Researching in the Dickson Street Bookstore

Author: Olivia Schaap | Major: English | Semester: Spring 2022

If you’re reading this, then maybe you’re considering doing an honors thesis. Or maybe you’ve already completed one! If so, congratulations! All your hard work, time, tears, and research have culminated in an incredible achievement. Throw your hats, celebrate with family, and… now what?

For many of us, it might seem like the work stops there. We came, we researched, we defended. But in actuality, the benefits of your thesis have only just begun. If you know how to use it, your thesis can continue to pay it forward for your future goals indefinitely. Here are three potential rewards you can expect to reap thanks to your completed honors thesis:

Career prospects

The work you did for your thesis is just that: work. And it can be used to market your skills and talents in the professional world! Even if your thesis doesn’t seem relevant to a formal workplace, the connections exist. For example, my thesis was a collection of creative nonfiction essays. (That means I wrote a bunch of essays about my life and tried to answer interesting questions I had about the world.) I never thought that kind of writing would be useful to a professional career. However, in a job interview I was able to talk about my process – the time, my dedication, the research and how passionate I was. It led to a job offer to become a technical writer, primarily because of the extensive writing experience I was able to show. It taught me that your thesis doesn’t just talk about your research – it talks about you. And you can absolutely use that to ace a job interview.

Continuing Education

We honors students are lifelong students. And look, I get it; many of us aren’t quite ready to leave the academic world post-undergraduate. For those of us who are exploring graduate school options, you likely already know that your thesis looks fantastic on a CV. Grad school is a competitive landscape, but if you can show the admissions committee that you’re already capable of completing long-term, self-driven projects, they’ll have all the more reason to believe you can succeed in their graduate programs.That much is obvious. But something else that we may fail to consider is how the thesis itself can be repurposed:

Within my field of Creative Writing, a strong writing sample is imperative to a successful application. My thesis is already a curated, revised, and [almost] perfected body of work that I can pull from any time I need to show evidence of my writing. When I talk to my classmates about graduate school applications, the ones who didn’t defend a thesis worry about having to work harder now, digging up drafts and cleaning out portfolios.

Additionally, your thesis is a great way to network and make connections with professionals in your discipline. Your defense committee has extensive knowledge of your hard work and thanks to your thesis. They’ve invested time into reviewing your research, and will be able to write more personal, honed letters of reference for you because of it.

Confidence

More than the external benefits of completing an honors thesis, you now hold the knowledge that you completed an extensive, challenging research project. That work is published with your name on it! Yes, you had the help of mentors and teachers, but this is still your success, and you can own it. That internal validation is real and powerful. So take pride in your hard work! Let it be a reminder of your character and ability, and be confident that you can move out into the world with strength, intelligence, and skill.