Senior Thesis Program

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 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

• Proposal Example 1 Biology
• Proposal Example 2 Biology
• Proposal Example 3 Business
• Proposal Example 4 Business
• Proposal Example 5 Chemistry
• Proposal Example 6 Chemistry
• Proposal Example 7 English
• Proposal Example 8 Hark
• Proposal Example 9 Hark
• Proposal Example 10 History

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

• LST Example Thesis 1 (pdf)
• LST Example Thesis 2 (pdf)
• LST Example Thesis 3 (pdf)

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