Registration and Title Form

Those writing a thesis register for Political Science 7910. Once your proposal is approved, permission is put into the registration system. At that point, you can then register for POLS 7910 as you would for any other course. The only other administrative step is to complete a Thesis Title Form, which has the preliminary title of your thesis and other information. This form, which is available on the BC WebCentral Portal, is then given to the graduate deputy, who sends it to the dean.

Thesis Topics

Thesis subjects have spanned a wide range of topics, from the death penalty to foreign debts. The most important consideration in choosing a topic is writing on something in which you are very interested. Without interest in the thesis topic, students have found it difficult to sustain the momentum to complete it. In addition to being interested in the subject, you should develop something original to say about it. Is there a question about the issue that has not been answered or answered well? Is there a bias in the way the issue has been examined? Is there something important to say about the topic that has not been said before? Saying something original makes a thesis a thesis; otherwise it ends up being a summary of already written material.

Below are some of the past thesis projects. The final published theses are all available in the Political Science Lounge, 3413 James Hall, and in the Brooklyn College Library.

• Environmental Degradation and Public Health
• Poverty and Micro-Credit in South Asia
• The Clinton Presidency and African American: Race, Racial Politics, and Public Policy
• Impact of the Press on Removal and Relocation Policies During the Sioux Indian War
• The Effects of Technology on the Voter Mobilization Tactics of the Christian Coalition
• Collective Security after the Cold War
• How the Gag Rule Weakens the International State System and Supplants Human Rights
• Human Rights Abuses of Women in Areas of Conflict