The Writing Process

A Letter to the Juniors on the Senior Thesis

Posted on March 24, 2023March 24, 2023 by Agnes Robang

Students sitting in rocky dining hall working on their senior thesis. — *Students working hard at thesis bootcamp*

Hello juniors!

Spring is always a rollercoaster of a semester. We have just about 6 more weeks of school before spring classes are over! Before you know it, you will be a senior and will have to start thinking about the big T – thesis. I recommend you take a little bit of time to think about your thesis – maybe you’ve already started after reading Ryan’s great post around choosing a topic. You don’t have to have all of the answers right away, but at least you would already have given it a bit of thought and let your ideas brew at the back of your mind.

Senior Thesising 101: Choosing your Topic

Posted on March 8, 2023March 8, 2023 by Ryan Champeau

Princeton building at night with light snow. Tree in center of frame and lights casting a glare — *The first snow of the semester indicates that senior thesis season is upon us!!!!!*

Senior thesis. Senior thesis. Senior thesis. By this time of year, you have most likely heard seniors in the middle of the night at Firestone or at Coffee Club study breaks, thinking about, stressing about, and working on their senior thesis. In my last post, I wrote about one of the first and most important steps of the senior thesis process, choosing the right adviser (see here). Now, I walk through what I believe to be another pivotal moment for the senior thesis process: choosing a topic. For SPIA majors and presumably for many other majors as well, it may seem difficult to narrow down your project to one specific topic when the major is so broad and diverse. Throughout my time at Princeton, I have taken classes in law, environmental policy, psychology, economics, ethics and more, and I enjoyed them all. But, I eventually had to choose one topic to write a full thesis on. So, without further ado, here are some steps on choosing the right topic for you.

PCUR Archives: Senior Thesis Planning

Posted on January 17, 2023December 13, 2022 by Caitlin Larracey

Two students sit at a table with their pen hovering over paper, working on their senior theses. — *Students hard at work at a previous year’s Senior Thesis Bootcamp! (Photo Credit, Denise Applewhite)*

As this is posted, many Princeton students are hard at work on their senior theses. Some are on campus right now participating in the residential colleges’ wintersession Senior Thesis Bootcamps. PCURs over the years have written extensively on this very important Princeton milestone. Browse through the posts below if you’ll be writing your thesis soon, are writing it right now, or maybe should be writing now.

Finishing Strong: Dean’s Date Traditions and Reading Period Excitement

Posted on November 30, 2022November 28, 2022 by Ryan Champeau

Photo taken by Whitman College Council; depicts two young individuals smiling at the camera holding the showbill for Harry Potter — *Keep an eye on your inbox for once-in-a-lifetime events that you can enjoy during Reading Period, like Whitman College Broadway trips!*

Can you believe it is almost time for finals? Our fall semester is coming to a close and it feels surreal. It is true that finals season, reading period, and Dean’s Date can be stressful. Furthermore, if you are a first year, it may not be obvious how the whole system works. In sum, our last day of class is December 8th. Then, reading period, a week without classes used to study for finals and prepare for Dean’s Date, begins on the 9th and ends on the 16th. The 16th is the infamous ~Dean’s Date~ or a fancy term we use to describe the day in which many of our written assignments and final projects are due. Finally, we go out like legends and finish our finals from the 17th to the 23rd. You can check the date of your finals on the University Registrar and reach out to your Academic Dean about rescheduling them if you have multiple finals on one day. The next few weeks may seem like a gloomy time on campus, but I want to use this post to share some moments of excitement and sneaky Princeton traditions that you can look forward to.

Publications, Conferences, and Professional Development: Motivations for Your R3

Posted on November 16, 2022November 14, 2022 by Amaya Dressler

*Research Correspondent, Amaya Dressler ’25, presenting her Writing Seminar R3 research at the Mary George Research Conference.*

Writing sem. For many, it’s one of the most challenging courses they’ll ever take at Princeton. It forces you to think in new and challenging ways, often questioning some of the ‘basic rules’ we’d previously been taught about writing. With late nights spent drafting and redrafting, 8:30 am classes, and daunting essay prompts, it’s easy to understand how writing sem (short for writing seminar) gets its reputation. No student makes it out of writing sem with three perfect papers. Yet, in the midst of challenge, it’s easy to lose sight of the many professional opportunities that writing sem can offer. Whether you’re looking to get published, nail your next job interview, or just make a little extra cash, here are four ways that any student can make the most of their writing sem experience.

How and Why to Use Firestone Special Collections

Posted on November 11, 2022November 7, 2022 by Virginia Cobbs

*Hand turning page of a book of 13th century poems in Firestone special collections.*

Where can you find trinkets Albert Einstein collected in Japan, diaries and manuscripts by Toni Morrison, and an autographed manuscript of The Great Gatsby? None other than our very own Harvey S. Firestone Memorial Library of course! Welcome to the wonderful world of one of Princeton’s coolest resources: Firestone special collections. Basically, it contains anything in the University’s possession that is rare, valuable, and/or too old and fragile to be removed from the library. I learned about special collections recently through my AAS 244 class on Pre-20th Century Black Diaspora Art in which we often check out art and related manuscripts in the special collections.

Tips for Writing about Your Research Experience (Even if You Don’t Think You Have Any)

Posted on October 24, 2022October 14, 2022 by Kate Weseley-Jones

If you’re someone who hasn’t yet done formal research in a university setting, one of the most intimidating parts of the process can be simply getting your foot in the door. Just like the way your options can seem very limited when applying for your first job, asking for a research position when you have no “experience” can seem discouraging — maybe even to the point of causing you to question whether you should apply in the first place. With that being said, there are some simple tips you can employ when applying for research positions to highlight the link between your existing interests and the work of the position for which you are applying.

Illustrated resume on a desk being held by anthropomorphic tiger paws/hands. Tiger is wearing a suit. Desk is covered in writing/working items like pens, reading glasses, and coffee. — *Check out the Center for Career Development’s Resume Guide!* (Image credit to Career Development)

Submitted and Successful: 3 Final Steps Before Turning in Your First Paper

Posted on October 5, 2022October 5, 2022 by Ryan Champeau

Photograph of Princeton University in the rain, with many students walking, biking, and scootering to class holding umbrellas or wearing rain jackets — *These rainy, gloomy days are perfect for colorful umbrellas and cozy paper-writing sessions.*

“Did I include a scholarly conversation? Where is the motive of my piece? Do I even have a thesis?!” The “Submit” button on Canvas can stir worrisome thoughts as it may seem permanent or stressful. The goal of this post is to walk you through a few final steps you can take to ensure that everything is in check and ready to go, so that you don’t feel like something is missing once turning in your assignment. These points are by no means the end all be all, but you may use them to help you feel more confident handing in your final product. Thus, without further ado, here are 3 final steps to follow before submitting your research paper.

A Figure Speaks a Thousand Words

Posted on October 3, 2022October 3, 2022 by Amaya Dressler

Example boxplot titled Boxplot of Magnesium, Ashwaganda, and Melatonin with Deep Sleep. The boxplot analysis indicates statistically insignificant variations among supplement types. The author describes the follow-up question after their ANOVA analysis: how does my sleep vary with a magnesium pill vs. without a magnesium pill? — The boxplot comparison accurately reflects the variation between different sleep supplements and their effect on deep sleep quantity. As seen above, the boxplot demonstrates the presence of a single outlier under the Magnesium group which could have easily skewed and misrepresented the data in another type of figure.

As anyone who has taken one of Princeton’s introductory statistics courses can tell you: informative statistics and figures can and will be incredibly useful in supporting your research. Whether you’re reworking your R1, writing your first JP, or in the final stages of your Senior Thesis, chances are you’ve integrated some useful statistics into your argument. When there are a million different positions that one can take in an argument, statistics appear to be our research’s objective grounding. The data says so, therefore I must be right. Right?

Writing Seminar: Growing as a Researcher, Writer, and Person

Posted on September 30, 2022October 3, 2022 by Alexis Wu

Reflecting on my first year, I think about how quickly time flies. I’ve thought about how much I’ve changed over the course of a year and how my discussions with my peers and professors already began to shape the way I viewed the world. As an engineering student, Writing Seminar was especially memorable because it opened the door for me to engage with research in the humanities.

All first-year students are required to take a Writing Seminar. My seminar, WRI146 – Constructing the Past, taught by Dr. Emma Ljung, centered on the theme of how the past is closely intertwined with the present. In retrospect, one of my most pivotal periods in the course was the process of writing my R2, which focused on artifacts from the Princeton University Art Museum. Interested in delving deeper into my Chinese cultural background, I chose to work with the Guang, a dragon-headed bronze pouring vessel from the late Shang dynasty.

Image of the Princeton University Art Museum Guang

Pouring vessel with dragon-head lid (guang), China, Western Zhou dynasty, 11th century to 771 BC, bronze from the Princeton University Art Museum. Photo from Daderot on Wikimedia Commons.

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