ucla thesis statement

How to Write a Thesis Statement

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About this tutorial

Monique Tudon

Contributors

Kian Ravaei , Neha Gupta , Chris Lopez , Renee Romero

https://uclalibrary.github.io/research-tips/research-tips/how-to-write-a-thesis-statement/

Learning Outcomes

• identify the requisite steps to writing a thesis statement
• recognize examples of effective and ineffective thesis statements
• identify the components of a well structured thesis statement
• recognize that the thesis writing process is flexible, nonlinear, and susceptible to change

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The Core Competencies for Research and Information Literacy at UCLA

• Define the goals, scope, and plan
• Investigate diverse sources and perspectives
• Gather and organize information and data
• Evaluate and synthesize information and data
• Use information and data ethically
• Share the work and engage with audiences
• Reflect on and refine the research process

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Thesis and Dissertation Writing Programs

In addition to one-on-one writing appointments, the Graduate Writing Center has a number of programs and workshops that offer support to dissertators and thesis writers.

During the academic year, the GWC offers single-session overview workshops on master's theses, dissertation proposals, and dissertation writing. Click our current schedule or browse past workshops to see when these topics may be offered. We also encourage you to look at relevant workshop videos .

Writing Groups

The Graduate Writing Center sometimes organizes writing groups of various types (online writing groups, facilitated writing groups, or independent writing groups). We are also happy to help groups of graduate students self-organize into writing groups. For best practices on setting up writing groups, see our writing groups resource page . For information about writing groups currently being offered or organized by the GWC, see our writing groups web page.

Master's Thesis Mentoring Program

The Graduate Writing Center offers a program to support graduate students who are working on master's theses (or other master's capstone projects) and doctoral qualifying papers. The program provides workshops and one-on-one writing appointments. For more information, read Master's Thesis Mentoring Program .

Spring Break Writing Retreats

The Graduate Writing Center offers writing retreats for graduate students who are working on master's theses, dissertation proposals, dissertations, and other writing projects. These programs are usually offered in spring break and summer. Retreats are open to all graduate and professional students. For more information and registration instructions for spring break writing retreats, scroll to the bottom of this web page and click on the relevant program. For programs offered during to the summer, go to the summer boot camp and thesis retreat page.

Summer Dissertation Boot Camps and Thesis Retreats

The Graduate Writing Center holds a number of programs during the summer to help graduate students who are at the dissertation and dissertation proposal stages. We also offer dissertation/thesis retreats during the summer. See our most current summer dissertation boot camp and program offerings for more information.

Spring Break Writing Retreat (All Fields) with Online and In Person Options

This program is for graduate or professional students who are writing large-scale projects like master's theses or capstones, doctoral dissertations or proposals, or manuscripts for publication. The program provides dedicated time to focus on your writing and has online and in-person options. For STEM students, it additionally offers workshops related to scientific writing issues. To read more and register, please see the program description below. Deadline to register is Monday, March 18th.

CLICK HERE for application and program details for spring break writing retreat.

SCHEDULE, March 25th – 27th (in person); March 25th – March 28th (online):

Daily Schedule: 9:00-10:00: Online productivity workshops & discussion 10:00-12:00: Online writing groups or individual work (in person) 12:00-1:00: Lunch break 1:00-2:00: Online Workshops or individual work 2:00-4:00: Online writing groups or individual work (in person)

Morning Online Productivity Workshops (9-10 am) Morning workshops will address project organization, time management, and productivity tips.

Online Writing Group or Individual Work If you are doing the retreat online, you will join online writing groups via Zoom at the designated times. If you are at the in-person location, you may work independently or join the online writing groups via Zoom.

How to Sign Up for the Writing Retreat : Fill out the web form (linked here) by Monday, March 18th . We don't anticipate any capacity issues, but if we have any, we will accept registrants on a first-come, first-served basis.

Morning Productivity Writing Workshops (9-10 am)

Monday, March 25th, 9:00–10:00 AM — Project Organization for Writing In this workshop, we will discuss how to set up an organized system for a large-scale research and writing project, especially the writing components.

Tuesday, March 26th, 9:00–10:00 AM—Time Management and Productivity Tips for Writing In this workshop, we will discuss effective strategies for time management, goal setting, and productivity when conducting large-scale research and writing projects, especially for the writing components.

Wednesday, March 27th, 9:00–10:00 AM — Demos of Tools Writing consultants will demo a couple of organizational tools and how they use these tools to support writing.

Afternoon Scientific Writing Workshops (1-2 pm)

Monday, March 25th, 1:00–2:00 PM — Strategies for Writing Effective Scientific Papers This workshop will address basic principles for writing scientific papers and offer strategies for avoiding common pitfalls. We will also introduce key points from Joshua Schimel's book Writing Science on developing good narrative structure and clarity to make writing engaging and impactful.

Tuesday, March 26th, 1:00–2:00 PM — Creating Effective Figures and Visual Aids This workshop focuses on strategies for designing effective figures and visual materials. The workshop will also introduce different software packages that can be used to create high-quality figures and offer further resources for learning these programs.

Wednesday, March 27th, 1:00–2:00 PM — Thesis and Dissertation Writing in STEM Fields (Final Stages) This workshop will give an overview of the final components and writing stages of a STEM thesis or dissertation.

Further Resources

Advice for Thesis Writing If you haven’t seen a final thesis or dissertation in your field, we recommend looking one from your department in the ProQuest Dissertation database available through the UCLA Library. This database allows you to search by institution, advisor, and manuscript type (master's thesis versus dissertation).

Optional Reading: Joan Bolker. Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes A Day . 1998. Paul Silvia. How to Write a Lot . 2007.

If you have any questions, please contact [email protected]

Formatting Your UCLA Thesis

Click below for the updated dissertation formatting requirements from the Graduate Division, as of March 2012.

A  LaTeX package  previously maintained (last dated known update in 2010) by John Heidemann is also available. For more information about this package, please consult the  wiki page  provided by git-hub.

Handouts and Online Resources for Students

Writing at the University

• Beyond the 5-Paragraph Essay
• Writing Tips for Transfer Students

Pre-Writing

• Breaking Down Your Reading Assignment
• Reading Essay Prompts
• Dealing with Writer’s Block

Writing: Getting Started

• How to Write a Good Introduction
• Outlining and Structuring a Paper
• Structuring Paragraphs
• Thesis Statements — “Although …, my opinion is …” Thesis Structure
• Thesis Statements — What? How? Why? Structure
• Crafting Thesis Statements: Podcast and Handout
• Tips for Writing an Honors Thesis or Capstone Project: Presentation and Handout
• Outside Resources for Writing

Writing: Sentences & Transitions

• Sentence Building Blocks
• Relative Clauses
• Conditional Sentences
• Sentence Transitions

Revising for Content and Organization

• How to Be Clear in Your Statements
• Summary vs. Analysis in Paragraphs
• Reverse Outlining
• Integrating Quotations
• Knowing your Conclusion is “Done”: Presentation  & Handout

Proofreading/Grammar

• Proofreading Strategies for Common Errors
• Presentation: Editing for Common Grammar Issues
• Rules and Editing Tips for Articles and Noun Forms
• Prepositions
• Active vs. Passive Voice
• Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
• Rules for Using Commas
• Common Sentence Structure Problems
• Common Grammar Mistakes

Citing Your Sources

• MLA Formatting: In-text Citations & Works Cited Page
• APA Formatting: In-text Citations & Reference Page
• Chicago Style: Footnotes/Endnotes & Bibliography Page

Writing Personal Statements & Statements of Purpose

• Writing a Personal Statement or Statement of Purpose
• 3 Pre-Writing Activities: Getting Started on Your Personal Statement or Statements of Purpose
• Additional Resources: Personal Statements & Statements of Purpose

Resumes & Curriculum Vitae (CVs)

• Resume Basics
• Checklist for Evaluating Your Resume
• Checklist for Evaluating Your Curriculum Vitae (CV)
• Additional Resources: CVs, Resumes & Cover Letters

Writing Research Papers

• Writing Research Paper Introductions
• Writing the Literature Review for Research Papers
• Pre-Writing Activity: The Literature Review
• Checklist for Evaluating Your Literature Review
• Writing Up Research (Discussion Section & Additional Tips): Presentation & Handout

Writing a Research Proposal

• Writing a Research Proposal
• Sample Texts — Parts of the Research Proposal

Tips for Doing Research

• WI+RE Research Tips

• Locations and Hours
• UCLA Library
• Research Guides

Reference Sources in the Social Sciences and Humanities

• Dissertations
• Online Reference Collections
• Book Reviews
• Citation Styles
• Dictionaries
• Directories

Online Catalogs of Dissertations and Theses

Ucla dissertations and theses, dissertation guides for area studies.

• Encyclopedias
• Center for Research Libraries (CRL) Foreign Dissertations Search the CRL Catalog for dissertations already held at the Center. If a foreign dissertation is not at CRL, UCLA's Interlibrary Loan Service will request that CRL acquire it for your use. This special issue of Focus on Global Resources describes CRL's extensive collection of foreign dissertations.
• OATD.org Open Access Theses and Dissertations is an index of over 3 million electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs). To the extent possible, the index is limited to records of graduate-level theses that are freely available online.
• UCLA Dissertations and Theses in print: Library Catalog Historically, most doctoral dissertations and selected master's theses were deposited in the Library's main collections. Those theses and dissertations can be found in the Catalog under the subject headings Dissertations, Academic--UCLA--[Department] . As of 2012, UCLA's Graduate Division switched to all digital submissions, so the Library no longer receives print copies of UCLA theses and dissertations. See online sources below.
• UCLA Dissertations and Theses in print (archives) UCLA masters theses and doctoral dissertations, written from 1934-1972. These are non-circulating and must be requested in Library Special Collections.
• Theses in microfilm: University Archives Microfilm negatives of theses going back to 1968, with some individual titles back to 1942.
• African Studies
• Dutch Studies
• French Studies
• German Studies
• Italian Studies
• Korean Studies
• Pacific Island Studies
• Scandinavian Studies
• Southeast Asian Studies
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• Last Updated: Aug 22, 2024 3:43 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.ucla.edu/reference

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Home » For Authors & Researchers » Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Theses and dissertations produced by students as part of the completion of their degree requirements often represent unique and interesting scholarship. Universities are increasingly making this work available online, and UC is no exception. Find information related to open access theses and dissertations below.

UC has an open access policy for theses and dissertations, but procedures and specifics vary by campus

Several UC campuses have established policies requiring open access to the electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) written by their graduate students. As of March 25, 2020, there is now a systemwide Policy on Open Access for Theses and Dissertations , indicating that UC “requires theses or dissertations prepared at the University to be (1) deposited into an open access repository, and (2) freely and openly available to the public, subject to a requested delay of access (’embargo’) obtained by the student.”

In accordance with these policies, campuses must ensure that student ETDs are available open access via eScholarship (UC’s open access repository and publishing platform), at no cost to students. By contrast, ProQuest, the world’s largest commercial publisher of ETDs, charges a $95 fee to make an ETD open access. Institutions worldwide have moved toward open access ETD publication because it dramatically increases the visibility and reach of their graduate research.

Policies and procedures for ETD filing, including how to delay public release of an ETD and how long such a delay can last, vary by campus. Learn more about the requirements and procedures for ETDs at each UC campus:

• UC Berkeley: Dissertation Filing Guidelines (for Doctoral Students) and Thesis Filing Guidelines (for Master’s Students)
• UC Davis: Preparing and Filing Your Thesis or Dissertation
• UC Irvine: Thesis/Dissertation Electronic Submission
• UCLA: File Your Thesis or Dissertation
• UC Merced: Dissertation/Thesis Submission
• UC Riverside: Dissertation and Thesis Submission
• UC San Diego:  Preparing to Graduate
• UCSF: Dissertation and Thesis Guidelines
• UC Santa Barbara:  Filing Your Thesis, Dissertation, or DMA Supporting Document
• UC Santa Cruz: Dissertation and Thesis Guidelines (PDF) from the Graduate Division’s Accessing Forms Online page

Open access can be delayed in certain circumstances

Some campuses allow students to elect an embargo period before the public release of their thesis/dissertation; others require approval from graduate advisors or administrators. Visit your local graduate division’s website (linked above) for more information.

Common copyright concerns of students writing theses and dissertations

Students writing theses/dissertations most commonly have questions about their own copyright ownership or the use of other people’s copyrighted materials in their own work.

You automatically own the copyright in your thesis/dissertation  as soon as you create it, regardless of whether you register it or include a copyright page or copyright notice (see this FAQ from the U.S. Copyright Office for more information). Most students choose not to register their copyrights, though some choose to do so because they value having their copyright ownership officially and publicly recorded. Getting a copyright registered is required before you can sue someone for infringement.

If you decide to register your copyright, you can do so

• directly, through the Copyright Office website , for $35
• by having ProQuest/UMI contact the Copyright Office on your behalf, for $65.

It is common to incorporate 1) writing you have done for journal articles as part of your dissertation, and 2) parts of your dissertation into articles or books . See, for example, these articles from Wiley and Taylor & Francis giving authors tips on how to successfully turn dissertations into articles, or these pages at Sage , Springer , and Elsevier listing reuse in a thesis or dissertation as a common right of authors. Because this is a well-known practice, and often explicitly allowed in publishers’ contracts with authors, it rarely raises copyright concerns. eScholarship , which hosts over 55,000 UC ETDs, has never received a takedown notice from a publisher based on a complaint that the author’s ETD was too similar to the author’s published work.

Incorporating the works of others in your thesis/dissertation – such as quotations or illustrative images – is often allowed by copyright law. This is the case when the original work isn’t protected by copyright, or if the way you’re using the work would be considered fair use. In some circumstances, however, you will need permission from the copyright holder.  For more information, please consult the Berkeley Library’s guide to Copyright and Publishing Your Dissertation .

How to find UC Dissertations and Theses online

All ten UC campuses make their electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) openly accessible to readers around the world. You can view over 55,000 UC ETDs in eScholarship , UC’s open access repository. View ETDs from each campus:

• Santa Barbara

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Theses and Dissertations

Booklets – m.a. recipients & ph.d. graduates.

• 2019-20, 2020-21, Summer 2021

2023-24 Theses, Reports, and Dissertations

Master’s Theses & Reports

Elizabeth Arnold, M.A. Unveiling Diasporic Markets: An Archaeology of Consumption in California’s Chinatowns Chair: Monica L. Smith, Ph.D.

Natalie Finnegan, M.A. Mitochondrial DNA for phylogeny building: Assessing individual and grouped mtGenes as proxies for the mtGenome in platyrrhines Chair: Jessica Lynch, Ph.D.

Thomas Gabriel Gerz, M.A. Colonialism; Language Ideologies; Linguistic Landscape; Ryukyuan Languages; US Military & Okinawa Chair: Erin Debenport, Ph.D.

Sophie Elizabeth Klitgaard, M.A. An Evolutionary Approach to Privacy Co-Chairs: H. Clark Barrett, Ph.D. and Daniel Fessler, Ph.D.

Leroy F. Moore, M.A. Krip-Hop Nation: Community-Based Education at the Intersection of Blackness & Disability Co-Chairs: H. Samy Alim, Ph.D. and Norma Mendoza-Denton, Ph.D.

Doctoral Dissertations

Vincent M. Belletto, Ph.D. Attitudes of Loss: A Phenomenological Analysis of Identity, Cultural Shift, and Language Death Among the Unserdeutsch Creole German Community of Australia Chair: C. Jason Throop, Ph.D.

Blake Erickson, Ph.D. Challenges to Psychiatric Care: A Clinical and Anthropological Analysis of Psychosis and Dependency Chair: Laurie Kain Hart, Ph.D.

Aditi Anand Halbe, Ph.D. Trademarks of Tradition: Artisan Labor, Development and Place making in Rural India Chair: Akhil Gupta, Ph.D.

Delaney Knorr, Ph.D. Embodied experiences: a mixed-methods approach to understanding stress and resilience in Latina mothers Chair: Molly Fox, Ph.D.

Naakoshie Awurama Mills, Ph.D. Cultures of Foreign Policymaking: State Department Diplomats and Race in US-Africa Strategy Chair: Laurie Kain Hart, Ph.D.

Molly Theodora Billings Oringer, Ph.D. Spatial Relations: Post-War Reconstruction and the Afterlives of Jewish Terrains in Lebanon Co-Chairs: Laurie Kain Hart, Ph.D. and Susan Slyomovics, Ph.D.

Rachel Parks, Ph.D. Translating Pain, Communicating Care: Representing Expertise, Kinship, and Disability Through the DisDAT Form Chair: C. Jason Throop, Ph.D.

Reuven Sinensky, Ph.D. Early Agriculture and Indigenous Foodways in the US Southwest and Mesoamerica: Cuisine and Social Change in Mobile Farming Societies Chair: Gregson Schachner, Ph.D.

Jaime Vela, Ph.D. Diabetes Prevention Strategies for the Diné: Cultural Learning to Implement change. A Qualitative Study Chair: Russell Thornton, Ph.D.

Sasha Lutz Winkler, Ph.D. Evolutionary Perspectives on Play and Laughter Co-Chairs: Erica Cartmill, Ph.D. and Susan Perry, Ph.D.

Haoyan Zhuang, Ph.D. Collective Individualization: Co-living among Youth in Contemporary China Co-Chairs: Nancy E. Levine, Ph.D. and Yunxiang Yan, Ph.D.

2022-23 Theses, Reports, and Dissertations

Madison Aubey, MA

The Archaeology of Sovereignty: Africatown, Black Mobile, and Resistive Consumption

Chair: Justin P. Dunnavant

Amber Kela Chong, MA

Experiments in Sovereignty: Cultivating ʻĀina Momona at Waipā

Chair: Jessica Cattelino  

Dani Heffernan, MA

Constructing the “Cisgender Listening Subject”: Trans-Feminine Speakers’ Commentaries on Voice and Being Heard

Chair: Norma Mendoza-Denton  

Sally Li, MA

Racial and temporal differences in fertility-education tradeoffs highlight the effect of economic opportunities on optimum family size in the US

Chair: Brooke Scelza  

Robin Stevland Meyer-Lorey, MA

Manifest Destiny in Southeast Asia: Archaeology of American Colonial Industry in the Philippines, 1898-1987

Chair: Stephen Acabado  

Victoria Newhall, MA.

Evaluating the Role of Foodways During Large-Scale Socio-Political Transformations at Formative Tres Zapotes

Co-Chairs: Richard Lesure and Gregson Schachner  

Wanda Quintanilla Duran, MA

Chair: Jason De León  

The Force of Intimacy in a Honduran Community

Nicole Smith, M.A.

From Exile to Eviction: Garífuna Indigeneity, Land Rights, and Heritage in Roatán, Honduras

Co-Chairs: Jason De León and Justin Dunnavant

Steven Ammerman, PhD

Human-Animal Interaction at the Ancient Urban Site of Sisupalgarh, India

Chair: Monica L. Smith

Spencer Chao-Long Chen, PhD

Dubbing Ideologies: The Politics of Language and Acoustic Aesthetics in Taiwan’s Mandarin-Voiceover Production

Chair: Paul V. Kroskrity

Kristine Joy Chua, PhD

Environmental, Biological, and Cultural Influences on Health and Behavior

Chair: Abigail Bigham

Rodney R. Gratreaks Jr., PhD

Talking to the Wind: Towards an Understanding of Numic Verbal Art and Language Planning in the Village of Shaxwapats

Emily Virginia Jones, PhD

A Violent Operation: Trauma Surgery, Policing, and the Politics of Care in a Los Angeles County Public Hospital

Chair: Laurie Kain Hart

Sucharita Kanjilal, PhD

Home Chefs: Indian Households Produce for the Global Creator Economy

Chair: Akhil Gupta

Andrew E. MacIver, Ph.D.

The Shang-Zhou Transition: Immanence, Power, and the Micropolitics of Encounter

Chair: Li Min

Joshua L. Mayer, PhD

Conjuring Territory: Afro-Indigenous Authority and Settler Capitalism in Nicaragua

Chair: Shannon Speed

Bianca Romagnoli, PhD

Patrolling North of 60: Military Infrastructure in Canada’s Arctic Communities

Co-Chairs: Salih Can Açiksöz and Laurie Kain Hart

Theodore Samore, PhD

Traditionalism, Pathogen Avoidance, and Competing Tradeoffs During a Global Threat

Chair: Daniel M.T. Fessler

William James Schlesinger, PhD

The Production and Governance of Risky Sexual Subjectivity in the Era of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) to HIV

Chair: Salih Can Açiksöz

Saliem Wakeem Shehadeh, PhD

Researching the General Union of Palestine Students from the Diaspora

Co-Chairs: Jemima Pierre and Susan Slyomovics

Madeleine Amee Yakal, PhD

Spanish Colonialism in Bikol, Philippines: Localizing Devotion to Our Lady of Peñafrancia

Chair: Stephen Acabado

2021-22 Theses, Reports, and Dissertations

Master’s Theses & Reports

Emilia Rose Ørsted Holmbeck, MA

Contextualizing PTSD as Diagnosis and Intervention: Situating Trauma and the Subjective Experience of Suffering in Locally Meaningful Worlds

Co-Chairs: Douglas W. Hollan & Linda Garro  

Jewell Ruth-Ella Humphrey, MA

Harboring History: A Maritime Archaeological Analysis of an 18th Century Shipwreck in Coral Bay, St. Jan

Co-Chairs: Stephen Acabado & Justin Dunnavant  

Lillian Kohn, MA

Public Mourning, Online Spaces: Virtual Memorialization and Binational Grief in Israel-Palestine

Chair: Susan Slyomovics  

NaaKoshie Awurama Mills, MA

Par for the Corps: Black Diplomats and Race in U.S. Foreign Policy

Chair: Laurie Hart  

Abdullah Puckett, MA

Decarceration and Social Justice Activism in South Central LA

Chair: Philippe Bourgois

  Matthew James Schneider, MA

Against Accountability: Policing and Public Knowledge in Los Angeles

Chair: Hannah Appel  

Doğa Tekin, MA

Claiming Big Sur: How Places Enter Semiosis

Co-Chairs: Erin Debenport & Paul V. Kroskrity  

Kimberly Tanya Zhu, MA

Genomic Features Underlying Andean High-Altitude Adaptive Hemoglobin Levels

Chair: Abigail Bigham  

Brittany Nicole Florkiewicz, PhD

Properties of Facial Signaling in Captive Chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes )

Chair: Brooke Scelza   Yanina Gori, PhD

Re/mediating Revolution: Cultivating Solidarity in a Cuban Queer Community

Co-Chairs: Hannah Appel & C. Jason Throop  

Jananie Kalyanaraman, PhD

Window seats: Making connection through transport and mobility in Bengaluru city, India

  Eva Rose Melstrom, PhD

The Gate of Weeping: Ethiopian Women Returning from Domestic Work in the Arab States of the Persian Gulf

Co-Chairs: Douglas W. Hollan & C. Jason Throop  

Zachary Mondesire, PhD

Region-craft: An Ethnography of South Sudan’s Transnational Intelligentsia

Lauren Textor, PhD

Deserving Abandonment: Governing Pain and Addiction across U.S. Opioid Landscapes

Co-Chairs: Philippe Bourgois & Laurie Hart

2020-21 Theses and Dissertations

Master’s Theses

Sara Isabel Castro Font, MA

Hipsters, Drunks, Tourists, and Locals: Calle Loíza as a Site of Ideological Contestation

Co-Chairs: Erin Debenport & Paul V. Kroskrity

Lilit Ghazaryan, MA

Speak Beautifully – Language Policies and Practices in Public Kindergartens in Armenia

Chair: Erica Cartmill

Nicco Amedeo La Mattina, MA

“Giving the Meaning” as a Social Practice on Pantelleria: The Metasemantics of Atttunement

Chair: Alessandro Duranti

Alessandra May Laurer Rosen, MA

Semiotic Labors of Personalization: Modernization and Access in an American Yoga School

Danielle Leigh Steinberg, MA

A robust tool kit: first report of tool use in crested capuchin monkeys ( Sapajus robustus )

Chair: Jessica Lynch

Jessie Serene Stoolman, MA

Writing Letters and Reading against the Grain of Anthropology’s Past

Chair: Aomar Boum

Donghyoun We, MA

Food and Restaurants: A Review of the Literature and Exploratory Observations of Restaurant Pivots in LA in the Time of COVID-19

Madeleine Louise Zoeller, MA

Eye See You: Investigating Predictors of the Evil Eye

Chair: Joseph Manson

Farzad Amoozegar-Fassaie, PhD

The Pursuit of Happiness and the Other: Being a Syrian Refugee Child in America

Co-Chairs: Alessandro Duranti & C. Jason Throop

Theresa Hill Arriola, PhD

Securing Nature: Militarism, Indigeneity and the Environment in the Northern Mariana Islands

Chair: Jessica Cattelino

Yael Assor, PhD

Objectivity as a Bureaucratic Virtue: The Lived Experience of Objectivity in an Israeli Medical Bureaucracy

Chair: C. Jason Throop

Amanda Jean Bailey, PhD

Alluvial Hope: The Transformative Practices of Placemaking at a Montana Tribal College

Co-Chairs: Paul V. Kroskrity & Cheryl Mattingly

Hannah Addaline Carlan, PhD

Producing Prosperity: Language and the Labor of Development in India’s Western Himalayas

Alejandro Suleman Erut, PhD

Lying: an anthropological approach

Chair: H. Clark Barrett

Nafis Aziz Hasan, PhD

Techno-politics of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) – Investigating Practices and Social Relations in Indian Public Bureaucracies

Tanya Ruth Matthan, PhD

The Monsoon and the Market: Economies of Risk in Rural India

Agatha Evangeline Palma, PhD

The Migrant, The Mediterranean, and the Tourist: Figures of Belonging in Post-Austerity Palermo

Co-Chairs: Aomar Boum & Laurie Kain Hart

Sonya Rao, PhD

Privatizing Language Work: Interpreters and Access in Los Angeles Immigration Court

Alexander Malcolm Thomson, PhD

Mesologues: An Ethnobibliographic Study of Cultural and Lingual Politics in Contemporary Brittany

Co-Chairs: Laurie Kain Hart & Paul V. Kroskrity

2019-20 Theses, Reports, and Dissertations

Ulises Espinoza, MA

Intuitions on Ownership Among the Achuar of Southeastern Ecuador

Eden Franz, MA

Cultural and Interspecific Symbiosis at Salemi, Sicily: Exploring Colonial and Human-Animal Interactions Through Faunal Analysis

Joelle Julien, MA

Haitian Migration to Tijuana, Mexico: Black Migrants and the Political Economy of Race and Migration

Chair: Jemima Pierre

Eric Andrew Sinski, MA

Imagined Communities: Patriotic Sentiment Among Chinese Students Abroad in the Era of Xi Jinping

Chair: Yunxiang Yan

Sasha Lutz Winkler, MA

The Development of Sex Differences in Play in Wild White-Faced Capuchins

Katelyn Jo Bishop, PhD

Ritual Practice, Ceremonial Organization, and the Value and Use of Birds in Prehispanic Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, 800-1150 CE

Co-Chairs: Richard Lesure & Gregson Schachner

Molly Josette Bloom, PhD

Thick Sociality: Community, Disability, and Language in Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation

Chair: Norma Mendoza-Denton

Courtney Evelyn Cecale, PhD

Scientific Governance and the Cultural Politics of Climate Change Adaptation in the Peruvian Andes

Amy Marie Garey, PhD

The People’s Laughter: War, Comedy, and the Soviet Legacy

Chair: Nancy E. Levine

Kotrina Kajokaite, PhD

Social relationships in wild white-faced capuchin monkeys ( Cebus capucinus ): Insights from new modeling approaches

Chair: Susan Perry

Matthew Richard McCoy, PhD

Unsettling Futures: Morality, Time, and Death in a Divided Belfast Community

Dalila Isoke Ozier, PhD

City of Magic: Aesthetic Value in the Los Angeles Magic Scene

Chair: Sherry B. Ortner

Mindy Gayle Steinberg, PhD

Legal Status and the Everyday Lives of Mexican-Origin Youth in Los Angeles: Family, Gratitude, and the High School Transition

Chair: Thomas S. Weisner

Christopher Shawn Stephan, PhD

“Focus on the Users”: Empathy, Anticipation, and Perspective-Taking in Healthcare Architecture

Anoush Tamar Suni, PhD

Palimpsests of Violence: Ruination and the Politics of Memory in Anatolia

Chair: Susan Slyomovics

Gwyneth Ursula Jean Talley, PhD

Gunpowder Women: Gender, Kinship & Horses in Moroccan Equestrian Performance

Co-Chairs: Nancy E. Levine & Susan Slyomovics

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Towards the Physical Origin of Flexible-to-Rigid Transition in GexSe1-x Glass

• Zhao, Zhangji
• Advisor(s): Taciroglu, Ertugrul ET

Based on their connectivity, network glasses can be classified as flexible, stressed–rigid, or isostatic, if the number of topological constraints is lower, larger, or equal to the number of atomic degrees of freedom, respectively. Thanks to the absence of any stoichiometric requirement, the rigidity of glasses can be continuously tuned (e.g., from flexible to stressed–rigid) by changing their chemical composition. Interestingly, optimally-constrained isostatic glasses have been noted to exhibit unusual properties (e.g., nearly-reversible glass transition, low relaxation, desirable mechanical properties, etc.). Especially, the non-aging intermediate state features an almost vanished endotherm between the first and second heat scan across glass transition, providing a pathway for phase change material optimization in the application of non-volatile rewriteable media. However, the physical origin of the unusual behaviors and properties of isostatic glasses remain unclear.This thesis begins with investigating how the flexible-to-rigid transition in network glasses is encoded in their energy landscape based on molecular dynamics simulations. To this end, we introduce a simplified, yet realistic model of network glasses with varying connectivity. We characterize the topography of these glasses by adopting the activation-relaxation technique (ART), which enables a systematic search of saddle points and transition pathways in the energy landscape surface. We then demonstrate that the flexible-to-rigid transition arises from an interplay between low-energy saddle points (in flexible glasses) and topological frustration (in stressed–rigid glasses). Also, by utilizing the ring structure, we expand the transition correlation with ring size distribution. Meanwhile, we highlight the local heterogeneity with all the energy landscape features by dicing the model into small cubes. Comparing within a single glass helps exclude the effect of different configurations, further consolidating our conclusion on the physical origin of rigidity transition. Finally, to explore the role of chemistry effect in rigidity transition, we compare the behavior of the simple connectivity model with a realistic GexSe1-x model. With the similar shape of enthalpic differences, the realistic model could reveal the effect of glass-forming ability with experimental results where the simple model fails. Overall, we have a clear pathway towards understanding the physical origin of rigidity transition of GexSe1-x glass.

Lightning in a Bottle: Navigating Uncertainty, Authority, and Agency in Pediatric Neurology Encounters

• Advisor(s): Stivers, Tanya J

Pediatric medical visits represent a unique opportunity for studying uncertainty, authority, and agency. In these visits medical authority and parental authority converge on a common goal — the child’s best interests. However, physicians and parents do not always agree on what courses of action are best. Physicians may disagree with parents but nevertheless rely on them to carry out treatment plans. Parents may challenge medical authority but nevertheless rely on physicians for access to the medical goods and services that they need to care for their child. In these points of departure medical authority and parental authority collide; and when the child’s problem is non-routine like a seizure the stakes can be particularly high. This dissertation explores the physician-parent partnership in a particular context: pediatric neurology visits for overnight vEEG testing. I adopt a conversation analytic approach to examine interactions between physicians and parents during these encounters, paying particular attention to the themes of uncertainty, authority, and agency. I find that parents and physicians use (un)certainty to accomplish specific interactional goals. Parents can invoke uncertainty as an account for their conduct when they have somehow challenged medical authority, thus mitigating damage to the physician-family partnership; and physicians can modulate the certainty of diagnoses, treatment efficacy, and other aspects of the child’s condition and care as a means of exerting control over visit outcomes. In the context of news deliveries, I find that the relative rights to ascribe valence to news in pediatric neurology diverge from those observed in everyday life, and this causes problems in the delivery and reception of good news. In these encounters, physicians prioritize conveying the facts of the news over characterizing its valence, but parents tend to treat both components as necessary before they are willing to assess the news. When physicians fail to provide either component, parents orient to news deliveries as incomplete. This not only causes difficulties in parents’ reception of the news but also leads to protracted news deliveries. Taken together, these findings suggest an enduring orientation to medical authority as a legitimate property of the physician-family partnership.

Customized Computing and Machine Learning

• Sohrabizadeh, Atefeh
• Advisor(s): Cong, Jinsheng Jason JC

Nowadays, abundant data across various domains necessitate high-performance computing capabilities. While we used to be able to answer this need by scaling the frequency, the breakdown of Dennard's scaling has rendered this approach obsolete. On the other hand, Domain-specific Accelerators (DSAs) have gained a growing interest since they can offer high performance while being energy efficient. This stems from several factors, such as,1) they support utilizing special data types and operations, 2) they offer massive parallelism, 3) one can customize the memory access, 4) customizing the control/data path helps with amortizing the overhead of fixed instructions, and 5) one has the option of co-designing the algorithm with the hardware.

Unfortunately, despite the huge speedups that DSAs can deliver compared to general-purpose processors, their programmability has not caught up. In the past few decades, High-Level Synthesis (HLS) tools were introduced to raise the abstraction level and free designers from delving into architecture details at the circuit level. While HLS can significantly reduce the efforts involved in the hardware architecture design, not every HLS code yields optimal performance, requiring designers to articulate the most suitable microarchitecture for the target application. This can affect the design turnaround times as there are more choices to explore at a higher level. Moreover, this limitation has confined the DSA community primarily to hardware designers, impeding widespread adoption. This dissertation endeavors to alleviate this problem by combining customized computing and machine learning. Consequently, this dissertation consists of two core parts: 1) customized computing tailored for machine learning applications, and 2) machine learning employed to automate the optimization process of customized computing. Our focus will be on FPGAs as their cost-effective nature and rapid prototyping capabilities make them especially suitable for our research.

The large amounts of data available in data centers have motivated researchers to develop machine learning algorithms for processing them. Given that a significant portion of data stored in these centers exists in the form of images or graphs, our attention is directed towards two prominent algorithms designed for such tasks: Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and Graph Convolutional Network (GCN). In the first part of the dissertation, we develop architecture templates for accelerating these applications. This approach facilitates a reduction in the development cycle, allowing the instantiation of module templates with customizable parameters based on the specific target application.

In the second part of the dissertation, we move our focus to general applications and work on automating their optimization steps including design space exploration and performance/area modeling. Therefore, we structure our problem in a way that can be fed into the learning algorithms. We develop a highly efficient bottleneck optimizer to explore the search space. We also explore different learning algorithms including multi-layer perceptron, graph neural networks, attention networks, jumping knowledge networks, etc., aiming to create a performance predictor that is both highly accurate and robust. Our studies show that we can optimize the microarchitecture of general applications quickly using our automated tools. This can open new doors to those without hardware knowledge to try customized computing which in turn helps to broaden the FPGA community and further improve its technology.

Protein Arginine Methyltransferases: The Breakfast Club of Enzymes

• Lowe, Troy Lucas
• Advisor(s): Clarke, Steven G

Post translational modifications of proteins alter the biological landscape creating functional diversity. One modification, arginine methylation, was first identified in 1968 from calf thymus hydrolysates producing guanidino-methylated arginine derivatives. However, the enzymes that produce these modifications were poorly characterized until 1996 when the genes of the first protein arginine methyltransferases were cloned from yeast and mammalian cells. At this time, a family of nine mammalian genes has been identified that encode protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs). In vitro experiments identified three distinct types. Type I PRMTs catalyze asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) (PRMTs 1-4, 6 and 8), Type II PRMTs catalyze symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) (PRMT5 and 9), and the only type III PRMT that catalyzes monomethylarginine (MMA) (PRMT7). The active sites of each of the major enzymes that form ADMA, SDMA and MMA have distinct structural architectures allowing for their specificity.

In this dissertation I have focused my work on the major type I enzyme, PRMT1, the major type II enzyme, PRMT5, and the type III enzyme, PRMT7. I showed that each of these human enzymes behave differently under physiological stress conditions associated with temperature, pH, and ionic strength thus potentially leading to alterations in the proteomic arginine methylation landscape. In particular, PRMT7 is maximally active at sub-physiological temperatures and at nonphysiological pH and ionic strength, suggesting regulatory roles. I then characterized the unusual substrate specificity of the PRMT7 enzyme with peptide substrates to demonstrate the exquisite dependence upon variations of the Arg-X-Arg motif.With the identification of a PRMT7 motif in the human Fhod1 and Fhod3 actin binding proteins, I characterized methylation reactions that were dependent upon the phosphorylation state of an adjacent serine residue. These results pointed to the cross-talk that can occur between phosphorylation and methylation reactions. Interestingly, I found little or no effect of methylation on ROCK1 protein kinase activity.

PRMT enzymes have been identified to be oncogenic and closely associated with cancer progression. Surprisingly, it was found that methionine-dependent malignant cancer cells had no detectable alteration of protein arginine methylation than methionine-independent less malignant cells, suggesting that the methionine effect maybe be regulated through alternative pathways.

On the Dynamical Evolution of Alfvenic Turbulence in the Inner Heliosphere

• Sioulas, Nikolaos
• Advisor(s): Velli, Marco

A Relevance-based Decision-making Model of Human Sparse, Overloaded, and Indirect Communication

• Jiang, Kaiwen
• Advisor(s): Gao, Tao

Human real-time communication creates a limitation on the flow of information, which requires the transfer of carefully chosen and concise data in various situations. Although pointing is sparse, overloaded, and indirect, it allows humans to effectively decode shared information, (ex)change their minds, and plan accordingly. I introduce a model that explains how humans choose information for communication and understand communication by utilizing the linguistics concept of ``relevance'' derived from decision-making theory and theory of mind.

The modeling approach taken in this dissertation is inspired by many seemingly separated domains. First, I apply theory of mind from cognitive science and partially observable Markov decision process to formally model the components of human mind and how they make decisions, building a scaffold for modeling human communication. Second, I derive how humans coordinate and share their mind by applying the concepts of paternalistic helping in developmental psychology and philosophical discussion about empathy. Third, I derived the definition of utility-based relevance as how much a signaler's belief can make a positive difference to its receiver's well-being, utilizing the cooperative assumption of human communication in linguistics and comparative psychology. I conducted simulation and human behavioral experiments to show that relevance-based communication model can model the overloaded and indirect human communication and can predict humans' choices of signals in communication. Artificial intelligence agents that communicate with relevance-based models are more well-received by humans. Finally, I use Markov decision process and partially observable Markov decision process to propose a way of finding the best timing for sparse human communication.

Fine-Tune Whisper and Transformer Large Language Model for Meeting Summarization

• Advisor(s): Wu, Yingnian Y.W.

With globalization escalating, multinational companies frequently hold meetings involving both domestic and international employees. However, time zone differences often result in international employees missing some meetings. This thesis explores an innovative solution to address this issue and ensure that colleagues who miss meetings can quickly catch up on the content. The core of this solution involves fine-tuning the Whisper model to convert audio recordings of meetings to text, followed by advanced summary transformers based on fine-tuning Llama3 and specific prompts to summarize the converted text. The resulting summaries provide a concise and comprehensive overview of the meeting's content, which can then be distributed to employees who could not attend due to time zone constraints. This approach not only enhances the efficiency of work communication among colleagues but also optimizes the global management and operational efficiency of the company.

Time Series Analysis and Forecasting of Monthly Coffeemaker Search Interest

• Wang, William S
• Advisor(s): Schoenberg, Frederic R. Paik

This study investigated coffeemaker search interest in the United States using the monthlytime series data from Google Trends. The forecasting model developed can be utilized as a part of the coffeemaker market research since accurately forecasting user interest would enable whoever is intrigued to anticipate future developments and make informed decisions. To analyze the underlying pattern, the data was decomposed with STL into seasonal, trend, and residual components. We observed a consistent annual seasonality with a surge in interest every November and December. This pattern was attributed to the increase in user interest during the end-of-the-year holiday season sales. Anomaly detection using the STL residuals found two anomalies. The anomaly witnessed in December 2020 is best understood as the result of the demand surge during the holiday season compounded by the adoption of online shopping imposed by the COVID-19 lockdown. For the model selection process, ACF and PACF plots were used to make the initial judgments on the parameters of the time series model. The first round of model selection tested potential AR and MA orders. The second round of model selection tested potential seasonal AR and MA orders. SARIMA(0, 1, 2)×(1, 0, 1)12 is the final model, chosen based on AIC and BIC scores. This model was able to capture the annual seasonal pattern and meet the stationary assumption with first-order differencing. The model has a MAPE of 4.3% and a RMSE of 3.841 with the rolling forecast origin prediction on the out-sample set. The residuals were confirmed to be white noise, which indicates the SARIMA model is a good fit for predicting the monthly coffeemaker search interest in the United States.

The Roles of Motivation and Attention in Lifelong Learning

• Silaj, Katie Marie
• Advisor(s): Castel, Alan Dan

Rewards can enhance memory for important information; however, intrinsic motivation is also an important component of long-term learning. My dissertation explores extrinsic motivation to learn such as point values awarded on memory tasks and grades assigned in classroom settings, while considering intrinsic factors that influence learning like curiosity and interest in the material being studied. I also examined how individual differences in attention, age, and study strategies impact how learners navigate what information they should prioritize when engaging with learning materials. Value-directed Remembering (VDR; Castel et al., 2002) demonstrates the potent effects of rewards on memory for important information. Point values of varying magnitudes paired with information can motivate strategic allocation of cognitive resources that can mitigate age-related deficits in memory recall. Extrinsic rewards often accompany real-world situations to motivate better performance: grades in the classroom, bonuses in the work force, points in video games, etc. However, desired behavior and information associated with rewards are not always easy to identify in real-world contexts. Schematic support or context can make rewards more meaningful, and this may be especially true for older adults who experience age-related declines in cognitive functioning (Castel, 2005). Additionally, extrinsic incentives may not always be enough to motivate all people. Some learners may need intrinsic sources of motivation to reach a goal such as curiosity, interest, or social connection. Thus, I explored whether learners could predict the value of information using rewards and schematic support to guide them, how being able to prioritize and identify important information relates to success in classroom learning, and how prior knowledge and curiosity influence what people remember. Overall, I find evidence that both younger and older adults can benefit from extrinsic rewards paired with explicit schematic knowledge to predict important information (Chapter 2), that selectivity in study strategies can be related to success in real classroom contexts (Chapter 3), and other factors like prior knowledge, curiosity, and collaboration can benefit learning (Chapter 4). Taken together, these findings suggest that learners may decide what is important to learn and remember through various extrinsic and intrinsic factors.

Cooperative Channel Sensing, Relaying and Computing in UAV and Vehicular Networks

• Krijestorac, Enes
• Advisor(s): Cabric, Danijela

Mobile devices generate an enormous amount of data traffic to satisfy their computing and communications needs. To meet these demands, mobile network operators frequently need to expand their capacity, which entails significant capital costs and increased energy consumption. Motivated by this, we seek to develop cooperative systems that will bring higher communications speeds and larger computing power to mobile devices without relying on mobile network infrastructure.

In recent years, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology has garnered interest for its potential use as a communications enabler. Swarms of UAVs can be deployed as temporary relays to meet short term but high intensity communication demands from mobile users. UAV swarms can coordinate their placement to improve the capacity on the fronthaul link between users and UAVs. Algorithms for optimal placement often rely on the knowledge of channel gain across space. Hence, we developed deep learning methods for channel gain prediction across space based on measurements collected by the UAVs and 3D maps of the environment. In line with this, we also developed methods to design UAV flying paths for optimal measurement collection such that the accuracy of channel gain prediction is maximized under constraints on the distance traveled by the UAVs. Additionally, we develop a reinforcement-learning based approach that controls a UAV to directly improve the fronthaul link without relying on channel gain knowledge across space.

With the proliferation of intelligent vehicles, there is an increasing number of computationally demanding computer applications appearing in vehicular environments. Providing the computational resources to meet the demands of such applications is a critical problem. In this work, we consider a cooperative computing paradigm between intelligent vehicles of similar computing power to enable emerging vehicular applications. Vehicles cooperate with each other over vehicle-to-vehicle networks to form vehicular micro clouds that can complete computationally intensive tasks without relying on cloud or edge computing. We developed optimized resource assignment and scheduling algorithms that efficiently use vehicular computing resources for computation in emerging vehicular applications. Our proposed approaches adapt to link quality changes between vehicles and prevent congestion in vehicular networks, even in the presence of incumbent interference.

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What a Thesis Paper is and How to Write One

From choosing a topic and conducting research to crafting a strong argument, writing a thesis paper can be a rewarding experience.

It can also be a challenging experience. If you've never written a thesis paper before, you may not know where to start. You may not even be sure exactly what a thesis paper is. But don't worry; the right support and resources can help you navigate this writing process.

What is a Thesis Paper?

A thesis paper is a type of academic essay that you might write as a graduation requirement for certain bachelor's, master's or honors programs. Thesis papers present your own original research or analysis on a specific topic related to your field.

“In some ways, a thesis paper can look a lot like a novella,” said Shana Chartier , director of information literacy at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU). “It’s too short to be a full-length novel, but with the standard size of 40-60 pages (for a bachelor’s) and 60-100 pages (for a master’s), it is a robust exploration of a topic, explaining one’s understanding of a topic based on personal research.”

Chartier has worked in academia for over 13 years and at SNHU for nearly eight. In her role as an instructor and director, Chartier has helped to guide students through the writing process, like editing and providing resources.

Chartier has written and published academic papers such as "Augmented Reality Gamifies the Library: A Ride Through the Technological Frontier" and "Going Beyond the One-Shot: Spiraling Information Literacy Across Four Years." Both of these academic papers required Chartier to have hands-on experience with the subject matter. Like a thesis paper, they also involved hypothesizing and doing original research to come to a conclusion.

“When writing a thesis paper, the importance of staying organized cannot be overstated,” said Chartier. “Mapping out each step of the way, making firm and soft deadlines... and having other pairs of eyes on your work to ensure academic accuracy and clean editing are crucial to writing a successful paper.”

How Do I Choose a Topic For My Thesis Paper?

What your thesis paper is for will determine some of the specific requirements and steps you might take, but the first step is usually the same: Choosing a topic.

“Choosing a topic can be daunting," said Rochelle Attari , a peer tutor at SNHU. "But if (you) stick with a subject (you're) interested in... choosing a topic is much more manageable.”

Similar to a thesis, Attari recently finished the capstone  for her bachelor’s in psychology . Her bachelor’s concentration is in forensics, and her capstone focused on the topic of using a combined therapy model for inmates who experience substance abuse issues to reduce recidivism.

“The hardest part was deciding what I wanted to focus on,” Attari said. “But once I nailed down my topic, each milestone was more straightforward.”

In her own writing experience, Attari said brainstorming was an important step when choosing her topic. She recommends writing down different ideas on a piece of paper and doing some preliminary research on what’s already been written on your topic.

By doing this exercise, you can narrow or broaden your ideas until you’ve found a topic you’re excited about. " Brainstorming is essential when writing a paper and is not a last-minute activity,” Attari said.

How Do I Structure My Thesis Paper?

Thesis papers tend to have a standard format with common sections as the building blocks.

While the structure Attari describes below will work for many theses, it’s important to double-check with your program to see if there are any specific requirements. Writing a thesis for a Master of Fine Arts, for example, might actually look more like a fiction novel.

According to Attari, a thesis paper is often structured with the following major sections:

Introduction

• Literature review
• Methods, results

Now, let’s take a closer look at what each different section should include.

Your introduction is your opportunity to present the topic of your thesis paper. In this section, you can explain why that topic is important. The introduction is also the place to include your thesis statement, which shows your stance in the paper.

Attari said that writing an introduction can be tricky, especially when you're trying to capture your reader’s attention and state your argument.

“I have found that starting with a statement of truth about a topic that pertains to an issue I am writing about typically does the trick,” Attari said. She demonstrated this advice in an example introduction she wrote for a paper on the effects of daylight in Alaska:

In the continental United States, we can always count on the sun rising and setting around the same time each day, but in Alaska, during certain times of the year, the sun rises and does not set for weeks. Research has shown that the sun provides vitamin D and is an essential part of our health, but little is known about how daylight twenty-four hours a day affects the circadian rhythm and sleep.

In the example Attari wrote, she introduces the topic and informs the reader what the paper will cover. Somewhere in her intro, she said she would also include her thesis statement, which might be:

Twenty-four hours of daylight over an extended period does not affect sleep patterns in humans and is not the cause of daytime fatigue in northern Alaska .

Literature Review

In the literature review, you'll look at what information is already out there about your topic. “This is where scholarly articles  about your topic are essential,” said Attari. “These articles will help you find the gap in research that you have identified and will also support your thesis statement."

Telling your reader what research has already been done will help them see how your research fits into the larger conversation. Most university libraries offer databases of scholarly/peer-reviewed articles that can be helpful in your search.

In the methods section of your thesis paper, you get to explain how you learned what you learned. This might include what experiment you conducted as a part of your independent research.

“For instance,” Attari said, “if you are a psychology major and have identified a gap in research on which therapies are effective for anxiety, your methods section would consist of the number of participants, the type of experiment and any other particulars you would use for that experiment.”

In this section, you'll explain the results of your study. For example, building on the psychology example Attari outlined, you might share self-reported anxiety levels for participants trying different kinds of therapies. To help you communicate your results clearly, you might include data, charts, tables or other visualizations.

The discussion section of your thesis paper is where you will analyze and interpret the results you presented in the previous section. This is where you can discuss what your findings really mean or compare them to the research you found in your literature review.

The discussion section is your chance to show why the data you collected matters and how it fits into bigger conversations in your field.

The conclusion of your thesis paper is your opportunity to sum up your argument and leave your reader thinking about why your research matters.

Attari breaks the conclusion down into simple parts. “You restate the original issue and thesis statement, explain the experiment's results and discuss possible next steps for further research,” she said.

Find Your Program

Resources to help write your thesis paper.

While your thesis paper may be based on your independent research, writing it doesn’t have to be a solitary process. Asking for help and using the resources that are available to you can make the process easier.

If you're writing a thesis paper, some resources Chartier encourages you to use are:

• Citation Handbooks: An online citation guide or handbook can help you ensure your citations are correct. APA , MLA and Chicago styles have all published their own guides.
• Citation Generators: There are many citation generator tools that help you to create citations. Some — like RefWorks — even let you directly import citations from library databases as you research.
• Your Library's Website: Many academic and public libraries allow patrons to access resources like databases or FAQs. Some FAQs at the SNHU library that might be helpful in your thesis writing process include “ How do I read a scholarly article? ” or “ What is a research question and how do I develop one? ”

It can also be helpful to check out what coaching or tutoring options are available through your school. At SNHU, for example, the Academic Support Center offers writing and grammar workshops , and students can access 24/7 tutoring and 1:1 sessions with peer tutors, like Attari.

"Students can even submit their papers and receive written feedback... like revisions and editing suggestions," she said.

If you are writing a thesis paper, there are many resources available to you. It's a long paper, but with the right mindset and support, you can successfully navigate the process.

“Pace yourself,” said Chartier. “This is a marathon, not a sprint. Setting smaller goals to get to the big finish line can make the process seem less daunting, and remember to be proud of yourself and celebrate your accomplishment once you’re done. Writing a thesis is no small task, and it’s important work for the scholarly community.”

A degree can change your life. Choose your program  from 200+ SNHU degrees that can take you where you want to go.

Meg Palmer ’18 is a writer and scholar by trade who loves reading, riding her bike and singing in a barbershop quartet. She earned her bachelor’s degree in English, language and literature at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) and her master’s degree in writing, rhetoric and discourse at DePaul University (’20). While attending SNHU, she served as the editor-in-chief of the campus student newspaper, The Penmen Press, where she deepened her passion for writing. Meg is an adjunct professor at Johnson and Wales University, where she teaches first year writing, honors composition, and public speaking. Connect with her on LinkedIn .

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UCLA Graduate Programs

Program Requirements for Urban Planning (Master of Real Estate Development)

Applicable only to students admitted during the 2024-2025 academic year.

Urban Planning

UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs

Graduate Degrees

The Department of Urban Planning offers the Master of Urban and Regional Planning (M.U.R.P.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees in Urban Planning.

Urban and Regional Planning

Master’s Degree

Admissions Requirements

The Program’s Student Affairs Officer is available for general and specific information about the degree program. Students are assigned an adviser upon admission to the program.

Areas of Study

Real Estate Development

Foreign Language Requirement

Course Requirements

The degree program is a one-year program and requires a minimum of nine courses in Real Estate Development. A capstone project is required. Required courses include MRED 201, 202A, 202B, 203, 204, 205, and 206; and the two capstone courses, MRED 219A and 219B. Students must take 8 units from the following electives: MRED 211, 212, 213, 214; other MRED electives; approved UP courses; and approved courses from LAW and MGMT.

Sample Degree Program

Teaching Experience

Not required.

Field Experience

Capstone Plan 

A capstone project is the final requirement to complete the degree. The capstone project will consist of a hypothetical urban development project with students working in teams to analyze the context and develop a real estate development proposal. Students will be divided into groups in the first quarter to analyze various aspects of the project’s urban development context. For example, different teams might focus on site and spatial analysis; market context and demand; legal, institutional, and political conditions; or financing and capital stack options. In the second quarter, the groups will be reorganized, and the different teams will develop real estate development proposals, including programming, design, cash flow projections, and regulatory approval strategies. The groups will present their proposals to a jury of real estate and urban development professionals and faculty members and receive feedback. Students will return to campus for their final capstone project presentations in the summer.

Thesis Plan

Time-to-Degree

Students must complete the degree within four quarters from matriculation.

Academic Disqualification and Appeal of Disqualification

University Policy

A student who fails to meet the above requirements may be recommended for academic disqualification from graduate study. A graduate student may be disqualified from continuing in the graduate program for a variety of reasons. The most common is failure to maintain the minimum cumulative grade point average (3.00) required by the Academic Senate to remain in good standing (some programs require a higher grade point average). Other examples include failure of examinations, lack of timely progress toward the degree and poor performance in core courses. Probationary students (those with cumulative grade point averages below 3.00) are subject to immediate dismissal upon the recommendation of their department. University guidelines governing academic disqualification of graduate students, including the appeal procedure, are outlined in Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA .

Special Departmental or Program Policy

All Master’s students at UCLA are subject to university-wide policies and procedures governing study for the MRED degree. These policies and procedures are administered by the UCLA Graduate Division, a campus-wide unit dedicated to ensuring high-quality graduate degree programs at UCLA. Some of the most important of these requirements are summarized below. For additional details on these and other policies and procedures, refer to Standards & Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA.

Students must maintain a grade point average of at least 3.0 (B) in all coursework undertaken, as required by the academic senate. Students failing to do so are placed on probation. Students whose cumulative GPA is below 3.0 for any three quarters will be asked to withdraw from the Program.

Any course that receives a grade below C- will not be permitted to count towards the degree. Any student who receives a grade below C- should consult with the Student Affairs Officer.

A counseling board is established for each student on probationary status (grade point average falls below 3.0 for the term) or making insufficient progress toward the degree. The board consists of three faculty members, including the student’s advisor. The counseling board meets with the student at least once each term as long as the student remains on probation. The board is responsible for reviewing the student’s record, determining strengths and weaknesses, and aiding the student in raising academic performance.

Students on probation, students admitted provisionally, or others not making sufficient progress toward the degree (e.g., part-time status or failing core courses) may be recommended for termination. Recommendations for termination may be made either by the counseling board through a written statement to the Program Director or by the Program Director, acting in consultation with the Executive Director and faculty advisor. Students recommended for termination may petition to have their situation reviewed by a three-person faculty review board. The review board, which includes the faculty advisor and two other faculty members (one chosen by the Program Director and one selected by the student), reviews the formal record and conducts a personal interview. The board then makes written recommendations to the Program Director. If students do not petition for a review board, or if the review board recommends termination, the recommendation is then made formally by the Urban Planning Department Chair on the advice of the Program Director to the Dean of the Graduate Division.

The MRED degree is normally obtained after three quarters of full-time study and part-time study during the fourth and final quarter. Students are expected to return to UCLA to present their required group capstone projects in the Summer quarter. They may petition to participate in the presentation remotely. Such petitions require approval by the Program Director in consultation with the Executive Director and are only occasionally granted in truly extenuating circumstances.

Students who have completed the normal one-year residence requirements (which are not the same as the University residence requirements) but who have yet to complete all of the requirements for graduation may petition to remain in the Program for one additional year to complete all remaining requirements. Such petitions require approval by Program Director in consultation with the Executive Director and are only occasionally granted in truly extenuating circumstances.

Only students who have completed all of the Master of Real Estate Development requirements for the first three quarters of their degree may participate in the commencement ceremonies. Specifically, students with outstanding “incomplete” grades in courses will not be permitted to “walk” in the commencement ceremonies.

‘White Fragility’ Author Accused of Plagiarizing Doctoral Thesis

Robin DiAngelo, the author of the 2018 best-seller White Fragility , is facing allegations that she plagiarized her 2004 doctoral thesis, including copying from minority scholars.

The Washington Free Beacon first reported the allegations , which were made in an anonymous complaint filed with the University of Washington . The school is where the dissertation was submitted, and DiAngelo is employed as an affiliate associate professor of education.

Though anonymous, the complaint matches similar complaints against other high-profile academics connected with diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). This includes former Havard President Claudine Gay , the DEI head at Columbia University , and the head of a DEI program at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) .

That said, the complaint against DiAngelo is unique for two reasons. This is the first time the campaign has targeted a white academic and one who is not a university official. That said, her work focuses on racial discourse, making her an obvious target. This is especially true as her book, White Fragility , is a best seller.

The other allegations in this campaign have been mixed. Though some have highlighted real issues, others have attempted to make mountains out of molehills.

So, which is this? To answer that, we need to examine the allegations and determine how serious they are.

Examining the Allegations

The 20-page complaint makes 20 separate allegations against DiAngelo. The allegations are not in page order and skip around the dissertation.

Most of the 20 allegations are either not examples of plagiarism or are, at best, very weak. For example, the first allegation deals with just 13 words. Though DiAngelo doesn’t cite the alleged source in that passage, she does elsewhere. Both sources describe a third paper and are likely pulling language from that.

Similarly, in the second allegation, DiAngelo does cite the alleged source. Though some text does overlap, it is only 14 words. While this is poor paraphrasing, it doesn’t sustain the argument that DiAngelo is trying to steal the work of other academics.

To be clear, these aren’t good. In an ideal world, you would not have passages like these. But they are not the greatest of academic sins either.

That’s not to say that there aren’t any problematic allegations. The twelfth one is probably the most troubling for me. It features a roughly 200-word passage clearly copied and pasted from an earlier source. DiAngelo does cite the source, but the citation is above the section in question, and there’s no indication that she is quoting the passage.

All in all, if someone handed me this document, I would recommend corrections and updates. However, given that many of the allegations are dubious and, even in total, only cover a small percentage of the dissertation, stronger action seems unwarranted.

The Wrinkle in the Story

At this point, the story follows the format of others we’ve seen. Though it highlights some legitimate issues, the complaint exaggerates the severity of the plagiarism, and the reporting around it has left off much of the nuance.

However, DiAngelo is unlike the other academics the campaign has targeted. She is a public figure, first and foremost. Her accountability statement says she will seek to “Always cite and give credit to the work of BIPOC people who have informed your thinking. When you use a phrase or idea you got from a BIPOC person, credit them.”

That did not happen here, at least not entirely.

While I don’t believe the evidence points to a malicious intent to steal others’ work, there was a lack of care and due diligence in places. In this case, I would argue that she did not live up to her accountability statement.

To be clear, I understand this pressure. As the author of a site named Plagiarism Today, I work hard to ensure my citations are as clean as possible. Often, I deliberately overcite out of an abundance of caution. However, I’m sure I’ve made mistakes over the past 18 years. But I acknowledge that my field and my presentation make those mistakes more problematic.

Still, it’s important to put this complaint into perspective. This complaint is not a good-faith attempt to improve academic or research integrity. It’s a targeted attack on a political or ideological opponent. But even if we take the whole complaint as truth, it represents approximately 2,000 words in a 72,000-word thesis. That equals roughly 3% of the completed dissertation.

While I agree that some corrective action is needed, that’s not what the complaint filers want. There’s no room for nuance or discussion when the goal is to discredit an ideology rather than address the actual issues in the work.

Bottom Line

In the past, I’ve criticized this particular campaign on two grounds. First, as I said above, it’s a bad-faith effort to discredit political opponents, not an attempt to improve academic integrity. Here, plagiarism is simply a tool for political gain, not an issue to be addressed.

Second, the complaints have routinely tried to exaggerate the amount of plagiarism. In my reading of the complaint, 5-7 allegations warranted some response. However, 20 allegations look more impressive, even if most don’t hold up. It’s easier to get headlines with bigger numbers.

During the height of the original scandals, I talked about the weaponization of plagiarism and how it is used to target political and ideological opponents. As someone whose focus is plagiarism, that is deeply worrying to me.

Plagiarism, citation and attribution are important issues in and of themselves. However, discussing plagiarism requires a degree of nuance and care that isn’t possible when wielding it as a weapon.

That, in turn, is how weaponizing plagiarism cheapens it. It becomes a tool to be used rather than a problem to be solved.

That is very true in this case. Dubious claims have buried genuine issues, and a rush to condemn has replaced a nuanced conversation. This story should worry you regardless of how you feel about DiAngelo and her work.

Robin DiAngelo Headshot: JasonPToews , CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

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Call for Proposals Thinking Gender 2025

Thinking gender 2025, “gendered labors and transnational solidarities”, march 5–7, 2025.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Submission due date: Sunday, October 20, 2024, at 11:59 pm PDT

Apply Online

The UCLA Center for the Study of Women|Barbra Streisand Center invites proposals for our 35th annual Thinking Gender Graduate Student Research Conference (TG25).

This year’s conference theme, “ Gendered Labors and Transnational Solidarities ” highlights the rich repertoire of organizing strategies as well as contemporary and historical examples of campaigns led by precarious workers around the world. We invite proposals that employ a transnational feminist lens and that consider how workers have persisted in challenging injustice and demanding dignity by forming alliances across local, regional, and transnational contexts. We seek to bring together feminist, queer, and BIPOC scholars, artists, and organizers to reflect upon the meanings of labor solidarity and care to imagine a more livable society.

Workers have long been united in transnational solidarities. The urgency of transnational solidarities has increased in the wake of late-twentieth-century globalization, which has reshaped workers’ migration pathways, conditions of labor, and activism. Financialized capitalism has led to new labor regimes that disproportionately rely on a feminized and racialized workforce. The rise in low-paid contingent service work and outsourced manufacturing work has been accompanied by erosion of labor laws and social safety nets. Furthermore, stringent immigration regimes are exacerbating the precarity and labor exploitation of immigrant women of color and poor women in the Global South. However, these precarious workers have also been on the frontlines of labor organizing. For example, even though domestic workers have long been considered “unorganizable” because many lacked documentation status and worked in private households, domestic workers’ leadership has been central to expanding labor rights at both national and inter-governmental levels. In 2011, their efforts led to International Labour Organization Convention 189, the first global treaty establishing labor standards for domestic workers. In addition to demanding dignity on the job, precarious workers have also organized for social justice more broadly. Recently, Hyundai construction workers in South Korea began striking in solidarity with Palestinian people, calling attention to the connections between labor, settler colonialism, war, and ongoing effects of empire. Workers have also addressed injustices based on race, sex, sexuality, and citizenship status across local, regional, and international scales.  We invite works that examine labor organizing through a transnational feminist lens, centering innovative strategies and campaigns workers have been building to forge solidarities across different parts of the world.

Possible questions for engagement include:

• How does a transnational feminist lens apply to labor organizing? How do categories such as race, class, gender, sexuality, nation, dis/ability and citizenship status, among others, affect how labor is defined and how workers organize?
• How have histories and ongoing struggles around settler colonialism, war, slavery, and unequal economic development shaped labor movements?
• How have workers who have been historically excluded from labor protections – such as workers in factories/sweatshops, households, and agriculture, and now most recently in gig work – organized transnationally? What is the significance of the scale of their organizing efforts?
• What is the role have unions played in transnational labor feminisms? What other alternative strategies have women workers and other precarious workers employed to organize?
• What possibilities and challenges have precarious workers found in international organizations, institutions, and laws?
• What are the relationships between family and work? How do family relationships shape labor migration as well as precarity workers face? How do workers navigate the often gender-specific burdens of financially supporting the family? How have workers formed alternative communities/kinship networks of support?
• What are the political implications of defining care? What are some examples of caring activities that go into organizing?
• How do caregivers, consisting mostly of workers experiencing precarity because of gender, immigration status, race and ethnicity etc., also receive care?
• What are some ways in which society as a whole can reciprocate the labor of care that is already foundational to the survival and well-being of community members around the world?
• How can researchers amplify workers’ own voices and stories rather than imposing top-down solutions? What are some examples of research centering workers?
• How do workers build solidarities with one another? How do they integrate the concepts of mutual aid and care?

We encourage applicants to think within, alongside, beyond, and perhaps against the following topics as they consider the shape and content of their prospective participation in TG25:

• Historical and contemporary forms of social movements
• Queer and LGBTQIA organizing
• Maquiladora activism in the US/Mexico border
• Law and protection
• Anti-sweatshop movements
• Local, regional, and global practices of activism and organizing
• Transfer of economies, objects, and people
• Local, regional and global development projects
• Community building
• Kinship and family
• Affective economies and labor
• Immigration and citizenship
• Care and social reproduction
• Settler colonialism, war, and dispossession
• Environmental degradation
• Critical refugee studies
• Migration and gender
• Cultural productions and performance
• Disability and curative violence
• Aging and care homes
• Embodied practices of healing

Graduate students have two ways to participate in this conference:

1. Hybrid workshops for works-in-progress on Wednesday, March 5, 2025 

Participants will workshop works-in-progress in closed online sessions either via Zoom or in person at the UCLA campus on Wednesday, March 5, 2025. Each workshop will include up to four graduate students, a faculty moderator, and up to three observers from other workshops, who will read and provide detailed feedback and questions for each submission. All participants will be asked to read or view each other’s submissions in advance. Participants will then convene with a faculty moderator who will offer constructive feedback and facilitate discussion around each submission.

All workshop participants will be required to submit the final version of their work-in-progress (not to exceed 20–25 double-spaced pages) by Sunday, February 2, 2025, for pre-circulation among their co-participants and faculty moderator. Please only submit your work for a workshop if you are prepared to have a final draft ready for circulation by this date. 

2. In-person presentations on Friday, March 7, 2025

Participants who submit a proposal for work that will be completed a month before the conference date will give a public presentation of their finished projects at a panel on the UCLA campus on Friday, March 7, 2025. In addition, participants will take advantage of other in-person activities offered at the conference.

We welcome a range of submission formats from graduate students , including scholarly papers, works in hybrid critical/creative genres (e.g., multimedia projects, performance, experimental forms of academic writing), and film/mixed media. In celebration of embodied practices of healing led by workers’ organizations, worker-centered artwork would fit particularly well for this year’s call.

Submission Guidelines

Eligibility

Registered graduate students from any institution are eligible to submit abstracts or synopses of scholarly papers, works in hybrid critical/creative genres (e.g., multimedia projects, performance, experimental forms of academic writing), or film/mixed media to present or workshop. Applicants cannot submit multiple proposals and must choose if they will present completed works or works-in-progress. Only one submission per applicant will be considered.

Please only submit if you are available for the full day , since we cannot confirm which time the panel/workshop will be until later in the planning process.

Submissions of works that are collaborative or co-authored with other students are welcome.

Unpublished submissions are preferred . Recently published and forthcoming articles will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Submissions that are not directly related to the theme, “Gendered Labors and Transnational Solidarities” will not be considered.

Due date for Abstract/Synopsis Submissions: Sunday, October 20, 2024 at 11:59 pm PDT.

Applicants whose submissions are accepted will be notified by Friday, December 6, 2024.

Application Materials

All proposals must be submitted using the online application form .

Only complete submissions received by the due date will be considered.

Scholarly Paper, Dissertation or Thesis Chapter, or Article Draft Application Requirements:

1. Abstract (max. 250 words) of work to be presented/workshopped that includes: (1) a thesis/research question, (2) methods, (3) theoretical framework, and (4) conclusions or anticipated conclusions.

2. Works Cited or References List (1 page maximum)

3. CV (2 pages maximum)

Film/Mixed Media or Hybrid Critical/Creative Genres Application Requirements:

1. Film/Media Synopsis (2 double-spaced pages maximum) of work to be presented/workshopped that includes: (1) a research question or thesis, (2) description of format, (3) discussion of theoretical framework, methodology and process, (4) explanation of your argument and evidence, and (5) conclusions or anticipated conclusions. If your piece is co-created with other students, please make this clear .

2. CV (2 pages maximum)

3. Link (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.) where Film or Mixed Media can be viewed. Total run-time should not exceed 20 minutes. Note: our submission platform does not have capacity to hold media files. Please insert links into your synopsis. 

Contact Thinking Gender Coordinator Da In Choi at [email protected] .

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The CSW|Streisand Center at UCLA acknowledges our presence on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Gabrielino/Tongva peoples.

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