Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-jswmv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-15T16:36:54.200Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Senior Theses: Creating a Community of Scholars for Original, Authentic Research

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Donna Jo Napoli,
Emily Gasser and
Shi-Zhe Huang
Donna Jo Napoli*
Affiliation:
Swarthmore College
Emily Gasser*
Affiliation:
Swarthmore College
Shi-Zhe Huang*
Affiliation:
Haverford College
*
500 College Avenue, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA 19081, [dnapoli1@swarthmore.edu]
[egasser1@swarthmore.edu]
[shuang@haverford.edu]
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

After many years of having a loosely structured thesis seminar for our senior majors, the Tri-College Linguistics Department recently redesigned our program to offer students a highly scaffolded environment in which to complete their capstone requirement, which has led to improved outcomes. We argue here for the benefits of asking students to write a senior thesis and to carry out original, authentic research on a topic of their choice. We describe our seminar design and its key components—frequent incremental assignments, peer and instructor feedback leading to repeated revisions, and intentional community building—and suggest how the program might be implemented, in whole or in part, at other institutions with similar pedagogical goals.

Keywords

theseswriting across the curriculumauthentic researchundergraduate capstone requirementspeer review

Information

Type
Teaching Linguistics
Information
Language , Volume 98 , Issue 1 , March 2022, pp. e26 - e43
Copyright
Copyright © 2022 Linguistic Society of America

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

AAC&U. 2011. The LEAP vision for learning: Outcomes, practices, impact, and employers' views. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges & Universities.Google Scholar
Adelson, Beth. 2003. Issues in scientific creativity: Insight, perseverance and personal technique: Profiles of the 2002 Franklin Institute laureates. Journal of the Franklin Institute 340. 163–89. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-0032(03)00037-1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bean, John C. 2011. Engaging ideas: The professor's guide to integrating writing, critical thinking, and active learning in the classroom. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Beetham, Helen, and Sharpe, Rhona (eds.) 2007. Rethinking pedagogy for a digital age: Designing for 21st century learning. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bjorndahl, Christina, and Gibson, Mark. 2022. The CARE approach to incorporating undergraduate research in the phonetics/phonology classroom. Language 98(1). e1–e25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyer Commission on Educating Undergraduates in the Research University. 1998. Reinventing undergraduate education: A blueprint for America's research universities. Stony Brook, NY: SUNY Stony Brook for the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Online: http://hdl.handle.net/1951/26012.Google Scholar
Brownell, Sara E., Kloser, Matthew J., Fukami, Tadashi; and Shavelson, Richard J.. 2013. Context matters: Volunteer bias, small sample size, and the value of comparison groups in the assessment of research-based undergraduate introductory biology lab courses. Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education 14. 176–82. DOI: 10.1128/jmbe.v14i2.609.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burnette, James M., and Wessler, Susan R.. 2013. Transposing from the laboratory to the classroom to generate authentic research experiences for undergraduates. Genetics 193. 367–75. DOI: 10.1534/genetics.112.147355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colabroy, Keri L. 2011. A writing-intensive, methods-based laboratory course for undergraduates. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education 39. 196–203. DOI: 10.1002/bmb.20496.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Condon, William, and Rutz, Carol. 2012. A taxonomy of writing across the curriculum programs: Evolving to serve broader agendas. College Composition and Communication 64. 357–82. Online: https://www.jstor.org/stable/43490756.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corwin, Lisa A., Graham, Mark J.; and Dolan, Erin L.. 2015. Modeling course-based undergraduate research experiences: An agenda for future research and evaluation. CBE—Life Sciences Education 14:1. DOI: 10.1187/cbe.14-10-0167.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Curry, Cynthia. 2003. Universal design: Accessibility for all learners. Educational Leadership 61(2). 55–60. Online: https://files.ascd.org/staticfiles/ascd/pdf/journals/ed_lead/el200310_curry.pdf.Google Scholar
Defazio, Joseph, Jones, Josette, Tennant, Felisa; and Hook, Sara Anne. 2010. Academic literacy: The importance and impact of writing across the curriculum—A case study. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 10(2). 34–47. Online: https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/josotl/article/view/1746.Google Scholar
Elbow, Peter. 1976. Writing without teachers. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Evans, Carol, Howson, Camille Kandiko, Forsythe, Alex; and Edwards, Corony. 2020. What constitutes high quality higher education pedagogical research? Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education 46(4). 525–46. DOI: 10.1080/02602938.2020.1790500.Google Scholar
Ewing, Robyn, Freeman, Mark A., Barrie, Simon, Bell, Amani, O'Connor, Donna, Waugh, Fran; and Sykes, Chris. 2007. Building community in academic settings: The importance of flexibility in a structured mentoring program. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning 16. 294–310. DOI: 10.1080/13611260802231690.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallup. 2014. Life in college matters for life after college: New Gallup-Purdue study looks at links among college, work, and well-being. Online: https://news.gallup.com/poll/168848/life-college-matters-life-college.aspx, accessed December 6, 2020.Google Scholar
Harper, Rowena, and Vered, Karen Orr. 2017. Developing communication as a graduate outcome: Using ‘Writing across the curriculum’ as a whole-of-institution approach to curriculum and pedagogy. Higher Education Research & Development 36. 688–701. DOI: 10.1080/07294360.2016.1238882.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heard, Stephen B. 2016. The scientist's guide to writing. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Hennessey, Beth A. 2000. Self-determination theory and the social psychology of creativity. Psychological Inquiry 11. 293–98. Online: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1449624.Google Scholar
Hjørland, Birger. 2008. What is knowledge organization (KO)? Knowledge Organization 35. 86–102. DOI: 10.5771/0943-7444-2008-2-3-86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, W. Brad. 2016. On being a mentor: A guide for higher education faculty. 2nd edn. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kuh, George D. 2008. High-impact educational practices: What they are, who has access to them, and why they matter. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges & Universities.Google Scholar
Lamott, Anne. 1995. Bird by bird: Some instructions on writing and life. New York: Anchor Books.Google Scholar
Linn, Marcia C., Palmer, Erin, Baranger, Anne, Gerard, Elizabeth; and Stone, Elisa. 2015. Undergraduate research experiences: Impacts and opportunities. Science 347:1261757. DOI: 10.1126/science.1261757.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Manson, Steven M. 2001. Simplifying complexity: A review of complexity theory. Geoforum 32. 405–14. DOI: 10.1016/S0016-7185(00)00035-X.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McLeod, Susan H., and Miraglia, Eric. 2001. Writing across the curriculum in a time of change. WAC for the new millennium: Strategies for continuing writing-across-the-curriculum programs, ed. by McLeod, Susan H., Miraglia, Eric, Soven, Margot, and Thaiss, Christopher, 1–27. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.Google Scholar
Mintz, Steven. 2020. Pedagogy and course design need to change: Here's how. Inside Higher Ed, September 3, 2020. Online: https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-gamma/pedagogy-and-course-design-need-change-here%E2%80%99s-how#.YfxANwuhl7I.link.Google Scholar
Phillips, Jason B., Guss, Samantha A.; and McGarry, David M.. 2011. The NYU survey service: Promoting value in undergraduate education. College & Undergraduate Libraries 18. 183–99. DOI: 10.1080/10691316.2011.577672.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pullum, Geoff. 2004. Geoff Pullum's five golden rules (well, actually six) of giving an academic presentation. Online: http://www.lel.ed.ac.uk/~gpullum/goldenrules.html, accessed June 3, 2020.Google Scholar
Smith, Frank. 1994. Writing and the writer. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Spell, Rachelle M., Guinan, Judith A., Miller, Kristen R.; and Beck, Christopher W.. 2014. Redefining authentic research experiences in introductory biology laboratories and barriers to their implementation. CBE—Life Sciences Education 13. 102–10. DOI: 10.1187/cbe.13-08-0169.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Walkington, Helen, Hill, Jennifer; and Kneale, Pauline E.. 2017. Reciprocal elucidation: A student-led pedagogy in multidisciplinary undergraduate research conferences. Higher Education Research & Development 36. 416–29. DOI: 10.1080/07294360.2016.1208155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weaver, Gabriela C., Russell, Cianán B.; and Wink, Donald J.. 2008. Inquiry-based and research-based laboratory pedagogies in undergraduate science. Nature Chemical Biology 4. 577–80. DOI: 10.1038/nchembio1008-577.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weston, Timothy J., and Laursen, Sandra L.. 2015. The Undergraduate Research Student Self-Assessment (URSSA): Validation for use in program evaluation. CBE—Life Sciences Education 14:3. DOI: 10.1187/cbe.14-11-0206.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: File

Napoli et al. supplementary material

Napoli et al. supplementary material
Download Napoli et al. supplementary material(File)
File 1.8 MB