep your eye on the finish line and keep moving forward.
Graduate School Diversity Initiatives : Groups and events to support the success of students identifying with an affinity group.
Graduate School Career Well : Extensive professional development resources related to writing, research, networking, job search, etc.
CAPS Therapy Groups : CAPS offers a variety of support groups, including a dissertation support group.
Advice on Research and Writing : Lots of links on writing, public speaking, dissertation management, burnout, and more.
How to be a Good Graduate Student: Marie DesJardins’ essay talks about several phases of the graduate experience, including the dissertation. She discusses some helpful hints for staying motivated and doing consistent work.
Preparing Future Faculty : This page, a joint project of the American Association of Colleges and Universities, the Council of Graduate Schools, and the Pew Charitable Trusts, explains the Preparing Future Faculty Programs and includes links and suggestions that may help graduate students and their advisors think constructively about the process of graduate education as a step toward faculty responsibilities.
Dissertation Tips : Kjell Erik Rudestam, Ph.D. and Rae Newton, Ph.D., authors of Surviving Your Dissertation: A Comprehensive Guide to Content and Process.
The ABD Survival Guide Newsletter : Information about the ABD Survival Guide newsletter (which is free) and other services from E-Coach (many of which are not free).
You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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Choosing a thesis advisor is the most important decision of your life--perhaps more important than choosing a spouse--because your choice affects everything you will do in your career. Indeed, choosing an advisor is similar to getting married: it is making a long-term commitment. Unlike marriage, however, a good advising relationship should end successfully within a few years. Also, unlike husband and wife, the advisor and student do not start as equals. At first, the relationship is essentially an apprenticeship. But although you start as an apprentice, ideally, you should end as a colleague.
As you consider which professor might serve as an advisor, you should first formulate your goals in undertaking thesis research. A thesis demonstrates your ability to make an original, significant contribution to the corpus of human knowledge. Through your thesis project, you develop skills useful in any career: critical reading of the scholarly or scientific literature, formulation and solution of a problem, clear written and oral communication of the results. Furthermore, you learn the practices of a particular scholarly community: theoretical frameworks and experimental paradigms, publication processes, and standards of professional behavior. You learn how to present a paper at a seminar or a conference, and how to give and receive criticism.
You should seek a thesis advisor who can help you meet your goals, and whose working style is compatible with yours. Here are some specific steps that you can take to find an advisor.
Take a course with a potential advisor, possibly individual study. In an individual study course, you can learn about the professor's working style, with a limited, one semester commitment between you and the professor. The individual study course might involve directed reading, with the goal of producing a survey article that could serve as the basis for a thesis. Or the individual study course might involve a small project in the professor's laboratory.
Ask for copies of grant proposals that describe research projects of possible interest to you. A grant proposal states research problems, explains the importance of the problems in the context of other research, and describes recent progress, including the professor's contributions. Usually, a proposal includes references to journal articles and books that you can look up. You do not need the budget part of the proposal, which contains confidential information about salaries.
Consider working with two advisors. If you are interested in an interdisciplinary project, then you could engage two official advisors, one in each discipline. Even if you choose only one official advisor, you may occasionally seek advice from a second professor, who can provide an alternate perspective. Some departments institutionalize this practice by requiring that the chair of a doctoral committee be different from the thesis advisor. Discuss these arrangements with both professors openly, to minimize possible misunderstandings about each professor's role.
Interview a potential advisor. Before the interview, read some articles written by the professor so that you can ask intelligent questions about the professor's research interests. Prepare several questions such as the following.
What are the professor's standards and expectations for the quality of the thesis, such as the overall length? Will the professor help formulate the research topic?
How quickly will the professor review drafts of manuscripts? Will the professor help you improve writing and speaking skills? Will the professor encourage publication of your work?
Will the professor provide equipment and materials? Will the professor obtain financial support such as funds to travel to conferences or research assistantships? Will the professor help you find appropriate employment? Where have former students gone?
What will your responsibilities be? Will you write proposals or make presentations to research sponsors?
How frequently will you meet with the professor? The most common problem in the humanities and social sciences is insufficiently frequent contact with the advisor. I meet with each of my own thesis students individually for one hour each week, in addition to a weekly group meeting.
What are the obligations to the project funding source? How frequently are reports required? Are deliverables promised? Could publications be delayed by a patent filing? Are there potential conflicts of interest?
How will decisions on co-authorship of papers be made? In engineering and natural sciences, co-authorship is common, but practices vary by discipline. Sometimes, the advisor's name always goes last. Sometimes, the order of names is alphabetical. Sometimes, the first author is the person whose contribution was greatest.
Interview former students. Students who have graduated are more likely to answer your questions candidly than current students. Ask a potential advisor for names and e-mail addresses of former students, whom you can contact.
Was a former student's project unnecessarily prolonged? Did anyone not finish? Why not? Many projects suffer unanticipated delays. Occasionally, for various reasons--not always the advisor's fault--students do not finish theses and dissertations.
How were conflicts resolved? When you work closely with someone else, disagreements are inevitable. The key question is whether conflicts were handled respectfully, with satisfactory resolutions.
If you have a major conflict with your advisor, first attempt to find solutions within you department, consulting another trusted professor, other members of your committee, or the department head. Should you be unable to find a solution by working with people in your department, be assured that we in the Graduate College are available to help mediate conflicts. Fortunately, major conflicts are rare. It is most likely that you will enjoy a successful, intellectually satisfying thesis project.
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Writing a winning thesis or dissertation: guidance for an education graduate student.
Posted on July 31, 2024 on Graduate School , Seahawk Nation
Whether you’re thinking about pursuing an advanced degree in education or are already in such a program, one thing you will need to be prepared for is writing a thesis or dissertation. In most graduate-level education programs, a thesis or dissertation is the culmination of years of challenging work, serving as your own independent research that marks the final step before earning your graduate degree.
If writing a dissertation or thesis sounds like a daunting task, it does not have to be. With a little preparation and some best practices in mind, you can approach writing a thesis or dissertation with confidence.
Before writing a thesis or dissertation, it’s important to understand their general scope and purpose, along with some key differences between a thesis and a dissertation. After all, while there are some similarities between the two, a dissertation and a thesis are not the same thing.
The primary purpose of a thesis or dissertation in an education graduate program is for students to demonstrate what they have learned in their respective programs while applying their own research, theory, analysis and synthesis. Ultimately, the author of a thesis or dissertation should successfully contribute something new to the existing topic. In dissertations specifically, students may also be required to articulate, discuss and defend their research orally in front of professors or other faculty members. This oral defense is not required for a master’s thesis.
When it comes to writing a thesis or a dissertation, the terms “dissertation” and “thesis” are sometimes used interchangeably. That said, it is crucial to understand that these are two different things. Generally, a dissertation is primarily focused on filling a gap in existing literature or extending upon current research regarding a specific topic. The goal is to analyze literature to the point of saturation and determine where there is a need for further research. In a dissertation, a doctoral student will then explain where the problem exists given current research and develop a research study to explore or evaluate the problem, thus filling the gap and contributing meaningfully to the field.
On the other hand, a thesis is more of a presentation of information that’s already out there with no obligation to conduct additional research.
One of the most important aspects of drafting a great thesis or dissertation begins with choosing the right topic. Here, it is paramount to select a topic that not only interests you but is relevant to your future professional goals and aspirations. After all, there’s a good chance you may use your thesis or dissertation as a basis for future work or further research.
In selecting a topic, you will also want to consider current research trends in your field. What is trending in the realm of education and what could you contribute to existing research? There are research gaps or questions that remain unanswered about certain educational topics that could be addressed through your research.
In most graduate programs, you will need to write and present a research proposal before you can really get started on your thesis or dissertation. Most research proposals are reviewed and approved by a professor or other faculty.
A literature review is to discover the research available on your research topic. This review should detail each source you plan to use in your own research with plenty of detail. More specifically, a literature review is a comprehensive summary of the current literature on a given topic that demonstrates the need for additional research to be conducted. Literature reviews comprise a major portion of a proposal, including a summary of each source as it relates to the need for additional research.
Quality is vital when it comes to selecting literature for your research or literature review. Ideally, your literature review should include plenty of recent and reputable sources that come from academic journals, books, articles and even other dissertations.
Once you have a better understanding for what is already out there, you can craft a research proposal that discusses your specific research topic, the current problem, the purpose behind your research, the methodology you plan to use and the relevant literature that further defends a need for your topic to be investigated.
An important part of your research proposal will be your methodology selection, which will explain exactly how you plan to go about your research. For example, will your research be qualitative, quantitative or a mix of both and why? How will the methodology you choose answer your research questions?
After your research proposal is approved, you will have the green light to begin working on your thesis or dissertation. You will receive feedback or thesis guidance from the faculty member who reviewed your proposal. It is important to reflect on the feedback and make revisions as needed.
One of the most helpful things you can do as you get started with your dissertation or thesis is to create an outline. This allows you to develop the most critical aspects of your final project that include your thesis, your main points and other key details to ensure that they flow logically.
For reference, an outline for a dissertation will typically include the following:
In creating an outline, include designated sections for each of your main points with specific research, statistics, or other data to support it. This will ensure that your arguments are made clearly and that your thought process is clear.
Even if writing is not necessarily your strong suit, you will need to be able to put together a cohesive document for your thesis or dissertation. There are some basic strategies worth keeping in mind to help you get started.
First, it can be helpful to write your introduction and conclusion paragraphs last once you have completed all your research. While it might seem counterintuitive to do it this way, it can help set the tone for the rest of your writing. Likewise, this strategy ensures that you include your main points while preparing your readers for the information to come.
Additionally, meet with your advisor or faculty sponsor regularly to gain valuable feedback and keep your project on track.
Whether you are writing a thesis or dissertation, you will need to do a fair amount of your own qualitative or quantitative research. It’s important to understand the various data collection methods available to you, plus the best practices for analyzing and interpreting data.
There are two main types of data collection:
Once you have all the data you need to write your thesis or dissertation, the challenging part is often analyzing and interpreting the data to apply to your own research. The most important thing to keep in mind when looking at hard data is how it relates back to your research and specific research questions.
When working with quantitative data, it can also be helpful to look for specific trends and correlations that you can share in your research.
Once you have completed the first draft of your thesis or dissertation, the process of reviewing, revising and editing your work before submission is important to ensure that the document is free of errors and that it effectively communicates your main points to the reader.
One of the best ways to improve upon the first draft of your dissertation or thesis is through peer review and feedback. By having others read your draft and provide feedback, you can gain some valuable insights into how your arguments are being interpreted. Even if the person you ask to read your draft is not familiar with the subject matter, they can still provide useful feedback on the organization of the information, structure and grammar/spelling.
It may take several rounds of revisions before your dissertation or thesis is approved. Even when you feel like the entire thing is ready to submit, it is important to complete another round of proofreading and editing to be sure that the entire document is polished and in the best shape possible. This includes not just running a basic spell check but taking the time to read your paper word for word.
In most education programs, you will be instructed to use the American Psychological Association (APA) style when writing and formatting your thesis or dissertation. It is important to follow all formatting guidelines here, especially as they relate to citations or references.
In many doctorate programs and some graduate programs, students will also be expected to defend their dissertations in front of other scholars, usually professors or other faculty from the department. This process can be daunting, even for those who know their research well and have crafted thoughtful dissertations.
In preparing for a dissertation defense, it is imperative to craft a presentation that covers the basics of your dissertation topic, how you researched it and what your findings were. Following your presentation, you can expect to be asked questions by those in attendance about your topic and other aspects of your research.
The best way to prepare for a dissertation defense is to practice as much as possible. This way, you will be prepared for the kinds of questions that may be asked, and you will feel a little more confident when completing your defense.
Mock defense sessions can be especially helpful for practicing your presentation and answering questions from a real crowd. Do not hesitate to ask your fellow students or even some trusted professors to practice with you to provide feedback or ask questions.
One of the most difficult aspects of defending a dissertation is often answering questions from the audience. One important tip to keep in mind here is to prepare some answers in advance to some of the questions you think might be asked during your dissertation defense. This way, you will be completely prepared to knock these out of the park.
As you can see, there is a lot that goes into writing a dissertation or thesis as part of your graduate education program. With this dissertation guidance in mind, you will be prepared to craft and even defend your thesis or dissertation with success.
Still looking for the right graduate education program to suit your interests and professional goals? Keiser University is proud to offer a number of advanced degrees in education, including our Master of Science in Education, Teaching and Learning program. If you’re interested in earning your doctorate degree, we also offer a Doctor of Education and a Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Leadership .
Learn more about any of the graduate programs offered at Keiser University by contacting a graduate admissions counselor today, or get started with your online application for enrollment.
Home > Natural Resources > Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research > 384
School of natural resources: dissertations, theses, and student research, remotely sensed early warning of algal blooms in an eastern nebraska reservoir: a comparison of temporal and spatial indicators.
Mercy Kipenda , University of Nebraska-Lincoln Follow
Daniel R. Uden
Jessica Corman, Elizabeth VanWormer, Brian Wardlow
Document type.
A thesis presented to the faculty of the Graduate College at the University of Nebraska in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science
Major: Natural Resource Sciences
Under the supervision of Professor Daniel R. Uden
Lincoln, Nebraska, August 2024
Copyright 2024, Mercy Kipenda. Used by permission
Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CyanoHABs) detrimentally affect human, animal, and ecosystem health. Remotely sensed early warning systems for cyanoHABs in inland lakes could contribute to more proactive water quality monitoring and help mitigate negative impacts. Advances in freely available remote sensing imagery, with finer spatial, temporal, and spectral resolutions, present new opportunities for the development and comparative analysis of methods to detect sudden deterioration in lake water quality. In this thesis, I compared and tested for temporal and spatial early warning signals of cyanoHABs in field-based and remotely sensed datasets from 2019 to 2023 in Pawnee Lake in southeast Nebraska, United States of America. Field data consisted of biweekly microcystin (MC) levels from the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy’s Beach Watch Dataset and remotely sensed data consisted of two-week Normalized Difference Chlorophyll Index (NDCI) composites from the Sentinel 2B surface reflectance satellite. In Chapter 1, I tested for rising variance in biweekly MC and NDCI time series from May-September of each year at three rolling window sizes. I also computed the correlation between MC and mean lake wide NDCI and examined within-year trends in each variable. Both MC and NDCI tended to increase from May-September of each year and the relationship between MC and NDCI approached statistical significance ( p = 0.06) but rising variance did not provide early warning of documented cyanoHAB events for either variable. In the second chapter, with a landscape ecology-based approach, I computed the number of high-NDCI patches (i.e., contiguous pixels with elevated NDCI values) within Pawnee Lake, computed the correlation between MC and the high-NDCI patch count, and tested for rising variance in high-NDCI patch count at three rolling window sizes. Although both MC and high-NDCI patch count tended to increase from May – September of each year, I found no relationship between MC and high-NDCI patch count and no evidence of early warning of documented CyanoHABs. Reasons for the lack of advanced warning could include small seasonal sample sizes and insufficient temporal resolution in both the field- and remotely sensed observations, examination of only a subset of temporal and spatial early warning indicators and limited geographic scope. This study provides a baseline for guiding future analyses with higher-resolution observations and alternative metrics and locations.
Advisor: Daniel R. Uden
Since August 14, 2024
Hydrology Commons , Natural Resources and Conservation Commons , Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons , Other Environmental Sciences Commons , Remote Sensing Commons , Water Resource Management Commons
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Learn how to find a strong mentor and a research area that match your interests and goals for your graduate studies. This web page offers advice on lab rotations, funding, interviews, expectations, and qualities of a good advisor.
Learn how to select a faculty member to chair your dissertation committee wisely and effectively. Find out the responsibilities, qualities, and challenges of a good thesis advisor or dissertation chair.
Learn how to work effectively with your research advisor to complete your dissertation or thesis. Find out how to clarify roles, communicate regularly, plan ahead, solve problems and navigate conflict.
Learn how to choose and work with your research advisor, also known as your special committee chair, at Cornell. Find out the responsibilities, expectations, and tips for both advisors and students in research degree programs.
Choosing a dissertation advisor, therefore, is an extremely important decision for doctoral students, although it is not immutable, as will be discussed later. A student undertaking dissertation work needs an advisor who will be not only academically competent in a particular area but also willing to act as the student's advocate when ...
Learn how to find and approach a faculty member to be your thesis advisor at Harvard Graduate School of Design. Follow the guidelines and deadlines for the official matching process and explore the list of prospective advisors.
Doctoral advisor. A doctoral advisor (also dissertation director, dissertation advisor; or doctoral supervisor) is a member of a university faculty whose role is to guide graduate students who are candidates for a doctorate, helping them select coursework, as well as shaping, refining and directing the students' choice of sub- discipline in ...
In order to make this process as simple and effective as possible, students should keep in mind the following guidelines when choosing and approaching a faculty member to ask them to be their advisors: 1)Have a compelling and well-thought-out thesis proposal. Exciting and detailed proposals are much more likely inspire confidence and interest ...
Questions to askother Professors and senior-level graduate students. What is the advisor's professional reputation? Is the advisor close to retiring, or in poor health? Suggestion:Do a literature search of the prospective advisor's publications.
Finding a Thesis Advisor. Choosing an advisor is a critical decision you will face in graduate school. It is normal to sometimes feel overwhelmed by this choice. Still, there are many specific things you can do to make the process less stressful. It is hard to give general advice, because every student is different.
Learn how to choose and work with a thesis advisor who suits your research interests and style. Find tips on how to prepare for meetings, communicate effectively and resolve conflicts with your advisor.
Learn how to support your student as they write their senior thesis at Harvard. Find tips on managing expectations, encouraging self-knowledge, motivating to start writing early, modeling strategies, and keeping contact.
Learn how to find and approach a potential project advisor for your M.S. thesis at Stanford. This web page provides advice on online research, seminars, courses, office hours, independent projects, and recommendations.
One of the questions students often have is: what are the differences (if any) between the thesis advisor, chair and reviewer? In this video, I look at some ...
Learn what faculty members should do as thesis advisors for graduate students, from selecting projects to arranging defenses. This document outlines the roles, rights, and responsibilities of both parties in the thesis process.
The word "thesis" refers to both the thesis and the dissertation unless otherwise noted. Advisor's Responsibility. Your advisor serves as a mentor both while you are doing the thesis work and while the results of that work are prepared for the thesis. Although you have primary responsibility for the content, quality, and format of the ...
Selecting a Thesis Advisor. At the end of your first year, you will have an opportunity to select a thesis advisor, choosing from the MFA Core Faculty and Visiting Thesis Advisors. You will have an opportunity to prioritize three different choices, and no more. Choosing a thesis advisor is a very important decision and you need to prioritize ...
coordinating with your thesis advisor's schedule will be compounded when coordinating with two busy faculty members. Students should consider having one primary advisor and consulting with other faculty members unofficially. * For example, students completing thesis in the Spring 2020, would need to have thesis advisors by the end of Spring
Senior Thesis Advisor Selection Guide. Students should use this to identify thesis advisors who match their interests and possible thesis topics. This tool is organized by faculty issue and regional expertise. Narrow your search for an advisor by selecting a policy area or region. - Any -.
1. Identify potential advisors. Start your search by matching your interests to laboratories doing similar work. "I thought a lot about my research interests," says Jenna Cummings, a doctoral candidate in health psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles.
A guide for young scientists on how to select a good mentor based on scientific ability and mentorship ability. The author argues that selecting an advisor based on research topic alone is a mistake and proposes an M-index to measure mentoring quality.
Your topic, your advisor, and your committee: Making them work for you. By the time you've reached this stage, you have probably already defended a dissertation proposal, chosen an advisor, and begun working with a committee. Sometimes, however, those three elements can prove to be major external sources of frustration.
Choosing a thesis advisor is the most important decision of your life--perhaps more important than choosing a spouse--because your choice affects everything you will do in your career. Indeed, choosing an advisor is similar to getting married: it is making a long-term commitment. Unlike marriage, however, a good advising relationship should end ...
Additionally, meet with your advisor or faculty sponsor regularly to gain valuable feedback and keep your project on track. Data Collection and Analysis. Whether you are writing a thesis or dissertation, you will need to do a fair amount of your own qualitative or quantitative research.
Advisor: Daniel R. Uden. ... In this thesis, I compared and tested for temporal and spatial early warning signals of cyanoHABs in field-based and remotely sensed datasets from 2019 to 2023 in Pawnee Lake in southeast Nebraska, United States of America. Field data consisted of biweekly microcystin (MC) levels from the Nebraska Department of ...