Thesis Preparation

Students who elect Track 2 must complete 27 credit hours of coursework in the program (including the required core courses) and may then begin work on the thesis. Students must follow these steps in writing the thesis:

1) Select thesis advisor and receive advisor's approval of topic.

2) Submit prospectus (including thesis statement and bibliography) for approval of the advisor and the program coordinator. After the prospectus is approved, the student enrolls in ENG 695, Master's Thesis. A student may enroll for 1-3 credits per semester and must enroll for at least one credit each semester (including spring/summer) until the thesis is successfully defended and accepted.

3) Select two other faculty members for thesis committee.

4) Submit draft for suggested revisions from committee.

5) Submit final draft for approval of committee. Minimum length for the thesis will be 50 pages (double-spaced, not including bibliography). The format of the completed thesis should be as follows:

6) Thesis defense. The thesis director will schedule a time for the defense when the entire committee can be present. The student must have registered for a total of at least 6 credit hours of ENG 695 before the defense is scheduled. The defense may be scheduled in summer, fall, or winter terms and should be at least three weeks before the end of classes for that term. The revised draft of the thesis must be submitted to the committee at least two weeks prior to the defense date. Copies will be made available for other interested faculty members to read.  All English Department faculty will be invited to attend the defense and participate in the discussion. The defense will be open to other English graduate students as observers.

7) After the defense, the committee may require further revisions; if so, the student will have 30 days to submit the revised thesis for final determination. If the committee votes not to accept the thesis, the student will have the option of changing to Track 1, which would require taking 6 additional credit hours of coursework and passing the Qualifying Examinations.

8) Once the thesis has been accepted, you must apply for copyright and publish the thesis through ProQuest. The M.A. office has a folder that gives the information about this process and the proper forms. You will submit the thesis in hard copy, unbound, to Sarah Pepper at the library, along with the form from Proquest and a check (one last expense). Please see www.gvsu.edu/library/masters for more information.

Prospectus Guidelines |TOP|

The prospectus gives the student a chance to clarify the topic and present the idea formally to the faculty member who is being asked to direct the thesis and to the program director, both of whom must approve the prospectus before the student enrolls in the thesis course, ENG 695.  It is not expected that the argument of the thesis would be worked out completely, but it is important to have a hypothesis and to have done some initial research and thinking before committing a great deal of time to the project. 

The prospectus should be approximately 4-6 pages (double-spaced), plus a provisional or working bibliography.  It should do the following:

-Describe a focused topic
-State a provisional thesis
-Discuss how this work will fit with some of the existing scholarship on the topic

Once the thesis director and program director have reviewed the prospectus, they may approve it, decline to approve it, and direct the student to consider other topics, or suggest revisions and read it again before making a final decision.  Their decision in any case should be given in writing, via mail or e-mail.

Here is a helpful handout on writing your thesis.

Back to The English M.A.
English M.A. Home

|TOP|