By Maria van Wijnen
As the semester rapidly progresses, panic is rising amongst third-year AUC students who are in the midst of their Capstone project. We asked AUC graduates who recently went through the process for their expertise. Here are a couple of their tips for writing your thesis, with one main message: everything will be okay.
The first piece of advice is to stay organized throughout the research process. Class of 2025 graduate Sasha Rosier, who wrote a Social Sciences Capstone, recommends diligently sorting your sources, especially those you plan on including in the literature review section. A good idea is to use Excel or Google Sheets to sort them by theme. She also suggests logging when you first obtained the source to keep track of your research process. Another class of 2025 graduate, River Rain, wrote an interdisciplinary Capstone and similarly suggests keeping diligent notes of what you are working on, including all sources and any roadblocks. This can be especially useful for writing the reflection later on because “it’s a long process, so you’re likely to forget,” she says.
Staying organized also means working on the project regularly to avoid falling behind. “Set regular times during the week to work on the Capstone!” says Marcello Benedetti, AUC graduate class of 2024, who wrote a Humanities Capstone. Rosier suggests treating the thesis as a class and to “block off periods of your week for Capstone”. Another graduate, Iulia Dascalu-Kim, Class of 2025, who wrote a Science Capstone, advises students to “schedule writing/researching times either with a friend or alone at a café.” Rain also suggests choosing a set location to work on your project. “The Coffee Company was my Capstone Working Space,”she says.
Writing your Capstone can feel quite lonely, so talking about it with friends and family might be helpful. “It helps to see what they [friends/siblings] ask, and then it also makes [the process] clearer for me,” says Dascalu-Kim. This can be especially useful when identifying gaps in your research or when making the final edits. Talking to fellow AUC students in your year can also help hold each other accountable, Rain says.
Focusing all of your energy on the Capstone may also be a danger. Rosier says that as AUC students, “we fuel and enable each other’s stress”. She tells students to avoid having all their conversations revolve around “the C-word.” 2024 AUC graduate Uma Claessens, who wrote a Social Science Capstone, also stresses that “you’re not just writing your thesis to finish your bachelor’s, you’re also finishing your bachelor’s, so you’re in your last semester”. She adds that “looking back, it’s way more important to have spent way more time with your friends than have three or five percent more points on your thesis with the same hours you would have put in”. Dascalu Kim also says that sometimes taking a break can give you more insight and a fresh perspective.
Lastly, to prevent yourself from getting burnt out and de-interested in the project, approach the Capstone step-by-step. “Take it one step at a time and trust yourself,” says Benedetti. Rosier advises students to “celebrate your wins” at every stage in the process. She says that above all, you should “stick to the deadlines and make some earlier deadlines for yourself if you tend to procrastinate”. Once you get to the end stage of the writing process, she highly recommends printing your Capstone if possible and “editing it like a book” to identify mistakes more easily. If you work hard, that final stage is certainly in your reach. Soon enough, you will be walking across the graduation stage, having proudly turned in your Capstone.
The Herring 