Seize the day or seize theses? The challenges in undergraduate thesis writing

ABSTRACT

Thesis writing is an endeavour that many undergraduate students have to surmount coupled with its inevitable challenges. Consequently, this study was conducted to investigate the diverse thesis writing challenges experienced by arts and humanities students enrolled in Bachelor of Arts degrees in Communication, English Language, and Filipino Language in a state university in the northern part of Luzon, Philippines. A descriptive phenomenology was utilised via focus group discussions to collect data. Through thematic analysis, three main themes or facets of the diverse challenges in thesis writing have been identified. The facets are (1) student-emanating;(2) adviser-emanating;and (3) pandemic/emergency remote teaching-emanating. This research adds to the literature on the challenges in undergraduate thesis writing during emergency remote teaching, provides an input towards pedagogical implications, and recommends future research directions.