Why Write a Senior Thesis?
Writing a senior thesis is a distinctive opportunity to experience historical research firsthand. Unlike most course assignments, a thesis allows you to develop a project around a question of your own choosing and to pursue it over the course of an entire academic year. You will identify and interpret primary sources, engage closely with existing scholarship, refine an original argument, and learn how a substantial piece of historical writing develops through research, drafting, feedback, and revision.
The process is demanding, but it offers an exceptional opportunity to strengthen your research, analytical, and writing skills. It also gives you unusual intellectual independence: you are not simply responding to an assigned prompt, but deciding what you want to understand and determining how best to investigate it. By the end of the year, you will have produced a sustained piece of original scholarship on a subject that matters to you.
Before Asking Me to Advise a Thesis
I welcome inquiries from students considering a senior thesis in Ottoman or Middle Eastern history, Mediterranean or connected history, and the histories of science, time and temporality, and book history. I may also be able to advise projects outside these areas when there is a meaningful connection to my fields of expertise, such as connections between Europe and the Middle East. Before approaching me, you should have a preliminary research question rather than only a broad subject of interest. Your question does not need to be final, and I do not expect you to have developed a complete argument or prospectus before our first conversation. An initial conversation is an opportunity for us to discuss the project’s feasibility and whether the advising relationship would be a productive fit.
Advising Expectations
While you are working on your thesis, we will normally meet once a week for approximately 15–20 minutes. Whenever possible, we will establish a regular meeting time at the beginning of the semester. These meetings are intended to maintain momentum, address questions as they arise, and keep us in regular conversation about the development of your project. You should come prepared to discuss your recent progress and to raise any questions or problems that require attention. When you would like feedback on written work, please send it to me sufficiently in advance of our meeting.
The thesis is ultimately your independent project. My role is to help you refine your questions, think through sources and arguments, and respond to work submitted according to our agreed schedule. You are responsible for maintaining steady progress, meeting deadlines, and letting me know promptly if circumstances are interfering with your work.
Thesis Timeline and Deadlines
Writing a thesis is a substantial undertaking, and steady progress throughout the year is essential. The benchmarks below are intended to help you keep the project manageable and to identify any difficulties early enough for us to address them together.
The Prospectus and Thesis Colloquium
Research and Writing Resources