Thesis Prospectus Guidelines

Anyone planning to do a thesis or a public history thesis/project needs to include four copies of a prospectus with the program of study, which must be submitted with your Advance to Candidacy forms. You will need to have all members of your committee approve the prospectus before submitting it to the Graduate School. You can pick up the Prospectus Approval form from the Graduate Coordinator or find it on the department’s website.

The prospectus is a summation of what you expect the thesis or thesis/project to involve, particularly what questions you will be trying to answer and what kinds of sources and/or artifacts you will use. A prospectus should include the following parts:

1. A title page that includes your thesis title, name, date, and committee members.

2. A discussion that explains the purpose of your thesis. This should include the questions and issues that you will be addressing in the thesis, the thesis (if known) that you will argue, and a succinct description of the subject matter (content, chronology, etc.) covered in the thesis.

3. A discussion of how your thesis relates to the current historiographical discussion in the field. Be sure to address how your thesis fits into the broader research on the topic.

4. A description of the methodology of the thesis. This would include what types of sources you will use for the thesis.

5. A brief outline (two or three sentences), chapter by chapter, of how the thesis will be structured (not required for the public history thesis/project).

6. A bibliography including primary and secondary sources that you intend to use in the thesis.

7. For public history students only: A paragraph discussion covering the details of your project.

It would be helpful if you included a timeline that outlines anticipated dates when portions of the thesis will be completed. The student's committee has final responsibility for approving the prospectus, but a prospectus should generally be a minimum of three pages, excluding the bibliography. The final product may be different from the original expectations, but it is important to try to be as precise as possible to ensure that your thesis or thesis/project does not take much longer than you had planned. Always start by discussing the prospectus with your thesis advisor and committee members before submitting a draft.