Thesis Information for Students

The CHID Senior Thesis is meant to be the capstone of your undergraduate academic experience. You are required to do a 5-credit thesis (CHID 491), but we recommend that you do a 10- or 15-credit thesis. A 15-credit thesis is one of the requirements for departmental honors.

CHID 491 (5 credits) is an instructional course dedicated to helping the student begin the thesis process. All thesis students take this class first. CHID 492 and 493 (5 credits each) are thesis-writing courses which operate as independent studies and are to be supervised by the thesis advisor.

We recommend that 491, 492, and 493 follow each other in succession, each in separate quarters (unless circumstances do not permit). To register for 492 and 493, CHID will need to generate a faculty code for your thesis advisor. Your thesis advisor will be asked to send confirmation (via email) to our Academic Advisor that you have permission to register with your faculty code.

Most students will do a 10-credit thesis over two quarters and we discourage students from doing only a 5-credit thesis, though for some, this is the only option. Some will complete a 15-credit thesis. Although there is no page limit corresponding to credits, the final project should reflect effort commensurate with the number of credits earned. Suggested page guidelines for written research projects are: 5 credit: 20-40 pages; 10 credit: 40-60 pages; 15 credit: 60-80 pages.

The project can take any form that embodies a critical intellectual component and is meant to facilitate your transition from CHID/University of Washington to the next stage in your life. You may opt to do artistic or performance-based projects that do not result in long written papers. We encourage creativity, but regardless of the form the thesis takes, you are expected to critically engage your topic in written form at some stage of the work. That is, you must write a reflective essay or analytical paper as one component of the project. You and your thesis advisor should negotiate the precise details of the senior thesis regarding acceptable project types, format and length.

For the first 5 credits of any senior thesis (CHID 491), 50% of the final grade will be determined by the thesis advisor and 50% will be determined by the instructor of CHID 491. For students who choose the 10-and 15-credit thesis options, the grades for 492 and 493 will be determined entirely the directing professor after the thesis has been turned in (in the meantime, students will receive an "X" grade).