The Benefits and Drawbacks of Writing a B.A Thesis as an English Major

Abstract

Students across universities research so they become competent professionals in their field. In most of the universities, English Majors must write a research paper, or else known a diploma paper, in order to graduate. However, students studying English Language find many benefits and drawbacks while writing a diploma paper.Using a mixed approach, the aim of this paper is to identify the benefits and drawbacks of writing a Bachelor of Arts paper. 51 students from “Fehmi Agani ”University, Kosovo, were asked to fill a questionnaire, and 8 others to participate in a focus group, as a part of this study. The results show that the benefits of writing a thesis are continuous feedback from the mentor, a well-written paper to add in one’s portfolio as it is reviewed by the committee members, and you get to pursue your own interests. Nevertheless, there are also some drawbacks that students face while writing a paper, such as managing information, the use of generalization, and not having enough time to write it.Finally, this study suggests that having a course which prepares students to write a thesis in the end of their studies is beneficial to students as it mentors them and teaches a step-by-step writing thesis.