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| Chapter 3: The Research Proposal
After final approval has been obtained, the candidate and the research advisor will work together to recruit
a suitable faculty thesis director. Under no circumstances should candidates approach a professor about
becoming their thesis director. Premature discussions of a proposed research project with a faculty member
may also inadvertently jeopardize the candidate’s opportunity to work with that person later on. Locating
a suitable faculty member is a process that may go quickly; but most often it too takes at least four to six weeks.
If your proposal is approved during the summer, you may have to wait even longer, for many faculty are away
from the university during this period. You should therefore be prepared for some time to elapse between the
approval of the thesis proposal and the assigning of a director. You may, of course, begin work on an outline of
the proposed thesis or a single chapter in the interim. It is frequently desirable to do so in order not to lose the
momentum you have gained while researching and crafting the proposal. Students should not, however, write
the entire thesis before a director is found. Most faculty members expect to assist the student in mapping out
the design of the overall work and may take umbrage at the implication that their input is superfluous.
Once the proposal has received final approval and the thesis director has agreed to serve, Extension policy
dictates that the candidate’s thesis must be completed, read, and evaluated by the thesis director within a period
of nine months. The tentative schedule should reflect this requirement. In exceptional circumstances, a short
extension may be granted after petition by the student, but extensions are rare and are certainly not given
automatically. When planning a date for graduation, the student should expect to complete the entire thesis,
including approval of the final format by the research advisor and approval of the content by the thesis director,
six weeks in advance of the graduation date.
There are three possible dates for graduation during the academic year. Those dates, and the time by which the
thesis must be completed for graduation on those dates, are as follows:
For graduation in: Thesis completed by: Bound copy due:
May
November
March
April 1
September 15
January 15
May 15
November 1
March 1
Nota Bene: Please note that if you hope to graduate in May, you should have your
proposal approved, at the very latest, by October 1, six months before the thesis is
due on April 1. Since it may take four weeks for the proposal to be read, the revised or
final draft of the proposal should therefore be submitted not later than September 1.
Students who submit proposals after that date cannot be assured of graduating in May
and should alter their expectations accordingly. Neither the ALM office nor the thesis
director should be asked to rush a student’s work along to compensate for a late start.
8. Working Bibliography
The working bibliography should be selective. It should not simply include all the materials that might
conceivably be used in the finished research. Rather, it should demonstrate that you have actually read the
sources you cite, know which further sources you will need to consult, and why. The bibliography, in other words,
represents an interim tally of your progress.
The working bibliography should include most of the materials that will actually be used in the finished research
project. It should list under separate rubrics all works cited in the proposal (Works Cited); all works consulted
A Guide to the ALM Thesis