Guidelines for Thesis Proposals
Comprehensive Examination and Thesis
Thesis Guidelines
This section is designed to aid students in preparing thesis proposals. The
Graduate Studies Committee recognizes that different topics may require
different treatments. For instance, a thesis on a neglected writer or subject is
apt to have a much shorter bibliography than one on a major figure or popular
topic. Nevertheless, the committee believes that the following guidelines will
apply to most proposals. Samples of successful proposals are also available in
the advisement office.
Contents
A proposal should sum up the key ideas and issues of the proposed thesis as
clearly and as precisely as possible. It is not always possible, however, to
specify the conclusions that will be reached or even the exact arguments that
will be developed until later stages of research and writing have been
completed. Nevertheless, students should be able to define the central subjects
of inquiry and to present preliminary arguments, including working hypotheses,
in order to demonstrate their ability to undertake the project.
Although proposals will vary widely in emphases, most will enable the Thesis
Committee to answer the following questions related to the following basic
issues:
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Purpose and Working Hypotheses What is the central purpose of your thesis? What are the
main issues you plan to explore? What significant assertions
or insights do you intend to develop that make this project
worth undertaking? What claim does your work make for the
attention of the reader? What are the tentative conclusions or
expected outcomes?
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Scope Is the scope of the project reasonable? Is the topic
important enough to warrant a 50-page essay? Is the subject
too large for the master's thesis? Has the topic been defined
carefully enough so that your work can be completed within two
or three quarters?
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Critical Background
Have you clearly explained the
underlying theory or methodological framework? Does your
proposal demonstrate sufficient preliminary understanding of
the theory and issues? Does your proposal, and especially your
bibliography, demonstrate a familiarity with other relevant
criticism and scholarship? How does your study build on
previous work? How does it differ from the work that has
already been published and avoid simply repeating the
conclusions of others?
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Timetable How much work
have you already done, and when do you expect to be able to
finish? Length: The length of proposals may vary
somewhat according to the complexity of the topic, but most
successful proposals average about 1,500 words or six to eight
typed double-spaced pages plus bibliography. Bibliography
for Theses in Literature: The bibliography should be
annotated and selective. The annotations, which should be no
longer than a sentence or two, should demonstrate your general
familiarity with each book or article cited. The Thesis
Committee will not expect that you have read every single book
cited, but it will expect that you have spent enough time with
cited books to be aware of their content and relevance to your
thesis topic. In many cases, it will not be possible to cite
all the relevant material, and it is usually not necessary to
cite more than 15 to 20 items. A selective bibliography should
list the editions of the primary texts you are using, any
annotated bibliographies or reference guides that are related
to your topic, and the most important secondary sources. Your
selection of secondary material will serve as evidence of your
expertise on the topic and your readiness to begin the thesis. Bibliography
for Theses in Composition, Rhetoric, and Language: The
bibliography is a preliminary, working bibliography. It should
be thorough enough to demonstrate that the project is grounded
in theory and scholarship. Approximately 20 entries should be
annotated, usually with no more than a sentence or two.
Although you need not have read all of the works cited, the
annotations should show that you have spent enough time with
the cited works to be aware of their content and relevance of
your thesis topic.
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