BA Thesis / BA Capstone
All students majoring in CEGU will complete either a BA Thesis or BA Capstone in their 4th year. Either option will provide students with a rigorous application of concepts, theories and methods taught throughout the major program. The two alternatives, while distinct in scope and approach, are intended as a culmination of environmental and urban studies and preparation for future academic, career and life endeavors.
The BA Thesis is required for any student pursuing honors in the major, while all other students must complete either the BA Thesis or BA Capstone.
For information about events connected to the Thesis and Capstone projects in the CEGU major, please see the student events page or view at the recording↗ from our Winter 2024 info session.
BA Thesis
The BA thesis gives students a valuable opportunity to conduct extended research, writing, and analysis on a topic of particular significance to them. Frequently, undergraduates who write and reason well are nevertheless unaccustomed to directing their own academic inquiry from within by formulating and conducting a research project from start to finish. The Program therefore offers significant guidance and support from faculty and preceptors in these independent projects. For this purpose, students work alongside expert advisors from across the University, receive mentorship from Program faculty, and participate in a two-quarter BA Colloquium course sequence in their 4th year.
Any student majoring in CEGU may choose to complete a thesis, but is required by those pursuing honors in the major. The thesis is an extended piece of research, conducted independently by the student under advisement by a UChicago faculty member. While a long research paper (40-60 pages) is the traditional approach to the thesis, other formats involving alternative media or design will be considered if accompanied by a written text and are approved at the proposal stage by the CEGU faculty. Students wishing to complete a BA Thesis must submit a BA Thesis application in Spring quarter of their 3rd year. If approved, students will be notified with information on next steps.
For questions about the BA Thesis, please contact CEGU BA Thesis Coordinator, Professor Kindell.
Thesis Application and Timeline
The BA Thesis application is due on April 4, 2025 at 5:00pm. Other important deadlines can be found below.
Third Year, Autumn Quarter:
- No BA Thesis Events
Third Year, Winter Quarter:
- Week 3: Friday, January 24, 2025: BA Thesis Alumni Panel
- Week 6: Friday, February 14, 2025: Required BA Thesis and Capstone Project Information Session
- Week 8: Friday, February 28, 2025: BA Thesis Brainstorm Session
- Week 9: Friday, March 7, 2025: BA Thesis Brainstorm Session
Third Year, Spring Quarter:
- Week 2: Friday, April 4, 2025, 5:00pm: BA Thesis Application due
- Week 2: Friday, April 4, 2025: Redekop & Gray Research Grant information session
- Week 4: Friday, April 18, 2025, 5:00pm: Students are notified whether they are approved to proceed with the BA Thesis
- Week 6: Friday, May 2, 2025, 5:00pm: Undergraduate Research Grant Applications Due
- Week 9: Friday, May 23, 2025, 5:00pm: Notification of Research Grant Awards
- Finals Week: Friday, May 30, 2025, 5:00pm: BA Thesis Summer Reading List Due
Fourth Year, Autumn Quarter:
- Students are required to enroll in CEGU 29801: BA Colloquium I
- Week 5: Friday, November 1, 2024, 3:00-4:00pm: Thesis IRB Workshop
Fourth Year, Winter Quarter:
- Students are required to enroll in CEGU 29802: BA Colloquium II
- Throughout Winter Quarter students should have regular check-ins with their faculty advisor
- Week 1: Friday, January 10, 2025: Finding Your Audience Workshop
- Week 3: Friday, January 24, 2025: BA Thesis Alumni Panel
Fourth Year, Spring Quarter:
- Week 3: Friday, April 11, 2025: BA Thesis First Draft Due at 5:00pm
- Week 5: Friday, April 25, 2025, 5:00pm: Faculty advisors and second readers provide comments and suggested revisions
- Week 7: Friday, May 9, 2025: BA Thesis Final Draft Due at 5:00pm
- Finals Week: TBD: BA Thesis and Capstone Symposium
BA Thesis Expectations
Students are expected to address—with sources and data—a research question that builds on what they’ve learned as a CEGU/ENST major during their time at UChicago. As you think through your BA thesis project, you might wonder: what constitutes data; how do I formulate a tractable and novel research question based on my interests; who can act as my faculty advisor; or what is the role of the faculty advisor, preceptor, or reader? These are important questions to consider as you develop your topic. We address them below.
- Students are encouraged to be creative in their approach, using evidence to support their claims and analysis.
- Evidence can consist of quantitative or qualitative materials, whether survey data sets, census data, GIS layers; and qualitative data like interviews, ethnography, texts or media, or combinations of such materials. With guidance from faculty advisers and program preceptors, students gather the evidence themselves. This can involve tailoring a corpus from existing databases and archives, or designing research instruments such as surveys or interviews in the field to generate novel materials for analysis.
- An appropriate research question for a BA thesis will be one that has a narrow enough scope to be addressed fully in a relatively short amount of time but broad enough that your findings have scholarly relevance beyond your own work. Developing the appropriate scope is a skill that can take years to learn. You are encouraged to refine your topic and research questions with the help of preceptors and your faculty adviser.
- You are required to have a faculty adviser for the BA thesis. Advisers vary greatly in their mentoring style and you will want to ask them about their expectations for your interactions and let them know yours as well. Both you and your faculty adviser should expect to work closely, particularly in Winter quarter of your 4th year.
Honors
In addition to a minimum GPA of 3.25 overall, and 3.7 in the major, students must complete the BA Thesis Track and receive a high pass grade on the Thesis to receive honors for the major.
BA Capstone
In order to complete the Capstone track students must take two courses: a specified Capstone course + an elective. Capstone courses for AY 2024-2025 can be found here.