Suggested Format for Thesis Proposal Style General
Examination
Your charge is to write a dissertation proposal in the area
of "TOPIC", with the aim of GOALS/EXPLANATION.
The proposal should be no more than 20 pages long, exclusive of
references. Thus, you will not have space to relate everything you know
or plan--you must choose the details carefully to convey the key ideas.
The document should contain at least the following parts (in an order
determined by you):
- Introduction. Statement of the problem, with motivation. Background
about the overall area. A thesis statement. Hypothesis and/or goals.
Key technical ideas. Likely contributions of the work.
- Related work. (This section will be around half of the report.)
Discuss foundational work upon which yours builds, as well as alternate
approaches to the problem. Critically evaluate that work, beyond its own
claims. Discuss themes in the literature, so that a reader gets an
overview of the whole field rather than a mere list of previous results.
Relate previous work to one another and to your approach. Explain what is
different about your approach and why others have not attempted it before.
- Proposed work. Describe the main challenges and innovations that are
needed to accomplish the proposed hypotheses, with as much description as
possible of how you will tackle each one. Describe the strengths and
weaknesses of your approach, including what it can and cannot do.
Describe methodology for evaluating whether your ideas work or your
hypotheses are correct. Indicate whether each part of the work is
complete
or remains to be done. For work you have already completed, give only a
brief summary. For work that remains to be done, give a more detailed
plan, including any major risks, sufficient for an outsider to evaluate
its chances of success. The proposal should be concrete enough that the
committee can evaluate whether it would make a good dissertation.
Furthermore, when you wish to graduate, the proposal will provide guidance
to both you and the committee regarding whether you have completed the
promised work. (Plans can and do change, and all parties will take
account of that as appropriate.)
- Conclusion. Contributions or discussions, as appropriate.
Scoping: future work that will not be covered in the dissertation
researech.
The committee will evaluate whether you are prepared to proceed to
writing your dissertation. In doing this evaluation, we will ask
ourselves: Are the propoosed hypotheses significant and novel? Are the
proposed evaluation methods capable of demonstrating the hypothesis? Is
the scope of the work needed to complete the thesis plausible to be
completed within the next year? What likelihood do you have of completig
a successful thesis within the next year (with regard to scope of
remaining work and risks, for example?) Does the related work
demonstrate the mastery of the research area? Is the related work and
the comparison to the proposed work accurately represented? Are the
student's writing and presentation skills adequate?
We look forward to seeing your work!