Getting Started
If all went well in the Independent
Study course (401) during your junior year, you should
arrive on campus for your senior year with an established
thesis topic. Last spring, however, you may have left
campus before your advisor had evaluated your junior
paper. It is possible, therefore, that the advisor has
spotted a flaw in your planned procedure, and you would
do well to re-establish contact as quickly as possible.
As
each project has its own requirements (some of
you, for example, may have to gather
your data during the summer), it is not possible to
draw up a schedule of events that will apply
uniformly. Ideally,
data collection will be completed during the first
semester, and the thesis written in the second.
In practice, the
best-laid plans don't always work out. Things happen...the
shipment of the animals or chemicals you ordered is
delayed, or the electricity goes off in the middle
of the night
and ruins one of your "runs." It is almost a certainty
that the collection of data, or the writing of the
thesis, or both, will take longer than you anticipate.
The message
is simple: Get started immediately. It is far better
to finish a little early than to have to reach for
the panic button as the due date approaches!
Departmental Seminars
Students registered for thesis
work are required to attend departmental seminars.
In addition to that attendance, however, each senior
participates by presenting a seminar dealing with the
thesis work. Each presentation lasts 10-15 minutes
and is given to an audience consisting of biology students
and staff, along with any other interested parties.
Depending on how many seniors are involved, and in
what sequence
they are scheduled, your seminar might occur long before
your investigation is complete (and thus take the form
of a progress report), or near the end of the semester,
in which case your thesis will have already been submitted
and you will have results to talk about. With your
seminar in mind, you may wish to photograph some of
your procedures
as your investigation proceeds. While you will not
receive an independent evaluation of your seminar presentation,
the seminar and its presentation will play a role in
the final grade you receive on your IS project.
The Independent Study Thesis
The thesis should be formatted
as described in Chapter 2 of
this Handbok. Changes from this organization should
be discussed with your IS advisor.
The completed thesis
is due in the registrar’s office at 4:00 p.m.
on the day you return from the March spring break.
You should
work on a timeline that allows you to ask your
advisor to read and comment on one or more early
drafts of
the thesis. This permits your advisor to help you
with any
problems of grammatical or logical clarity, and
should help to ensure that your thesis document
is appropriate
and complete when you submit it to the registrar.
Advisors differ in the number of drafts they will
read, and
the comments they will make, but they are generally
available
to help make sure that your thesis is as good as
it can be. However, you should submit your final
draft to your advisor as early as possible, certainly
before the draft deadline imposed by your advisor (often
the week before Spring Break). You should
not expect your advisor to be available during
the break.
On
IS day, two paper copies of your thesis should
be delivered to the registrar’s
office, where you will be rewarded with your IS button
and your tootsie roll. These two copies should be complete,
including all figures and tables. They should be in
cardboard spring or hole-punched binders. Do
not bind your thesis
permanently at this stage. It is easier for your readers
to work on the document if they can move the pages
around freely.
Together with the two bound copies,
the College and the Department may request additional
electronic or paper copies of the thesis for archiving
purposes. Check with the College Registrar and the
Biology Department administrative assistant for the
current requirements.
The Second Reader
Each thesis is read by your
faculty advisor (the first reader) and another member
of the department faculty (the second reader). After
IS day, the second reader will be assigned
to you by the department. Your second reader will be chosen
based
on
the need to
spread
readerships equally among faculty members. In addition,
your second reader should bring a different perspective
to your work. The deparment will assign second readers
in order to ensure that each faculty members participates
in exams across a broad set of disciplines. You should
anticipate this, and be certain that your thesis is
written with such clarity that it will be easily readable
by
someone who is not directly acquainted with your area
of research.
The Oral Defense
The oral
defense of your thesis will take place following the
submission of the thesis. After
the thesis has been turned in, you will receive notice
from the department about who will serve as your second
reader. You should then promptly arrange a specific
time and place that is acceptable to you, your advisor,
and the second reader who will be involved with
the
exam. If you have done your work off campus (e.g.,
at the OARDC), your off-campus advisor may also wish
to
participate. If your off-campus advisor is available
to come to your oral exam, you should invite her or
him to attend the oral examination. While this person
may
ask you questions and participate in the discussion
during your oral, your grade on the thesis is determined
by
your Wooster faculty first and second readers.
Corrections to the Thesis
It is likely that the oral
examination will uncover minor problems that will require
some final modification of the written thesis. These
might be simple typographical errors or something more
substantial. In any case, you are likely to leave the
oral exam with a list of changes to be made, and with
the admonition that you will not receive a grade until
(1) the corrected thesis has been re-submitted, and (2)
your work area (carrell) has been cleaned up and all
equipment and supplies have been returned to their proper
place. You should prepare a copy of the corrected thesis,
and turn it in directly to your IS advisor. She/he may
request that you permanently bind this copy, for their
archives. You should make additional copies as appropriate.
If you worked off-campus, you should be sure to provide
your off-campus advisor with a copy of the final thesis.
In addition, you must submit a complete electronic version
(with all figures and tables) to the Biology Department
secretary. The secretary or lab preparator will then
certify that your work space is clean, and that all your
research materials have been returned.
Final grades are available
only after all the oral examinations are completed, and
the faculty has met as a group to discuss IS theses and
assign grades. You can expedite receiving your grade
by making corrections quickly and cleaning up your mess
thoroughly.
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