And thesis writers say it's not just stacks ofbooks, interviews, experiments and pages and pagesof writing that they learn from while writing athesis.

Seniors complement their learning about theirthesis topics with other benefits, citingcamaraderie among thesis writers, the pride ofcompleting a thesis, and knowledge about how towork efficiently as additional advantages to theirresearch and writing.

The thesis writer is not the only one wholearns from the experience.

Bridget N. Terry, associate director ofundergraduates in the economic department andteaching fellow of a section for thesis-writers,says thesis advisors also learn from the process.

"Sometimes [advising] points out to me mistakesI don't want to make in my own work--it's hard tosee that in your own work, it's easier to see itin someone else's. I see a lot of interestingideas and I learn from their mistakes and theirsuccesses," Terry says.

Even careful advising and a Sam Adams do notnecessarily relieve the pressure of theextraordinary demands of writing a thesis.Inspiration and excitement are balanced withprinter failure and paper requirements.

"Sometimes it's really fun and interesting andyou feel like a scholar," Berman says. "Othertimes I think, 'Why did I possibly decide to dothis? It was a terrible idea."

Wei says students who bind their theses haveencountered the unexpected problem of settingdifferent margins for left and right pages.Because of the placement of the binding, odd andeven numbered pages must have different marginsettings.

All theses must be written on acid-free paper,and some concentrations have a requirement forpaper weight, to ensure that the summa cum laudeand magna cum laude theses archived in PuseyLibrary do not disintegrate.

Thesis writers not only suffer from mentalstress, but also find their hard work physicallytaxing, with many developing repetitive stressinjury.

Berman already has a thesis horror story. Shecontracted mononucleosis before a scheduledresearch trip to New York she had been planningfor six months, and could only stay awake for thelength of each interview.

Seniors and faculty advisors stress thatstudents need to weigh pros and cons before makingthe monumental decision of writing a thesis.

"It's not something to do just if you wanthonors," Terry says. "When you're up at threeo'clock in the morning two weeks before the thesisis done under all this stress, the desire to gethonors is not going to be the thing to push youthrough.

"You really have to have the desire to get theanswer to your question," she says