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Honors Thesis Student Analyzes Social Justice Movements

Anna Sinclair Completes Honors Thesis Examining Social Media’s Intersection with Social Movements

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Anna Sinclair in her car with a mask at Dunkin’ Donuts.
Anna Sinclair is a third-year Honors College student from Canfield, Ohio, majoring in political science and minoring in history and sociology. Though sociology is only one of her minors, Anna hopes to attend graduate school and earn a PhD in sociology, ultimately teaching sociology at a university. Anna first realized her passion for sociology when she took a class called Politics of Social Movements for her political science major. She recalls being fascinated with the course materials and researching the elements of social movements on her own, which led Anna to discover her passion for sociology. As a way to further her sociological studies, Anna decided to complete a Senior Honors Thesis focusing on sociological topics.

Now in her final semester of thesis hours, Anna is finishing her thesis manuscript and planning to orally defend her thesis in late April. Anna’s thesis focuses on “how social media and social movements intersect, and how social media propagates social movements.” Within her thesis, Anna examines the social movements in Ferguson, Missouri, surrounding the police shooting of Michael Brown and the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Using these relevant social justice movements as case studies, Anna analyzes the extent to which social media impacted the movements or was a useful tool for advocates to strengthen the social movements. Anna adds that she is particularly passionate about social media’s intersection with social movements because “it’s a topic that is often understudied.” She says, “There’s a lot of questions unanswered,” and she wants to help society gain a better understanding of how social media can influence and aid social movements.

Anna’s unique research on the intersection of social media and social movements highlights the diversity among honors theses. Lori Michael, the Honors College Thesis Coordinator, says, “[Thesis students] have written and produced plays, done cancer research, wetlands conservation research, designed adaptive clothing lines, devised technology to teach Shakespeare, created business plans, analyzed foreign law... I could go on and on.” Because every honors thesis is unique, Anna says, “One of the most important pieces of advice with the thesis is not to get overwhelmed or compare your work or progress to anyone else’s” She explains that every honors thesis student has a different process to follow, so regardless of how others are progressing, every thesis student is “going miles beyond where [they] could have been without doing a thesis.”

Though Anna has successfully reached the final steps of her honors thesis, she remarks that the process was not always easy. To overcome difficult moments of her thesis work, Anna says that her thesis advisor, Dr. Julie Mazzei, associate professor in the Department of Political Science, helped support and encourage Anna. She adds, “[Dr. Mazzei] has been wonderful, always hyping me up when I need it, helping me stay motivated, and helping guide me without limiting my personal process of thinking through everything.” In addition to Dr. Mazzei’s guidance, Anna has found support from her two roommates who are also completing honors theses. Anna explains that, “When one of us gets frustrated or unmotivated, we help kickstart each other.” Having this support from her peers and honors advisor has been “so helpful” to Anna throughout her thesis process.

Anna is grateful to all the faculty and friends who have supported her in her thesis work, and she is excited to continue studying sociology in graduate school.

For more information on the Senior Honors Thesis/Project, please contact Lori Michael, the Thesis Coordinator.

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PHOTO CAPTION 1: Outside view of the 鶹ӰԺ State library and Student Center.

PHOTO CAPTION 2: Anna Sinclair in her car with a mask at Dunkin’ Donuts.

Media Contact: Stephanie Moskal, smoskal@kent.edu, 330-672-2312

POSTED: Wednesday, March 31, 2021 12:31 PM
Updated: Friday, December 9, 2022 02:33 PM
WRITTEN BY:
Olivia Wachtel, Honors College Writing Intern