One of the unique features of the Anthropology program at Wheaton College is the senior seminar thesis requirement.
The senior seminar is the final advanced core requirement for Anthropology majors and is taken in the fall semester of the senior year.
The objective of the seminar is to enable majors to design and conduct an independent research project, to produce a written thesis based on the project, and to make the research findings known to the Wheaton community through an oral presentation at the Senior Majors Symposium held in February each year.
The Anthropology Senior Seminar generally meets for 2-3 hours per week and is coordinated by a team of department faculty. Majors prepare for the seminar with written papers, projects, and presentations, in Theory and Methods seminars, typically taken during the junior year.
The first step in senior thesis preparation is the acceptance of a research proposal and many majors choose to revise the draft proposals submitted for Research Methods seminars for their senior thesis projects.
Senior majors in Anthropology complete their training at Wheaton with proposal writing, research, analytical, and oral presentation skills that are distinctive.