Watson Institute for International StudiesBrown University

Senior Thesis

All Development Studies concentrators are required to write a senior thesis.  The thesis is the intellectual highlight of the Development Studies program.  Students may choose any topic that fits within the general framework of development studies research.  In developing, researching, and writing the thesis, students work closely with two faculty advisors.  The first advisor should be a regular Brown faculty member, while the second advisor may (with the approval of the Program Advisor)  be a Ph.D. candidate, a Watson Institute visitor, or a faculty member at another university or college. The thesis should be an original piece of research that addresses a substantive or theoretical problem in development.  The research can involve the collection of primary data (gathered directly by the student from individual or institutional sources) or secondary data (based on existing research) or both.  Whenever possible, students are encouraged to use data collected from fieldwork.  In analyzing their data students can draw from any of the established methodologies in the social sciences (for example, ethnographic, statistical, comparative or historical).

The thesis must be finished by the time indicated on the first page of this booklet.  Drafts of the thesis should be submitted sufficiently in advance to allow advisors to provide feedback and for students to make final edits.  The length of the thesis may vary substantially depending on the topic, but most DS theses are between 60 and 120 pages in length.


Choosing a Thesis Advisor

Choose a primary thesis advisor as soon as possible. The advisor must be a faculty member who will be in residence throughout the student's senior year. You must be proactive in your search for an advisor: possible advisors will not come to you, you must go to them. You should approach any faculty member who you believe to be interested in your thesis topic. Your final choice of advisor and their willingness to advise you will be the result of many factors, but there are at least three possible foundations on which a good working relationship may be built:

  1. A faculty member you find interesting and stimulating, and someone you are confident will engage your work and your ideas.

  2. A faculty member who has theoretical or methodological interests and expertise in areas that will be useful to your research topic. Such a person might actually know very little about the specific topic you are researching (e.g., access to agricultural land in Bihar, India) but may know a lot about a body of theory (gender and household dynamics) that is essential to your ability to develop the appropriate analytical framework for your research, or may have skills in a technique (statistics, ethnography) that will help you develop the appropriate investigative tools.

  3. A faculty member who has either expertise in the area you are investigating (knowledge of the issue or region) or is conducting similar research.

It is strongly recommended that students identify and speak with their thesis advisors by the end of their Junior year, in part because faculty may be unable to accept additional advisees once committed to others. By early in your Senior year, you should also have reached an understanding with a second advisor.

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