Preparing a Thesis
The faculty of the department strongly urge
students who intend to apply to doctoral programs
to write a thesis. The English Department requires
that the thesis be between 50 and 70 pages in
length.
Other students should take the MA examination,
unless they have an original research idea they
would like to pursue.
Students who wish to take English 691: Thesis as
their exit requirement must adhere to the
procedure below and abide by all stated deadlines.
Procedure

Students must notify the Graduate
Coordinator at least one quarter before they
intend to submit a prospectus.

In the same quarter, the Graduate
Coordinator will assist the students in finding
two appropriate readers for the proposed
topic.

Students must submit a copy of the
prospectus to the two readers no later than the
third week of a quarter to give them
time to evaluate it and offer suggestions
for revision. Readers should return the
prospectus to students by the end of
the fifth week of the quarter. Follow this
link for a printable copy of the prospectus
coversheet.

By the end of the same quarter, students
should submit a final copy of the prospectus to
the two readers and the Graduate
Coordinator. The two readers also sign
the Prospectus Deadlines sheet and give it to
the Graduate Coordinator. The
Graduate Coordinator will inform
students if their prospectus has been approved.
If either reader does not approve the
final version of the prospectus, students
must then take English 690: Comprehensive
Examination.

Students must submit the final version of
the thesis to the two readers no later than the
third week of the quarter before
they wish to graduate. The prospectus
and the final copy of the thesis may not be
submitted in the same quarter.

Before the end of the same quarter, the
Graduate Coordinator will arrange for the
students to orally present the thesis
unless they have already presented it at a
conference or have a letter of acceptance from a
conference.

Students must deposit a copy of their thesis
with the Office of Graduate Studies and
Research. Specific instructions on
the format of the thesis are available from
the Walter W. Stiern Library. Complete details
are available at the
following address:
http://www.csub.edu/library/MasterThesisApp.p
df

Note: students enroll for English 691 only
once. In subsequent quarters they should enroll
in English 700 to maintain
current enrollment and their library
privileges.
Contents of Prospectus
The prospectus must contain the following
sections:

Prospectus Coversheet
Follow the link above for a printable
copy.

Statement of purpose
Good research begins with a good idea.
State the purpose clearly and concisely. If the
purpose is vague, the thesis will
be vague as well.


Review of literature
Research never begins in a vacuum, but
with the work of others. You start where
others have left off. Review the
relevant research thoroughly; the readers
of the prospectus should realize that you are
very familiar with the area of
investigation. Develop the review
because it will become a very important
section of the thesis.
Relevance to the field
How is the project original? What will it
add to the body of knowledge in the field? Are
your findings substantial
enough to present at a conference? If
not, you should probably not pursue this particular
topic.

Methodology
This is your plan for investigating the
topic of the research.

Bibliography
This section is directly related to your
review of literature. Include all items that you
mention in the review of
literature.
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