Senior Thesis Option

Requirements for the Senior Thesis Option:

• Required for all ENRE majors to meet their WVU capstone experience requirement.
  
• Completion of a senior thesis involves independent research by the student under guidance of a faculty member. Students wishing to complete a senior thesis project should discuss possible topics with appropriate ARE professors or other faculty at WVU.
• One goal of a senior thesis is for the student to submit a research paper that, with revisions by the faculty advisor, could be submitted for presentation at a professional conference or for publication as a journal article.
  
• This research should involve development of research objectives and hypotheses, gathering data (such as a conducting a survey or collecting data from government agencies), applying appropriate statistical or mathematical analyses of the data, and interpreting the results.
  
• Students are expected to submit a research outline and rough draft according to a schedule developed by the supervising faculty member. A final research paper in the range of 30 to 60 pages is required to be submitted to the faculty member supervising your senior thesis and to your advisor. This paper will be graded based on the expectations of your supervising faculty member.
•  Approval to register for ARE 496 (senior thesis) requires a signed document between the supervising faculty member and the student which adequately states the expectations for this research. Dr. Byrd (ebyrd@mail.wvu.edu), Undergraduate Coordinator, must receive a copy of this document or notice of completion of this document from the supervising faculty member before you will be cleared to register for this course.