This seminar aims to help senior students in Environmental Studies develop viable and promising thesis and/or project proposals by the end of the Fall semester. Successful students will complete their theses in the following Spring. We will discuss what makes a proposal and a full thesis worthwhile and workable, and consider various strategies for gathering data and learning about the world (i.e., methods). Readings and seminar meetings focus on the work-in-progress of participants, methods for research, leveraging proposals for funding and employment, and connecting passion with action. This course, together with the Spring thesis class, will enable you to bring together the formal and informal educational experiences you have had during your undergraduate years into an original work of your own design and execution, while also learning how to effectively communicate about your project. The primary deliverable of the Fall semester will be a full thesis proposal. Taken as a year long experience, our goal is to equip each of you with the skills to have a rewarding senior experience and see your thesis from its initial idea to realized product.