Optional Senior Thesis
The senior thesis is optional and can be used to fulfill unrestricted elective requirements. It is intended for students who wish to culminate their education with a challenge that would demand advanced work and reward them with portfolio material and developed viewpoints on a topic of importance. It is required for all of the discipline streams except for Architecture Design, where it is optional and can be used to fulfill 12 units of unrestricted elective requirements.
The nature of the work may be an original research or design project that involves additional learning of a substantive nature. The work must be documented with a written thesis, completed to institute specifications within the final term of the senior year.
Students following discipline streams in Building Technology, Computation, History of Architecture and Art, or Visual Arts enroll in 4.THT, Thesis Research Design Seminar, a 12-unit, CI-M class. Students interested in an architecture design thesis project should enroll in 4.119, Preparation for Undergraduate Architecture Design Thesis, a 3-unit class. Both subjects are taken the fall prior to registering for thesis and will assist students in preparing a thesis proposal and choosing a supervisor.
The supervisor may be a faculty member, lecturer, visiting faculty, or research scientist from within Course 4 (preferred), or from another department within MIT. If chosen from a department other than Architecture, a faculty member within Course 4 willing to work in conjunction with the supervisor will need to be added to the proposal as a reader.
Before registration for thesis, students must complete the Thesis Proposal Form and attach a thesis proposal, which includes a timetable for completion. The form must be signed by the thesis supervisor. If she/he is not a member of the Department, the proposal must also be signed by the Course 4 faculty reader. Submit the completed form to Renée Caso in Architecture Headquarters, room 7-337, by Registration Day. Students who submit the completed form on time may register for 12 units of 4.THU. Students may not register for thesis after ADD DATE.
Upon satisfactory completion of the thesis, the supervisor will assign a grade. The grade will not be submitted to the Registrar until a copy of the final signed thesis document is submitted to Renée Caso in Headquarters by the published thesis deadline. Thesis presentations will be scheduled at the end of the term in coordination with graduate thesis presentations.
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Institute specifications
Thesis Proposal Form
