At present our department has two models for the senior exercise. The Linguistics major requires a senior seminar, in which students do an original research project (along with other capstone-type activities). The Linguistics senior seminar is offered every Fall (LGCS 190). The Cognitive Science major, on the other hand, requires a two-semester research project that culminates in a written senior thesis, and students must register for LGCS 191, a half-credit course, in both semesters.
What do I need to know about the Linguistics Senior Seminar?
You don’t really need to know anything before your senior year, except to enroll in the course. The instructor of this course rotates, and the course is not identical year-to-year. Some people begin their projects before starting senior year (e.g. they extend term papers from other classes, they build on a SURP project, etc). But this is not the norm, most people identify a project and begin it in September of their senior year. So all you need to do is enroll in LGCS 190 and show up! Any progress on a relevant project beforehand is just an added bonus.
Linguistics seniors don’t need thesis advisors in the normal sense: the professor teaching the Senior Seminar will supervise your thesis. Students will eventually identify a faculty consultant in the specific area of their project in order to get topic-specific advice, but generally this is done in the first weeks of the LGCS 190 course.
What do I need to know about the Cognitive Science thesis?
Like the Linguistics senior seminar project, the Cognitive Science thesis is an original research project. Students identify a thesis advisor (with the assistance of the CogSci coordinator, as appropriate) and structure plans and deadlines for completing that project with their advisor. There is a meeting at the end of each semester for Cognitive Science majors who will be starting their thesis in the following semester to learn the logistics of the thesis process and ask any questions they might have. Here are a few documents that might be helpful:
- A detailed overview of the senior thesis process for spring 2023 can be found here. This will be updated for 2023-2024 at a later date.
- A sample LGCS 191 course syllabus that you can develop with your thesis advisor can be found here.