About the Program
Writing a senior thesis provides a wonderful opportunity for political science majors to do independent social science research. It also provides a "capstone" experience for the major. The program involves independent work by the student, guided by a faculty advisor, and enrollment in a senior thesis seminar during the fall and spring semesters of a student's senior year.
Eligibility Requirements
Undergraduates who wish to write a senior thesis must be sure to complete the following requirements to be eligible. These requirements ensure that the student has sufficient training to do high quality independent research.
- Completion of the political science major methodology requirement (PS363 or its equivalent) by the end of the junior year.
- Completion of 2/3 of a subfield concentration in the area in which they will write their thesis by the end of junior year, and full completion by the end of the Fall semester of senior year. Students who have not completed their subfield concentration by the end of Fall semester of their senior year will not be permitted to continue in the program.
- Completion of Research Design and Methods (PS495) by the end of the junior year.
Latin Honors
Although all political science majors may write a thesis regardless of their GPA, majors who wish to graduate with Latin Honors (cum laude, magna cum laude, and summa cum laude) must write a senior thesis and maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.65 or above to qualify. Latin Honors is awarded based on a student’s cumulative GPA and the grade awarded to the thesis by the department.
Application Process
Students meeting eligibility requirements may apply to write a senior thesis. The application submission demonstrates a student's commitment to the research and also provides an early foundation for success.
The application packet should be submitted to the political science department by April 1 (or the following Monday if April 1 falls on a weekend). The director of undergraduate research will make a decision and notify students concerning their acceptance to the program before the end of the term. The submission must include:
Application Cover Form
Students can download the form or pick it up in Seigle 207.
Thesis Proposal
The proposal is a 1,500-word (five pages) or less document that should state the student's thesis question, the contribution to the literature and the research method. Students should consult their advisor as they write their proposals.
Faculty Advisor
The application must be supported by a tenured or tenure-track faculty member in the political science department. Students studying abroad in the spring should secure the support of a faculty advisor in the Fall term before going abroad. Faculty members have the discretion to decline requests to serve as thesis advisors, and are more likely to accept advisees who are well-prepared and motivated to work.
After You've Been Accepted
Registration/PS415
Register for Senior Thesis Research (PS415) for the fall term of your senior year. Please note that these units do not count toward the major requirements. You will also take this course in the spring semester of your senior year.
Summer
Students are expected to begin work on their senior thesis in the summer before their senior year, reading widely the literature relevant to their thesis and collecting data as appropriate. Students who do not make sufficient progress on their research in the summer will not be allowed to continue in the program.
Due Dates
The deadline for your completed senior thesis is the last Friday in February. Senior thesis abstracts are to be submitted to the Office of Undergraduate Research at the end of March for publication.
Past Theses
See past senior theses writers and titles by year below. Abstracts are available for all senior theses beginning in 2009.
2017
The Effect of Symbols and Media Framing on Emotion, Attitude Change, and Attribution of Responsibility
Antonia Drummond
The Politics of Capacity: No Child Left Behind
Sophia Keskey
Can Human Rights Treaty Ratifications Influence Neighboring Country Practices?
Matthew Malis
Political Rhetoric and Media Partisanship: Language Resemblance versus Media Bias
Erica Sloan
Greener Grass: Exploring Enviro-Chemical Injustices Posed to Migrant Farm Workers
Neil Stein
A Candidate by Any Other Name: Religious Identity and Electoral Outcomes
Max Yanowitz
2016
Defying Public Opinion: Understanding the Motivations of House Republicans During President Clinton's Impeachment
Deepa Devanathan
The Separation of Powers and Significant Policy Change Following United States Supreme Court Decisions
Nicole Jordan
Influencing the Influencers: Does Funding from Foreign Governments Affect American Think Tank Research?
Aryeh Mellman
Are Sex Scandals Masculinizing? An Examination of the Relationship Between Gender and Political Scandals
Nicole Williamson
2015
Verifying Laws: A Normative Conception of Constitutional Preview
Michael Hoosier
Why Religion Matters More Than Bank Accounts: The Conservative American Love Story
Cecilia Isabel Joy Perez
The Backlash Effect: Exploring the Relationship Between Policy Changes and Mobilizations
Elliot J. Louthen
There's No Accounting for Space: The Effect of Territorial Concessions on Post-Civil War Peace
Aine O'Connor
The Tea Party: Democratic Uprising or Manipulated Dissent?
Jolijt Tamanaha
2014
Unhealthy Competition: Can Partisanship Predict Obamacare Health Insurance Exchange Adoption?
Hanna Colin
The Uncovered Set and Two-Candidate Competition in a Large Electorate
Nicolas Dumas
Conflicts of Conscience: A Normative Approach to the Contraceptive Mandate and Religious Accommodation
Leigh Empson
Implications of Independence: An Analysis of the Relationship Between Energy Independence and Globalization in the OECD Nations
Ben Gottesdiener
Word Games: The Strategic Model of Judicial Decision Making and American ‘Hate Speech’ Liberalism
David Hoffman
Does Bureaucratic Capacity Explain Health Insurance Exchange Decisions? Understanding the State Implementation of the Affordable Care Act
Callie Lambert
The Marines in Velvet Gloves? Measuring the Strategic Decision-Making Behavior of the United States Peace Corps
Jessica Metzger
Immigration and Autonomy: On the Rights of Citizens and Refugees
Bradley Niederschulte
Send in the Clones? The Effect of Surrogate Appearances on Candidate Support
Joseph L. Sutherland
Trading on Security: Policy Preferences in Response to Threat in the United States
Jaime Zucker
2013
How Democratic are the Czars? Evaluating the Appointment of Executive Branch Officials through a Nondelegation Index
Kathryn Betts
Selfish Genes, Not Selfish Individuals: Explaining the Salience of Race in Determining Support for Welfare
Neel Desai
Understanding Legal Claims Against the Federal Government: Causes and Consequences of Sovereign Immunity
Daniel Guenther
Campaign Spending Matters: New Approaches to Capture the True Effect of Incumbent Spending
Alex Kaufman
Rhetorical Localism: Patterns of Constituent Focus in U.S. Senate Speech
Simon Kwong
Is Jerusalem the Barriers to Peace in the Israel-Palestine Conflict
Lindsey Reinholdt
Blogging Bourgeoisie: Using the State to Improve the Online Public Sphere
Alex Tolkin
2012
Health Care Reform That Almost Wasn’t: How Rhetoric Shaped the 2009 Health Care Debate
Kelsey Berkowitz
Becoming Singapore and Rich: Singapore and Malaysia’s Natural Experiment with Property Rights and Economic Growth
Stuart Davis
The Life of the (Tea) Party: The Tea Party and the Efficacy of Social Movements
Ariel Dobkin
A Tough Balancing Act: Institutional and Political Factors in the Budget Process
Corey Donahue
Is Your Workforce Legal? E-Verify Laws in the U.S. States
Sarah Elizabeth McDonald
Look Like Me, Act Like Me: The Effect of Reserved Seats on Substantive Representation of the Maori in New Zealand
Courtney L. Millian
Blowing Away the Competition: Who’s Leading the Pack in Wind Power Use and Why
Amy Plovnick
Talking Torture: A Democracy’s Guide to Interrogation Ethics
Dan Rebnord
Refugee Hospitality: A Comparative Analysis Across Countries
Michelle Shapiro
Swing Vote: The Impact of the Health Care Vote in the 2010 Midterm House Elections
Jun Yoon
2011
Education and Trade
Wen Ting Cai
Mandatory Retirement on the Indian Supreme Court
Sheehan Hamid Band
American Polarization and the Impact of Southern Republican Voters
Alex Bensick
Motivations for Proliferation: Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions
Alice Goldenberg
A Collegiate Understanding: Economic Knowledge and Trade Opinions
Jennifer Halket
The Government’s Role in the Start Up Nation: A Case Study of Israel’s Hi-Tech Sector
Renée Kramer
The Politics of Sport: Assessing the Political Impact of Mega-Events on Authoritarian Host Countries
Corinne Mitchell
Hezbollah’s Struggle at the Ballot Box: The Consequences of Electoral Laws in Multi-Confessional Lebanon
Yuree Noh
Sovereignty and Territory
Daniel Weltman
2010
Persuaded by the Echoes of Their own Voices: How Cognitive Biases Crucially Influenced the Bush Administration’s Decision to Go to War with Iraq
Greg Allen
“One Man Acting Alone:” The Consolidation of the Empowered Executive in War and Foreign Affairs, 1945-1963
Benjamin H. Fifield
Exploring Causality: What is the Relationship Between Intellectual Property Rights and Foreign Direct Investment in Developed Economics
Vidhyarth Hariharan
YouTube and Campaign Advertisements: Studying the Affect of Web Based Video on The Content of Campaign
Jake Lapperruque
Portrayal of the Home in the Race for the House: How Congressional Candidates Present their Personal Lives to Voters
Ruth Mandelbaum
Determinants of Energy Policymaking: Renewable Portfolio Standards and the Politics of Climate Change in the American States
Jeremy Rogoff
A Failed Fairy Tale: Collective Action, Nationalism, and Democracy
Viktoryia Schnose
Beyond Roll Call Voting: Descriptive Representation’s Substantive Impact
Adam Susser
The Welfare State and Multicultural Policies: A Relationship of Recognition and Redress
Amy Xu
2009
Vote, Don’t Vote: Electoral Mobilization and Demobilization in American Politics
Dan Alexander
Institutions and Property Rights in America
Charis Fischer
The Causes of Ideological Drift on the U.S. Supreme Court
Brandon D. Harper
The Sovereign Wealth of Nations
Zack Kaplan
The Need to be Let Alone: The Right to Privacy as a Necessary Condition for Autonomy
Shauna Kramer
Is it enough?: The Two Political Channels to Solving Domestic Violence in India
Tess Mattingly
The Impact of the International Criminal Court in Sudan
Victoria Morphy
Return to Sender: The Ballot-Transit Problem of Overseas Military Voting and Partisan Motivations behind Internet-based Reforms
Cole Randle
Poke the Vote: How to Use Facebook Registration Advertisements to Increase the Youth Vote
Kerry Rheinstein
Muslim Integration in Western Europe
Julie Rosenfeld
Collaborative Institutions and the Mississippi River: A Model for a Sustainable Future?
Ankoor Shah