ASIA 691H: Senior Honors Thesis I

This seminar guides students in the Departments of American Studies and Asian and Middle Eastern Studies through the major stages of writing the senior honors thesis. You will learn about all aspects of writing a thesis including focusing your topic and research questions, finding primary
and secondary sources, writing a prospectus and a literature review, developing your argument, and organizing chapters. We will discuss the mechanics of thesis writing: building a bibliography, proper citation, formatting the thesis, and developing an argument cohesively across chapters. We
will also consider the broader world of academic research such as the use of images, publishing venues, the ethics of human subject research, and conference culture.

The seminar will also serve as a writing group for students. Weekly writing assignments as well as peer, instructor, and thesis advisor responses to your writing will ensure that you make steady progress. Experts at the UNC-CH Writing Center can offer strategies for writing a long project. Short informal presentations throughout the semester and one formal presentation at the end give you ample opportunity to present your thesis research orally. This helps prepare you for the oral defense of the thesis and opportunities for campus presentations of your research in the spring at the Annual Senior Colloquium in American Studies and Asian Studies and the UNC-Chapel Hill Celebration of Undergraduate Research.