Guidelines for the EAS Senior Thesis

Thesis-writing is a serious, yet rewarding challenge. It demands time and devotion and gives back knowledge and self-satisfaction. These guidelines are intended to help you navigate your way through an often complicated process with the least amount of difficulty. Because East Asian Studies concentrators write theses on a great variety of topics, these guidelines are not intended to cover all research and writing contingencies. They do, however, indicate minimum concentration expectations and give advice based on the accumulated experience of your predecessors.

Joint Theses

EAS has always encouraged interested students to pursue joint concentrations. Because EAS has many joint concentrators, a number of you will be submitting theses to two departments. Remember that you are responsible for fulfilling all the expectations of both concentrations. Be sure that you understand both the substantive and format requirements of the other department so that you are not unpleasantly surprised at the end of a long project.

If your primary field is EAS, follow these guidelines. If your secondary field is EAS, follow the guidelines of the primary field, but consult with the EAS Director of Undergraduate Studies, and your EAS TF if available. To the extent possible, we will endeavor to provide a teaching fellow affiliated with the EAS program to help you prepare the thesis. The Director of Undergraduate Studies of the primary field consults with the Director of Undergraduate Studies of the secondary field on readers and on the departmental honors recommendation.

EAS 99

EAS 99 is normally taken for two semesters; if, however, you decide not to continue with your thesis work, you can receive credit for one term of EAS 99, with the grade based on the work submitted during the fall term. The spring grade for EAS 99 is the letter grade equivalent of the Latin grade awarded you by your readers and the EAS Tutorial Committee. Please follow the deadlines on the thesis schedule. Failure to submit the bibliography and chapter drafts on time may result in an unsatisfactory grade for EAS 99.

Topic

Ideally, you will have decided on your topic during the junior year and done additional research during the summer. Some of you may still have only a foggy notion of a topic. Often choosing the topic and approach are the most difficult parts of the thesis process, but you must propose a topic and locate an advisor by the time your study card is due in the fall of your senior year.  The EAS Director of Undergraduate Studies and Assistant DUS for Seniors will help you through this process.

Advising

The importance of your relationships with your faculty advisor and graduate student tutor cannot be overstated. You should meet regularly with both to keep them apprised of your progress. Both will have important insight into the thesis-writing process. Faculty advisors are expected to meet with you at least every other week over the course of the year. It is your responsibility to contact the advisor to schedule these meetings. You should make the most of the time available by setting, at the beginning of the semester, a schedule of meetings with your advisor and making sure you have progress to report when you do meet.  You should meet with your tutor every week. It is required that you keep to the agreed schedule of meetings. Any problems that arise in these relationships should be brought to the attention of either the Director of Undergraduate Studies or the Assistant DUS for Seniors as early as possible.

The Writing of the Thesis

By the time you come to write the thesis you will have pursued courses in some area of East Asian Studies for a year or more. Besides your tutorial work, you should also have taken upper division undergraduate courses to familiarize yourself with various methodological approaches and chosen one (or more) as your focus.  In broad terms, social science theses are expected to apply one of the social science methodologies (for example, Anthropology, Economics, Government, some types of History, and Sociology) to a particular problem in East Asian studies.  The focus here is on careful analysis of your data and command of relevant secondary literature.  Humanities theses are expected to undertake an analysis of some topic in the East Asian humanities (for example, some types of history, literature, philosophy, and/or religious studies) that is based on a solid knowledge of the cultural background relevant to the topic.

East Asian Language

Because of recent changes to the concentration, expectations differ slightly for the classes of 2012 and 2013 and the classes of 2014 and beyond.  For the classes of 2012 and 2013, Humanities track primary concentrators and language track secondary concentrators are expected to use materials in an East Asian language for their theses. Humanities track students must have reached a third year level and preferably beyond in one of the East Asian languages. Use of the original language material must be shown in the body of the thesis, for instance through passages in original translation.  (This is not expected of social sciences track concentrators, but it is encouraged whenever possible.)

The extent to which you use the language and the type of sources you use will depend on your language level and the type of thesis you are writing.  There is wide variation. It is very important to consult with your advisor and tutor very early on how best to use your language skills.  If you are only in the third year of a language, you should choose a topic for which there is a substantial body of Western-language material. You may choose a topic centered around interviews.

Students whose language level is beyond third year level may do a translation thesis. A translation thesis consists of a substantial original translation accompanied by a substantial analysis of the translated text.  Consult with the Director of Undergraduate Studies if you are interested in a translation thesis.  We do not recommend an extendted translation unless you are an advanced language student; translation well done consumes great amounts of time, and departmental standards are high. 

Length

An EAS thesis generally runs about 80-120 pages, with a minimum of 60. However, substance is the critical issue, not length.  An overly lengthy thesis is sometimes a sign of an insufficiently cogent argument.

Style

Writing well requires persistence and revision.  We strongly recommend that you discuss your thesis-writing concerns with the staff of the Writing Center (617-495-1655).  Everyone can benefit from editorial assistance.  Be thoughtful.  Avoid getting stuck in simple derivative description. The two most common complaints from thesis readers are poor writing and inadequate analysis.

Notes

It is not always clear how or when to cite.  You must avoid plagiarism; it will not be excused by either the Department or the University.  You must avoid claiming the work of others as your own, but introducing and discussing the views of others, properly attributed, is an important part of many theses. Often the most interesting type of note is a content note, not just a bibliographic reference. The point is to convey information succinctly. If you have any questions, consult your advisor or tutor. Please see the Handbook for Students for more information regarding the University's statement on plagiarism:

"All homework assignments, projects, lab reports, papers and examinations submitted to a course are expected to be the student's own work. Students should always take great care to distinguish their own ideas and knowledge from information derived from sources. The term "sources" includes not only published primary and secondary material, but also information and opinions gained directly from other people.

The responsibility for learning the proper forms of citation lies with the individual student. Quotations must be placed properly within quotation marks and must be cited fully. In addition, all paraphrased material must be acknowledged completely. Whenever ideas or facts are derived from a student's reading and research or from a student's own writings, the sources must be indicated.

A computer program written to satisfy a course requirement is, like a paper, expected to be the original work of the student submitting it. Copying a program from another student or any other source is a form of academic dishonesty; so is deriving a program substantially from the work of another.

The amount of collaboration with others that is permitted in the completion of assignments can vary, depending upon the policy set by the head of the course. Students must assume that collaboration in the completion of assignments is prohibited unless explicitly permitted by the instructor. Students must acknowledge any collaboration and its extent in all submitted work. Students are expected to be familiar with the booklet entitled Writing with Sources, available in the office of the Allston Burr Senior Tutor or Assistant Dean of Freshmen. Students who are in any doubt about the preparation of academic work should consult their instructor and Allston Burr Senior Tutor or Assistant Dean of Freshmen before the work is prepared or submitted. Students who, for whatever reason, submit work either not their own or without clear attribution to its sources will be subject to disciplinary action, and ordinarily required to withdraw from the College."

You may elect to use footnotes (which are handy for the reader), chapter endnotes, or endnotes. In some cases, parenthetical documentation may be appropriate.  See the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers; Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations; or the East Asian Studies Writing Guide for samples, choose the form you prefer. Whichever system you decide to use, please be consistent in its application. Interviews should also be cited. Include a bibliography.

Romanization

Capitalization in romanization is different than from English. In romanized titles, capitalize only the first word and proper nouns.

For Japanese, use macrons (o or u) except in well-known place names (Tokyo) or anglicized words (shogun).  Follow the Kenkyusha dictionary romanization system. Be consistent.

For Korean, use the McCune-Reischauer romanization.

Format

Click here for a sample of the format for your title page.  You may choose to have an acknowledgements page to thank those who have helped you.

Leave 1.75 inches as a left margin to allow for binding. On the top, right, and bottom, leave 1 inch. Page numbers should be 0.5 inches from the top or bottom of the page.  They may be centered at the bottom or placed in the upper right hand corner.

Final draft

Submit the final draft of your thesis to your advisor and tutor no less than three weeks in advance of the final deadline. The comments will provide the basis of your final revision. This is a critical stage. Make sure that your writing is clear, that you have eliminated redundancies, and that your argument is coherent. Proofread very carefully.  If you are sloppy, your readers may not take your thesis seriously, and there is a good chance that your grade will drop.

Printing

Theses must be printed on a laser printer. Allow yourself several extra days for printing and copying. Each year, when sleep margins become thin and deadlines encroach, seniors find that computers go down, projected computer time is insufficient, materials are lost, and copy shops fail to come through on time. Always keep a hard copy of your thesis work in case of a computer mishap.  Computer or copier mishap is not accepted as an excuse for lateness.

Thesis submission deadline

If your primary concentration is EAS, three copies (at least one on acid-free paper) of your thesis are to be handed in at the EAS Tutorial office on the day theses are due.  In fairness to all students, there will be NO EXCEPTIONS OR EXTENSIONS.

One copy must be in a black thesis binder and printed on high quality acid-free paper; it will be retained by the department. For the other two copies, you may use the type of (white) paper and binding you deem appropriate.  If you use the same binding for all three copies but different quality paper, put a note in the copy that is on acid-free paper. After the two copies are returned by your readers, they will be yours to keep or to give to advisors, readers, family, etc. You may pick up the extra copies after you receive the letter informing you of your thesis grade.

If your secondary concentration is EAS, your primary department will deliver a copy of your thesis to EAS. This copy will be kept by EAS.

Readers and Honors

Each thesis will be read by two readers. In the case of concentrators solely in EAS, the Director of Undergraduate Studies and EALC department will choose two readers from among the Harvard faculty and in some cases from among experts at other universities affiliated with the Asian studies centers at Harvard. Occasionally there is a major discrepancy in grades between the two readers, and then the department will solicit a third reading. In cases of joint concentrators, each concentration will choose one thesis reader. In cases of major discrepancy, the Directors of Undergraduate Studies will consult and normally a third reader will be selected from the primary concentration. Each reader will grade your thesis individually.  These grades will be submitted to the EAS Tutorial Committee, which will determine your final thesis grade and your second semester EAS 99 grade.

Faculty advisors do not grade the theses of their advisees, and they are not given the copies of the completed thesis, which you hand in to our office, since these go to the graders.  Thus, as a courtesy please remember to give your advisor a copy of the completed thesis.

We will inform you of your thesis grade and the overall recommendation for your graduation level of honors in the concentration, as soon as they have been determined by the Committee.  Although you will finish your thesis in April, it will take the Department five to six weeks to evaluate your work. This is one of the busiest times of the year; please do not try to obtain information in advance.

As you already know, one of the prime motivations for writing a thesis is to secure some level of honors. Although the concentration does not believe that this is sufficient justification for writing a thesis, it does recognize that there is a great deal of curiosity among the students concerning this topic.  Unfortunately, there is no way to predict either the level of honors a student is likely to receive nor even whether a student will receive honors at all. This results from two facts: first, honors recommendations are evaluated within the department for each individual student as part of an entire class; second, the University administration adjusts cutoff points each year, so the Department cannot assume that the University will adopt our recommendations.

We can, however, describe the procedure by which honors are awarded.  The EAS Tutorial Committee meets each year after all senior thesis grades are collected. It then votes for each eligible student an honors recommendation based on the student's concentration grades, thesis grade, and overall record. At this point, about mid-May, we will notify each student of both the thesis grade and honors recommendation, and we will provide you with copies of your graders' written comments. This recommendation is then submitted to the University which, based on the student's overall record and that year's cutoff points, makes the final determination on whether honors will be granted and the appropriate level.

The criteria for evaluating thesis grades are as follows:

Highest Honors

A Highest Honors thesis is a work of the highest honor.  It is a contribution to knowledge, though it need not be an important contribution. It reveals a promise of high intellectual attainments both in selection of problems and facts for consideration and in the manner in which conclusions are drawn from these facts. A Highest Honors thesis includes, potentially at least, the makings of a publishable article. The writer's use of sources and data is judicious. The thesis is well-written and proofread. The arguments are concise and logically organized, and the allocation of space appropriate. A Highest Honors is not equivalent to just any A, but the sort given by teachers who reserve them for exceptional merit. A Highest Honors minus is a near miss at a Highest Honors and is also equivalent to an A of unusual quality.

High Honors

A High Honors level thesis is a work worthy of great honor. It clearly demonstrates the capacity for a high level of achievement, is carried through carefully, and represents substantial industry. A High Honors Plus thesis achieves a similar level of quality to a Highest Honors in some respects, though it falls short in others; it is equivalent to the usual type of A. A High Honors thesis is equivalent to an A-. For a High Honors Minus, the results achieved may not be quite as successful due to an unhappy choice of topic or approach; it is also equivalent to an A-.

Honors

As is appropriate for a grade with honors, an Honors level thesis shows serious though and effort in its general approach, if not in every detail. An Honors Plus is equivalent to a B+, an Honors to a B, and an Honors Minus to a B-. The Honors thesis does not merely represent the satisfactory completion of a task. It is, however, to be differentiated from the High Honors in the difficulty of the subject handled, the substantial nature of the project, and the success with which the subject is digested. When expressed in numerical equivalents, the interval between a High Honors Minus and an Honors plus is double that between the other intervals on the grading scale.

No Distinction

Not all theses automatically deserve honors. Nevertheless, a grade of no distinction (C, D, or E) should be reserved only for those circumstances when the thesis is hastily constructed, a mere summary of existing material, or is poorly thought through. The high standards EAS applies to theses must clearly be violated for a thesis to merit a grade of no distinction.