BA Thesis Timeline
Below is a timeline guide to the process of writing a BA Thesis, as part of the Intensive Track in the English major. If you have any questions about milestones, requirements, or anything else regarding the BA Thesis, please consult the Student Affairs Administrator.
2nd or 3rd Year
Enroll in ENGL 21312 Research Methods, required for all BA Thesis writers (Note the course is first being offered in Fall 2025)
NOTE: Students planning to graduate in Spring 2026 interested in writing a thesis are not required to take ENGL 21312, per the requirements of their major. If they decide to opt-in to the 2025-2026 major requirements, however, they can decide whether or not to take the course as a requirement. Any student may take the course for elective requirement if not counting towards the specific Intensive Track requirements. For more information, please contact the Student Affairs Administrator.
Spring Quarter 3rd Year
Writing and Research Advisors (WaRas) are in contact throughout the thesis process:
- Sylvie Boulette, boulette@uchicago.edu
- Nell Pach, npach@uchicago.edu
Week 2: Info Session for prospective Thesis writers in the Intensive Track of the Major
Week 8: BA Thesis Proposal Due to WaRa adnd Student Affairs Administrator (SAA)
Students should attempt to connect with possible advisors and include your choices in your Thesis Proposal. It is recommended that you reach out to professors you have taken classes with or have worked with before. Advisors do not have to be experts in your topic - it is more important to establish a good working relationship with your advisor to foster successful mentorship. If a student does not find an advisor or if their preferred faculty members are unavailable, they will be assigned an advisor.
Summer
Summer Research Worksheet assigned by WaRas, faculty advisors notified of assignments, Thesis Writers begin reaching out to faculty advisors and begin researching (reading books, articles, etc).
Autumn or Winter Quarter 4th Year
Enroll in required ENGL 29900 Independent BA Paper Preparation Course. This class is required for Majors in the Intensive Track writing a BA Thesis and requires approval from the Director of Undergraduate Studies and your Faculty Thesis Advisor for enrollment. The course does not have regular meeting times or assignments, but rather gives you credit for the independent work you’ll be doing on your BA Thesis project Grades are typically submitted in the Spring quarter, even if the course has been taken earlier. To enroll, fill out the College Reading and Research Consent Form and turn it into the Registrar's office. For questions about the process, please contact the Student Affairs Administrator.
Autumn Quarter 4th Year
Begin regular meetings with WaRa for small group workshops and feedback on draft materials. Meet with Faculty Advisor for feedback as you narrow your focus and continue your research.
Week 2: Summer Worksheet due to Faculty Advisor, WaRa, SAA
Week 10: Joint BA Thesis Approval Form due, for those writing a Thesis for two majors
Finals Week, before Thanksgiving Break: Thesis Portfolio due to Faculty Advisor, WaRa, SAA
Winter Quarter 4th year
Students will complete most of their writing during this quarter (most thesis writers enroll in ENGL 29900 this quarter). Continue to meet with your Faculty Advisor and WaRa as you work on your first complete draft. Attend small group workshops and continue to meet WaRa deadlines for outlines and drafts.
Week 8: Complete/near-complete draft due to Faculty Advisor, WaRa, SAA, Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS)
Spring Quarter 4th Year
Week 2: Second full draft of BA Thesis due to Faculty Advisors, WaRa, SAA
Week 4: Final Draft of BA Thesis due to Faculty Advisor, WaRa, SAA, DUS
Week 6: Honors Recommendation Letters from Faculty Advisors and WaRa Due to DUS
Week 9: BA Thesis Reading and Reception!
Frequently Asked Questions
When does the process of writing a critical BA thesis in English begin?
Many thesis projects first emerge as papers written for English courses. Now that the department offers ENGL 21312 - Research Methods (link to info or course description) as a required part of the honors pathway, we hope students may use this course to incubate potential thesis projects.
You should plan on submitting your thesis proposal by Spring quarter of your third year (in Week 8). We will assign you a faculty advisor by the end of the year so you can begin research over the summer.
Who might want to write a thesis? What goes into a thesis proposal?
Anyone who wants to dig deeper into a literary or literature-adjacent archive, to go down the rabbit hole of a theory or oeuvre, to develop a sustained piece of interpretive writing about past or contemporary cultural phenomena, to hone your critical practice in conversation with a community of peers—these are some of the reasons students choose to write a BA thesis in English.
A thesis proposal is a speculative paragraph or so about the inquiry you want to open with your project. Most proposals frame their questioning in reference to a certain primary text, body of work, or cultural movement. Often they sketch out a sense of the project’s historical scope. Depending on your method, the proposal might play faster and looser with periodization. A thesis proposal is not a contract, but the first step toward articulating why something piques your curiosity.
Whom will I work with over the thesis year?
You will work with a Writing and Research Advisor (WARA), a faculty advisor, and your thesis cohort! Your WARA will be your primary point of contact for your thesis. Throughout the thesis year, you will meet with your WARA for regular one-on-one conversations. In the fall and winter quarter, your WARA will also convene regular workshops that will allow you to share and discuss work with other thesis writers. These meetings and workshops are required and will help you develop and temper your ideas within an intellectual community, not just on your own.
What are the benchmarks for thesis writing in the fourth year?
In broad strokes, the process consists of four phases, beginning with exploratory reading in the Summer before your fourth year, followed by more intensive research in Autumn, writing in Winter, and revision in Spring.
Autumn quarter is for formalizing and carrying out a research program represented by two benchmarks–the Summer Research Worksheet, submitted in Week 2, and the Thesis Portfolio, completed by Week 10. You will complete a series of writing exercises (to be included in the Thesis Portfolio) that will help you engage actively with your research and your primary texts.
Winter quarter is for expanding and refining your thesis through a series of small-group writing workshops. At the end of the quarter you’ll submit a near-full draft of your essay to your WARA, faculty advisor, and the Director of Undergraduate Studies.
Last of all, in Spring quarter, you’ll revise your draft using feedback from your WARA and faculty advisor. Around week 4 you’ll submit your final draft. We’ll write letters assessing and recommending the merits of your thesis. By week 6 we should receive word back from the College as to which theses have been awarded honors.
What kinds of sources does a critical thesis engage? What are the best practices for finding and citing these sources?
A critical thesis is a sustained work of literary analysis that speaks to and complicates an ongoing scholarly conversation. As such, it should engage both primary and secondary sources. Novels, plays, songs, films, poems, or any other kind of text you might open to interpretive reading—these belong to the former category. Journal articles, critical essays, monographs, dissertations, historical studies, works of theory and philosophy
–these make up the latter.
In the Autumn quarter you’ll work with your WARA, faculty advisor, and peers to assemble and annotate a bibliography for your thesis. Make friends with the UChicago Library Catalog and the many treasures waiting in the Regenstein stacks (3rd floor, P - Language and Literature). Also check out the Library’s English Literature Subject Guide for a basic introduction to the research process, access to online collections, and other useful resources.
All citations should be in MLA or Chicago style. Ask your advisors for help navigating more specific citation questions.
What are the formatting requirements when submitting a finished thesis?
Upon completion your thesis should come in at a minimum of 20 pages and a maximum of 30. It should be double spaced, 12pt font, Times New Roman or equivalent. Make sure it has numbered pages and a cover page. Some students choose to include acknowledgments.
Who assesses thesis work? How do they determine which projects will receive honors?
As noted above, your WARA and faculty advisor will be the ones who write letters of recommendation on behalf of your final thesis. Most of the week-by-week feedback should come from your WARA, while your faculty advisor generally aids in formulating bigger picture questions in once- or twice-per-quarter meetings.
Our letters of recommendation are based on the quality of your thesis as a piece of argumentative writing, but also on the arc of your research and contributions to workshops during the year-long writing process.
What makes a thesis project successful? Where can I find examples of past projects?
http://english.uchicago.edu/undergraduate/honors-and-awards
You can find examples of past theses here.