Honors Thesis

In order to write a Global Studies Senior Honors Thesis, you must have declared Global Studies as your prime major, and you must satisfy the minimum GPA requirement detailed below.

Per the College of Arts & Sciences, you must have a cumulative overall GPA of 3.65 by the end of your sixth semester, and this GPA must be maintained throughout your senior year, in order to write an honors thesis. You should not embark on a thesis unless you confidently expect to meet the minimum GPA requirements outlined above. If your cumulative GPA is below 3.65, we encourage you to consider an independent research project.

You must write your thesis under the direction of an Arts & Sciences (Washington University) faculty advisor (not necessarily a member of the Global Studies faculty). It is advised that you begin meeting with potential faculty advisors in your sophomore year. This will give you plenty of time to develop a relationship with your advisor and, if you haven’t already, take a class with them before you begin your thesis. Your thesis advisor should be someone with whom you have worked, in a class or other setting, as the best theses investigate questions that interest both the student and the advisor and, therefore, arise out of conversations between them.

You may find your major advisor or 4-year advisor can be helpful in suggesting possible thesis advisors, but it is ultimately up to you to identify your advisor. You should come up with a preliminary proposal on your own, and then go see your prospective advisor in person. If you are abroad during your sophomore or junior year, you may contact advisors and faculty by email, but ideally you will have raised the topic before you leave for study abroad (so you might conduct research for your thesis while you are abroad).

The written thesis length varies by discipline; your individual page requirement will be set by your advisor. The page count includes the title page, table of contents, main article, and bibliography. Maps, charts, and other non-text pages do not count toward the required page length.

Second Friday in April:  Deadline to declare your intent to write an honors thesis by completing the intent FORM and submitting it to GS. You must have your thesis advisor secured at this time. [For those students graduating in December, the deadline for the intent form is the second Friday in November of their junior year.]

Intent Form

Mid March (typically the Monday following Spring Break): Full and complete draft of thesis submitted to thesis advisor and the thesis committee. Faculty will make their recommendations for Latin Honors and the GS Thesis prize based on this version; any thesis not turned in by this date will automatically be ineligible for Latin Honors.

Late March: Thesis presentations to the GS thesis committee, rather than a thesis defense. GS will not certify a thesis for honors before the presentation, and certification must be made prior to the A&S honors certification deadline (this deadline usually falls around April 1st).

Mid April: GS Honors Thesis conference.

On the last day of spring semester classes: Deadline to submit the final bound and revised version of your thesis. You should turn in two copies: one directly to your thesis advisor and one to Mrs. Toni Loomis (McMillan 254). An electronic version is also due to Mrs. Loomis on this date.

Fall Semester

For fall of your senior year, enroll in Preparation for GS Honors Thesis L97 485, sec. 01. Required for GS senior thesis writers, this course addresses the methods and mechanics of research and writing in GS, concurrently with independent work with the thesis adviser. The seminar provides structure, guidance, and response to your work. You will already have identified a thesis topic; in the seminar, you will identify a research question and develop a thesis proposal. In workshop format, you will examine one another's research questions, hypotheses, and methods of analysis. In additional sessions, you will learn the basics of several models of electronically assisted research, and you will develop and refine presentation skills through the presentations of their proposals and results at various stages of progress. Attendance is required.

Spring Semester

Enroll in GS Senior Honors Thesis L97 486 sec. XX, where the section number is unique to your thesis advisor. While this course earns you 3 credits, those may not be counted toward the GS major requirements. The course involves intensive research leading to the completion of your GS honors thesis conducted under the supervision and guidance of a faculty sponsor. 

Prerequisites: 1) a GPA of 3.65 at the time of application to the thesis program; 2) the identification of a thesis adviser; and 3) the approval of the Global Studies Honors Program Director.