Senior Seminar - Intro

message from a former Env. Sci. BC major I guess, I just wanted to see what you are up to, and also to thank you because as I look back to Barnard, one of the memories that come up in my mind most often is all the classes that I took for the Environmental Science major, and even writing my thesis...(which I must admit, back then, I could not understand the purpose of writing one, but now as I look back... I realize that a lot of the projects that I am working on now resemble small theses... the research, the timing, the developing of the ideas... the editing and the collection of all thoughts into one small project...)." January, This student graduated in 1997 and is now working as a Sr. Statistical Analyst for an Investors Service.

Elements of Senior Research Projects in Environmental Sciences/Biology/Policy:  An environmental issue is identified.  Other people's work on the topic is collected and evaluated.  Data necessary to solving the problem are either collected by the student, or obtained from other sources.  Data are analyzed using techniques appropriate to the data set.  Results of the analysis are interpreted in light of the initial environmental issue and communicated to others.

Three groups of students  2 nd semester senior seminar, research mostly completed, focus on writing the thesis  1 st semester students  Thesis proposal extending research performed over the summer  Thesis proposal based on ideas developed at the beginning of this semester

Goals of Senior Seminar  1 st semester senior seminar  identify project/mentor  formulate hypothesis  understand background  develop/refine appropriate methods  begin/complete data collection & analysis  summarize state of project as thesis proposal  progress as far as possible with the elements listed  2 nd semester senior seminar  complete data collection and data analysis  write results, discussion and conclusion sections  complete senior thesis  both  information & data collection, data analysis  communication (oral, written) skills  independence/professionalism

Structure of a thesis (proposal) 1. Title page 2. Abstract 3. Table of contents 4. Introduction 5. Thesis statement 6. Approach/methods 7. (Preliminary) Results 8. Discussion 9. (Work plan including time table) 10. Implications of research 11. List of references 12. Appendix

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Purpose of writing a thesis proposal  is to demonstrate that the thesis topic addresses a significant environmental problem;  an organized plan is in place for data collection and analysis to help solve the problem;  is to ensure (as much as possible) that the project can be concluded on time.  To be able to write good proposals is a very useful skill in general!

Order in which to write the thesis proposal 1. Make an outline of your thesis proposal before you start writing 2. Introduction 3. Prepare figures and tables 4. Figure captions 5. Methods 6. Discussion of preliminary data 7. Inferences from your data 8. Abstract 9. Bibliography