How do I generate an Undergraduate Thesis worthy of publication? Simply, what do you expect from a good bachelor's thesis?
What do you expect from a good bachelor's thesis?


The expectations for a bachelor's thesis vary from country to country and from field to field. However, I think the main points can be summarised as follows:


the author shows a good understanding of the given problem
the author is aware of the existing literature in the field, can discuss the literature critically and understands where their problem sits in the literature
the thesis is well-written and successfully communicates the author's findings, ensuring that anyone wishing to replicate their experiments could do so


A bachelors thesis is NOT expected to be an entirely original work nor does it need to represent an advancement in the field. I think I am safe in stating that publishing work from a bachelor's thesis is highly unusual.

A successful thesis requires consistent work on a specific problem with demonstrable results that can be disseminated to the community (be this your peers at university, future employers or maybe to a journal for peer review). 

You are missing one key ingredient: a supervisor.

At the bachelor's level, it is very difficult (due to inexperience or unfamiliarity with the literature) to identify a problem which is open-ended enough to allow plenty of work on it, but not so esoteric or challenging that the student will not be able to make any meaningful progress or learn anything valuable from the experience.

You state that


  Most of my lecturers are PhD scholars themselves struggling with their own papers. Ego in academia may prevent them from assisting me in my paper.


Have you asked them about this or are you making an assumption? They may well be very happy to supervise your project; after all, getting other people interested in research is very important for academics. 

I think that you and your thesis will be far more successful if you find a supervisor who can give you the guidance and direction you need. Your supervisor will also be able to answer your questions about publication of your work (if it merits it-- again, I stress that publication should be low on your list of priorities. Get to know the literature, gain some expertise surrounding your problem and write, write, write).

Now to address your questions about an Ig Nobel.

I'm not sure if you've maybe misunderstood what these prizes are about: they're a gentle satirical mocking of the Nobel prizes, and generally awarded for ``pointless'' or silly research-- not serious science. I'm not sure that aiming to be awarded one for your bachelor's thesis is a good idea. 

You can nominate yourself for an Ig Nobel, but as their own website states (emphasis mine):


  Self-nominees seldom win. It seems characteristic of the Ig Nobel prizes that the "Igginess" is a side-effect, not a goal.


Don't aim for an Ig Nobel. Concentrate on finding a supervisor, working on a tough problem, writing a great thesis and getting to know the joys and pitfalls of research.

There are some other questions and answers on this site that may help you further:


Finding a supervisor (this question is about getting a supervisor at another university, but the advice is applicable to your situation).
Do's and don'ts of undergrad research
What counts as undergrad research (when aiming for grad school)