Prospectus Format: Graduate students are expected to make a 10 to 15 minute oral presentation to the geology faculty. You must provide a written prospectus that the faculty will read in preparation for your presentation. Use the format below for your written prospectus.
Graduate Thesis
Prospectus
Student Name
Date
Graduate Thesis Advisor: The name of your thesis advisor.
Graduate Thesis Committee Members
List the names of three committee members. At least two of the committee members should be CSU faculty. Your third member may be a qualified outside geoscientist; this person must be willing to provide a vita for the dean’s examination and approval.
Research Topic: This is the title of your thesis. It should be brief but informative.
Introduction
One or two paragraphs should introduce the reader to the topic of your thesis. You might provide a geological description of an area that you plan to work in but draw the reader’s attention to the features that are most closely related to your problem. Perhaps you are working on a groundwater contamination problem or a landslide. Introduce the reader to the geology that surrounds this problem.
Objective
What do you hope to accomplish by doing this project? What is the result that you hope to achieve? What problem do you plan to solve? Will you be defining the limits of a groundwater contamination problem and proposing a solution? Will you be mapping a new area and contributing to our knowledge of California? Do you plan on producing a map, chemical analyses, age dates, etc.?
Significance of the Proposed Research
How will the solution of your problem contribute to our knowledge of geology? What is new about your work and how will science or the public benefit from this investigation? Why is it worthwhile to do all of this work?
Methods
How will you accomplish your objective? Will you be doing mapping or various types of analyses? What instruments, equipment, and funding are necessary to achieve your goal?
Tentative Schedule
Provide a time schedule for your Master’s research. Describe when data collection, analysis, and write up will be done.
References
Provide 5 or 6 references that would give the interested reader an opportunity to look a little deeper into what you plan to do. These should be references that provide the reader with an understanding of the geology that you will investigate and why your study is beneficial. You should have a good understanding of these references so that you are prepared for questions during your oral presentation.