The senior thesis must focus on a particular theme, utilize the student’s regional expertise, and/or incorporate foreign language skills.
The typical thesis is an individual research project that results in an eighty to one hundred-page document consisting of a theoretical chapter and several empirical chapters.
Students wishing to write a thesis that requires advanced knowledge and advising from a particular field should take extra coursework in that field before the senior year. (For example, students planning to do a project that requires advising from a professor in the economics department should take three of the following courses by the end of their junior year: ECON 1110 or 1130, 1210, 1560, 1620 or 1630).
For a multimedia project to be considered it must be based on an analytical framework and supported/supplemented by 2-3 written chapters: introduction, background, empirical, conclusion.
DEVL 1980 is designed to support media projects as well – with a focus on the supplementary chapters required.
Multimedia projects include but are not limited to:
Documentary film
Audio/Visual project
Audio Podcast work
Multimedia Installation
If the senior thesis contains a multimedia/documentary project, by the beginning of the junior year students are required to secure an advisor and approval from the DS Program Director.
Other forms of projects are subject to the approval of the DEVL 1500 instructor and DS Concentration Advisor.