Now in her final semester of thesis hours, Anna is finishing her thesis manuscript and planning to orally defend her thesis in late April. Anna’s thesis focuses on “how social media and social movements intersect, and how social media propagates social movements.” Within her thesis, Anna examines the social movements in Ferguson, Missouri, surrounding the police shooting of Michael Brown and the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Using these relevant social justice movements as case studies, Anna analyzes the extent to which social media impacted the movements or was a useful tool for advocates to strengthen the social movements. Anna adds that she is particularly passionate about social media’s intersection with social movements because “it’s a topic that is often understudied.” She says, “There’s a lot of questions unanswered,” and she wants to help society gain a better understanding of how social media can influence and aid social movements.
Anna’s unique research on the intersection of social media and social movements highlights the diversity among honors theses. Lori Michael, the Honors College Thesis Coordinator, says, “[Thesis students] have written and produced plays, done cancer research, wetlands conservation research, designed adaptive clothing lines, devised technology to teach Shakespeare, created business plans, analyzed foreign law... I could go on and on.” Because every honors thesis is unique, Anna says, “One of the most important pieces of advice with the thesis is not to get overwhelmed or compare your work or progress to anyone else’s” She explains that every honors thesis student has a different process to follow, so regardless of how others are progressing, every thesis student is “going miles beyond where [they] could have been without doing a thesis.”
Though Anna has successfully reached the final steps of her honors thesis, she remarks that the process was not always easy. To overcome difficult moments of her thesis work, Anna says that her thesis advisor, Dr. Julie Mazzei, associate professor in the Department of Political Science, helped support and encourage Anna. She adds, “[Dr. Mazzei] has been wonderful, always hyping me up when I need it, helping me stay motivated, and helping guide me without limiting my personal process of thinking through everything.” In addition to Dr. Mazzei’s guidance, Anna has found support from her two roommates who are also completing honors theses. Anna explains that, “When one of us gets frustrated or unmotivated, we help kickstart each other.” Having this support from her peers and honors advisor has been “so helpful” to Anna throughout her thesis process.
Anna is grateful to all the faculty and friends who have supported her in her thesis work, and she is excited to continue studying sociology in graduate school.
For more information on the Senior Honors Thesis/Project, please contact Lori Michael, the Thesis Coordinator.
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PHOTO CAPTION 1: Outside view of the 鶹ѡlibrary and Student Center.
PHOTO CAPTION 2: Anna Sinclair in her car with a mask at Dunkin’ Donuts.
Media Contact: Stephanie Moskal, smoskal@kent.edu, 330-672-2312