Thesis Writing in the Humanities and Social Sciences

Catalog description

This course focuses on the final stages of thesis writing for seniors in the social sciences and humanities in a multidisciplinary space, offering students new opportunities for refining their research and scholarship across department boundaries. In our seminar, students will build on the work in their department-specific thesis courses to hone rhetorical strategies essential to long-form academic writing and research, including refining their work with primary and empirical sources, marshaling theoretical frameworks as part of their inquiry, effectively engaging structure in the formulation of a progressively developing argument, and honing audience awareness as they carve out their contribution to the scholarship. A multidisciplinary approach refines students’ awareness of their own field’s conventions and rhetorical strategies, yielding insights into how disciplines shape the production of knowledge. This course also helps students adapt their work into publications or conference papers, so their thesis can contribute to scholarly and public conversations.