THE ISSUE: Writing an honors thesis or conducting undergraduate research is a rewarding and challenging experience. However, it is not something that all students choose to do, and nor should they. Because undergraduate research is not one size fits all, editorial board members present arguments for and against it.
Read Patrick Ryan’s counterpoint.
Undergraduate thesis-writing and research typifies what liberal arts education is all about. Bright, inquisitive, idealistic, young minds plumb the depths of the unknown and return with a significant variable.
It makes the academic heart flutter. But it’s not for everyone, nor should it be.
There are many virtues of taking on research as an undergraduate, to be sure. It teaches you how academia works, how publishing works and what professors do when they’re not grading papers and growing big, bushy beards.
It makes complete sense to write a thesis if you’re planning on entering academia.
But it doesn’t make all that much sense if you’re not, when you consider the costs of research.
For college students, and human beings in general, really, time is at a premium. And given how independently driven so many theses are, it can be incredibly difficult to schedule time to get the thing done.
Moreover, time spent writing a thesis is time not spent in an internship, participating in a rewarding extracurricular activity or learning in a classroom setting from a professor who actually knows a good deal about the topics you’re interested in.
