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Library as Thesis 
Laboratory
A Workshop-Based Approach to  
How Librarians Can Support Writing  
and Research
By Keegan Osinski, Divinity Library, Vanderbilt University; Bobby L. Smiley, Divinity Library, 
Vanderbilt University

ABSTR ACT Historically, librarians have supported instruction and 
curricular development primarily through information literacy sessions 
and individual consultation. But having identified a gap in the curriculum 
and academic experience between faculty expectations and student 
writing ability in the Divinity School at Vanderbilt, as well as a dearth of 
support for students through the thesis writing process, the library has 
set out to offer our skills and expertise to guide students through the 
research and writing of their final theses. This contribution provides an 
assessment of the inaugural class that took place in the spring semes-
ter of 2018, and covers the formation of the course, from conversations 
with students and planning with administrators to outlining the sylla-
bus. We discuss the actual practice of the program, its successes and 
pitfalls, and our assessments of the results of this initial effort, as well as 
our plans for moving forward with the course. By reviewing and evalu-
ating the course, our goal is to stoke conversation about how divinity 
libraries can identify gaps where their expertise and experience can 
be leveraged, and design novel ways for librarians to complement and 
augment existing curricular needs around writing and research. 

I. IDENTIFYING THE NEED

Given that students at theological schools and seminaries arrive 
with a variety of professional backgrounds and education, among 



Listen and Learn Sessions  271

other differences, having a baseline for assessing writing ability and 
evaluating student work is a difficult enterprise. Like their counter-
parts elsewhere in higher education, institutions for religious train-
ing now offer designated writing tutors, and, in growing numbers, 
discrete writing centers to work with students who need assistance 
with adapting to (or even learning) the plural genres and conventions 
of academic writing.

Even for students already familiar with the protocols of academic 
writing, drafting a research-based thesis is a more complex and 
involved process. Historically, at Vanderbilt Divinity School, support 
given to students writing a thesis-based research project for their MTS 
degree has relied on the availability of the faculty member supervising 
the thesis to oversee the student’s progress. However, when faculty are 
confronted with demands on their own limited research time (whether 
by teaching or service), their ability to coach students through the 
writing and research process is often markedly diminished.

Additionally, for the uninitiated, the thesis research and writing 
process can be an isolating experience, in contrast to the cohort feel-
ing attending coursework. That there is usually no regularly sched-
uled communal activity or obligations (i.e., course) related to the thesis 
project can amplify that loneliness, and complicate (or even hinder 
altogether) writing and research.

Identifying a gap in a comprehensive way to provide writing and 
research assistance for students working on a masters-length thesis 
project (10,000 to 30,000 words), we reached out to all the stakehold-
ers who have been or will be engaged in this process. After several 
conversations with students, recent graduates, and faculty, we started 
to notice three common themes in every discussion of the thesis writ-
ing process.

 a.   Lack of support when writing: Students signed up for three credit 
hours, and had little to no actual guidance in the course of 
research and writing. They were virtually on their own, espe-
cially if their readers/advisers were especially busy or disinter-
ested.

 b.  Lack of quality in student writing/research: The other side of that 
coin is that the quality of students’ work suffered because 
they were not getting the help they needed. They were simply 



272  ATL A 2018 PROCEEDINGS

expected to know how to research or write, but no effort was 
made to actually teach them these skills. And further, by the time 
students were writing their thesis, they also felt like they “should 
know better,” and so had a hard time reaching out or knowing 
where to get help.

 c.  Lack of organization and communication of thesis program: Students 
(and their readers!) were unclear about deadlines, rubrics, and 
requirements. It seemed like the thesis program was very low 
priority to professors and administrators. There was virtually no 
structure to the process.

II. PROPOSING A SOLUTION

 With our experience in information literacy instruction, scholarly 
communication, and our own graduate training, we felt we could 
render research and writing assistance to thesis students in a more 
formalized way—in this case, a workshop-driven, transcripted non-
credit course that would cover principles and practices of thesis-
length research and writing and help build community for students 
engaged in the process.

 The Divinity Library at Vanderbilt is fortunate in having a strong 
working relationship with the Divinity School and its administra-
tion. Our conversations with the associate dean for academic affairs 
yielded many ideas, and much enthusiasm and continued gratitude 
for proposing to design a course for MTS students (as well as others 
interested). With her assistance, we were able to be listed in the 
course schedule as a numbered class (DIV 7996: MTS Thesis Work-
shop Course) and integrated into the university’s course manage-
ment system.

As mentioned earlier, writing tutors furnish an indispensable 
service to students, and therefore we wanted their involvement in 
the development and instruction of the course. The Divinity School 
hires one of the Graduate Department of Religion PhD students each 
year to serve as the school’s designated writing tutor. Students can 
schedule appointments or utilize the tutor’s office hours to get help 
developing thesis statements and editing papers. The writing tutor 
contributed to the course, offering their expertise and also opening 
their office to help students with their writing at various points in the 



Listen and Learn Sessions  273

process. The relationship built between the students and the writing 
tutor by having the tutor participate in the class made the students 
more likely to utilize the tutor’s skills, not only for their thesis but for 
their writing in other classes as well. 

III. COURSE STRUCTURE AND CONTENT

The syllabus for the course was designed around the already-estab-
lished deadlines from the program schedule. While it may seem an 
obvious (and necessary) way to schedule class meetings and deter-
mine content, it also furnished the ancillary benefit of reminding 
students of deadlines that they may or may not have recalled.

 One of the guiding principles of the course was to (re)acquaint 
students with the conventions of academic writing and research, as 
well as help expose practices related to student work presupposed by 
faculty. While second nature for faculty, how to structure an argument, 
cite a source, read texts critically and quickly, organize research, etc. 
are skills students are not usually taught but rather expected to just 
know.

 In addition to excerpts from The Craft of Research, the key texts we 
used were Andrew Abbott’s Digital Paper and Wendy Belcher’s Writ-
ing Your Journal Article in 12 Weeks. Belcher’s workbook-type guide is 
great for editing and organizing, and Abbott’s book outlines his own 
research process, which offers helpful methods to envision how to 
approach a master’s thesis-length (or longer) project.

We started the course with lectures, discussions, and activities 
centered on designing a research question and thesis (even though 
most students had already done some manner of this before the 
semester began) and then continued on to literature reviews and 
project proposals. The in-classroom content worked toward helping 
students to submit a preliminary bibliography and proposal outline 
by the first deadline. The class then worked on developing arguments, 
structure, and outlines so that they would be prepared to write their 
first draft over spring break and submit it to their first reader by the 
following week’s due date. Finally, the last few weeks were about tight-
ening the arguments, hitting the major points, and finishing up the 
writing and edits.



274  ATL A 2018 PROCEEDINGS

IV. THE STUDENTS AND SEMESTER

Initially, the assistant dean for academic affairs enrolled all MTS 
students working on a thesis. But inasmuch as the class was not 
credit-bearing, and other schedule conflicts arose, our central core 
of students was much smaller.

For most of the semester, we typically had six students, includ-
ing one who was putting together a museum/exhibit project, as well 
as two non-thesis students who wanted to get a head start and learn 
whatever tips and tricks we could teach them before they had to actu-
ally get started on their thesis projects. Owing to being a zero-credit 
course, however, our attendance was inconsistent enough to entirely 
eliminate one course feature, the use of writing buddies. We had 
designed sessions and in-class workshopping around writing pairs 
and quickly discovered that this approach is impossible if students 
are not required to attend.

The first half of the semester, before the first full draft was due upon 
return from spring break, was spent with some lecture each class as 
well as check-ins of where students were in their research, bibliogra-
phy development, thesis statements, outlines, and the like.

However, we discovered in the second half of the semester that the 
course served almost as a pastoral and at times therapeutic space for 
students working through the thesis writing and research process 
(accompanied by the existential concerns of their impending gradu-
ation). Indeed, the original idea of building community by writing was 
supplemented (and eclipsed) by building community because of the 
writing. While often unacknowledged, attention to student well-being 
proved in this context to be an additional (and necessary) benefit of 
the course.

Surveying students after the course’s conclusion, we found their 
responses were more or less as expected. Students appreciated having 
a community to hold them accountable (and commiserate with) in the 
writing process, to bounce ideas off of, and to provide feedback. They 
did not feel like they had time or motivation to complete the readings 
for each class, though they found the content we covered from those 
readings helpful. It helped them “keep on top of deadlines” and “feel 
less alone.”



Listen and Learn Sessions  275

V. GOING FORWARD

Based on student feedback and faculty/administration enthusiasm, 
we feel confident that future iterations of this course will continue to 
assist students throughout the thesis writing and research process. 
At Vanderbilt, this need will be more exigent with the introduction of 
curricular changes in Fall 2018 that will require more students in the 
MTS program to write a thesis.

Our discussions with the associate dean for academic affairs 
have stoked an interest in making the course a requirement for MTS 
thesis writers and therefore either credit bearing or baked into the 
thesis credits. Moreover, we have discussed extending something 
similar to non-thesis students, as well as others—whether MTS or 
MDiv candidates—interested in working on longer writing. Feedback 
from students solicited both formally and informally emphasized 
how something like the research and writing “tips and tricks” would 
have served them even better if introduced earlier in their degree 
program—helping them to pull back the curtain of knowledge about 
scholarly practices presumed by the faculty. Ultimately, what our 
experience with the course emphasized was that in identifying gaps 
and leveraging our own experience and expertise, there are manifold 
opportunities to reimagine outreach through instruction in novel 
ways; in so doing, we helped further highlight how a receptive faculty 
and student community can understand what the library can offer in 
an expanded field.


