First Steps

By the start of the student's senior year, the following first steps toward writing the senior thesis should be well in hand:

Advising

By early September of the senior year, the student should have chosen an advisor from within the Department of Classical Studies who has agreed to direct the student's research.

In consultation with the student, the advisor will choose another faculty member as the second reader. Ordinarily, this will also be a member of the Department of Classical Studies, but in special circumstances, a second reader from another department (or another institution) may be chosen.

If a double concentrator is planning to write a senior thesis in classical studies to present for honors in two departments, a reader and an advisor from each department will ordinarily be chosen. A third reader may be chosen before the oral defense.

Topic

By early September, the senior should have chosen a topic in consultation with the main advisor.

Research Course

At registration in fall semester of the senior year, the student should register for an Independent Research course (GRK, LAT, or CLAS 99d). The main thesis advisor must sign the enrollment card.

Prospectus

By the beginning of the third week of September, the senior should have crafted the thesis topic into a formal prospectus. The prospectus should include a description of the project, an outline of the planned research, a suitable methodology and a bibliography.

The Senior Thesis Form (pdf) must be signed by the student and all readers. Signed and completed forms must be filed with the department administrator before the end of September.

Note: Failure to meet this deadline will result in the transfer of the student from the Independent Research course (99d) to Directed Reading (98a). See deadlines on the Schedule page.

Research Assistance

In the course of your research, you may need modest funding as well as source materials.

Library Research

The Brandeis Library can be a great resource for researching a thesis topic. The Library keeps a copy of senior theses, for which one can do a title, author, subject search in the Brandeis Institutional Repository

Other Library Resources

Download the Thesis Release Form (pdf), which must accompany the submission of your approved thesis to the library.

Thesis Funding

Funding for thesis-related expenses (except copying and binding costs) is available through the Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences. There are no deadlines for this funding.