Down to the Wire: Last-minute Tales of Thesis Trauma

With their deadlines rapidly approaching, it’s crunch time for senior writing theses. But even as thesis season reaches its climax with History and Literature theses due last Monday and most departments' due dates before spring break, seniors are adding color to their lives--with highlighters and color-coded page tabs.

"When we [seniors] see each other we talk about two things: What we're doing next year or our thesis," say Jobe G. Danganna '99, a social studies concentrator writing a thesis on Christianity, racism and racial reconciliation of the African-American experience from the 1960s to the 1990s. "We call it the T-word or the T-bird."

As their journeys come to a close, many thesis-writing senior sagely offer advice to their classmates who are considering taking on the thesis challenges, and also to those senior who face several weeks until their concentration’s thesis deadline.

While the thesis process occupies a large portion of senior year, students considering writing these should start planning far in advance of their senior fall, according to many veterans of the process. One way to prepare for writing a thesis is getting head start on applications for grants from the Student Employment Office's Harvard College Research Program.

Danganan says he wishes he took core classes earlier and saved less work-intensive classes for this semester. With core workloads, Rhodes scholarship interviews (he was a finalist), LSATs, GREs and recruiting in the fall, Danganan says finding time to work on his thesis was especially difficult, and he would have benefited from advance planning of LSAT dates and classes.

"I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel now, but I'm sure I'll get there," he says.

Rebecca A. Berman '99, an Afro-American studies concentrator writing her thesis about a New York minority education program called Prep for Prep, stresses the importance of a good advisor. "I feel like people's these are made or broken by their experience," she says.

During the process of researching and writing a thesis, social anthropology concentrator Stanley C. Wei '99 prescribes a regular schedule of waking, sleeping and exercising.

Wei, who is writing his thesis about the correlation between poverty and poor health in immigrant women, adds, that organization is the key to lowering the risk of thesis trauma. he color codes all his material--during his first reading, the highlights or use a different color to distinguish between interesting and pertinent information.

Wei also recommends including ideas that seems irrelevant to the thesis during initial drafts because they could be pertinent if the writer unexpectedly reformulates the paper.

To maintain, a train of thought, he says, thesis writers should leave themselves notes when they want to refer to an article, instead of stopping their writing to look back through dozens of volumes.

Then again, it's not just diligent note taking and precise highlighting that lead a thesis writer to success. More unconventional tactics can calm a senior's mind in the face of pressure and make the process run more smoothly.

Wei says he has tested the benefits of combining alcohol and academics, writing his thesis while drinking a beer. Anna M. Harr '99, a women's studies concentrator. The Harvard Corp Starving Thesis Writers

Want to write a thesis? First consider the last-minute costs: Thesis paper, acid-free:  $13.50/100 sheets Printer ink:  $99.95(Mac), $139.95 (HP) Zip disks:  $29.99/2 Index cards:  $1.69 Post-It TM page Markers:  3.99 Highlighters:  $1.19 Coffee:  about $1/cup

bought children's flip sunglasses withfish shaped lenses, which she dons when she workson her thesis.

"It's hard to be too stressed out when I'mwearing something that silly," Harr wrote in ane-mail message.

"It's hard to retain much of a sense of humorwhen you spend a good portion of the day staringat a laptop," he added.

And thesis writers say it's not just stacks ofbooks, interviews, experiments and pages and pagesof writing that they learn from while writing athesis.

Seniors complement their learning about theirthesis topics with other benefits, citingcamaraderie among thesis writers, the pride ofcompleting a thesis, and knowledge about how towork efficiently as additional advantages to theirresearch and writing.

The thesis writer is not the only one wholearns from the experience.

Bridget N. Terry, associate director ofundergraduates in the economic department andteaching fellow of a section for thesis-writers,says thesis advisors also learn from the process.

"Sometimes [advising] points out to me mistakesI don't want to make in my own work--it's hard tosee that in your own work, it's easier to see itin someone else's. I see a lot of interestingideas and I learn from their mistakes and theirsuccesses," Terry says.

Even careful advising and a Sam Adams do notnecessarily relieve the pressure of theextraordinary demands of writing a thesis.Inspiration and excitement are balanced withprinter failure and paper requirements.

"Sometimes it's really fun and interesting andyou feel like a scholar," Berman says. "Othertimes I think, 'Why did I possibly decide to dothis? It was a terrible idea."

Wei says students who bind their theses haveencountered the unexpected problem of settingdifferent margins for left and right pages.Because of the placement of the binding, odd andeven numbered pages must have different marginsettings.

All theses must be written on acid-free paper,and some concentrations have a requirement forpaper weight, to ensure that the summa cum laudeand magna cum laude theses archived in PuseyLibrary do not disintegrate.

Thesis writers not only suffer from mentalstress, but also find their hard work physicallytaxing, with many developing repetitive stressinjury.

Berman already has a thesis horror story. Shecontracted mononucleosis before a scheduledresearch trip to New York she had been planningfor six months, and could only stay awake for thelength of each interview.

Seniors and faculty advisors stress thatstudents need to weigh pros and cons before makingthe monumental decision of writing a thesis.

"It's not something to do just if you wanthonors," Terry says. "When you're up at threeo'clock in the morning two weeks before the thesisis done under all this stress, the desire to gethonors is not going to be the thing to push youthrough.

"You really have to have the desire to get theanswer to your question," she says

Want to write a thesis? First consider the last-minute costs: Thesis paper, acid-free:  $13.50/100 sheets Printer ink:  $99.95(Mac), $139.95 (HP) Zip disks:  $29.99/2 Index cards:  $1.69 Post-It TM page Markers:  3.99 Highlighters:  $1.19 Coffee:  about $1/cup

bought children's flip sunglasses withfish shaped lenses, which she dons when she workson her thesis.

"It's hard to be too stressed out when I'mwearing something that silly," Harr wrote in ane-mail message.

"It's hard to retain much of a sense of humorwhen you spend a good portion of the day staringat a laptop," he added.

And thesis writers say it's not just stacks ofbooks, interviews, experiments and pages and pagesof writing that they learn from while writing athesis.

Seniors complement their learning about theirthesis topics with other benefits, citingcamaraderie among thesis writers, the pride ofcompleting a thesis, and knowledge about how towork efficiently as additional advantages to theirresearch and writing.

The thesis writer is not the only one wholearns from the experience.

Bridget N. Terry, associate director ofundergraduates in the economic department andteaching fellow of a section for thesis-writers,says thesis advisors also learn from the process.

"Sometimes [advising] points out to me mistakesI don't want to make in my own work--it's hard tosee that in your own work, it's easier to see itin someone else's. I see a lot of interestingideas and I learn from their mistakes and theirsuccesses," Terry says.

Even careful advising and a Sam Adams do notnecessarily relieve the pressure of theextraordinary demands of writing a thesis.Inspiration and excitement are balanced withprinter failure and paper requirements.

"Sometimes it's really fun and interesting andyou feel like a scholar," Berman says. "Othertimes I think, 'Why did I possibly decide to dothis? It was a terrible idea."

Wei says students who bind their theses haveencountered the unexpected problem of settingdifferent margins for left and right pages.Because of the placement of the binding, odd andeven numbered pages must have different marginsettings.

All theses must be written on acid-free paper,and some concentrations have a requirement forpaper weight, to ensure that the summa cum laudeand magna cum laude theses archived in PuseyLibrary do not disintegrate.

Thesis writers not only suffer from mentalstress, but also find their hard work physicallytaxing, with many developing repetitive stressinjury.

Berman already has a thesis horror story. Shecontracted mononucleosis before a scheduledresearch trip to New York she had been planningfor six months, and could only stay awake for thelength of each interview.

Seniors and faculty advisors stress thatstudents need to weigh pros and cons before makingthe monumental decision of writing a thesis.

"It's not something to do just if you wanthonors," Terry says. "When you're up at threeo'clock in the morning two weeks before the thesisis done under all this stress, the desire to gethonors is not going to be the thing to push youthrough.

"You really have to have the desire to get theanswer to your question," she says

bought children's flip sunglasses withfish shaped lenses, which she dons when she workson her thesis.

"It's hard to be too stressed out when I'mwearing something that silly," Harr wrote in ane-mail message.

"It's hard to retain much of a sense of humorwhen you spend a good portion of the day staringat a laptop," he added.

And thesis writers say it's not just stacks ofbooks, interviews, experiments and pages and pagesof writing that they learn from while writing athesis.

Seniors complement their learning about theirthesis topics with other benefits, citingcamaraderie among thesis writers, the pride ofcompleting a thesis, and knowledge about how towork efficiently as additional advantages to theirresearch and writing.

The thesis writer is not the only one wholearns from the experience.

Bridget N. Terry, associate director ofundergraduates in the economic department andteaching fellow of a section for thesis-writers,says thesis advisors also learn from the process.

"Sometimes [advising] points out to me mistakesI don't want to make in my own work--it's hard tosee that in your own work, it's easier to see itin someone else's. I see a lot of interestingideas and I learn from their mistakes and theirsuccesses," Terry says.

Even careful advising and a Sam Adams do notnecessarily relieve the pressure of theextraordinary demands of writing a thesis.Inspiration and excitement are balanced withprinter failure and paper requirements.

"Sometimes it's really fun and interesting andyou feel like a scholar," Berman says. "Othertimes I think, 'Why did I possibly decide to dothis? It was a terrible idea."

Wei says students who bind their theses haveencountered the unexpected problem of settingdifferent margins for left and right pages.Because of the placement of the binding, odd andeven numbered pages must have different marginsettings.

All theses must be written on acid-free paper,and some concentrations have a requirement forpaper weight, to ensure that the summa cum laudeand magna cum laude theses archived in PuseyLibrary do not disintegrate.

Thesis writers not only suffer from mentalstress, but also find their hard work physicallytaxing, with many developing repetitive stressinjury.

Berman already has a thesis horror story. Shecontracted mononucleosis before a scheduledresearch trip to New York she had been planningfor six months, and could only stay awake for thelength of each interview.

Seniors and faculty advisors stress thatstudents need to weigh pros and cons before makingthe monumental decision of writing a thesis.

"It's not something to do just if you wanthonors," Terry says. "When you're up at threeo'clock in the morning two weeks before the thesisis done under all this stress, the desire to gethonors is not going to be the thing to push youthrough.

"You really have to have the desire to get theanswer to your question," she says