MA Thesis Proposal Outline

Outline for Proposal

  • Title:
  • Thesis Advisor/Director:
  • Proposed Thesis Committee Members (graduate faculty):
  • Additional Advisors:
  • Abstract:
1. What:
  • My study will address…It will also seek to make sense of…I will also explore…
  • first paragraph: TOPIC PARAGRAPH
  • clearly state what you are undertaking
2. Why:
  • The importance of this project to the greater political and cultural environment…The centrality of the topic of…for understanding…
  • One paragraph
    • why is it important
    • what are the implications of the project
    • what does the project reveal
3. Who:
  • The background for this topic: what is the previous work in this area (refer to bibliography)
  • A couple of paragraphs
    • position yourself in the existing literature and contribution to the field: how does your proposed research fit in with the broader state of the relevant field; how has the topic been treated (or overlooked) by previous scholars, what contribution is the proposed study intended to make in relation to current knowledge?
4. How:
  • My thesis will consist of these sections, each addressing a particular aspect of.. I will propose …and to support this claim…I will also produce/examine… The second part will address…This section will specifically deal with…The third part will consider … …The fourth chapter of my thesis, then…my conclusion will …
  • include the names of relevant artists/visual/computational material one is going to investigate, works, theories, concepts, and institutions/archives
  • how the dissertation will construct its argument. What are the substantive intellectual questions? How will they be addressed, and what sort of conclusions does the candidate – if only provisionally – anticipate reaching?
5. Time schedule
  • The majority of my work will be carried out in …..
  • proposed travel (if relevant)
  • timeline
6. Bibliography 
  • beginning of content for literature review