EALC 398: Senior Seminar (BMC/HC) Fall 2024

Sometimes, finding the right topic for you can be challenging. You want to think about selecting a topic that can be completed in one semester, after all. Here are some tips for choosing a thesis topic. Use the rest of this guide to deepen your research skills. 

• Interested in using primary source materials found in the archives at Haverford or Bryn Mawr? There's a guide for that! Check it out and see what wonderful materials you can get your hands on (literally and figuratively). It will add to your research experience in many ways. Asian History and Culture Materials In Haverford Special Collections {note: not everything is listed in this guide, so be sure to ask a librarian for help}. Technically, Haverford's special collections are closed to the public, but students can still get limited access for thesis research. 
• Bryn Mawr's Special Collections website is here. 

Here are some source books you might want to browse. A source book includes many primary source documents (in translation) and often have suggestions for further reading. See if anything sparks your interest and begin to dive into some background research.

• Asian Religions in Practice             
• Sources of Japanese Tradition             
• Meiji Japan through Contemporary Sources             
• Voices of Early Modern Japan             
• Chinese Civilization             
• Sources of Chinese Tradition             
• The Search for Modern China: A Documentary Collection             
• Early Medieval China             

Still having trouble? Think back to your college career. Was there a specific course you enjoyed more than any other? Perhaps you wrote a short paper for that course and you would like to expand upon that. Or, perhaps you read a really fascinating article or chapter that sparked your interest. Choose something that fascinates you, and it will make your research experience all the more enriching. 

Need help using Zotero to create notes and bibliographies for papers? Zotero can organize all your research on your desktop, making it easier to work remotely!

Keep an eye out here for Zotero workshops at Bryn Mawr during the academic year.