Antigonish,
Department of Political Science
Honours Thesis Handbook
As
a fourth year Honours student in Political Science, one of your major
projects will be your Thesis. You are
already registered in Political Science 499, a six credit course, which
will record the final grade for your project.
Since thesis work involves a new form of study for most of you, the
Department offers this brief Handbook to provide some guidelines and
suggestions.
It is important to think of the thesis project as a full year
course, beginning in September and culminating in April. In fact, one of the keys to success is to
spread your efforts across all eight months.
The discussion below will sketch out the various stages of work
involved, and a calendar of key dates.
It will also provide suggestions and samples of previous work to guide
your planning for your thesis.
What is a thesis, and how does it differ from a conventional research paper?
An Honours Thesis is an exploration of a more complex topic than can normally be handled in a research paper. Inevitably, this leads to a more extended study. The Political Science Department “Procedures” statement (appended below) suggests an overall length of 12,000 to 24,000 words, or 50 to 100 pages. But more than length alone, the thesis project is distinguished by the need for a disciplined, multi stage investigation of a subject. Thus a thesis is composed of a series of chapters, each addressing a necessary element of the total picture. Taken together, these chapters complete your investigation in a rounded fashion. Once your overall approach has been settled, you might think of thesis work as a series of related research papers to be completed over the academic term.
How to settle on a topic and find a Supervisor:
You should feel free to drop in on any members of the Department, to discuss potential thesis ideas. You may have some areas of interest, or you may be looking for suggestions. This is an informal process: talk to as many Faculty members as you wish, ask for suggestions about topics and possible supervisors. This will also help you visualize how a “topic” can be transformed into a researchable thesis question. If in doubt, the Department Chair will point you toward potential supervisors in different subject areas. Ultimately, the Department will confirm with you who your supervisor will be, hopefully before the end of your junior year.
First steps:
By the end of the second week of classes in September, you should have settled on a topic and a Supervisor. The next step is to prepare a Proposal (following discussions with your Supervisor), which outlines a preliminary plan (subject, approach, proposed chapters and content, preliminary bibliography). In order to visualize the end result of the project, you may wish to examine completed thesis works from past years (these may be borrowed from the Secretary’s office in Room NH 515). Your Proposal should be submitted to the Department Chair by the end of September. A mid-term report on your work in progress is also due for submission to the Chair when classes resume in January.
How the thesis is graded:
A draft of your completed thesis is due for submission during the latter part of March. It will then be read by your Supervisor and by a Second Reader (a Political Science Faculty member). They will meet to discuss the final grade, which must be submitted to the registrar in April. The Second Reader may also provide you with written comments on your thesis draft.
The Thesis Presentations:
Toward the end of the spring term, the Department convenes a seminar to enable Thesis writers to present the results of their work to a general audience of fellow students and faculty. Traditionally these sessions have been quite informal, aimed at giving researchers an opportunity to take 15-20 minutes each to describe the topic, approach, key findings and conclusions. Discussion follows and coffee is served throughout. This is not related to the grading process.
At the end:
Following the grading process, your draft will be returned. Any corrections or revisions can be done at this time, and a final clean copy must be submitted to the Department along with a disc or electronic copy. This will be bound and placed in the St. F.X. Library collection.
Preparing a Thesis Proposal
This is your first attempt to
define a topic, an approach, and a set of stages for the inquiry
(chapters). After discussions with your
Supervisor, you need to set down a preliminary statement of the project. This is useful for a number of reasons. It provides you with an ongoing guideline for
the sequence of activities to be tackled.
It also gives you a standard against which you can measure your progress
through the year. Furthermore, it can be
a useful reminder of the “big picture” at times when you are immersed in the
fine detail of researching or writing any one chapter. Preparing the bibliography offers useful
information about those materials which are available locally, as opposed to
those that must be obtained through InterLibrary Loan. Since it is wise to allow at least two weeks
between ILL orders and receipts of material, the bibliography will help you
schedule these orders to best advantage.
Obviously, the structure of the thesis may evolve over
the course of the year, as you and your Supervisor discuss the draft
results. But this does not take away the
crucial role of this early planning exercise.
Elements of the Proposal:
1. Statement of Topic:
Identify the subject, the question, or the problem you seek to explore, and your proposed approach. In a paragraph or two, outline your objectives for the thesis, and sketch out the relevant dimensions.
2. Proposed Title:
This is your suggested working title. It is often difficult to find the exact phrase to reflect the subject, but wrestling with this problem can be very profitable in clarifying your intentions.
3. Proposed Table of Contents:
In a paragraph each, map out the purpose and the subject matter for each proposed chapter. This divides your project into a series of stages, whose sequence will guide the discussion from beginning to end. It may be helpful to think of each chapter as the equivalent of a research paper (approx. 15‑- 20 pages).
4. Bibliography:
Compile a preliminary bibliography, listing relevant books, articles, government publications, internet sources, etc. Include those available here at the University and those available elsewhere. Update and expand your bibliography as the work progresses.
Political Science 499
KEY DATES, 2009-10
Initial Meeting of 4th Year Honours Students & Chair 18 September 2009 (Friday), NH 520 @ 1315h
Submission of Thesis Proposals to Chair
30 September
2009 (Wednesday)
and superviosr
Draft of First Chapter to Supervisor 27 November 2009 (Friday)
Progress Report to Chair 8 January 2010 (Friday)
Meeting with 4th Year Honours Students & Chair 5 February 2010 (Friday)
Complete Draft to Supervisor 19 March 2010 (Friday)
Presentation of Thesis Results 1 & 2 April 2010 (Thursday/Friday)
Final copies to Department 7 April 2010 (Wednesday)
DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
PROCEDURES FOR THESES AND SENIOR PAPERS
(May, 1991)
HONOURS THESES
¨ Honours theses in the Department of Political Science must be between 12,000 and 24,000 words in length (50 100 pages).
¨ Complete drafts will be submitted to the Thesis Supervisor no later than the end of March.
¨ Theses will be evaluated and given a final grade by the Supervisor and a Second Reader jointly. Grades and reports on each thesis will be submitted to the Chair of the Department before the deadline for final grades.
¨ Honours theses should demonstrate sufficient sensitivity to the literature, critical skill, familiarity with library and other research tools, writing ability, and ability to organize a large block of material to earn at least a 70 in a 400 level Political Science course.
¨ Selection of a topic for an honours thesis will normally be made in consultation with faculty during the academic year preceding that in which the student is to graduate. Topic and supervisor must be registered with the Department Chair by the end of the second week of classes of the senior year. Students will present a written progress report to the Supervisor and Departmental Chairperson during the first week of the winter term.
¨ Second Readers should be designated early in the second term. As well as collaborating in evaluation of the thesis and arriving at a final grade, Second Readers have the option of written comments. The Supervisor will convey his/her own and the Second Reader's final assessment to the student.
¨ Honours students will present the results of their work to a seminar of Political Science honours and majors students and Departmental faculty between the deadline for submission of final drafts and the end of classes.
List of previous theses (available for consultation - see faculty advisor)
SENIOR PAPERS (Advanced Majors)
¨ Senior papers are a requirement for the Advanced Major degree in the Department of Political Science.
¨ Senior papers should be approximately 6,000 words in length.
¨ Senior papers will be done in the fourth and/or final year of the student's program of studies, in conjunction with the senior seminar.
¨ The topic of the senior paper will be determined through consultation between the student and the Seminar Instructor, who is responsible for supervising and evaluating the Senior Paper.
