Thesis on American college fraternities
 

Hi everybody,

I'm a student from Germany and right now I'm writing on my thesis paper about American college fraternities. I developed an interest in fraternities during my semester at San Diego State University.
Up to now, I've read a lot about fraternities; positive and especially negative stuff (drug abuse,hazing, etc.) in the news and several books. In order to get some first hand information on fraternity life, I've developed a questionaire and sent it to almost every general fraternity in San Diego, but I did not get a single response.
That's why I registered at GreekChat.com. Is there anybody willing to go through my questionaire? If so, please contact me via private message and give me your email adress, then I can send you the questionaire.
I'd be really glad if you could help me. The questionaire is not essential for my thesis. However, I'm sure that there are many prejudices against fraternities and you answering my questionaire could help me to put some of them aside in my paper!
Thank you very much!

Sure, I'll help out... sent you a PM.

Is this for graduate school? This seems like an awfully broad subject for a thesis. Is there a particular focus? The role the organization plays in the lives of its' members? Its' alumni? The role of ritual? The dispelling of negative stereotypes? The role chapters play on their campuses? There's a lot of ground to cover, and as someone who has been on various thesis committees, I'm wondering whether you've really discussed this much with your adviser. Not to mention the use of feedback from random strangers who claim to be involved (yet are unverified) in the orgs you're examining.

/rhetorical questions
/takes off academia hat

I think this has come up before. The OP says he's in Germany, and I seem to remember similar requests in the past where it's been said that undergraduate students in Europe have to do a thesis, which is similar to but not as extensive as a master's thesis here.

We also do an honour's thesis in Canada (obviously for an honours degree). It can be quite broad depending on your topic and supervising professor.

Yeah,I think it's comparable to a master thesis and I'm required to write at least around 50 pages. Certainly, the topic provides me with a variety of subtopics, that's why the title is called "The diverse nature of the American college fraternity."
First of all, I'm going to explain what a fraternity and its purpose is, I'm going to give an overview about the history, the meaning of the Greek letters, hierarchical structures and how students can become a member. This sort of an opening chapter.
The second chapter is going to deal with the understanding of masculinity and femininity in American fraternities, a topic I've come across again and again during my readings. In the following, I also want to write about fraternities as a stepping stone to career advancement and the last chapter will be about violence and drug abuse.
The choice of topics was not arbitrary,like I said, these were the topics I have encountered in several books. Fortunately, my adviser is from the US and he's got a profound understanding of American fraternities.
However, it is quite difficult to get first-hand information which is why I registered here and I'd be really glad if you could help me. Naturally, I'll only use the questionaire for my thesis and it's completely anynomous.

TS, I'll help. I PM'ed you.