Thesis Support
Whether you’re just getting started, forever getting stuck, or clicking along at a healthy pace, we welcome you to use SWLC as your thesis-writing accountability, motivation, and support system! Read below to find out how we can help. Don’t see what you need? Email swlc@bates.edu.
Online Resources for Thesis Writers
- Scarab: Search and read past theses written by Bates students. Get inspired by your peers!
- Thesis Templates (and other Thesis formatting and citation guides from Ladd Library): Use these resources to start formatting your thesis for submission. Start early!
- Staying On Track: Check out these tips for staying motivated, developing a research plan, seeking support and prioritizing self-care throughout your thesis-writing process.
- Elevator Pitch Exercise: Try this to hone your argument and get clearer (for yourself!) what you’re arguing, to whom, and why. Record your pitch a few times over the course of a semester to see how your ideas and foci change and shift as you go through the research and writing process.
- Thesis In The Home Stretch: Take a gander at these helpful tips for final edits and proofreading (vs. revisions) and getting ready to submit your thesis. Don’t wait to read this until the last week!
- Preparing for Your Oral Defense: Coming Soon!
Thesis Café
This semester, drop in any time during our Thesis Cafe ALL DAY! events hosted by the professional staff and tutors of the Student Writing & Language Center in Ladd Library, Room 101 from 9am to 4pm. Expect light refreshments, resources, handouts, and support from library & SWLC staff/tutors, as well as a warm, collaborative writing space. You’re among friends here!
Join us at our Fall ’26 Thesis Café dates:
Add all of these Thesis Café All Day! dates to your calendar by clicking the “+” link–the plus sign–at the bottom right of the calendar below.
Visit with a Writing Tutor
Students are welcome to search Penji to meet with a tutor who specializes in writing in the subject of the major in which you are writing your thesis or capstone. Though many of our writing tutors are now just writing their thesis, they can provide an empathetic ear–as a fellow student who knows exactly what you’re experiencing as a writer and researcher–and a trained eye for reading drafts of parts of your thesis and for simply talking about your ideas and plans for getting through this challenging final writing project of your Bates career.
Need More Support?
Please email your questions and concerns about thesis writing and your capstone projects to Bridget Fullerton at swlc@bates.edu and let her know what you need and we’ll see what kinds of support we can offer you!