WIC-Thesis course

PH403 THESIS, The writing-intensive course (WIC) for physics majors.

Overview: All students majoring in Physics or in Computational Physics are required to complete a senior thesis. The thesis can be based on experimental work in a laboratory, computational work using workstations or supercomputers, or theoretical work with paper and pen. The ability to conduct research and to disseminate the results is the hallmark of a scientist. Research results need validation, so they are shared with the community in order to be criticized, verified, and expanded upon. The written form is the most important because it is a permanent record, and allows other researchers to carefully examine the details of the work. It is therefore our philosophy to connect the senior research project and thesis with the University’s WIC requirement. (The thesis also serves to fulfill the Honors College thesis requirement, and the "Undergraduate Research Fellow" transcript notation.) Students also participate in a departmental mini-conference at the end of spring term to give oral presentations of their work.

Some of the students who presented their thesis work on June 14, 2007

Presentation on June 12, 2008

Timeline: Freshman, sophomore year: Look for research opportunities, begin research if possible; attend informational presentation in Paradigms class on last Thursday of fall term (Th 12-2 pm in Weniger 304), attend senior presentations at the mini-conference in finals week of Spring term Junior year: Research projects underway, attend informational presentation in Paradigms class on last Thursday of fall term (Th 12-2 pm in Weniger 304), attend senior presentations at the mini-conference in finals week of Spring term Senior year (or final year of 5-year program): Continue research, enroll in Ph403 for 1 unit in each of Fall, Winter, Spring. Complete thesis, give oral presentation in finals week of spring term.

Research: Research projects are usually under the supervision of a Physics Department faculty member, but physics-related research projects with faculty supervisors from other departments are common. In either case, register for PH401 (Research). Off-campus internships or REU projects (Research Experience for Undergraduates) are excellent avenues for conducting research. If you exercise this option, arrange to have a faculty member be a local mentor. Students should begin their research early, using freshman and sophomore years to find research opportunities. Visit faculty members in their offices, browse their websites, talk to other students in the department, look at lists of former projects, attend presentations in the department to find out what type of research would be interesting to you. Find out about internships and summer research opportunities on and off campus. Organize meetings through SPS to educate yourselves about possibilities, invite faculty to speak about their work. You will gain the most from your research experience if it is sustained over a longer period, but you should plan to be working on a project no later than the winter of your junior year. Previous senior thesis projects are listed below.
OSU thesis WIC guidelines [1]
NSF REU sites [2]
Internships [3]
OSU student research info [4]
Physics Department Research page [5]
Physics Senior Thesis Info Presentation (40 MB pdf !!) [6]
OSU URISC program ($ for students!) [7]

Thesis: PH403 (Thesis) concerns the writing aspect of the research, and students enroll in 1 unit of PH403 in each of Fall, Winter and Spring of the senior year. You will need permission from the Physics office to register. These three total credits satisfy the OSU Writing Intensive Course (WIC) requirement of the OSU Baccalaureate Core requirement. (Engineering Physics majors satisfy the WIC requirement through their approved senior design project in their specific field of study in the College of Engineering). Students meet weekly as a group to write, critique, and revise their writing. They also discuss and write about issues relating to ethics, types of science writing, and logical presentation of ideas. In Winter and Spring, activities focus on the thesis itself, including significant time devoted to the writing and revision of the thesis. Steady progress and continual peer and advisor review are expected throughout. A typical thesis is about fifteen to twenty pages, or about 3,000 to 5,000 words. The goal is to have the thesis ready by week 8 of Spring term. After this, class time is devoted to preparing 10-minute oral presentations, the standard at physics conferences. In the final week of Spring term, there is a mini-conference where students give oral presentations on their projects to the department.

Questions? Talk to the PH403 instructor [8] or head advisors [9]. Scroll to the end of the page for answers to common questions about the WIC and the senior thesis.