Senior Thesis Proposal Guidelines

Empirical Research Thesis

All seniors interested in writing a senior thesis involving empirical research for their graduation requirement are required to submit proposals and receive approval from the department. These proposals should conform to the American Psychological Association style. That is, they should be organized in sections as follows:

1. The COVER PAGE should appear in APA style and must include an ordered listing of three professors you would prefer to supervise this work.

2. The ABSTRACT should contain a brief summary of the content and purpose of your proposed research. The length is typically 100-250 words, but usually no more than 120 words. The abstract should describe the problem under investigation (in one sentence if possible), the subjects (specifying important characteristics such as number, type, age, sex), the experimental method, (including apparatus, data-gathering procedures, complete test names), and the potential findings / implications.

3. The INTRODUCTION should outline the background research and reasoning which form the basis of your hypothesis. For your thesis proposal you should only describe directly relevant findings. The purpose of the introduction is to inform the reader of the specific problem under study, the research strategy used and how the problem is related to prior work. In writing the introduction, keep these three questions in mind: (a) What is the point (hypothesis) of the study? (b) What is the rationale or logical link between the study and the research design? (c) What is the relationship between the study and previous work in the area? By the end of the introduction the reader should understand the relevant background research and the question(s) you hope to answer.

4. The METHOD section should indicate your proposed method and research design. Describe the methods that you will use to answer the question outlined in the introduction. It is very important that your proposed methods permit you to answer the question(s) you outline. This portion of your proposal will typically contain subsections for participants, materials, and procedures.

5. The RESULTS section should detail the analyses you plan to run. You might want to include in this section a brief description of the predicted findings.

6. The DISCUSSION section should go into more depth regarding your expected results and their implications. How will this research advance our understanding of the area under investigation?

7. The REFERENCE section should contain a listing of all of the references listed in your proposal in proper APA style.

Proposals are approved by the third week in each semester. Revisions or elaborations of the proposal may occasionally be requested by the Department.

To help you in writing your proposal, there are several samples available from Toni Day in the psychology department.

Community-Based Research Thesis

All seniors interested in using community-based research (CBR) as their graduation requirement, are required to submit proposals and receive approval before they can begin their placements. Although empirical research proposals follow APA style, community-based research proposals may differ; a method or results section might not be appropriate. We strongly encourage the use of appropriate sub-headings in the proposal (e.g., "Background", "Site Description" or "Student Responsibilities"), based on the requirements below. At the minimum, a proposal should include the following in roughly the same order:

1. A three- to five-page summary of research that may be relevant to the placement. For example, if you are working with behaviorally-disordered children at St. Mary's, prevalence of the disorders or social problems linked with such behaviors and a brief summary of treatments and therapeutic settings for such children would be appropriate. Specifically, we ask students to anticipate how courses in Psychology or knowledge of psychological theory may relate to their placements.

2. A description of the site, the services offered at the placement, and the "mission" or "philosophy" of the agency or workplace.

3. A rationale for volunteering at the site. Specifically, students should articulate how the placement constitutes a service to the community and what kind of learning might take place.

4. A general description of the student's responsibilities at the site.

5. An agreement signed by a supervisor at the site, the student, and the faculty advisor, specifying the schedule and requirements for the placement (number of hours, etc.).  A copy of the agreement used by the Harward Center will be made available in a class meeting.

6. References should be in American Psychological Association format (see Manual).

Students should make every effort to contact their CBR placements and supervisors soon after the proposal is accepted, given the late due dates of fall proposals.