Engl 600
Fall 2015
The Windup, The Pitch: The Formal Prospectus
A prospectus is a look ahead, a declaration of intent—but a more formal one than the rough
proposal you wrote several weeks ago. Your prospectus will inevitably be informed by several
intervening weeks’ worth of additional thought, research, and revision, and it will undoubtedly
profit from—perhaps even incorporate elements of—your feasibility study, your journal (article)
review, and your annotated bibliography. Its most practical purpose is to help you “pitch” your
prospective MA Project to one or more faculty members, to convince them that your topic and
your approach are sound and have a good chance of resulting in an interesting study. Once you
secure a faculty advisor’s participation, the prospectus may become a working document which
you will further refine with his or her help, and which will, ideally, reflect the current state of
your thinking at every stage of the way.
Here, then (with a big nod to an anonymous Religious Studies professor at Georgia State
University, from whom I adapted much of what you see below) is what your prospectus should
look like. It will consist of four parts: 1) title and abstract; 2) methodology; 3) annotated
bibliography; and 4) significance.
1. Title and Abstract (no more than 200 words)
Your abstract should briefly introduce your topic, your thesis, and the argument you will pursue
in support of that thesis, insofar as you can envision that argument right now. A topic is a general
research area—an issue you’re setting out to elucidate, a problem you’re setting out to solve, a
question you’re setting out to answer, a paradox you’re setting out to resolve. A thesis is an idea,
an interpretation, an argument about that topic. (At this stage, it’s probably more like a working
hypothesis. So bluff a little.) A successful thesis is usually fairly narrowly focused—probably no
more ambitious than a thesis for a seminar paper or journal article. If you already have a working
relationship with a trusted faculty member, he or she may be willing to help you craft a suitably
narrow topic and thesis.
2. Methodology (1-2 double-spaced pages)
In your methodology section you should discuss how you will conduct your research. What
kinds of materials will you study and how will you study them? If you are going to read closely a
set of primary texts, how will you do so? What key ideas or theories are going to help you? If
your research involves studying or even interviewing a particular set of human subjects, how and
when will you do that? If it involves designing a survey, what principles will inform that design?
If it involves collecting empirical data, where will the data come from? What theoretical
principles will guide your inquiry and/or help you analyze or interpret its results? Assembling a
methodology section involves understanding 1) what your primary source materials are (which
texts, data, etc. you will study); 2) how you are going to study them; and 3) what theoretical or
scholarly ideas or models you will draw on to help you interpret them. All such information
should be included in the methodology section.
3. Annotated Bibliography (1-2 double-spaced pages)
In this section you will list what you regard as key sources (primary and secondary) that will
play central roles in your project. In large part, this section allows you to demonstrate your
familiarity with prior scholarly work in and/or related to your area. For each book or article,
include at least one or two sentences about the source. How would you measure its importance
in your field of study? How will it figure in your study? The annotated bibliography section of
your prospectus should be selective, not comprehensive; it should include no more than 10
entries, and it may repeat portions of the annotated bibliography you’re handing in next week.
4. Significance (1 double-spaced page)
In this section you have an opportunity to reflect on your MA project and what you hope to
achieve there. What sort of rationale would you articulate for your project? Why is it
worthwhile? What do you want to “prove”? What question(s) do you want to help settle? What
unexplored avenues of inquiry do you wish to open? What dark corners do you want to
illumine? (The answers to these questions could be grand or modest.) And finally: how might
your project contribute to an ongoing scholarly conversation around your topic and/or point to
areas for further research?
Format everything according to the 7th edition of the MLA Handbook, and aim to get it to me no
later than Friday, November 13th.