Congratulations on creating an O’Neill Honors thesis. From myself and all of the honors students who have gone before you, we are proud of you and believe in you. Chances are, you are a junior or senior as you begin this journey. Personally, I was a senior when I took the two honors courses. I am writing this post to tell you that you CAN do it all, especially during your senior year.
At the start of the writing process, I was extremely overwhelmed, thinking that this thesis was going to take over my final year of college. In fact, some students do let it take over their entire academic year. They put studying for other classes on the back burner, spend their weekends analyzing their data, and miss out on fun evenings with their friends. If you choose to do that, that’s totally fine! However, you do NOT have to do that. Here are my tips to finish your thesis on time while still enjoying extracurricular activities, making memories with your friends, and studying for other classes.
- Make a writing schedule and stick to it. Act like your scheduled writing time is an actual class. Pick a computer lab or coffee shop to go to three times a week, and go there at the same time as if it is part of your iGPS plan. Try to avoid thinking about the thesis outside of this scheduled time.
- Set weekly goals. Create a table that includes columns of your writing schedule ad daily goals, and leave a checkmark box for your accomplishments. Each week decide what you are going to focus on and type it into the daily goals column. This will keep you accountable and provide a sense of achievement when you get to “check” off the task!
- Meet with your advisor regularly. Set up biweekly meetings at the beginning of the semester so that you and your advisor can block off your calendars early on. Then, you will have no excuse to miss a meeting with them.
- Find your data and analyze it early. Be proactive with the data and methods section. Set aside a couple of weeks to focus on the data, and do not worry about writing or meeting a word count goal. If you encounter a challenge, address it with your advisor immediately rather than waiting and trying to figure it out alone.
- Be proud of yourself. At the end of the day, this is a massive accomplishment. You were selected to join this program in a college of thousands of students. Although it is often hard for us O’Neill students, you can put humbleness aside and recognize how big of a deal this is! Own it.
Ultimately, this experience is what you make of it. I want you to know that you do not have to put aside making memories with your classmates and friends during your senior year for the sake of your thesis. By utilizing time management, weekly goals, and treating your writing schedule as if it is a class, you can still enjoy your weekends and evenings and focus on other areas of your undergraduate career. Your thesis will be well worth it, and the feeling of accomplishment once you finish will be invaluable. Best of luck!
Sophia Osterberg is a senior studying Environmental Management with minors in Law and Public Policy and Spanish. Since joining the O’Neill School and becoming a student in the Undergraduate Honors Program, Sophia has been fascinated by the global diversity of policymaking and grew a passion for climate change responses. Her thesis combines both of her interests as she attempts to answer the question, “How does the level of democracy in a nation’s government contribute to its environmental performance?” After graduating from Indiana University in the spring of 2023, Sophia will continue her enthusiasm for environmental policy by working in Washington, D.C. as a government consultant in the energy and environment sector.