Senior Honors Thesis Advice for Students

Academic Advising and Support Resources

Academic Resource Center offers writing consultants who meet individually with senior thesis writers to help them with anything from making and meeting deadlines to planning out chapters to polishing final drafts.

Senior Writers Action Group is a writing group through the Academic Resource Center that holds workshops on such topics as time management and accountability, research resources, tips for STEM writers, preparing for the defense, and more. Plus: Writing Bootcamp sessions!

Undergraduate Research Fund may be used toward some research-related expenses.

Dean of Undergraduate Studies upholds senior honors thesis policies, grants waivers, and can answer questions about policies and deadlines.

Your Advising Dean can help you decide whether do an independent study rather than a thesis.

Tisch Library Resources

Research consultations with a reference librarian can expedite your research process.

Savvy Researcher Workshop Series offers instruction on citation methods, software programs to manage citations, and other research skills

Online citation information from Tisch Library

More Resources

How to Write a Senior Thesis Proposal Before you get started on your thesis, you’ll need to prepare a proposal.

Surviving the Defense What to expect and how to prepare for your senior thesis defense.

Formatting Your Manuscript How to format your thesis so it can be added to Tufts’ digital archives.

Thesis Advice from Successful Tufts Seniors

"Don't wait until too late to decide on a topic, to do the research, and to write the actual paper. Start early. And make a timeline for yourself and your committee."

"For the writing stage, free writes are my best suggestion. While writing an 80-odd page thesis in a foreign language, free writing in English (for 20 minutes at a time, no more) helped me get my thoughts together."

"Make deadlines for yourself and submit as many drafts as possible to your professors and writing tutors."

“Having a defense earlier rather than later gave me plenty of time to do my other classwork and not have to worry about my thesis too around exam time."