Senior Thesis

Things to Remember

  • You are an adult (probably). To pass, you must prove you are responsible for doing your own work, on schedule - like the real world.
  • NOTHING is good at the last minute. Believe me, I can tell.
  • Making excuses - even if they are true - will not help you. In fact, doing so will hurt your standing with me. Again, you are an adult. Find a way to, as Tim Gunn says on Project Runway, "Make it work."
  • Checking in with me and asking thoughtful questions regularly will help you. Asking me things I've already covered (in class, the syllabus, or in our meetings) will hurt you.
  • At midterm, I will assign everyone who is not on track a grade. You will either receive no grade or a W. If you receive no grade, it means you are doing well enough so far and appear to be on track to finish. If you receive a W, it means there is no way you would have or will pass the course. So don't complain; I'm withdrawing you so you won't have a non-passing grade. And at Midterm, there is nothing you can do to improve from where you are at if you are not passing.
  • In this course, Incompletes or Extensions do not exist - for any reason. You either pass or you don't.

Lectures

These are all fill-ins, which means you come to class to get the info. But really, they should all be review of things already learned in other classes...


Snow Day/School Cancellation Policies for Thesis Appointments

If school is delayed, you obviously still have any scheduled appointments when it re-opens that day. If school is canceled all day and you had a thesis "required meeting" scheduled with me, you should do the following:

  • FIRST, email me anything that was due and you would have turned in at the meeting. If I don't receive your assignment, I'll assume you decided to drop the course.
  • NEXT, you have the option to (a) sign up for an upcoming office hour appointment to make up your scheduled meeting and get caught up. As always, my office hour times are posted on my door. Please don't email me about scheduling times as I don't know from home what times are taken on my office door. ORRRR (b) you can skip that week's meeting and come to the next meeting with double the work made up so you're still caught up. If you choose the skipping option, you'll need to email me that you've decided to do this so I don't just mark you absent for that appt. week.
  • I recommend taking option "a" because if you choose to skip a set of meetings altogether, you are personally responsible for getting caught up with all writing, data collection, and/or IRB submissions. Depending on where you're at, this may be extremely hard to do without direction. But it really is your choice and you will not be penalized for either option.