Advice on Finding a Thesis Adviser - Department of Government ...

Getting Started on Your Government Department Thesis:
Choosing a Question & Finding an Adviser
Each year approximately 30-40% of Government concentrators choose to write a
thesis. For these students, the thesis serves as a capstone project to the Harvard College
experience.
Whether or not to write a thesis, and what to write on, are important questions you
should be thinking about in your junior year. In this document, we provide you with
background information on the thesis-writing process, focusing on the most common
questions that juniors typically ask:
1) Basics: Should I write a thesis or not?
2) Questions: How do I choose a thesis topic / question? What does a senior
thesis look like?
3) Advisers: How do I find a thesis adviser?
4) Timeline: What is the timeline for writing a thesis? When do I apply for
summer thesis research grants? What do I need to do in the Spring semester of
my junior year? What do I need to do over the summer?
In answering these questions, we will present a summary of the suggestions made by
Professors Nelson, Domínguez, and Platt at an October 2010 Government Department
panel for juniors. In addition, we draw on the experiences of past thesis writers/advisers
in discussing best practices and common pitfalls. At the end of the document we have
provided a list of sources for possible funding for summer thesis research. This list of
funding sources, with live hyperlinks, is available online at:
http://www.gov.harvard.edu/undergraduate-program/for-juniors/thesis-funding
1. Basics: Should I write a thesis or not?
Tip from Prof. Domínguez: As you think about whether or not to write,
Prof. Dominguez’s advice is important to remember: “Ask yourself: What
things turn you on? What motivates you the most? Who is the person
you’ve become? … The only good thesis is the one you want to write.”
The decision whether or not to write a senior thesis and to pursue an honors
degree in the Government Department will have important consequences for your final
year at Harvard. Since writing a thesis will be quite different from almost anything else
you have undertaken, you may well be wondering whether or not you are up to the task,
or even whether writing a thesis is the best way to mark the culmination of your academic
program. These are very real questions that you must decide for yourself.
As you think about whether or not to write a thesis, you should start by reading
through the Guide to Writing a Senior Thesis in Government to gain a sense of what the
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thesis writing process involves. The Guide is online at:
http://www.gov.harvard.edu/undergraduate-program/guide-writing-thesis-gov
Tip from Prof. Platt: Writing a thesis involves asking and answering a
question of interest to political scientists. Many theses begin as topics of
interest, not fully-formed questions, so consult with faculty and graduate
students who can help you formulate a question that suits your topic.
As you decide whether or not to write, you should talk with advisers, teaching
fellows, and faculty about your potential thesis ideas. (See the sections below for more
tips on how to approach faculty and teaching fellows). As you think about whether or not
to write, Prof. Domínguez’s advice is important to remember: “Ask yourself: What things
turn you on? What motivates you the most? Who is the person you’ve become?” Is
dedicating a significant portion of your senior year to the thesis something you’re excited
about doing? The senior thesis is a unique opportunity to try your hand at a serious
research project, but undertaking such a project involves a serious time commitment.
You’ll have a lot of other commitments senior year. Think about your
applications to law schools and graduate programs; your interviewing at OCS; and your
leadership responsibilities on campus. Will you have time, or are you willing to make
time, for the thesis? Writing a thesis takes up blocks of time: will you have these blocks
available, or are you willing to block out time for your thesis, even if it means you might
have to drop other activities or pursuits? Think too about why you want to engage in the
thesis research and writing process. Is it the capstone to your Harvard college career?
Does it fit into your post-graduate plans?
Tip from Prof. Domínguez: it is misleading to talk about a senior thesis,
since you will start serious work on it in the fall of your junior year. Most
of your research should be done by the end of the summer before your
senior year. If you wait to start research until your senior year, it is too
late.
In the spring, the Government Department will host a panel of Government
concentrators (both thesis writers and non-thesis writers) who will talk about their
decision to write. If you are still unsure about whether or not to write, attending this panel
serves as an opportunity to discuss your plans.
2. Questions: How do I choose a thesis topic / question? What does a
senior thesis look like?
The most important part of the thesis process is coming up with the “right”
question. You have much leeway in finding the right question, but it should be (1)
something you really want to know about (a point emphasized by Professor Dominguez),
(2) answerable, and (3) in accord with scholarly principles in political science (a point
Professor Platt tried to reinforce). Because political science includes many diverse types
of scholarship, your question will look quite different depending on whether you’re
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writing a political theory thesis or a thesis in one of the other three subfields (IR,
Comparative, and American).
For a thesis in a non-theory subfield, you are encouraged to develop a positive (as
opposed to normative) question that steers away from policy analysis and normatively
advocating for policy outcomes. (For more discussion of this distinction, see pages 3-6 of
the Guide for Thesis Writers).
A non-theory thesis can be broken down into these components:
• Start with the puzzle/question
• Follow with a brief literature review
• State your argument
• Present a quantitative analysis of the data and/or
• Present a qualitative analysis of the data (such as case studies)
• Present your conclusions
Critically, you must also have some prospect of finding an answer to your
question. In order to have an answerable question, you must ensure that (a) your question
is narrow enough, and (b) there is enough information to answer it. Thus, even at the
early stages of question formation you have to think prospectively about your evidence –
how might you go about answering the question? If you can’t think of any way to gather
evidence relevant to answering the question, it’s probably a smart idea to reformulate the
query. It’s not a good idea to ask a thesis question about something that hasn’t happened
yet (because you won’t have enough evidence to provide an answer), nor about
something that is extremely obvious.
Tip from Prof. Platt: “If you are planning to write a thesis that employs
quantitative data, you will need to both ask a narrow question and find or
generate a strong data set."
As you think about your thesis question, it is very important to think about the
type of person you are, and what you want to spend your time doing. Prof. Domínguez
provides a useful 2x2 typology, and encourages you to identify in which quadrant you fit.
All theses can be thought of as being of one of four types, based on whether (a) you want
to do your research indoors (e.g. inside a library with your laptop) or (b) outdoors (e.g.
conducting interviews in the field); and whether (c) you want to stay “here” (e.g. in
Cambridge or at home) or go “there” (e.g. a foreign country or a different state). The four
choices are presented in Table 1.
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Table 1. What type of thesis research do you want to do?
Here
(in Cambridge, or at
home with your laptop)
There
(in the field)
Indoors
I. Stay here and work
indoors. E.g. Read books at
your desk, be in Widener,
stay in front of your laptop
and crunch numbers
III. Go there and work
indoors. E.g. Utilize foreign
archives, or papers that are
kept elsewhere
Outdoors
II. Stay here and work
outdoors. E.g. Stay in the
area and talk with people,
observe people, run surveys
or focus groups
IV. Go there and work
outdoors. E.g. Going to a
foreign country or DC to talk
with people, observe people,
run surveys or focus groups
All four types of research can lead to excellent pieces of scholarship, and the
differences between them do not reflect differences in intellectual rigor, but rather in your
personal preferences for research environment. What type of person you are, and what
you care about will determine what sort of research you’d like to pursue. Remember Prof.
Domínguez’s advice that “the only good senior thesis is the one you want to write.”
Political Theory Theses. In contrast to IR, Comparative, and American theses,
Government concentrators who write political theory theses do often tackle normative
questions. Prof. Nelson points out that there is an enormous array of possible political
theory thesis topics you might write on. Given these many possibilities, one question you
may have is: What does a political theory thesis look like?
Political theory thesis questions can be roughly categorized into three types:
1) Purely historical, e.g. Locke’s theory of slavery has often seemed difficult to
square with the rest of his political theory. Can a consideration of 17 th -century
understandings of slavery and of Locke’s participation in these debates shed light
on this interpretive puzzle? Or, commentators disagree on the substance of
Hobbes’s theory of justice; what is the proper way to understand what Hobbes
means by it?
2) Partly historical/partly normative, e.g. can an explication of the role of
corporations in early modern thought shed light on current debates about the
corporations, globalization, and governance.
3) Purely normative, e.g. should justice be thought of as a characteristic of
institutions, as John Rawls urges us to believe?
Professor Nelson also notes that it is wrong to think of political theory theses as an
“empirics free zone.” For example, topic number one above might involve a fair amount
of research into the institution of slavery in the 17 th century; topic two might require
research into issue of contemporary corporate governance; topic three might very well
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lead to a consideration of whether a view of justice such as that of Rawls is practicable,
or which set of policies/institutions would best embody that theory.
See also “A Note on Normative Questions and Political Theory Theses” in A Guide to
Writing a Senior Thesis in Government (p. 7).
The best way to learn what a thesis looks like is to actually go Lamont and Pusey
libraries and read examples from previous years. For a list of Government theses from the
last few years, see http://www.gov.harvard.edu/undergraduate-program/forseniors/finding-a-thesis-adviser.
In addition, your work in Junior Research Seminars will
expose you to the type of writing that will be required of a theory thesis writer.
3. Advisers: How do I find a thesis adviser?
Background. Before discussing the adviser search, it is useful to lay out the
structure of thesis advising in the Department. You will have one official thesis adviser,
who should be either a faculty member or a teaching fellow in the Government
Department. In some special circumstances, you may find an adviser outside the
Department, but this needs to be approved by the Director of Undergraduate Studies. You
will meet with your adviser regularly throughout the academic year to discuss your
progress. If you are a joint concentrator, then you will have one adviser in each
Department, and you will need to determine a working relationship that is amenable to
both advisers.
Finding an adviser is a process that should start by the end of your Junior Fall.
Over the course of your Junior Spring, you should plan on emailing, speaking, and
meeting with potential advisers. By the end of Junior Spring, before you leave campus for
the summer, you should turn in a Thesis Adviser Contract to the Undergraduate Program
Office. The deadline for 2011 is May 14, 2011. If you are not able to find an adviser
before summer, the Undergraduate Program Office will work with you over the summer
to find one.
A successful advisee/adviser relationship rests on regular and accurate
communication about thesis progress. You want to find an adviser who you feel
comfortable working with, and you should be clear with your adviser from the start about
your vision for the thesis, as well as your time constraints. If, for instance, you’re going
to be applying for law school and going through OCS recruiting in the Fall, it’s important
that your adviser knows how much time you’ll have for your thesis work.
Tip from Prof. Domínguez: It’s easy to oversell the importance of the need for a
substantive, empirical link between your adviser’s work and the work that you
plan to do on your thesis. Even if your thesis is regionally focused, it’s not
particularly important that you are advised by a regional specialist. You will
quickly become the expert on the region/subregion, and most conversations with
your adviser will be spent going over the details of your question, not the
adviser’s own research.
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Step 1 to Finding an Adviser: Gather your thoughts (even if they’re really rough).
In order to write a senior thesis, you’ll need a topic and a specific question related to that
topic. How to move from a topic to a question is not always straightforward, and our
thesis preparation programming for Juniors in the Spring will provide you with help in
formulating your question.
But as you begin the adviser search, your goal should not be to arrive at a
polished question, but simply to organize your thoughts in a way that is coherent enough
to facilitate discussion with potential advisers.
Tip from Prof. Platt: Be honest with a potential adviser about the type of
research you want to do. Some advisers may prefer to work with students
conducting large-N studies and employing quantitative methods, and it
makes little sense to pursue an advising relationship with that type of
person if you are doing extensive fieldwork on a single case.
Step 2 to Finding an Adviser: Summarize your ideas in a concise paragraph. In
about a paragraph (maybe two if necessary) put your initial ideas down on paper. This
paragraph is meant to give potential advisers a ballpark idea about your ideas and
interests. It does not have to be well developed. Prof. Domínguez suggests that you think
of this as a conversation with faculty members and teaching fellows. They are going to
ask you questions, and as you answer their questions your ideas will sharpen. It’s
important to start these conversations earlier rather than later so that you have time to
develop your ideas.
Step 3 to Finding an Adviser: Start talking with people you know in the
department. Once you have a rough sketch of your ideas on paper, you should start
talking to people you know. Take a look at your transcript, and identify the Government
Department faculty members and teaching fellows that you have met. You can also talk
to your House Concentration Advisers, your peers, and the DUS or Gov 99 Coordinator
about your ideas. Reach out to these individuals via email to see if it’s possible to get
feedback on your thesis ideas.
Tip from Prof. Platt: If you are planning to apply for a Ph.D. program in
political science down the road, a faculty adviser makes sense -- their
letters of recommendation could make a difference for such programs.
Once you connect via email, schedule a face-to-face meeting. Take advantage of
faculty and TF office hours, and expect faculty/TFs to ask you about your ideas at this
meeting. For instance, they may ask: Why do you want to write on this topic? What
specific questions are you thinking about asking? These meetings also serve as a great
opportunity for you to ask faculty / TFs questions such as: How would you suggest I
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efine my question? Are there scholars I should read? How might I design my research to
find an answer to my question?
You can use these conversations with faculty and graduate students to help you
arrive at a more precise question. At the end of each email or conversation, make sure
you ask for names of other individuals in the department who might be useful for you to
talk to. By doing this, you’ll create your own network of scholars to draw upon for
advice.
(If you don’t have an adviser after Step 3, then …) Step 4 to Finding an Adviser:
Identify more potential advisers. In addition to faculty and teaching fellows you already
know, you should branch out to others who may be potential advisers. In the Government
Department, advisers can be either Government Department faculty or graduate students.
A list of graduate students who have expressed particular interests in advising is available
here: http://www.gov.harvard.edu/undergraduate-program/potential-thesis-advisers. You
can circulate your paragraph, perhaps a revised version after some initial conversations,
and continue to seek feedback and advice.
Tip: As you explore thesis topics and advisers, be flexible with your
question, approach, and methodology. You may find that an adviser is
willing to advise if you modify your question slightly, or you may find
that you want to shift your focus after talking with a faculty member or
teaching fellow. Junior Spring is the time to have these discussions, and
consider many possible thesis questions. By the end of the Spring, your
goal should be to arrive at a question that you will take with you into the
summer for possible summer research.
In order to learn about faculty and teaching fellows, turn to the online links noted above.
As you read through faculty and TF profiles, think of two different questions: (A) Might
this person possibly be interested in advising my thesis as I currently conceive of it? and
(B) Am I interested enough in what this person studies to reconceptualize my thesis (so
that it would be an advising fit for them)?
(If you don’t have an adviser after Step 4, then …) Step 5 to Finding an Adviser:
Look to faculty at related Harvard schools and institutes. If your conversations with
Government Department faculty and teaching fellows have not produced an adviser, you
can branch out to other schools, institutes, and centers to see if there are possible advisers
elsewhere. Harvard is a place where there are often visitors / affiliates / professors in
other places, and there is not a central repository where everyone is listed. The University
is so big and disconnected that sometimes two people may be studying the same thing,
and not even know it.
BUT, as you look beyond the Government Department, you need to be careful.
Since you will be writing a political science thesis, it's important (when you look at
advisers from beyond the Government Department) to make sure that they feel
comfortable advising a thesis that will be evaluated by a political science audience. There
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are many great theses to write (in history, economics, public policy, etc.), but those theses
won't be viewed as favorably in the Govt. Dept. If your adviser is from outside the
Department, you will have to work harder to make sure that you are able to produce a
piece of political science scholarship.
With that very important caveat in mind, places you can go to continue your
adviser search include:
• Weatherhead Center for International Affairs:
http://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/fields_of_interest
• Harvard University Asia Center: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~asiactr/people.htm
• Harvard Center for International Development:
http://www.cid.harvard.edu/cidpeople/
• Kennedy School of Government: http://www.hks.harvard.edu/centersprograms/by-topic
4. Timeline: What is the timeline for writing a Government thesis?
Tip from Prof. Nelson: Start thinking early! Have a question before the
summer. Try to start writing early too. Write as you go, rather than waiting
until the very end to do it all. Note that the new calendar may give you a
false sense that you have lots of time in January to write the thesis. But
remember that your adviser will likely not be available during those weeks
and that the “break” is actually quite short. Having a rough draft of the
whole before winter break would be ideal.
Ask anyone in the department about the thesis writing process, and they will echo
the same sentiment: start thinking about your thesis early. You will always have less time
than you think, and research will always take longer than you think. Starting early gives
you enough time to work through these inevitable delays.
Prof. Domínguez suggests that the bulk of your research be done before the
beginning of your senior year, and should absolutely be done by Halloween. You should
have written 20-25 pages for your adviser to review by Thanksgiving, and a complete
first draft should be finished by the beginning of the spring semester in January.
February should be spent on revisions. Remember: the thesis is due at the beginning of
March!
Starting with the Class of 2010, Harvard College will be implementing a new
academic calendar. While the new college calendar won’t affect all aspects of the thesiswriting
timeline, it will push up some of the due dates. The need to start early is even
more pressing.
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Below is a month-by-month calendar of what you should be doing your Junior
year to prepare for writing a Government thesis. Bring your specific questions to the
Undergraduate Program Office and to your concentration advisers!
Month
Tasks
Jr. Fall Semester - Plan junior year courses to include at least one, hopefully two, Junior Research
Seminars.
- Think about taking Gov 50 or an equivalent statistics course this academic year, if
you haven’t done so already.
December
- Begin thinking about your thesis question
- Start looking for thesis adviser
January/February - Continue searching for thesis adviser; developing thesis question
- Attend sessions on summer research funding
- Submit grant proposals for summer research funding
- Attend a mandatory Introduction to Thesis Writing in Government session; includes
intro. to the Committee on the Use of Human Subjects in Research
March
- Continue searching for thesis adviser; developing thesis question
- Attend series of Government Dept. Thesis Preparation Seminars (dates TBA via
email)
April
- Continue searching for thesis adviser; developing thesis question
- Attend series of Government Dept. Thesis Preparation Seminars (dates TBA via
email)
May - Thesis contracts due by May 14
- Develop summer research plans
June – August - Engage in summer research (determine with your adviser what, if anything, you will
do over the summer)
- Prof. Domínguez notes that in order to have your research completed by Halloween,
you need to do a significant portion of the research over the summer, and in order to
do a significant portion of the research over the summer, you need to have a question
in mind before you go away for the summer.
- If you have found an adviser yet, contact the Undergraduate Program Office ASAP
August
- Continue summer research
September
- If not already submitted, thesis contracts should be submitted by Study Card Day
- Conduct research!
October – December - Conduct research!
- Series of Gov 99 internal deadlines: Initial description of question / methods;
Prospectus; Draft of literature review; Discussion of methods / evidence to be used
- Turn in your Prospectus to adviser and Undergraduate Office by October 7
- You’ll need to have ~30 pages turned in to your adviser by December 1, and this
means that you need substantial portions of your research completed by mid-Fall.
- If you are going to be focused on final exams and papers from Thanksgiving to
December, you really need to have 20-25 pages completed by Thanksgiving, and in
order to write those 25 pages by Thanksgiving, you need much of your research to be
finished by Halloween.
January Break - Anticipate that you will be working a lot on your thesis over your January break
January
- Write!
- Prof. Domínguez notes that you have only 4-5 weeks from the start of your second
semester to finish your thesis, so by late January, at a rock bottom minimum, you
need to have at least 2/3 of your senior thesis draft finished. This will give you
enough time to complete the final 1/3 of the thesis, as well as proofread and pay
attention to what the final product looks like.
February
- Write!
March - Thesis is due on March 6, 2012
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