Most academic institutions offer support for students who are working on papers, theses, and dissertations. This support can come in a number of ways. The two most common forms of thesis support come from the professor who is overseeing the thesis and the staff at the campus writing center or writing lab. In some cases, if a professor has no office hours or limited office hours, thesis support can be obtained from a teacher's assistant. It is usually best to begin with the professor who has assigned the thesis or her assistant as they have detailed knowledge of the parameters of the projects and the expectations for the final product.
Students who are very dedicated to making their theses as strong as possible may want to begin by working with their professors to make sure that they are on the right track and then set up regular meetings with campus writing coaches. In this way, the thesis support can be sustained throughout the writing process and the student has a chance to review the final product with a tutor before handing it in. Many students do not make use of on campus writing labs and their professors' office hours, but these are two of the best resources for thesis support. Students who cannot seem to find enough support at school can always hire an independent writing tutor.
Another resource for thesis support is the other students in one's class. It can be very helpful to set up study groups and to use these study groups in order to critique and offer suggestions for each other's theses. Although this kind of thesis support may be coming from peers instead of educators, it can still be a very helpful exercise to review one's work with classmates. This is especially true for students who are further along in their academic pursuits such as students who are working towards their master's degrees or their PhDs.
The available thesis support depends on the degree that a student is working to complete. Undergraduate students, for example, usually get thesis support from their course professors and from tutors at writing labs. Students working to complete more advanced degrees, on the other hand, often have a thesis adviser who offers them the bulk of their thesis support. It is often these students who work as teacher's assistants and may even work in the campus writing lab to help students who are working on bachelor's or associate's degrees.
