Our 2023–2024 Exploratory Seminar, scheduled for 11–12 April 2024, is focused on "The Senior Thesis." Ideally, the Senior Thesis constitutes the capstone of a Harvard undergraduate's education, giving them the opportunity to pursue original research and synthesis that deepens their relationships with the scholarly traditions of their fields and faculty mentors in their concentrations. As the scholarly landscape changes—in response to increasing interdisciplinarity, the expansion of scholarly communication into new mediums, and the rise of generative artificial intelligence—so, too, might the senior thesis evolve, in terms of the goals that students and concentrations bring to the process, the expectations they have for its final form, and the skills that are required to meet those goals and expectations.
Join your fellow Directors and Assistant Directors of Undergraduate Studies, other engaged colleagues, and the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning for a two-day seminar where we will ask:
What is the current state of the senior thesis at Harvard?
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What are concentrations hoping students will achieve in researching and writing a thesis?
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What are students hoping to achieve in researching and writing a thesis?
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Are the current scaffolding and expectations for senior theses meeting the needs of concentrations, advisors, and students?
Where do we imagine the senior thesis might go next? And how might we get there?
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How might internal and external pressures—including students’ and concentrations’ desire to explore new questions and new mediums, as well as new tools like generative artificial intelligence—lead us to revise our norms around the thesis?
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Insofar as we want to open up the thesis to new questions, tools, and formats, how will we prepare students, advisors, and graders to use them in appropriate and sophisticated ways?
By convening this seminar, we hope to create a cross-departmental community for thinking together about the evolving role of the senior thesis as a part of the Harvard experience.
Learn more and Register
