Prospectus Writing and Defense
I. General Information
During the third semester you will be writing a thesis prospectus that you will submit sometime between the 11th and 13th week of the semester, to be followed by its defense a week later. The prospectus is to be written under the supervision of a thesis advisor from the German faculty, to be chosen by the end of the second semester. While preparing your prospectus, your advisor may require you to complete a short reading list (not more than 10 works) to assist you in the planning of your thesis. You should submit a draft of the prospectus by the end of the third week of the semester to the Associate Chair of Graduate Studies and the chair of your thesis committee, and choose in consultation with them two additional members of your thesis committee, one of whom may be from an outside discipline.
II. Prospectus Format
The prospectus should be approximately 2500 words long (no longer than 3000 words) and provide an outline of the thesis argument, the student’s rationale for choosing the topic, an overview of relevant secondary literature, a time-line for its completion, and a bibliography.
III. Prospectus Defense
The prospectus defense will take place with the thesis advisor and two additional faculty members, one of whom may be from an outside discipline. It is scheduled a week after its submission and lasts approximately an hour. If the prospectus is approved, the student begins to write the thesis; if the prospectus is not approved, the student must opt for the non-thesis option.
M.A. Thesis Guidelines
The M.A. thesis committee consists of a thesis advisor from the German faculty and two additional faculty members (one of whom may be from an outside discipline). All committees must be approved in advance by the Associate Chair of Graduate Studies.
Students should begin to write their thesis after they have defended their prospectus, and no later than the beginning of their final semester. Students should work closely with their thesis advisor and committee members as they are writing their thesis. Students are advised to submit draft copies of each chapter to all members of their committee. The thesis should be approximately 35-40 pages long (no longer than 40 pages).
A final draft of the thesis should be submitted to committee members at least two weeks before the defense. See the Graduate School website for thesis specifications.
