FIU Libraries: The Big Paper That Grows: Home

Freshman Thesis Guidelines

Freshman Thesis

All students will be writing and presenting a thesis at the end of the academic year. They will be selecting a topic in collaboration with their instructor. Although students will be given general subjects to work with, they must tease out a reasonable, feasible and researchable topic. Students will be responsible for finding the topic, preparing a research question or statement, and planning a preliminary literature review by the end of the semester. The final thesis will have a minimum of 7,000 words excluding references, charts, and diagrams.

Some of the topics are listed below, although others will emerge in collaboration and discussion with your professor.

"Plato's 'Allegory of the Cave' and Abbott's 'Flatland': Treatment of Proof and Knowledge”
“Proving Ourselves: Borges, Dennett, and Harding”
"The Use of Language and Style as Identity Symbols”
"The Role of Globalization in the Fragility, Endangerment, or Death of Languages"

Important Dates!

Research Question or Statement due on Monday, October 12 by 11:59 PM
Literature Review, due on Monday, December 7 by 11:59 PM

Steps For Writing the Freshman Thesis

The Thesis statement is a sentence that summarizes the main point of your paper and previews your supporting points. The thesis statement is important because it guides your readers from the beginning of your essay by telling them the main idea and supporting points of your essay (Pudue OWL, Developing a Thesis).

Purdue OWL: Developing a Thesis
: An in-depth explanation of a Thesis Statement
Purdue Owl: Developing Strong Thesis Statements
: Information on Developing Strong Thesis Statements
Writing Tips: Thesis Statements
From the UIUC, Center for Writing Studies
The Writer's handbook: Developing a thesis statement
From the University of Wisconsin, Madison, the Writing Center

An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually about 150 words) descriptive and evaluative paragraph, the annotation. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited (Cornell University Library).

How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography: The Annotated Bibliography
More information from Cornell University's library on the preparation of an annotated bibliography
Annotated Bibliographies
From Purdue OWL
The Writer's Handbook: Annotated Bibliography
From the University of Wisconsin-Madison, The Writing Center

A literature review is an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers. Occasionally you will be asked to write one as a separate assignment (sometimes in the form of an annotated bibliography—see the bottom of the next tab), but more often it is part of the introduction to an essay, research report, or thesis.

In writing the literature review, your purpose is to convey to your reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. As a piece of writing, the literature review must be defined by a guiding concept (e.g., your research objective, the problem or issue you are discussing, or your argumentative thesis). It is not just a descriptive list of the material available, or a set of summaries (University of Toronto).

The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It
For an in-depth description on how to conduct a literature review, please see this University of Toronto's site from which the above was taken.
Writing the Literature Review: Step-by-Step Tutorial (parts 1, 2, & 3)
This three-part video on the Literature Review by David White of the University of Maryland, gives short simple instructions on the conduct and writing of a Literature Review
Write a Literature Review: Lit Review 101
From Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries
Literature Reviews
This handout will explain what literature reviews are and offer insights into the form and construction of literature reviews in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. - From Writing Center at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

7 Steps to Writing A Research Paper
This document lists and explain the seven steps involved in the writing or a Research Paper

Rubrics listed below were crafted for grading the Freshman Thesis. Students may wish to use the rubrics as a guide to what is expected of of them in the writing of their paper.

Below are a few databases and resources that will assist in narrowing your topic and in your preliminary research. When everyone has decided on a specific topic more may be added to the list.

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
An excellent place to begin broad explorations with an eye to moving toward the specific. This database is a comprehensive, scholarly full-text database for multidisciplinary research; It provides complete coverage of multidisciplinary academic journals, peer-reviewed journals, full-text periodicals, reports, books, and more; 1887 - Present.
Anthropology Plus This link opens in a new window
An excellent source to find information on the death of, or endangered, languages and many other topics that have an anthropological or archaelogical bent. Anthropology Plus indexes 5,500+ scholarly journals in anthropology and archaeology. Includes all data from Anthropological Literature and Anthropological Index, which combined provide an extensive worldwide index to all sub-fields of anthropology, plus ethnology, archaeology, and folklore.
AnthroSource 2.0 This link opens in a new window
Offers full-text anthropological resources; a digital searchable database containing the past, present and future AAA publications, more than 250,000 articles from AAA journals, newsletters, bulletins and monographs in a single place.
Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts This link opens in a new window
An excellent source to find citations to articles on linguistics including dead and endangered languages. This source abstracts and indexes the international literature in linguistics and related disciplines in the language sciences; The database covers all aspects of the study of language including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics.
MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
Subjects consist of literature, language and linguistics, folklore, literary theory & criticism, dramatic arts, as well as the historical aspects of printing and publishing; Listings on rhetoric and composition and the history, theory and practice of teaching language and literature are also included.
Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Indexes 2,000+ scholarly journals in history from 1450 to the present; Excludes the United States and Canada.
Humanities and Social Sciences Index Retrospective, 1907-1984 This link opens in a new window
Indexes scholarly journals and popular magazines in the humanities.
Humanities Source This link opens in a new window
This database offers worldwide content pertaining to literary, scholarly and creative thought; It includes feature articles, interviews, obituaries, bibliographies, original works of fiction, book reviews, and reviews of ballets, dance programs, motion pictures, musicals, operas, plays, and much more; Coverage begins in 1907.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Not a database, this resource contains electronic full text of back files of 644+ scholarly journals. Recent years are not available; FIU has access to following collections: Arts & Sciences Collections I - XII, and Complement, Ecology and Botany Collection I & II, Life Sciences, Business IV, and the Jewish Studies Collection.
Project MUSE This link opens in a new window
Suggested for use in collaboration with JSTOR. This source has electronic full text for 100+ scholarly journals published by several University presses; FIU subscribes to Project Muse Standard and Premium Collections.
Philosopher's Index This link opens in a new window
Offers informative, author-written abstracts covering scholarly research in all areas of philosophy; The literature covered goes back to 1940 and includes journal articles, books, book chapters such as contributions to an anthology and book reviews.
PsycINFO This link opens in a new window
Indexes 2,300+ international scholarly journals, books, book chapters, reports and other publications in psychology and related disciplines; Many records, added to the database since 1998, also include the references cited in the bibliography of the source article.
PsycArticles This link opens in a new window
Electronic full text of 50+ APA (American Psychological Association) and EPF (Educational Publishing Foundation) journals. FIU subscribes to all titles.

Floor		Resources
One		Center for Academic Success: University Learning/Testing Center Electronic Classroom Broadcast Video Productions Resource for Education Technology UTS - Media Equipment Services Distance Learning Electronic Classroom Instructional Photography & Graphics
Two		Information & Research Services Curriculum & Juvenile Collection LACiC - Latin American and Caribbean Center Government Documents GIS-RS Center & Teaching Lab Maps & Imagery User Statistics
Three		Periodicals & Newspapers Laptop Lounge Honors College Student Resource Center College of Medicine Library Copiers Systems
Four		College of Medicine Special Collections & Archivese Academic Space Management School of Social Work Study Area
Five		Audiovisual Collection Diaz Ayala Collection Architecture and Fine Arts (General Collection and Periodical Section N) Music (General Collection and Periodical Section M) Music Listening Room Music CAI Center Spanish Resource Center Group Study Rooms
Six		Quiet Study Space Group Study Rooms General Collection HJ-L & P-Z Oversized Books
Seven		General Collection A-HG Quiet Study Floor Group Study Rooms
Eight		Library Administration Collection Management Digital Collections Center

Floor		Resources
One		Circulation Course Reserves Intercampus/Interlibrary Loan Information and Research Services Center for Excellence in Writing Communication Arts Studio Computer Labs/Copiers
Two		Microforms Periodicals Juvenile Collection Oversize Collection Video Collection Government Documents Reference Workroom Reference Collection Copiers
Three		General Collection, A-Z Library Administration

The Big Paper That Grows

NEED HELP?

Freshman Thesis Guidelines

Steps For Writing the Freshman Thesis

Information

Libraries

Contact