In order to satisfy the Writing Intensive Course (WIC) requirement of the OSU Baccalaureate Core, Physics and Computational Physics majors are required to write a senior thesis on a research project. Students must enroll in Physics 403 (Thesis) for at least one credit in the winter term of the senior year (or the year of graduation, for those in a five-year program) and two credits in the spring term of the senior year. These three total credits satisfy the OSU WIC requirement. Note that Engineering Physics majors must satisfy the WIC requirement through their approved senior design project in their specific field of study.
The research work for the senior thesis is performed in the junior and senior years. During the two terms of enrollement in the PH 403 Thesis class (winter and spring of senior year), students meet regularly as a group to write, critique, and revise the thesis and related technical documents. The culmination of the class is a conference where each student presents his work to the group.
| Fall term Junior year | Senior Thesis informational presentation in Paradigms class on last Thursday of fall term (Th 12-2 pm in Weniger 304) |
| Junior & Senior years | Initiate and perform research: Physics faculty, other OSU faculty, REU, internship |
| Winter term Senior year | PH 403 - 1 credit |
| Spring term Senior year | PH 403 - 2 credits |
The research required for the senior thesis may be performed in one of a variety of ways. Students may work with faculty members in the Physics department, with faculty members from other OSU departments, with external faculty through an REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) program, or with industry researchers through an internship program. In all cases, it is the responsibility of the student to contact the research mentor and initiate the research program. This must be done in a timely manner so that the research and thesis writing can be completed in time for graduation. If there is any concern as to the suitability of the research for a physics thesis, meet with an advisor to discuss the concerns. Research is typically begun in the junior year, but it can begin earlier. The research can be experimental work in a laboratory, computational work using workstations or supercomputers, theoretical work with paper and pen, or research in physics education. Students performing research at OSU are encouraged to sign up for PH 401 Research credits (typically 1-2 per term). Students performing research off-campus should arrange for an OSU Physics faculty member to act as a local mentor.
|
Week
|
Activity | |
|
Winter Term
|
2
|
Organizational meeting. Discussion of ethics statement. |
|
4
|
One page written description of work. Student critique. | |
|
6
|
References, literature searches, plagiarism. | |
|
8
|
List of references, annotated. Thesis organization. | |
|
10
|
Two page introduction (part 2) of the thesis. Peer review. | |
|
Spring term
|
1
|
Discussion of introduction, methods, results, analysis, and conclusion. |
|
3
|
Thesis outline with section. | |
|
5
|
Five page document, introduction, previous work, methods. | |
|
7
|
Two page "newspaper article" description of work. | |
|
9
|
Working draft of thesis. Organization of 10 minute talks. | |
|
10
|
10 minute presentations. |
1. Title, abstract, PACS.
2. Introduction: why is topic important, how does it relate to the real world, why it adds to our knowledge base.
3. Previous work: survey of what has been done before.
4. Methods: description of theory, equipment, computational tools, etc.
5. Results.
6. Discussions: what do the results mean, how do they relate to previous work.
7. Conclusions: what have we learned, what should be done next.
8. Bibliography.
OSU thesis WIC guidelines
NSF REU sites
Internships
OSU student research info
OSU URISC program ($ for students!)
Revision 5 Nov 2007