Selecting
a topic and a committee:
All substantial research projects begin with extended research, thought,
and discussion. The thesis must be planned and written in close consultation
with the thesis director. The thesis director must be a tenured or tenure-track
faculty member with significant experience and expertise in the subject
treated by the thesis. The thesis committee must also include a second
reader, also a tenured or tenure-track faculty member, whose fields
of research and teaching will provide additional resources for the thesis
writer and director.
Writing the
thesis proposal:
Before writing the thesis, a student must develop and write a thesis
proposal. It is often wise to let a thesis proposal develop from a successful
research paper originally written for a graduate course. Students should
also consider taking a subsequent independent study (ENG 500) under
the direction of the proposed thesis director.
The thesis proposal should comprise 6-10
double-spaced pages and must include a working bibliography. It should
(a) explain clearly what topic the thesis will engage and why this topic
is important, (b) describe briefly the previous scholarly work done
on this topic, (c) explain how the thesis will revise or augment this,
and (d) present a short, tentative outline indicating its methodologies
and scope. Note that the graduate faculty realizes that scholars can't
predict precisely the final argument or conclusions of an extended research
project at the project’s outset. Rather, thesis committees look
for a clear explanation of what the writer expects to achieve.
In deciding which thesis proposals will
be approved, thesis committee directors and readers will look carefully
at the quality of the writing in the proposal. It should be in every
respect professional: clear, well organized, persuasive, and properly
documented. Permission to pursue the Thesis Option will be granted only
to students who submit strong proposals.
When the committee approves the proposal,
the student must fill out the Final
Project Approval Form and submit copies to the MA Program Director
and to the Graduate Division of the Graduate College of Liberal Arts
and Sciences.
A student writing a thesis must
follow the standard procedures for degree conferral.
Completing
the Thesis:
After the proposal has been submitted, its writer may enroll for four
credit hours of English 499, “Thesis Hours.” Only four credit
hours of ENG 499 will count toward the Master’s Degree. They will
count as an elective the student’s graduate program. Note that
the thesis must be completed and approved in order for the ENG 499 credits
to count toward the Master’s degree.
A student writing a thesis should consult
frequently with the director of the thesis committee. The director should
offer timely and constructive written and oral commentary as the thesis
proceeds, chapter by chapter or section by section. When the thesis
director approves a draft of the entire thesis, it should be presented
to the second reader.
When the thesis has been approved by a
thesis director and second reader, the thesis approval form must be
signed and submitted to the Graduate Division of the College of Liberal
Arts and Sciences. Theses may be approved either as Standard
or With Distinction
Thesis Binding
and Degree Conferral:
Once this form has been submitted, a student must submit the thesis
for binding. A thesis may be submitted on paper or on diskette along
with applicable fees along with this form.