Eligibility
To be eligible to register for the Longwood Senior Thesis Program, a student must have:
- a strong interest in doing independent research
- a 3.0 overall grade point average on work taken at Longwood
- a 3.0 average in courses taken at Longwood for the major
- agreement of a faculty member to serve as a sponsor
- permission of the Longwood Senior Thesis (LST) Committee
Proposal
In consultation with the faculty sponsor, develop a research topic and prepare a research proposal.
Proposals should be submitted two weeks prior to the end of classes each semester.
Proposals should not exceed 7-8 double-spaced pages (not including figures, tables, and bibliography). The proposal is then presented before the Longwood Senior Thesis Committee.
Submit your Longwood Senior Thesis Proposal on Digital Commons @ Longwood.
Examples
Course Work
The Senior Thesis Program is undertaken by motivated students who wish to pursue their scholarship interests outside of the classroom.
Completion of the project requires that students enroll in two consecutive 3-credit courses, typically with the second of those courses within their senior year.
Thesis
The thesis acts as the major product of your 499 course and needs to be written with a structure that is appropriate to your field of study or major.
The guidelines of which need to be discussed with your thesis advisor.
In general, the theses tend to be between 20 to 40 pages in length with a detailed introduction to the literature on the project topic.
Then a description of the project, work performed, and its outcomes.
Past approved undergraduate theses can be found on Longwood Digital Commons.
Examples
Timeline
Semester 1
- Prepare proposed project in collaboration with a faculty sponsor
- Present proposal to LST committee members
Semester 2
- Enroll in 498 course and complete or nearly complete proposed project
- Report progress to examination committee members
Semester 3
- Enroll in 499 course and complete project work (if needed)
- Write thesis
- Present work at the Longwood Student Showcase
- Defend thesis project with the examination committee
Faculty Responsibilities
A Longwood faculty member must act as the student's sponsor and will be recorded as the instructor on record for the student's 498 and 499 coursework.
The responsibilities are as follows:
- Serve as the student's primary contact for any questions about the policies and procedures of the LST program. Faculty sponsors are welcome and encouraged to contact the chair of the LST Committee with any questions about this process.
- Be familiar with the responsibilities of the student and with the times by which those responsibilities must be fulfilled.
- Completed initial proposal and oral defense with the LST committee (prior to starting LST)
- Coursework (498 1st semester- 3 credits) + (499 2nd semester- 3 credits)
- Submission of progress report to examination committee and LST chair (end of 498)
- Longwood Student Showcase Oral Presentation (end of 499)
- Completed written thesis submitted to examination committee (end of 499)
- Oral Defense with examination committee (end of 499)
- Submission of final written thesis after edits (end of 499)
- Assist the student in the preparation of the proposal and the development of the project.
- Assist the student in identifying and nominating the voting members of the examination committee.
- Assist the student in preparing the oral defense of the proposal with the LST committee.
- Guide the student, as appropriate, in the research and inquiry activity in the 498 and 499 courses.
- Assist the student in the completion of a progress report to be submitted to the examination committee and LST chair at the end of 498.
- Evaluate the student's work by the end of the first semester (498). If the work during the first semester (498) is of at least "A-" quality, advise the chair of the LST
- Committee of that fact during the last week of that semester's classes.
- If the project is not to be continued as LST, notify the chair of the LST Committee and report a final 3-semester-hour grade for 498 to the Registrar.
- If the project continues as LST research into the second semester (499), evaluate the student's work by midterm and report a midterm grade estimate for 499 to the Registrar. A midterm grade less than an A- will indicate that the student is not making sufficient progress.
- Assist the student in creating an oral presentation of their work to be presented at the Student Showcase for Research and Creative Inquiry at the end of the 499 semester.
- Assist the student in completing their written thesis.
- Assist the LST committee liaison (who is appointed by the chair of the full LST Committee) in the scheduling of the defense meeting. The defense meeting shall occur not later than the last day of classes of the semester.
- If the student's final (pre-defense) product is to be graded as less than "A-," notify both the student and the chair of the LST Committee of that fact. In this event, there will be no oral defense before an examination committee and the student will not be accorded Senior Thesis recognition. If the final grade is at least a passing one, however, the student will still have transcript credit for six semester hours of "498/499" enrollment.
- When the student completes an oral defense of the project before an examination committee, attend that defense meeting as an observer. Orally participate at the defense only upon the invitation of the LST liaison or the voting members with regard to specific inquiries, but not during the examination committee's evaluative deliberation and voting.
- Assist the student with completing edits of their written thesis, if needed.
See Solomon for Faculty Responsibilities details.
