Fall Term of Senior Year
- Attend a senior essay meeting in the first weeks of classes (Meetings will be held on Tuesday, August 27, at 12:15 p.m. and Wednesday, August 28, at 4:00 p.m. in Room 106, 28 Hillhouse Avenue).
- Choose an advisor and a topic. You should refer to the Potential Advisors Section of our webpage https://economics.yale.edu/sr-topic-faculty for help finding an advisor who is available and is appropriate for your topic. If you have difficulty with finding an advisor, see the DUS or the TA for suggestions. There are many economics faculty members who may be ideal advisors for your topic. Students may also choose an advisor from another department. In order to do an essay out of a fall seminar, you need the seminar professor to agree to be your advisor.
- Submit a “Senior Essay Prospectus” on or before Monday, September 30, 2019 by 4:30 pm. The prospectus must be signed by your advisor. All students planning to write a senior essay must hand in a prospectus at this time. Failure to do so results in your not being permitted to write an essay.
- Enroll in Econ 491a (not necessary if you are doing a senior essay out of a fall seminar).
- Meet with your advisor regularly. It is the student’s responsibility to make sure that these regular meeting occur.
- A student who wishes to change a 1-term essay to a 2-term essay must get permission from the advisor and the DUS prior to the Thanksgiving break. To convert, a student must have made satisfactory progress on the essay by that time. No conversions will be allowed after Thanksgiving.
- Students enrolled in a 2-term essay must submit a written progress report to their advisor on Wednesday, November 6, 2019.
- 1-term senior essays are due Monday, December 2, 2019 by 4:30 pm, and a final version must be submitted on or before Wednesday, April 1, 2020 by 4:30pm. Submit an electronic copy via email to Mr. Qazi Azam. Late essays will not be accepted (in either December or April) without a Dean’s note.
- 2-term senior essays must be submitted on or before Wednesday, April 1, 2020 by 4:30pm. Submit an electronic copy via email to Mr. Qazi Azam. Late essays will not be accepted without a Dean’s note.
1-Term Senior Essays Fall Deadline
For students doing a 1-term essay by enrolling in Econ 491a, essays are due to your advisor on Monday, December 2, 2019 in the fall term. The advisor will evaluate and grade the paper, which will be your grade for the course.
For students doing a 1-term essay out of a seminar, essays are also due to seminar instructors by Monday, December 2, 2019 in the fall term. The advisor will evaluate and grade the paper, but the essay grade will not appear on your transcript. The grade and evaluation will be used for determination of distinction and departmental prizes.
(Note: Students doing the 1-term essay may continue to make additional revisions beyond the fall term before submitting the 1-term essay on the April due date for grading by the outside anonymous reader. Please bear in mind however, that advisors of 1-term essays may have other commitments and are not obligated to advise you beyond the fall term.)
2-term Essay Fall Deadline
Progress Report for 2-Term Senior Essays due Wednesday, November 6, 2019.
For those writing two-term senior essays, a progress report is due to your advisor on Wednesday, November 6, 2019. This report should describe the work that has been done on the senior essay during the fall semester and as such will serve as the basis for the grade of satisfactory or unsatisfactory that the advisor must submit to the Registrar at the end of the fall semester.
While the exact nature of the progress report is left up to students and their advisors, the report should demonstrate that substantial progress has been made on the essay. It is expected that the nature of the progress report will vary considerably from individual to individual depending on the nature of the senior essay itself. For essays involving substantial data collection and statistical analysis, a description of the research question and the data that has been gathered for analysis may be appropriate. For others, a portion of the essay itself or a detailed outline describing the thesis question, existing literature, and planned method of analysis is suitable.
For students doing 2-term essays, your advisor will be asked to give you a temporary grade of satisfactory or not satisfactory for the fall term. This temporary grade for Econ 491a will be replaced by the final grade on your senior essay in April.
Spring Term of Senior Year
- For students doing 2-term essays, enroll in Econ 492b.
- Submit your essay electronically to the Economics Undergraduate Registrar, on or before Wednesday, April 1, 2020 (4:30pm).
- Advisor’s Reports with grades and comments and Reader’s Reports with grades and comments are usually available by reading week in the Economics Undergraduate Registrar’s Office.
Converting from a 1-term Senior Essay to a 2-term Senior Essay
Prior to the Thanksgiving break, with the permission of the advisor and the DUS, a student may convert a 1-term essay to a 2-term essay. No conversions will be permitted after Thanksgiving.