FAQ's-Frequently Asked Questions about the mysteries of life as a Grad Student at UTK-SIS

Thesis Option

I was asked to contribute some information for those of you who are considering the thesis option. I went into the program with a project in mind--a survey of artists' papers in Tennessee repositories--so from the beginning, I was thinking of how to adapt my classes to support my thesis topic. UT faculty seemed eager to help me with this. My literature search came out of my class assignments, I learned how to use ProCite to support the project in another course, and did take the Research Methods course to support the thesis statistics. At the same time, I was able to occasionally link my coursework and the thesis to my own museum work. This was critical for me--to find ways to make double use of assignments.

My thesis advisor, Bill Robinson, was patient and supportive and he helped me hone the topic down to a managable and useful project. I chose to defend the first three chapters so that I would be sure that I was on the right track, then followed up with a final defense, which was challenging but successful. My thesis committee made excellent suggestions for ways to use my research after the thesis and I did publish an article about a year after it was all complete. I'm finding the data to still be useful in my own research.

You have to really want to write a thesis to follow through on this plan and you must be fairly agressive in terms of meeting with your advisor and getting the ball rolling as soon as possible. I came away with a product to add to my resume, data to use for future projects, and connections to museum professionals that continue to support my work. If you would like to discuss the option with me, please do call or email me at celia.walker@vanderbilt.edu. For more on the thesis option, visit http://www.sis.utk.edu/programs/components.