Economics Department
Senior Year
The Economics Department has established a series of deadlines and requirements for seniors to encourage a smooth and productive thesis process. Formal thesis proposals are required by the Division of History and Social Sciences and are due in early October. Since economics majors have written something similar as part of the junior qual, this deadline is usually not worrisome.
Coursework
Thesis Adviser
Thesis Seminar
Beginning
the Thesis
First
Draft Deadline
Final Draft Deadline
Oral Exams and Final Work
Thesis Grade
Coursework
Reed requires that all seniors pass at least six units during the senior year and at least two units during each semester. The senior thesis often absorbs most of your energy during this period, so it is not a good time to take particularly demanding courses. Many students who have postponed science or foreign-language courses to the senior year have suffered as a result.
Try to balance your load to avoid a heavy spring semester. Also balance your courses to mix problem-solving courses with reading- and writing-intensive courses. It is not a good idea to have to write five major term papers the same semester that you are finishing the thesis!
Thesis Adviser
At the beginning of the year, each senior should meet with members of the faculty to determine who would be the most appropriate adviser and first-draft reader for the thesis. While student preferences are weighed heavily in assigning advisers to students, the assignment is made by the department taking into account the expertise and advising loads of all faculty members. Once this selection is made, the student and the adviser will normally work closely together through the year to assure that satisfactory progress is being made.
The thesis adviser bears direct responsibility for the supervision of the thesis. At the adviser’s discretion, other members of the faculty should be consulted at appropriate stages of the thesis research. In particular, the first-draft reader often plays a substantial role in the advising of the thesis.
At the beginning of the research process, your adviser can assist you in finding leads to existing research in the areas you are exploring. It then becomes your responsibility to read these sources and use them (and appropriate indexes) to find additional materials. Most advisers hold regular conferences with thesis students, often on a weekly basis. You can make these conferences most productive by coming in with specific questions or problems you have encountered. If you have written drafts of sections of the thesis, bring them in a few days ahead so that your adviser has time to read them before the conference.
Unless you are told otherwise, anything that you turn in to your adviser should be double-spaced, laser-printed copy that has been spell-checked and proof-read for obvious grammatical errors. (Some advisors prefer to receive drafts in electronic form rather than on paper.) Correction of trivial spelling and grammar errors distracts the adviser from the important role he or she must play—making suggestions on the content and direction of your research. Countless seniors have wasted weeks of valuable time by submitting drafts that required their advisers’ “pre-cleaning” before meaningful advice could be given.
Beginning the Thesis
A good thesis cannot be written in a month. Economics majors are expected to make steady progress throughout the year. Most theses begin with a comprehensive review of related literature. This is usually completed in the first semester and culminates in the preparation of one or more chapters of the thesis by the end of the term.
Theses that involve econometric analysis must normally have acquired all necessary data by the end of the first semester in order to allow sufficient time for analysis and writing in the second semester.
Midyear Oral Review
The Economics Department schedules an oral review for each senior during finals week at the end of the first thesis semester. Three or more economics faculty members participate in each student’s review. The purpose of this review is to discuss the student’s draft literature-review chapter(s) and the general progress and prospects for the thesis. It is much less formal than the oral examination at the end of the year.
First-Draft Deadline
The Division of History and Social Sciences has established a first-draft deadline approximately five weeks before the final thesis deadline. At that time, a complete—both in content and format—first draft must be submitted for reading by the advisor and first-draft reader. This deadline is enforced ruthlessly; failure to submit the first draft on time will prevent you from graduating with your class in May!
To prepare for the first-draft deadline, students should submit written sections and chapters to the adviser (and, if desired, the first-draft reader) throughout the second semester.
After the submission of the first draft, both the adviser and the first-draft reader will read the thesis carefully and make extensive comments. Some of these comments will relate to content and some to presentation. Sometimes an additional chapter or two will need to be added to the thesis between the first draft and the final draft, but usually the changes amount to substantial revisions of the existing text.
Final-Draft Deadline
The last Friday of classes is the deadline for submission of the final thesis to the Registrar. Students who miss this deadline but submit the thesis on the following Monday are fined. The thesis may be submitted up to the first day of the following semester with a larger fine. If you do not submit the thesis before the first day of the following semester, you must begin another one and retake the entire senior year in order to graduate from Reed!
Oral Examination and Final Thesis Work
The oral examination is given during the period between classes and final exams. It is two hours in length and is administered by the adviser, the first-draft reader, another faculty member chosen by the Division of History and Social Sciences, and a faculty member from outside the division chosen (and arranged) by the student.
Questioning normally focuses on the thesis, but can include the totality of the liberal-arts education. Usually the emphasis is on interpretation and understanding of the results and conclusions of the thesis rather than on details of the research. While it is a formal proceeding, the purpose is to explore the results and ideas that derive from the thesis work rather than to determine an absolute judgment about their merit.
All four members of the orals board return their copies of the thesis to the student after the exam. The adviser often signs the signature page at this time. Traditionally, there are no revisions made after the oral exam. However, as revisions have become easier due to advances in computer text processing, it has become common for members of the orals board to make editorial comments about the final draft. At the discretion of the adviser, the student should be prepared to make minor changes in the thesis and secure the adviser’s approval before binding.
Once the final-final manuscript is approved by the adviser, it should be duplicated on suitably durable paper (Reed Printing Services will do this) and bound. There are several grades and colors of binding available for your selection. Two copies of the bound thesis must be submitted to the library before the established deadline. A copy is usually given to the adviser. Most students also have bound copies made for themselves and their parents, and sometimes for others.
The Thesis Grade
The thesis grade is based on a variety of factors. The quality of the thesis and the oral examination are, of course, the primary considerations. Other things being equal, a thesis involving greater research challenges may receive a higher grade. The year-long pattern of progress in working on the thesis also affects the grade, sometimes significantly. For a final thesis of given quality, a student who has worked diligently through the entire year and incorporated the suggestions received on early drafts and presentations might be expected to receive a higher grade than one whose work through the year has been less exemplary.
