{"id":2633,"date":"2024-03-01T16:48:16","date_gmt":"2024-03-01T21:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/mathematics\/?page_id=2633"},"modified":"2025-02-26T05:43:03","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T10:43:03","slug":"choosing-senior-seminar-or-thesis","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/mathematics\/choosing-senior-seminar-or-thesis\/","title":{"rendered":"Choosing Senior Seminar or Thesis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/mathematics\/files\/2024\/03\/Choosing-Senior-Seminar-or-Thesis-pic.webp\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"771\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/mathematics\/files\/2024\/03\/Choosing-Senior-Seminar-or-Thesis-pic-771x900.webp\" alt=\"A senior seminar poster presentation\" class=\"wp-image-2632\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/mathematics\/files\/2024\/03\/Choosing-Senior-Seminar-or-Thesis-pic-771x900.webp 771w, https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/mathematics\/files\/2024\/03\/Choosing-Senior-Seminar-or-Thesis-pic-257x300.webp 257w, https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/mathematics\/files\/2024\/03\/Choosing-Senior-Seminar-or-Thesis-pic-768x896.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/mathematics\/files\/2024\/03\/Choosing-Senior-Seminar-or-Thesis-pic-538x628.jpg 538w, https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/mathematics\/files\/2024\/03\/Choosing-Senior-Seminar-or-Thesis-pic-1317x1536.webp 1317w, https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/mathematics\/files\/2024\/03\/Choosing-Senior-Seminar-or-Thesis-pic-171x200.webp 171w, https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/mathematics\/files\/2024\/03\/Choosing-Senior-Seminar-or-Thesis-pic.webp 1645w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The senior seminar and thesis experiences in the mathematics major at Bates College highlight mathematical research, presentation, writing, and group collaboration. We see these in many ways as students<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>learn to work on a focused project, independently and in collaboration with others;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>increase their ability to pursue self-directed learning and build self-sufficiency;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>see connections across various mathematical disciplines;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>interact with others to solve mathematics problems;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>present the results of their work at talks, meetings and poster sessions;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>write mathematics in a clear, professional style that captures the reader\u2019s interest; and<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>explain mathematics comfortably to a variety of audiences.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><br>There are two categories of senior experience, each requiring at least one semester of work:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Senior seminar<\/strong>. Typically offered in the winter semester of the senior year, the senior seminar focuses on a topic chosen by a faculty member. Senior seminar is an intense experience involving group work and several presentations in a small classroom environment. Sources are usually advanced readings, either from a text or published paper. There may also be opportunities for students to research their own questions, and then present the results to the class and in writing. See the department\u2019s <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/mathematics\/senior-seminar-information-class-of-2026\/\">Seminar Information<\/a><\/strong> page for details.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Senior thesis<\/strong>. Senior thesis can last one semester or a full year, and focuses on a topic chosen by the student, ideally in conversation with one or more math department faculty members. Senior thesis involves individual work, one-on-one advising by a faculty member, and several group meetings with other math senior thesis writers. There are different kinds of thesis opportunities, detailed on the<a> <\/a>department\u2019s <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/mathematics\/senior-thesis-information\/\">Thesis Information<\/a><\/strong> page.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>To help you decide which format will be best for you, the math department holds an <strong>information session<\/strong> during the winter semester. This info session gives faculty and seniors an opportunity to talk about their experiences with the senior seminar or senior thesis, and gives juniors a chance to ask questions. Sophomores and first-year students are also welcome to participate in this meeting. Faculty and students both attend the first part of the meeting, while the second part is reserved just for students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><a id=\"_msocom_1\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a id=\"_msocom_2\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The senior seminar and thesis experiences in the mathematics major at Bates&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1048,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_batesModPostContentOverride_prepend":false,"_batesModPostContentOverride_append":false,"_batesModPostContentOverride_append_before_footer":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"class_list":["post-2633","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/mathematics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/mathematics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/mathematics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/mathematics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1048"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/mathematics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2633"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/mathematics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2819,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/mathematics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2633\/revisions\/2819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/mathematics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}