New York University Bulletin - Gallatin School of Individualized ...

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The Master’s ThesisGALLATIN SCHOOL OF INDIVIDUALIZED STUDYEach graduate student in the Gallatin School completes a final thesis as the culmination of hisor her work toward a Master of Arts degree.The thesis may take one of three forms:a researchthesis, an artistic thesis, or a project thesis. In each case, the thesis represents a synthesis of thestudent’s accumulated knowledge and skill and an opportunity to display the ideas, practices,and skills learned through the program.While the master’s thesis,unlike a doctoral dissertation,does not have to create new knowledge or break new ground,it does display the student’s abilityto go beyond the mere collection of information into synthesis, analysis, judgment and interpretation.Moreover, it should demonstrate the student’s familiarity with a substantial bodyof thought and literature and illustrate mastery of some self-chosen field of study.TYPES OF THESESThe Research ThesisThe research thesis is essentially an extended research paper, approximately 50-100 pages inlength.The research thesis consists of a systematic inquiry into some phenomenon, problem,or question that the student attempts to address or solve through research.This processentails the collection and analysis of original material as well as already published (secondary)sources, using appropriate scholarly methods.The topic for the thesis should emerge from the student’s individualized program of studyand should bring together issues or concerns that he or she has been pursuing during thecourse of the M.A. program. Some sample research topics include The Theatrical Collaborationsof Five Studio Artists from the Russian Avant-Garde;A Sense of Our Own Realities:TheLife and Art of Alice Neel; and Power and Stigma: Shaping the HIV/AIDS Epidemic inUganda and South Africa.The thesis may take any number of methodological approaches, depending on the questionand on the student’s studies:historiography,literary criticism,an integrative review of previousresearch, ethnographic analysis, policy studies, program evaluation, biography and manyother possibilities.The student should be able to justify his or her approach according to theparticular research problem or issue. Students should keep in mind that the adviser is the primaryperson responsible for determining the criteria and standards by which the thesis is carriedout and the relevance of the questions and issues posed.NewYork University Bulletin 2012-2013 75
NEW YORK UNIVERSITYThe Artistic ThesisThe artistic thesis is appropriate for those students who wish to display the creative process in theperforming,visual or literary arts.A student might make a film or video;choreograph an eveningof dance;act in a play;mount an exhibit of paintings;write a screenplay,novel,play or collectionof short stories;or choose another artistic endeavor.The artistic thesis represents the culminationof a Gallatin arts concentration in which the student has studied the genre under consideration.The artistic thesis comprises an artistic project and three accompanying essays.The essaysinclude (1) a background research essay, which is an academic research paper related to thefield of artistic work; (2) an essay on artistic aims and process; and (3) a technical essay.Therefore,the student should conceive of the artistic thesis as a unified piece, including the creativework and the essays that enhance it.The Project ThesisThe project thesis consists of two elements:(1) the project,a professional activity designed andexecuted primarily by the student as a way of solving a problem, and (2) an accompanyingessay about the project.This thesis is especially appropriate for students in such fields as business,education, social work or public administration.The project thesis may appeal to thosestudents who are active in their profession and who take responsibility for the creation of somekind of program or practice.Students should understand that the project cannot simply propose a professional activity;the design for such an activity must actually be carried out (at least in a pilot version)and evaluated. Some examples of projects: a student in education may develop and apply anew strategy for teaching reading to recent immigrants; a person working in a corporationmay construct new methods for managing financial information; or a community workerin a settlement house may organize a group of local residents to combat drug abuse.PREPARING FOR THE THESISStudents should begin thinking about thesis topics by at least midway through their program.The idea for a thesis may emerge gradually from their course work, or students may knowearly in the program what they would like to pursue and can use that plan as an organizingprinciple in choosing courses.Among their elective courses, students are strongly encouraged to take a methods course.This class will likely not have the word “methods” in the title, but it is a course (or an independentstudy) that gives students some degree of training in the use of the researchmethod or practice they intend to use in the thesis. Examples of methods courses includemodes of literary criticism; a statistics course for psychology; participant-observation techniquesfor anthropology or sociology; and historiography.76 NewYork University Bulletin 2012-2013
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