Undergraduate Thesis

Undergraduate psychology majors have the option to complete a senior research thesis under the supervision of a faculty member. Successful completion of the thesis will allow students to graduate “with research distinction in psychology.” Requirements for Research Distinction in Psychology are as follows:

*Current psychology major
*Graduate with at least a 3.0 overall GPA
*Take Psych 4999.01 and 4999.02
*Successfully defend a research thesis on a psychological topic

The typical timeline for completion of the thesis project is as follows:

*Spring, Junior year: Design thesis project
*Summer, Junior-Senior year: Submit thesis project for Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval
*Fall, Senior year: Collect data
*Spring, Senior year: Finish data collection, analyze results, write thesis, defend thesis

The thesis defense involves presenting the thesis results and fielding questions from a committee made up of your thesis advisor and 1-2 other faculty members.

If you are interested in learning more about the senior thesis option, please contact Dr. Buelow at buelow.11@osu.edu. Please note, this option is only available to 1-2 students per academic year (when available), with preference given to students who have been a Research Assistant in the psychology lab for at least one semester (more experience preferred).