<p>So, I am a sophomore whose credits total that of junior status. I will be beginning my official junior year next year and need to start working on my senior philosophy thesis. I am a double major, both philosophy and political science, and therefore, I have 4 major papers (3 of the 20 to 40 page length for my political science and political theory degree and my thesis for my philosophy degree of the 50 to xx page length) to write my senior year. My philosophy department has given me the OK to write my senior thesis junior year.</p>
<p>I was thinking about writing on some aspect of justice and/or freedom, but am having trouble picking a solid claim I want to test or where I even want to go within the topic of justice and/or freedom.</p>
<p>Does anyone have any suggestions on where I could go with it or what even in that area to write about?</p>
<p>This won’t be immediately helpful but…</p>
<p>One of the most amazing things I discovered in my journey through academia was that by junior year I couldn’t open a journal or book in my field (Classics/Archaeology) without finding at least a couple potential projects. So…</p>
<p>The first step is to do some searches for current scholarship on the general area you’re interested in. Your philosophy professors/advisor can point you in the right direction. At the very least you’ll get a feel for what areas are considered interseting/important by professionals in the field. I’d be willing to bet that after reading half a dozen recent articles (it could take more, you could score on #1) you’re going to find something worth writing about. </p>
<p>Keep your eyes open for phrases like “deserves further study”, “a neglected area”, or “little has been written about”. Be careful though - that sort of topic can be tricky at the undergrad level since you’ll have little guidance from existing scholarship. A good thesis supervisor will help you stear clear of serious pitfalls.</p>
<p>If you’re really lucky you’ll come across someone who makes a sweeping statement about something and then fails to fully support it. That’s your chance to refine/refute/better support the statement with your research. If you’re refining/supporting you may be able to get the original author to read and comment on your paper as you develop it. </p>
<p>One other cool thing about this approach to finding projects is that the original article will already have a bibliography from which you can launch your research - a big time saver!</p>
<p>Thank you for that insight!</p>
<p>I think by finding something that would grab the attention of the original author(s) and other members devoted to that field would really get me motivated to do more accurate, and interesting research. And it would be more fin because I am learning about more about it too! </p>
<p>It will definitely work better than just picking a topic I want to talk about!</p>
<p>Thanks again!!</p>