Not an extraordinary photo, but a meaningful one—taken on my first day at the Bibliothèque nationale de France – François Mitterrand. With the support of the history department’s fellowships (as described below), I was able to spend the first half of my summer conducting thesis research in Paris. Photo Credit: Alan Chen.
Officially, the preparation for writing a thesis in the history department begins in the spring prior to the yearlong process of writing a thesis. Every March or so, the department will reach out to declared history majors and call for senior thesis seminar applications, asking for a student’s academic record in the department; a brief explanation of one’s proposed topic; previous research done on one’s topic; a few primary and secondary sources of interest; and potential second readers.
As clear as the application was, there were still several things that I wish I had known before diving into the thesis preparation process. So, with the spring semester right around the corner, I want to use this blog post to break down the preparation that goes into the preparation for writing a thesis.
