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Senior Thesis in Economics - ECO 495
The senior thesis (ECO 495) is the capstone course for economics majors. It requires both an oral and written presentation. Students present their theses at a conference of undergraduate economics students from Delaware Valley Colleges. This conference has traditionally been held at Ursinus College in April. Students also present to the economics faculty and TCNJ community during the Celebration of Student Achievement at the end of the spring semester. Contact your thesis advisor for the specific requirements for each presentation and the date when the written version is due.
If you wish to complete an honors version of ECO 495 you must contact Prof. Vandegrift at x2294 or vandedon@tcnj.edu.
Prerequisites: Senior standing, Economics major
- Course Description
- The Thesis
- Timeline
- Getting Started
- Data
- Assessment
- Presenting Your Result
- Learning Outcomes
- Senior Theses 2001-2005
Course Description
The goal of the senior thesis is to produce original research on an economic topic. The thesis requires not only that students review and synthesize related literature from the economics journals but also gather and analyze new data in support of a particular hypothesis. Such analysis typically requires extensive use of statistical and econometric techniques. Many of the best senior theses at TCNJ have, after some additional work, appeared in the peer-reviewed economics journals. Thus, the senior thesis in economics differs from a typical term paper because it seeks to make a real contribution by generating new evidence and/or analysis on a particular economic topic.
The Thesis
Typically, senior theses are about 20-25 pages in length. However, the page count, as such, is beside the point. The point is to make a real contribution by generating new evidence and/or analysis on a particular economic topic. Although the organization of your paper may vary based on the nature of your research question and findings, you always begin with an introduction. The introduction motivates the paper. That is, it tries to answer the question: who cares or why does this research matter? In addition, the introduction must clearly state your research question.
The second section, typically titled "Background" summarizes and analyzes the available literature related to your research question. Do not simply summarize each journal article in separate paragraphs. Instead, the discussion should be thematic and your paragraphs should be clearly linked with transitions. A detailed outline of the themes in the literature is often very helpful here. As a general rule, your background section should cite a minimum of 10 economics journal articles.
Typically, the first two sections are about 10 pages in length and they are due to your thesis advisor about four to six weeks into the course (mid to late February). Your thesis advisor will make editorial comments on these sections and return them to you. Based on these comments, you will return a revised version of the first two sections of the thesis within one to two weeks.
As soon as you have settled on a topic and read the relevant literature, you should settle on basic research design and begin your data collection. This is the tricky part. Data on variables you would like to measure does not always exist. Sometimes existing data must be sorted or transformed. Alternatively, you may stumble across data that suggests a new approach. In such cases, you may need to modify your research design and/or your research question. This is why you should never leave data collection to the last minute. As you collect your data, be sure to note the definitions of each variable and where you found the data.
Information on where you found the data and the definitions of the variables should be included in a section titled "Data and Methods". In this section, you should also include a discussion of why you have included each of the variables in your analysis. After you have completed your statistical analyses, arrange the results in easy-to-read tables. Do not simply attach a computer printout to the end of the paper. Rearrange the results in a more readable form.
Use the tables to write an easy-to-understand explanation of your results and how they relate to previously published results. This section is typically titled "Results" or "Analysis of Empirical Findings". The next section, typically labeled "Conclusion" reiterates the main statistical results, connects the results to existing knowledge on the topic, and makes arguments for the broader significance of your results.
The "References" section should report all sources cited in the paper. This bibliographical information is crucial because readers may desire background information on how your model was formulated and the source of your data. Sources should be listed in alphabetical order by the author's last name. Charts and tables should be numbered consecutively and attached to the end of the paper. Each chart and table should have a title (e.g. Table 2 - Regression Results). Finally, the thesis should include a cover page with the title, your name, the semester the thesis was completed, and the name of your research advisor.
A completed draft of the entire thesis is due the first week of April. This will allow enough time for your faculty advisor to provide comments and return the paper to you for subsequent revisions. A final version with revisions is due by about the second week of April. This should allow plenty of time for you to produce a presentation of your work for the Celebration of Student Achievement (typically the last week in April).
Timeline:
| Date | Task |
|---|---|
| Mid to late February | Submit "Introduction" and "Background" sections to your thesis advisor. |
| Early March | Return revised "Introduction" and "Background" to your advisor. |
| Mid-March | Complete data collection. |
| Late March | Submit "Data and Methods", "Results" and "Conclusion" to your thesis advisor. |
| Early April | Return revised "Data and Methods", "Results" and "Conclusion" to your thesis advisor. |
| Early April | Compile your entire thesis and submit it to your thesis advisor. |
| Mid-April | Produce your presentation. |
Getting Started
Students typically have a series of vague ideas for their senior thesis topic. More often than not, the ideas are topics of particular interest from economics courses you have already completed. The difficulty lies in narrowing that idea or ideas into a researchable question. For instance, you might be interested in exchange rate movements or environmental regulation. Of course, environmental regulation is too large a topic for a single paper. An appropriate research in the field of environmental regulation might be: what is the effect of recent rule changes on brownfield redevelopment in New Jersey ? Likewise, "exchange rate movements" is too broad. An appropriate researchable question in the field of international finance might be: what were the determinants of the dollar/peso exchange rate from 1980-1998?
A good place to begin narrowing your idea is to start with an article or book you found interesting and decide if it raises a question you would like to explore further. You can start with the citations in that article, and build a bibliography by working backward from the citation list.
If you are looking for a researchable question, check Econlit. Econlit is the American Economic Association's electronic bibliography of economic literature. Type in some search terms related to your topic and read through the abstracts that meet your search terms. Are there unanswered questions in the papers? Is there a way to use a different data set or empirical strategy to get a different angle on an issue already studied? Is there a controversial or interesting claim that could be retested using a different data set? This is perhaps the most difficult part of the thesis and it is advisable to seek help from a faculty member before settling on a topic. Other databases of economics and economics- related journal articles include: ABI / Inform Global; Science Direct; and Academic Search Premier.
Data
At the same time that you are refining your research question you should begin looking for data. Your choice of topics will often be constrained by the available data. It is possible in some cases to collect your own data, but this should be attempted only with the guidance of faculty. Most theses use publicly available data. Hard copy printouts of all data used in the paper should be supplied to your thesis advisor.
Assessment
The grade you receive will be based on four elements:
- Analytical Depth - Does the literature review provide a fair picture of the state of knowledge on your topic and closely related topics? Does your research hypothesis and design offer a contribution to the literature either by confirming or challenging others' results, or by exploring new terrain?
- For econometric theses: does your framing of the research question adequately control for other factors in isolating the question to explore? Do your dependent and independent variables best measure the underlying economic concepts you are studying? Does the analysis use appropriate econometric techniques and equation format? Does the analysis check for econometric problems in the data (e.g., autocorrelation) and attempt to repair any problems? Does the paper anticipate alternative interpretations of the data analysis and attempt to rule out these alternative interpretations?
- Organization and Style - Is the paper clearly organized in sections with headings? Is there a logical flow between the sections? Does the paper identify the nature of the original contribution for the reader? Is the paper free of grammatical errors? Where appropriate, does it connect the empirical results with current policy debates?
- Presentation - Did the presentation effectively communicate the main results of the research? Did the presentation clearly explain how the results of this study compare to other studies on the topic (or closely related topics)?
Tips on preparing your paper and presentation (e.g., style sheets, avoiding plagiarism) are available at:
- Emory University - Citation Styles and Avoiding Plagiarism
- About.com - Graduate School : Presentations and Public Speaking
Presenting Your Results
You have only about 20 minutes to explain an entire semester's worth of work so it is important that you use your time effectively. To use your time effectively, prepare an overhead transparency (or a Power Point slide) with an outline of your paper. The outline should follow the major sections of your paper. Prepare overhead transparencies for all tables of statistical results. Use about half of the time (10 minutes) motivating the paper and providing background. Remember, your audience, although well versed in economics, will not know your topic as well as you. It is important that you convey this background in order that your audience can see the larger significance of your results.
Learning Outcomes
By the completion of the course, the student will be able to:
- Conduct original research on an economic issue of significance.
- Produce a written report of the research results that is both clear and consistent with the conventions of academic writing.
- Provide an oral report of the research results that is both clear and consistent with academic conventions.
- Review and synthesize literature on an economic topic.
- Develop an economic model to test the hypothesis.
- Define dependent and explanatory variables to measure underlying economic concepts.
- Employ appropriate econometric techniques to test hypotheses.
