I. Description
All M.A. students are required to submit a research prospectus at the end of their first year. As the term indicates — from pro (forward) and specere (to look) — the prospectus is an opportunity for students to delineate research questions, become familiar with the relevant literature, and to devise a strategy and timetable for data collection.
Students will work on their prospectus with the assistance of a graduate advisor (or supervisor). They should choose an advisor by the end of the first semester, in consultation with the director of graduate studies. Students should meet the advisor regularly to discuss research interests and devise a coherent and cohesive research plan. Students should discuss with their advisor which track to pursue in the program (Thesis, Comprehensive Examination or Performance and Portfolio).
II. Committee
The student’s Prospectus Committee will consist of the graduate advisor and the Graduate Committee. The Prospectus Committee is chaired by the director of graduate studies.
III. Format
The prospectus should have 5,000-7,000 words and include the following sections (organized at least roughly in this order):
Project description: Clearly state your research question (what you want to clarify/understand); briefly describe the scope, context, methodology and significance of the project.
Literature review: Sources you have explored and how your research fits within a larger field of study.
Methodology: What type of research data you will collect, and how, why, when and where you will do that. Have other authors collected similar data in a similar way?
Conclusion: Summarize the project; reemphasize its uniqueness/originality/contributions to knowledge and its significance/relevance to performance studies and other disciplines or fields/subfields.
Timetable: For each part of your research process — from data gathering to thesis defense and submission — state what you will be doing, where you will be doing it and the time frame in which you will be doing it.
Chapter outline: Envisage the organization of your argument in the thesis document. Remember that at this stage your argument is tentative at best — nothing more than a qualified (i.e. based on what you know so far) answer to your research question.
Bibliography
IRB Compliance Statement (if applicable)
IV. Oral Defense
- Student gives a short (5-minute) presentation of the project
- Graduate Committee (excluding the advisor) asks a round of questions
- Student leaves the room
- Graduate Committee votes on the written prospectus and the oral examination
- Committee discusses the prospectus and oral defense, identify necessary revisions (if any), and votes on pass/fail:
| Score | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | Pass with no revisions (or minor revisions such as formatting or grammar) |
| 2A | Pass with revisions to be approved by the supervisor |
| 2B | Pass with revisions to be approved by the committee |
| 3A | Fail with revisions |
| 3B | Fail |
6. Student comes back into the room
7. Supervisor informs the student of requested revisions (if any) and of pass/fail decision:
| Description | Action |
|---|---|
| Pass with no revisions | Student advances in the program as an M.A. candidate |
| Pass with revisions to be approved by the supervisor | Student submits revisions to supervisor in order to advance student in the program as an M.A. candidate |
| Pass with revisions to be approved by the committee | Student submits revisions to committee members in order to advance student in the program as an M.A. candidate |
| Fail with revisions | Student revises the prospectus and schedules a second oral defense, in consultation with supervisor and graduate program director |
| Fail | Student is asked to withdraw from the M.A. program |
8. The defense concludes