Guide to Undergraduate Honors Thesis

The honors’ thesis is the final culmination of your work toward the degree. It constitutes an analysis of a specific topic that engages with the existing literature in media and that makes an argument supported by evidence, using the methodologies of the field. An honors thesis should be approximately 10,000 words, or roughly 40 pages, double-spaced. Select a topic that is manageable within this limited framework! (Journal articles are good models.)

Topic

Topics are yours to define, but they should aim to be as specific as possible (see “Topics” handout). For example, a student interested in book publishing will want to narrow the subject temporally, geographically, or by genre in order to give the research workable parameters. A student who works in visual culture might compile a ‘visual archive,’ a collection of images that will be at the heart of the thesis—this could center on one image with other supporting images, or it could be a collection of images to compare or some combination.

Proposal

You should begin with a short proposal (250–500 words, 1–2 pages) that defines your topic and approach. A thesis proposal should have a tentative title, a discussion of your topic, argument, the kind of questions you seek to investigate, and the contribution you feel your analysis of this topic will make to the field.  It is not expected that you will know all these answers before you have actually written your thesis, but a proposal should nevertheless begin to suggest them.

Your thesis proposal should contain the following sections:

Research Question: Identify the major question, issue or problem the thesis will attempt to address. This should be a clear and succinct formulation of a researchable question.

Background/Rationale: Provide the necessary background information and justifications for your research. Clearly state and describe the approach: Which theories of media, culture, and communication will you use to frame this study and why? Mention appropriate references to the relevant literature.

Methodology: Identify and justify the specific methodology you will use to answer the research question. Reflect on the broad analytical approach you will use and on the school(s) of thought or models of scholarship that will inform your investigation of the problem. (You might ask yourself: Why would these methods of gathering and analyzing be best suited to this thesis project?  How will I analyze media content? If I plan to conduct interviews, who will be interviewed? What questions will I ask and how will I gain access? If I employ observation as a methodology, what social contexts will be observed and how will data be organized?)

Thesis Structure and Format

A thesis typically comprises:

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Literature review
• Discussion/Analysis
• Conclusion
• Bibliography

Abstract

An abstract is an opportunity to spur the reader’s interest. The summary should highlight the main points from your work, especially the thesis statement, methods discussion and analysis, and conclusion. However, the abstract does not need to cover every aspect of your work. The main objective is to give the reader a good idea of what the thesis is about.

NOTE: The abstract should be completed towards the end when you are able to overview your project as a whole. Think of the abstract as the final version of the proposal that you started with.

Introduction

In whatever order makes sense to you, you should pose a clear research question and state a clear thesis, give background on the topic, make clear what your methodology is, and identify the broader data sources that you will draw on to make your argument (books, journal articles, images, websites, interviews, etc.).

• The research question can be formulated as one main question with (a few) more specific sub-questions or in the form of a hypothesis that will be tested (see “Questions” guide).
• The thesis statement sets forth the scope of the project (see “Thesis Statements” guide).
• The background sets the general tone for your project; background information might be historical in nature, or it might refer to previous research or practical considerations. This section should make a good impression and convince the reader why the theme is important and your approach relevant. Even so, it should be no longer than necessary
• A short methods section should show how your choice of design and research method is suited to answering your research question(s). How did you collect the data? Which options became available through your chosen approach? How do you know that you have actually investigated what you intended to investigate? (see “Methods” guide).
• Finally, your introduction should include a brief, schematic outline showing the reader how the different parts relate to each other. It often makes sense to put the outline at the end of the introduction, but this rule is not set in stone. It should come at the right point – not too early and not too late.

Literature Review

A literature review should make clear that you are well grounded in the existing literature that is relevant to your project. In the case of an interdisciplinary topic in media, culture, and communication, this often means defining three to four overlapping and interconnecting literatures that are important to your argument. A literature review should not summarize texts, but rather should engage with the particular representative texts, concepts, and arguments that are most important to your project. (Note: While it may make sense to use a literature review to critique those aspects of existing theoretical arguments with which you disagree, it is more useful to focus on the concepts that you find most useful to your own project.)

Discussion & Analysis

Your analysis, along with your discussion, will form the core of your thesis. Here is where you will fulfill the expectations that you have set up in the introduction. To discuss means to question your findings, and to consider different interpretations. This is your opportunity to show that you have understood the significance of your data / findings and that you are capable of analyzing them in an original manner. You also need to show that you have a good grasp of the theoretical tools that you will use in your analysis: you should choose them because they can shed light on the data you are interested in by giving insights not achievable by ordinary, everyday reflections. The main purpose of using theory is to analyse and interpret your data.

This section will take the form of argumentation. In other words, you investigate a phenomenon from several different perspectives, using your analytical tools (i.e. theories). To signal argumentation, you may want to use phrases such as “On the one hand … and on the other …”; “However,” “It could also be argued that,” or “another possible explanation may be”…

Conclusion

The final section of your thesis may take one of several different forms. Some theses call for clear answers, while for others a summing up will be appropriate. The decisive factor will be the nature of your thesis statement and/or research question.

You should also place your work in a wider, academic perspective – stating what you add to the literature and also identifying any unresolved questions. (During the work, you may have encountered new research questions and interesting literature which could have been followed up. At this point, you may point out these possible developments, while making it clear for the reader that they were beyond the framework of your current project.)

NOTE: There should be a strong connection between your conclusion and your introduction. All the themes and issues you raised in your introduction must come up again in one way or another. If you see that your thesis has not tackled an issue you raised in the introduction, you should go back to the introduction and delete the reference to that issue. An elegant way to structure the text is to use the same textual figure or case in the beginning as well as in the end. When the figure returns in the final section, it will have taken on a new and richer meaning through the insights you have encountered and created in the process of writing.

Bibliography

In the final thesis you may use MLA, APA, or Chicago Style. This decision should be made in consultation with your supervisor. It is imperative that you follow the guidelines of a style manual.

NYU Citation Style Guide

Finishing Up

One faculty member will serve as your thesis advisor; that individual, along with the leader of the honors thesis seminar, will read and approve the final version of your thesis.

The final thesis must be typed, double spaced, formatted with normal margins, and have a title page. Illustrations must be identified in the text and have captions.

To submit your completed thesis on or before the deadline established by the Honors Program Director, follow these three steps:

1. Email the thesis to your main advisor and CC the Honors Program Director;
2. Fill out the Independent Study form with the correct final title of your thesis so that it can appear on your transcript (character limit is indicated on the form, in case you want to shorten the title for transcript purposes), and send to Rebecca Brown. NOTE: you do not need to worry about faculty signatures for this form, just fill out your part;
3. Upload your thesis to the Honors Seminar Brightspace website under the corresponding assignments tab.