SSH 4010 Honors Thesis I

The primary goal of this course is to enable students to launch a significant honors research project that they will complete in SSH 4020. Prior to enrolling in the course, all students will have completed SSH 2020 - the honors methodology seminar - as well as relevant methodology courses in a particular discipline. In this small group course, students initiate their honors theses by conducting extensive reviews of the applicable social scientific literature. The ultimate goal for the semester is to develop realistic research proposals and, when possible, to begin implementing these proposals. As a group, the class explores various research strategies and, in particular, focuses on overcoming the roadblocks that frequently emerge during the course of any serious research project. Students are required to produce frequent written progress reports and a formal research proposal that should, in most cases, become (with adaptation) a portion of their thesis write-up. Students are encouraged to assist each other when possible and to offer constructive feedback on each other’s proposals. Prerequisite(s): SSH 2010 AND SSH 2020 AND SSH 3010
Credits: 3.0