Website allows shared research

Senior theses at risk of collecting dust in Mudd Library now have an electronic outlet to escape this gloomy fate.

UGResearch.org, a searchable database of undergraduate theses from across the country, went online four months ago. Created by three recent Dartmouth graduates to showcase high-level undergraduate work, the site allows any student with a university email address to submit a thesis. The work is then reviewed and added to the database for others to download.

"A lot of people give up their whole senior year to write their paper, present it once or twice, and after that it kind of sits in a library," site co-founder Jeff Iacono said. "But I feel that you can learn a lot from other people. I view these theses being put in inaccessible stacks ... as just a huge loss of resources."

So far, six University students have used the site, submitting theses ranging from engineering to English. There have been 105 total submissions, mostly in history, English, economics or government.

Charles Scribner '05, who is a friend of one of the website's creators, was among the first to submit a thesis. His paper — in environmental studies — is now the fifth most downloaded.

"It's just another outlet for people to put their work online and help others," Scribner said. "It's just a way of undergraduate research not going to waste."

Besides the search engine, Iacono and his friends have added aspects to their site that personalize the users' experience. Visitors can view author profiles and commentary, as well as use an internal messaging system.

Though the website will remain free for students, Iacono said he plans to solicit subscriptions from universities to cover the site's costs.

"Basically our view on this is that we will never ever ask the student for any money," he said. "We feel it should be service provided to any undergraduate or past undergraduate that went to a college that is willing to support us. The only places we'd seek funding from are libraries and the institutions themselves."

On-campus reaction to the new service has been mixed, with most seniors and faculty members unaware of its availability.

Some said they did not find the idea to be a particularly useful one.

"I'm a [molecular biology] major and therefore if I had something the outside world would be interested in knowing or would serve me well in my career, I'd submit it to a real journal and would want that kind of validation," Ada Gropper '06 said.

Meanwhile, some were wary of passing judgment.

"It seems like a useful resource; it just depends," history professor Michael Laffan said. "There's so much variety in theses and not everyone's constitutes an exceptional piece of work."

Other professors were more optimistic, seeing the benefits of another outlet for their advisees to exhibit their work.

"It's probably useful for the students that are graduating so they feel satisfied to have their work published somewhere," molecular biology professor Yibin Kang said. "Also, it's probably useful for future students, so they can see what other people have done."

Having used the website, Scribner said that it offers more than a personal website would. Besides saving students the work of converting their theses to electronic files, it also provides a search engine that can be used to find further information about topics covered in the theses, he said.

"I think separately I probably wouldn't quote someone's thesis ... but I could look for ideas on what sources to use," he said.

For most current seniors, however, it may be a little early to be thinking about getting work published.

"The people I'm supervising are just trying to even imagine their theses written at this stage rather than ultimately publishing it," Laffan said.

"Essentially the senior thesis is sort of a self-discovery thing," he added. "Often students are discovering things for themselves, and not necessarily making a lasting contribution ... it's not necessarily something that's out there for the whole world to read."

Scribner agreed that the thesis is a personal experience, but said widespread exposure of one's work is also a significant goal.

"Obviously [the thesis] is a validation experience for that person and they can use that knowledge later in life, but it seems like a bit of a waste not to let other people see your results," he said.