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The Proposal Writing Guide: How to Write a Winning Thesis Proposal Excepts from an article about how to write a thesis proposal — written by Dr. Wendy Carter for FinishLine, the free monthly newsletter of TA-DA!™, which provides tips, tools, and techniques for completing a thesis or dissertation When I was in graduate school I spent a lot of time going to workshops on how to write a thesis proposal. None helped me jumpstart the thesis proposal writing process. Usually after a workshop I felt more overwhelmed than I did before attending. Looking at sample thesis proposals in my discipline gave me some ideas, but did not motivate me to get started. It wasn't until I found a wonderful book called The Proposal Cookbook: A Step by Step Guide to Dissertation and Thesis Proposal Writing by J. Bruce Francis, that I felt confident to begin writing my thesis proposal. This book is out of print, so I have summarized some of its suggestions for you here. Before we start, here's a thesis writing tip A thesis proposal is generally written in the present and future tense. A thesis on the other hand is always written in past tense. The following tips assume that you already have a thesis topic selected. 13 Ingredients of a Winning Thesis Proposal 1. Introduction (1-2 pages) If you are required to write an introduction, write it so it captures the reader’s interest in this overview. It does not have to be perfect. You can write this section last. Your best overview of you project most likely will come after you have written the other sections of your proposal. 2. Problem Statement First formulate a research question. Next restate the question in the form of a statement: note the adverse consequences of the problem. The type of study determines the kinds of question you should formulate, such as Is there something wrong in society, theoretically unclear or in dispute, or historically worth studying? Is there a program, drug, project, or product that needs evaluation? What do you intend to create or produce and how will it be of value to you and society? 3. Background Capture the reader’s interest and convince him/her of the significance of the problem. Give at least three reasons why the problem you have chosen is important to you and society, and specify at least two concrete examples of the problem. 4. Purpose Begin with “The purpose of this study is to…” change, interpret, understand, evaluate, or analyze the problem. State your thesis goal completely. Remember, it should be some form of investigative activity. 5. Significance Focus on the benefits of your study not the research problem. Place yourself in the position of responding to someone who says “so what?” Provide a persuasive rationale for your argument by answering the following questions: Why is your study important? To whom is it important? What can happen to society, or theory, or a program if the study is done or not done? 6. Methodology
Transcript

The Proposal Writing Guide: How to Write a Winning Thesis Proposal

Excepts from an article about how to write a thesis proposal — written by Dr. Wendy Carter for FinishLine, the free monthly newsletter of TA-DA!™, which provides tips, tools, and techniques

for completing a thesis or dissertation

When I was in graduate school I spent a lot of time going to workshops on how to write a thesis proposal. None helped me jumpstart the thesis proposal writing process. Usually after a workshop I felt more overwhelmed than I did before attending.

Looking at sample thesis proposals in my discipline gave me some ideas, but did not motivate me to get started. It wasn't until I found a wonderful book called The Proposal Cookbook: A Step by Step Guide to Dissertation and Thesis Proposal Writing by J. Bruce Francis, that I felt confident to begin writing my thesis proposal. This book is out of print, so I have summarized some of its suggestions for you here.

Before we start, here's a thesis writing tip

A thesis proposal is generally written in the present and future tense. A thesis on the other hand is always written in past tense.

The following tips assume that you already have a thesis topic selected.

13 Ingredients of a Winning Thesis Proposal1. Introduction (1-2 pages)

If you are required to write an introduction, write it so it captures the reader’s interest in this overview. It does not have to be perfect.

You can write this section last. Your best overview of you project most likely will come after you have written the other sections of your proposal.

2. Problem Statement First formulate a research question. Next restate the question in the form of a statement: note the adverse consequences of the problem.

The type of study determines the kinds of question you should formulate, such as Is there something wrong in society, theoretically unclear or in dispute, or historically worth studying? Is there a program, drug, project, or product that needs evaluation? What do you intend to create or produce and how will it be of value to you and society?

3. Background Capture the reader’s interest and convince him/her of the significance of the problem.

Give at least three reasons why the problem you have chosen is important to you and society, and specify at least two concrete examples of the problem.

4. Purpose Begin with “The purpose of this study is to…” change, interpret, understand, evaluate, or analyze the problem.

State your thesis goal completely. Remember, it should be some form of investigative activity.

5. Significance Focus on the benefits of your study not the research problem.

Place yourself in the position of responding to someone who says “so what?” Provide a persuasive rationale for your argument by answering the following questions: Why is your study important? To whom is it important? What can happen to society, or theory, or a program if the study is done or not done?

6. Methodology Describe in technical language your research perspective and your past, present, or possible future points of view.

List three research methodologies you could use, and describe why each might be appropriate and feasible. Select the most viable method.

7. Literature Review Locate and briefly describe those studies and theories that support and oppose your approach to the problem. In other words, place the

proposed study in context through a critical analysis of selected research reports.

Be sure to include alternative methodological approaches that have been used by others who studied your problem.

8. Hypotheses State clearly and succinctly what you expect the results of your study to show.

Focus more on the substantive nature of what you expect to find and less on how you will test for those expectations.

9. Definition of Terms Describe for the reader the exact meaning of all terms used in the problem, purpose and methodology sections. Include any terms that, if not

defined, might confuse the reader.

State the clearest definition of each term using synonyms, analogies, descriptions, examples etc. Define any theoretical terms as they are defined by proponents of the theory you are using.

10. Assumptions Describe untested and un-testable positions, basic values, world views, or beliefs that are assumed in your study.

Your examination should extend to your methodological assumptions, such as the attitude you have toward different analytic approaches and data-gathering methods. Make the reader aware of your own biases.

11. Scope & Limitations Disclose any conceptual and methodological limitations

Use the following questions to identify the limitations of your study: What kind of design, sampling, measurement, and analysis would be used “in the best of all possible worlds”? How far from these ideals is your study likely to be?

12. Procedure Describe in detail all the steps you will carry out to choose subjects, construct variables, develop hypotheses, gather and present data, such

that another researcher could replicate your work.

Remember the presentation of data never speaks for itself, it must be interpreted.

13. Long-Range Consequences Think ahead approximately three years after the completion of your thesis project. What are the long-term consequences of your having done

the study or not done the study?

If you carry out the study successfully your results will: confirm your hypothesis; contradict your hypothesis; or possibly be inconclusive.

Wendy Y. Carter, Ph.D.

Looking for Thesis Proposal Writing Software?

If you are looking for software to help you write your thesis proposal, check out our TADA! Thesis and Dissertation Accomplished™online program. This resource tool can help you throughout the thesis writing process. Not complicated new software to learn, but a thesis writing guide. Here's how TA-DA!™ has helped many many graduates students finish with less stress and confidence.

Patent Pending | © Copyright 2003-2010 Dr. Carter’s

How to Write a Master's Thesis or Dissertation?

2/26/2012 From: Dr. Wendy Carter

Set a Deadline!

Deadlines are a fantastic motivator. I suggest using deadlines to complete all of your writing, including the chapters of your master's thesis of dissertation. Those of you who are using our TA-DA™ program are already familiar with this foundational strategy … for example, using a conference submissions deadline as a motivator to get one of your thesis/dissertation chapters finished.

It’s also important to set a continuum of deadlines. After clearing a major hurdle – such as defending a thesis or dissertation proposal – many students want to take a break from writing. If you find that you need a break after the completion of a major task, by all means take one – but only after setting a date for when you plan to begin writing again, as well as a deadline for when your next task must be completed.

Following are some additional TA-DA tips to help ensure that your writing gets done (and done well)!

Capture Thesis/Dissertation Ideas with a Journal

Keeping a journal is an age-old technique that writers have used to get their thoughts down on paper and keep track of what they learn. Many writers use a journal to write down facts, brainstorm ideas or “free write” a stream of consciousness to get their creative juices flowing. Others use it to vent their frustrations, which can help them move past the emotions of writer's block.

Though you might resist this strategy because you consider it extra work, I highly recommend using our TA-DA Methods Journal. You can use our Methods Journal to write down random thoughts and ideas whenever they strike; it can also serve as a central depository for data that can be mined in the future. There is also a “Issues to be Resolved” section, and a half page of graphing paper to create hand drawings of the elaborate tables and graphs you plan to include in your thesis/dissertation. You can run these “rough” drafts by your advisor for approval before investing a lot of time mapping the final versions.

Keep Keywords or Phrases Handy

Let’s face it, not too many people will read a master's thesis or dissertation. Neither is the type of document that piques the general public’s interest mainly because of its academic rigor and writing style. The topic is generally of interest only to the student, experts in the field, the student’s advisor and committee members.

Academic writing is quite formal and is not designed to be entertaining. Remember that the most important goal in thesis/dissertation writing is to get your intelligent point across in a clear concise manner. This style of writing is structured, formal and objective. A wide range of vocabulary is of course important, however, when writing academic papers, it is often helpful to find key terms that are familiar to your reading audience.

Focusing on scholarly text will also ultimately assist you in the writing process. Use academic journals to prepare a list of key words that are important in your research area---use this set of key words repeatedly throughout your document.

Resist the urge to use your thesaurus to come up alternate synonyms to substitute for key terms; these words all have different meanings, nuances, and connotations. For example, if the key phrase for your discipline is "family structure", ---do not try substituting other phrases like "family composition", "family formation", "family arrangement", or "family size." Experimenting with alternative word choice can do more harm than good.

On the other hand, purposely repeating key words and phrases links sentences and paragraphs. Moreover, repetition of key words and phrases not only emphasizes important points but also adds cohesion to your overall argument by creating powerful links between ideas in your paper and helping

your reader understand the logic of your paper.

Organizie Your Thoughts - Organize Your Thesis/Dissertation

At some point you’ll need to stop garnering ideas and facts, and start to write. First, however, it’s important to organize your project. Out of the mountains of raw data you have accumulated, you’ll need to decide what material to include, how to sequence that material, and how to shape your document to achieve the strongest possible argument and impression.

One of the most productive approaches to organizing your thesis or dissertation is to begin with your proposal and a well crafted table of contents (TOC). Your thesis/dissertation is really just an extension of your proposal; as such, a good starting point is to go through your proposal and simply change the tense from future to past. Then you can craft and use a TOC to create headers and sub-headers for the entire document.

This exercise will help you to organize your ideas effectively, and might also point out areas where you may need to collect more information. Be sure to involve your advisor in this process, and take careful note of the feedback he or she provides.

Edit Your Thesis or Dissertation

It is difficult for any writer to critique and proofread his or her own work. For the best result, take a “top-down” approach, and begin by reviewing the general organization and content of your writing. Don’t worry about sentence-level editing at this stage. Instead, focus on the flow of your paragraphs and sections, and whether they are properly ordered to facilitate a smooth stream of thought.

One way to gauge this is to write down all of your topic sentences in the order in which they appear in the document. (You can accomplish this quickly and easily by using the “blocking” function of your word processor to copy them to a blank page.) Once the sentences are listed in this fashion, you can easily observe whether they flow logically and make any necessary changes. Additional tips for effective self-editing are to:

Only edit for short blocks of time; Edit in a quiet place to avoid distractions; Read your document out loud; Read your document backwards, reading the last page first and working your way back to the first page; Changing something about your document (e.g., paper color, font size, font color or spacing) to give it a fresh look.

Find an Thesis/Dissertation Editor

Each time I begin writing this newsletter, I am comforted by the fact that I have an editor who will review my work. Knowing this allows me to freely pour out my thoughts on paper without having to simultaneously worry about the details of style and proper mechanics.

While I highly recommend using a third party to edit your work, it’s important to find the right person. Your thesis/dissertation will be written for a highly intellectual community, many of whom are experts in your field. As such, the editor you choose must be practiced in an academic style of writing that will appeal to this audience.

Evaluate potential editors by having them edit a few pages of your work to get a feel for their style. It’s helpful to provide samples of journal articles in your field, and to advise the editor of your style requirements and expectations. Some editors only edit for grammar and specific MLA or APA formatting issues. Others edit for overall continuity, and will check to ensure that the paragraphs are in the proper sequential order, and whether a particular argument makes sense. Editing fees range from $20 to $150 an hour. Be sure to clarify issues such as how many words or pages an editor can complete in an hour’s time. For more useful information about finding an editor, visit www.academicword.com.

Overcome Writer’s Anxiety: Write Your Thesis/Dissertationwith a Clean Slate

I got high marks in all of my college preparatory English classes, but hit a sticking point in my freshman year of college, when a visiting instructor told me that my writing skills were lacking. I was devastated by her negative assessment, and my confidence in my writing waned.

The following semester, I finished my freshman writing sequence at another university. Despite the fact that I wrote my essays on the bus rides to and from class, I was able to achieve straight A’s. Still, my confidence in my writing remained shaken.

If you have suffered a similar negative experience, it is important to understand that time and continued practice will heal this wound. Writing is like everything else: the more you practice, the better you get. It is important to move past any confidence issues you have by just writing and writing

more. Another good way to build confidence is to share your writing with trusted confidantes who will appraise, constructively criticize and help edit your words.

Write Your Thesis or Dissertation with an Attitude of Confidence

Many of us experience writer’s block because we are worried about whether or not what we are writing is actually right. I suggest that you abandon “right” and “wrong” and just write with abandon! Write as if you know you are right, and worry about the details later.

Writing with recklessness allows you to clear your head and move ahead of whatever may be blocking your thoughts. I used this technique to write the summary chapter of my dissertation. I had been struggling with the document for months, and finally said to myself, “I know more about this thesis/dissertation than anyone else, so I’m going to act like it!.” I began writing as if what I had to say was important, and as if my findings were an important academic contribution to the field. My new attitude was absolutely freeing! I was able to quickly finish the last chapter and rewrite the first one, as well!

Find a “Coach”

I strongly advise students to find a “coach” to help them organize and complete their project. There is a considerable difference between an advisor and a dissertation coach. An advisor is, first and foremost, an academician with considerable responsibilities that do not involve you. A thesis/dissertation coach, on the other hand, is paid to focus on you and help you finish your degree by listening to all of your concerns … academic or otherwise.

Thesis coaches focus on a holistic – not strictly academic -- approach to finishing your degree. In person or on the phone, they can discuss your project on an individual basis in absolute confidence, and also serve as a sounding board for stress relief. They can offer both emotional and academic support to help you complete important tasks, as well as provide the tools you need to achieve your goals, which enable you to accomplish more with less effort.

Coaches can help you get organized, and regularly track your progress to ensure that you stay on top of tasks. Their goal is to work in every possible way to help you write your dissertation, finish it, and get it published.

“Group Coaching” is also valuable. Through this model, once coach provides counsel to several students over the phone (via a bridge line). Everyone involved agrees to confidentiality, and the group is configured to guarantee that no one in the group will be in competition with another. The advantage of this approach is that you can accomplish more in less time, and can have the opportunity to work with students in different disciplines from all over the world. The group setting also provides built-in peer support.

Read FinishLine, the TA-DA! newsletter. Subscribe to this free publication and receive helpful tips, tools, and techniques right in your email inbox every month.

Wendy Y. Carter, Ph.D.

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Thesis ProposalsSome Example Thesis ProposalsExample 1: Back to the Future: Natural Law and the Original Meaning of the Alien Tort Claims Act

Example 2: Conceivability and Possibility Studies in Frege and Kripke

Handbook Guidelines for ProposalsWRITING THESIS PROPOSALS

The goal of your thesis proposal is to present the tenured or tenure-track faculty members of the department with a general outline of your intended thesis project together with a brief justification of its merit as a research project warranting a master’s degree. Take as your goal the creation of a concise, well-written document clearly articulating your project and its relationship to the philosophical literature. In general you should aim for 6-8 pages of text and a bibliography of 1-2 pages. A good thesis proposal will have three elements: (1) A clear and concise statement of the position you intend to articulate and defend in the thesis. (2) A well-researched statement relating your position to the philosophical literature indicating how your position connects with important thought on the subject by other philosophers. An indispensable part of your statement of relevance is a thorough search of the literature in the Philosopher’s Index, including reading a number of important articles in the area prior to writing your proposal. (3) An outline of how exactly you intend to structure your exposition in the thesis. This outline should present a chapter-by-chapter account, indicating how each chapter relates to the overall project.

The best strategy for writing your thesis proposal is to start early and interact regularly with your committee. Your committee is your resource for advice and feedback on your proposal while you develop it. The director of your committee is responsible for deciding when the proposal is ready for review and the committee members must agree. Your committee members are also the ones who will present the proposal and defend it to the department. Thus, the more constructive interaction you have with them while writing the proposal the better. It is important to note that a student cannot submit a proposal to the department on his/her initiative without the

approval of the thesis committee.

Some Common Proposal Difficulties

Writing a book report: Your thesis should make a modest contribution to the philosophical literature. A mere summary of the positions and arguments is inadequate. There are many ways you can contribute to philosophical thought: Your contribution could consist of finding a significant thesis or type of argument to constructively criticize. You could find an original extension of, or argument for, another person’s theory. You can develop a critical discussion of a view’s underlying methodological, epistemic, or ontological commitments. You can explore what is really at stake in a philosophical debate or the implications of a view. You can propose a useful organization of the positions in a debate. Whatever you choose, it must signify a step forward–an original contribution–albeit a modest one.

Cutting from whole cloth: While your thesis should contain your contribution to philosophical thinking on your thesis topic, your thesis is unlikely to introduce a totally novel and important way to conceive of or solve a problem in philosophy. Good research in philosophy is almost always grounded in a thorough understanding of the ways in which other people have thought about a philosophical topic or problem. Your thesis should build on the tradition.

Rushing to market: Think of your proposal as something that will take numerous drafts and some serious research to complete. Don’t try to slap together a document in order to meet a deadline. The timeline of an advanced degree is dictated exclusively by the amount of time it takes you to acquire and demonstrate a high level of competence in the field. When your proposal is ready for departmental review, you should be well on your way to writing the thesis itself.

Technical language: In general, it is better to state your thesis without technical language for a couple of reasons. First, expressing your project without reliance on technical jargon is an indicator that you have a good grasp of the issues. Second, not everyone in the

department will necessarily be familiar with the terms you use. Of course, sometimes it is important to refer to technical terms in framing a view or problem. When you use technical language, you should always explicate its meaning.

Long historical exegesis: When relating your thesis topic to the philosophical literature the most important facts to include are the ones that indicate how your project connects to recent work on the topic. A proposal need not contain a lengthy synopsis of the history of your topic.

Personal histories: However you came to your topic, that story is not relevant to assessing its philosophical merit or its viability as a thesis project.

Creating a Thesis CommitteeThe thesis committee consists of at least three faculty members. The department strongly recommends that your committee consist of three tenured or tenure-track members of the CSULB Philosophy Department. Minimally, the committee chair must be a member of the tenure-track faculty of the CSULB Philosophy Department. Of the two remaining members of your committee, at least one member must be a tenured or tenure-track member of a CSULB department. The third member can be a part-time faculty member or a person with appropriate qualifications from another university department or another university. Please consult with your committee chair in determining appropriate persons to invite to be on your committee. Although many part-time lecturers in the department are generous in volunteering their time for committee service, we request that you remember that the University does not compensate them for this work and most have heavy teaching schedules here and on other campuses. Your proposal submission should include letters from all non-department or non-tenure-track committee members stating that they are familiar with you and your thesis topic, stating that they intend to work with you on your thesis as a committee member, and outlining their qualifications to serve on your committee. Any members of your committee who are not from the tenure-track faculty of the Philosophy Department must be approved by your committee chair and the department.

Do not assume the department will approve committee members. The Philosophy Department reserves the right to reject any committee members.

Submitting Your Thesis ProposalOnce your advisor and all committee members are agreed that your proposal is ready, your next step is to submit the proposal to the department. First, add a cover sheet to your proposal including the title, date, and names of the committee members with the advisor identified and listed first. Each member of the committee will sign the cover sheet of your proposal, so include a signature line for each member. Once you have collected the committee signatures, you should prepare hard copies of your proposal for distribution to the faculty mailboxes in MHB seven days before the meeting where your proposal will be considered. You should submit a copy of your proposal to all the assistant, associate, and full professors in the department, along with all faculty members in the FERP (Faculty Early Retirement Program) who are on duty that semester. You can consult the department web page, your thesis advisor, the graduate advisor, the department chair, or the department administrative coordinator to determine the dates of department meetings and which faculty members are on duty. As your proposal will not be reviewed by part-time faculty members (lecturers), d

Writing a Master's Thesis or Dissertation Proposalpage 1, 2, 3

The proposal for a thesis or dissertation is essentially an outline of the research - kind of like an architectural blueprint for building a house. The clearer the plan, the more timely and successful the completion of the house. And the clearer the plan, the more likely it is that it will be approved by your advisor or dissertation committee, with a high probability that the final paper will also be accepted. A well - done, acceptable proposal, therefore, is a kind of personal contract between you the candidate, and your committee.

The challenge lies - as usual - in deciding exactly what topic you want to propose! It is true that some fortunate students may be offered a specific topic or problem to pursue by a mentor whose preferences agree with the student's own. But more often, your job is to come up with a specific topic or research question that shows promise for extended study. Do not worry if a topic does not suggest itself to you immediately. Be ready and willing to try out a number of possibilities to see how they develop. How do you "try out" a topic? - by doing a topic analysis.

This is really a simplified proposal form that includes the following parts:

1. Problem, hypothesis, or question

2. Importance of research

3. Significant prior research

4. Possible research approach or methodology

5. Potential outcomes of research and importance of each

(thanks to Davis & Parker)

Analyzing a potentially useful topic in this step?by?step way forces you to look at it objectively and precisely within two to four pages. Here are some points to watch for:

1. If you are unable to write your topic in either the form of a hypothesis or a clear statement, you need to refine and clarify the topic. It must be stated specifically, not in vague, imprecise terms.

2. You'll need to be able to justify what you're doing and prove that it's worthy of your time and energy. It's always handy if you can quote a major authority who is stating a need for the research. But if you don't have an authority on hand, try to demonstrate that your research is in some way significant to a major activity.

3. Be sure you have a reasonable (if not exhaustive) grasp of what's been done before. This will help support #2.

4. Extremely important part! Exactly how do you plan to approach the research? Try to explain as precisely as possible, and include an alternative methodology. This part may still be in rough form, but it should indicate the likely nature of your approach.

5. This will be important in assessing the worth of your topic. For example, let's say you might propose the use of a questionnaire to collect evidence. You would then need to analyze the results of the questionnaire. Your potential outcomes (speaking generally) might be a positive correlation between two factors, a negative one, none at all, or unsatisfactory responses. Perhaps only one of these outcomes could lead to a dissertation. That result could suggest the need for a different approach to the issue, which in turn could lead you down a more productive path.

1, 2, 3

© 2002 Dr. Kendra GainesAll Rights Reserved

o not distribute your proposal to them.

Please note that you are responsible for all printing and photocopying of your proposal. The Department does not provide photocopying services for students for this or other purposes.Writing a Master's Thesis or Dissertation Proposalpage 1, 2, 3

Let's say that's what has happened, and you're now in the happy position of writing

the first draft of your formal proposal. This is an expansion of the topic analysis and will be your final work plan, so it will probably end up being anywhere from ten to forty pages. Again, here's a generally accepted proposal

with an idea of expected page length:Section of Proposal Page Length

1. Summary 1-2

2. Hypothesis, problem or question 1-3

3. Importance of topic 1-2

4. Prior research on topic 1-7

5. Research approach or methodology 2-8

6. Limitations and key assumptions 1-2

7. Contributions to knowledge (for each potential outcome,if there are more than one)

1-3

8. Descriptions of proposed chapters in dissertation 2-3

(again, thanks to Davis & Parker) Note: A master's thesis can often be less

detailed and elaborate than the above plan. Also, individual departments usually have their own unique preferences. The above

plan is meant only as a general guide. Always

check with your own department for specific Guidelines!

(1-4) the first four sections are about the same as those in your topic analysis, only amplified and refined. The prior research

section in particular must be more comprehensive, although you may certainly summarize your report of prior research if

there is a great deal of it. Your actual dissertation will be the obvious place to go

into more detail.The research approach or methodology

section (5) should be explained explicitly. For example, what questions will you include on your questionnaire? If your work includes an

experiment, what apparatus will you use, what procedures will you follow, what data

do you intend to collect, and what instruments will you use in data collection? List any major questions yet to be decided.

In the limitations section (6) make clear what your study will not attempt to do.

The contributions section (7) will simply be more detailed than in your topic analysis,

and your chapter descriptions (8) should be as specific as possible. Just remember this is a proposal, so keep descriptions brief, and

try to highlight the structure of each chapter.

Most dissertations follow a standard chapter format:`1

1. Introduction (general problem area, specific problem, importance of topic,

research approach, limitations, key assumptions, and contribution to research) 2. Description of what has been done in the

past. (a.k.a. literature review; this documents that your own research has not

already been covered.)3. Description of the research methodology.

(how your research was conducted).4. Research results. (What you found out).

5. Analysis of the results (explains the conclusions that can be drawn from data, and

implications of a theory).6. Summary and conclusions (emphasize the

results obtained and contribution made. Outline suggestions for further research.)

With this general framework in mind, along with the specific characteristics of your own dissertation, you can define your chapters

clearly for your formal proposal.1, 2, 3© 2002 Dr. Kendra GainesAll Rights Reserved

Writing a Master's Thesis or Dissertation Proposalpage 1, 2, 3

Remember that it's often necessary to refine the first proposal, most likely by narrowing the scope of your study. But this is all part of the essential process of formulating a working plan for a dissertation that will yield a successful result. If you think of your proposal in this light, you're more apt to remain patient as you, work your way to the final draft.A checklist for self-appraisal, from Davis & Parker:1. Does the proposal have imagination?2. Is the problem stated clearly?(a) hypothesis clear? testable?(b) if no hypothesis, are objectives clearly stated? Can they be accomplished?(c) problem perhaps too large?3. Is the methodology feasible?(a) can data be collected?(b) how will data be analyzed?(c) will the analysis allow the acceptance or

rejection of the hypothesis?(d) is the sample population overused?4. What might the results of the analysis look like? (tables, graphs, etc.)5. What are the consequences if(a) the experiment fails;(b) data cannot be obtained;(c) analysis is inconclusive;(d) hypothesis is rejected or accepted?6. Can major research activities be listed?7. Can a time estimate be made for each activity?8. Again, are the dimensions of the project manageable?1, 2, 3

Next Topic: > Designing a Workable Plan for Your Thesis or Dissertation

<< Back to All Topics

© 2002 Dr. Kendra GainesAll Rights Reserved

A masters proposal is the first stage of the masters thesis. The proposal must:

Fully describe the question(s) or problem you will study Describe the theoretical context and methods of your research List the possible outcomes expected in the study

What is the urpose of a

Master's Proposal?

The proposal may very in length but usually ranges between 10-25 pages. Its purpose is to provide a plan for the project that will encompass your larger

thesis. It is a blueprint for your work. It illustrates, in detail:

What you plan to do Why it is theoretically and

substantively significant What your major and

minor objectives are What is the expected

results of your study What is the significance of

your study

Format, Price and Delivery of Proposal

You determine the elements needed in the proposal. Our basic format includes:

1" margins, 12 Courier New Font, Double Spacing

All proposals and theses are $30.95 per page

Delivery is typically via e-mail; however, other arrangements can be made (Fax, US Postal Service or Federal Express)

The following is a general outlinefor a Master's Thesis Proposal:

I. Introduction A. Statement of the ProblemB. HypothesisC. Significance of the Problem1. Definition of important terms2. Assumptions and LimitationsII. Review of LiteratureIII. Design of the studyA. Sample or study populationB. Data sources and measuresC. Data collection proceduresD. Data analysisReferencesAppendices

Golan Levin and CollaboratorsEssays and Statements

Peer-Reviewed Publications Essays and Statements Interviews and Dialogues Catalogues and Lists Project Reports Press Clippings Lectures Code Misc.

05 2009. Audiovisual Software Art: A Partial History 07 2006. Hands Up! The 'Media Art Posture' 07 2006. Some thoughts on Maeda for Ars 2006 07 2006. Einige Gedanken zu John Maeda 02 2006. Notes on Visualization Without Computers 10 2005. Artist Statement, October 2005 09 2005. Three Questions for Generative Artists 07 2005. Net Vision Jury Statement, Prix Ars 07 2005. Net Vision Jury-Begründung, Prix Ars 12 2004. Computer Vision for Artists and Designers 08 2003. Essay for John Maeda's Creative Code 01 2003. Pedagogical Statement 11 2001. Essay for 4x4: Beyond Photoshop 10 2001. Statement for Graphic Design in the 21st C. 10 2001. Statement of the Jury, Berlin Transmediale 05 2000. Statement For Communication Arts 12 1999. MIT Thesis Proposal 12 1997. MIT Statement of Objectives

Statement of Objectives, MIT Graduate School Application

Written in support of an Application for Admission to Masters' Studies in the Aesthetics and Computation Group, MIT Media Laboratory, Cambridge MA. Golan Levin, 15 December 1997.

It was quite clear to me that painting was capable of developing powers of exactly the same order as those music possessed. — Wassily Kandinsky, 1922

[The new medium is:] Dynamic, manipulable graphics with complex behavior. — Bill Verplank, 1981

Systems for Abstract Creation and Communication

I have had, for as long as I can remember, a deep interest in abstract visual communication. My mother, who is an Abstract Expressionist painter, and my father, who is an engraver, exposed me continually and from the youngest age to imagery whose content was form itself. Oddly enough, however, my earliest recollection of experiencing the power of abstract form is a memory of an event that occurred in my family's synagogue when I was very small: I had just learned to read English, but it hadn't yet dawned on me that there could be other writing systems apart from the one I knew. One evening during services, I asked my father what the funny black squiggles were in the prayer books we were holding. "Sh!" he said: " — that is how we talk to God." I became riveted by the black squiggles, which no longer seemed quite so funny, and stared at them intently until they danced before my eyes; only later did I learn that these marks were Hebrew. Since that time, I have been preoccupied by the idea that abstract forms can connect us to a reality beyond language. Having much to communicate which is neither linear, segmented, nor divisible into minimally distinctive semantic units, I have come to regard with suspicion the wholesale reduction of human existence into verbal language, and have striven instead to create meaningful expressions that could only be conveyed through non-verbal media.

For the past year I have attempted to explore abstraction by creating prototype "visual instruments" that afford continuous, expressive handles into the real-time performance of dynamic, abstract animation. Much of this work has been inspired by, and performed in close collaboration with my colleague Scott Snibbe, to whom I am indebted for introducing me to the domain of performative abstraction, and with whom I presently share many of the motivations expressed in this statement. The intent behind our work in interactive visual instruments has been to deliver similar experiences of joy, surprise, whimsy, creation, and non-verbal communication as are afforded, for example, by traditional musical instruments. In fact, the systems we have built are highly analogous to musical instruments, but in the visual domain — allowing interactants to gesturally perform visual patterns whose formal language consists of geometry and color, instead of sound, over time.

Musical instruments provide an especially rewarding basis for analogies because they have offered, for thousands of years, what may be the best example of humans deriving gratifying interactions from machines. Although the systems I have recently developed do not produce "music" as such, the idea that these works could nevertheless be considered "instruments" for the performance of animated graphics also serves to distinguish them from other software systems which might, on the surface, appear similar. "Visual instruments" are distinct from, for example, screen savers (which depend on a passive interaction model), games (which are generally not concerned with the user's creative expression), visual interfaces to musical instruments (in which the creative expression is made in audio), or music visualization systems (in which, again, graphic expression is an accessory to music).

The broad goal of the work I propose here is to promote creativity and communication via computational visual media. In the remainder of this statement, I put forth one possible theoretical context within which this pursuit may be framed; some criteria by which I have come to evaluate the success of systems of this kind; and a list of some of the new questions and directions to which I'd like to open this endeavor in graduate study.

Hot and Cool

In my attempt to understand the design of great media for creative personal expression, I've been tremendously influenced by Marshall McLuhan's distinction between what he termed "hot" and "cool" media. To McLuhan, "hot" media are high-definition, high-resolution experiences that are "well-filled with data," while "cool" media are low-definition experiences that leave a great deal of information to be filled in by the mind of the viewer or listener. Photography and film are hot media, for example, while cartoons and telephony are cool. McLuhan's definitions establish a strongly inverse link between the "temperature" of a medium and the degree to which it invites or requires audience participation: hot media demand little completion by their audience, while cool media, "with their promise of depth involvement and integral expression," are highly participatory.

A quick glance at the tradeshow floor at SIGGRAPH is all that is necessary to observe that the trend in the computer graphics industry to date has been the development of high-resolution, high-bandwidth, mega-polygon experiences. The products of this focus — typically photorealistic three-dimensional virtual realities — have been dazzling and hypnotizing. But our relations to these spaces are rarely ever more than as spectators, and almost never as creators. The industry's rush to develop these hot experiences has left in its wake numerous fertile and untrammeled technologies for cooler, more participatory media. Scott Snibbe has pointed out that one such territory is the domain of synthetic two-dimensional computer graphics, which, largely neglected after the early Macintosh era, has only recently begun to be revisited in the roughly two years since consumer PC's became capable of real-time, full-screen dynamic interaction.

I seek to build sophisticated cool media for interactive communication and personal expression. In doing so, I interpret McLuhan's specification for cool media — that they demand "completion by a participant" — quite literally. The notable property of cool media, I believe, is that they blur the distinctions we make between subject and object, enabling the completion of each by the other. An example of such a subject/object distinction is that between author and authored, the blurring of which, according to psychologist Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, is critical to the Zen-like experience of creative flow. Another such distinction is that between sender and recipient, to whose dissolution, wrote philosopher Georges Bataille, we owe the delight of communication itself. My aspiration for graduate study is to build — and understand the mechanisms of — systems that successfully blur these boundaries, enabling the joyful flow and authentic communication that are possible people engage, through a medium, in a transparent, continuous and transformative dialogue with themselves and others. My foremost measure of success for any medium I design begins, therefore, not with the question "for how long can I suspend my disbelief in it?" but with the questions: "for how long can I feel it to be a seamless extension of myself?" and "to what depth can I feel connected to another person through it?"

Instantly Knowable, Infinitely Masterable

The design of seamless extensions to ourselves is "non-trivial", as is the design of structures that can afford deep intercommunications. In attempting to surmount these difficulties, nevertheless, I have become convinced of a somewhat more tractable design implication which follows from them: that, ideally, such systems should be instantly knowable, yet infinitely masterable and expressible.

By "instantly knowable," I mean that no instructions or explanations ought to be necessary for novice use: the mechanisms of control are laid bare to the intuition, and thus the operation of such a system is self-revealing. By "infinitely masterable and expressible," on the other hand, I mean that the system has an inexhaustible expressive range, which, like the finest instruments, requires a lifetime to master — and furthermore, that this expressive range is wide enough that different users can develop unique styles or creative "voices" in that medium. This remarkable combination of attributes is commonly found in real-world expressive instruments but rarely — if ever — in computational ones. Consider, for example, how a three-year-old child can sit before a piano or a pencil and almost immediately intuit its basic principles of operation. Yet we take for granted that pianos and pencils are also rich enough media that the same child could spend the remainder of her life mastering them.

I know of no software tool which matches a piano or a pencil by these criteria. Instead, instant knowability and infinite expressibilityare all too often traded for one another: we slog through thick software manuals written "For Dummies," only to reach the limits of our tools' capabilities in homogenized outputs that, processed by the same filters and plug-ins, look and sound like everybody else's. At best, computers have only inverted the cultural logic of tool use, making our most general software tools difficult to learn and our specialized tools easy. I believe that the remedy for this, in the case of expressive instruments for visual communication, is a double-pronged research effort focused not only on the development of more "intuitive" interfaces, but also on the development of "intelligent" graphics models which know as much as possible about both themselves and the user. In the section that follows, I detail some of the questions and approaches I intend to pursue on the path towards knowable and expressive, intuitive and intelligent graphical experiences.

New Directions

Whole-body interactions. Many artists and designers have traded the direct control afforded by physical media for the flexibility, precision, transmissability and undo-ability furnished by computational tools. But this trade has not been without a cost: for the most part, computer interfaces have physically disconnected us from direct expression, and haven't taken advantage of the many physical heuristics we use to understand the world. We have gone from using our whole bodies directly to using a single index finger abstractly — and what use to feel like play has come to feel more and more like labor. In short, we now spend far too much time hunched over clumsy keyboards, poking at cryptic symbols with inarticulate mice, when we ought to be playing in a spacious and malleable world that conforms to our intuitive physical understanding and all manner of direct manipulations.

I strongly feel that creative expression should be something that we do with our whole bodies — just as it was for millenia in the pre-computational era. It is my hope that, by designing and developing interfaces which create more fluid connections between our computational and physical environments, I can work to dissolve the modern boundaries between artists, tools and artifacts which gave rise to the term "interface" in the first place. Although the introduction of devices like pen-based tablets has been a good, if small beginning, I anticipate that the next great advances in direct-manipulation interfaces will inherit from the development of unique physical bridges to computation, using technologies like force-sensitive resistors, accelerometers, electric field sensors, inclinometers, and so forth. I've had some experience connecting software to physical sensors at Interval Research, but I would like to do more, and I haven't yet had the opportunity to meld these technologies with expressive, synthetic graphical environments.

Alternative vehicles for software delivery. I love two-dimensional graphic displays, but I dislike fifty-pound monitors — especially since even the tiniest two-bit LCD is a microworld bursting with interesting opportunities for expressive interactive display. I want to bring dynamic graphics off of the desktop and into my own body-space, towards engaging software for such small-screen devices as portable hand-held game machines, Tamagotchi-like keychain computers, and palmtop computers like the U.S. Robotics Palm Pilot. I came to feel at home in a low-resolution universe after I spend years, as an undergraduate research assistant, developing

icons on a 32-by-32 pixel grid; now I wish to make these small spaces breathe with expressive interactivity.

Design for multiple users. Most image-making activities, for practical and historical reasons, have been solitary ventures. Even the most up-to-date commercial software tools assume and perpetuate this lonely mode of artistic endeavor — but this need not be so. The computer has made it possible for people to share and experience simultaneous visual communication, and evidence from recent networked improvisation systems such as Scott Snibbe's MotionPhone suggests that people truly enjoy creating in this way. The challenge is that the idioms and mechanics of collaborative image-making remain poorly understood. What are the formalisms of image and animation which, like the Blues in music, can provide strangers with idiomatic structures in which to improvise together? What are the mechanisms by which participants can engage in a visual dialogue with each other, learning and responding to each other's unique signatures? I seek to design systems for collaborative visual improvisation that permit multiple users — however abstractly their expressions are communicated — to develop sophisticated understandings of, and relationships to, each other.

Instruments as cybernetic systems. When sophisticated instruments are performed expertly, the boundary between human and machine dissolves, and we perceive only a single expressive system. How can the instrument level itself to the user naturally and gracefully, continuously but unobtrusively suggesting what can be done next? Can the parts of the interaction language the users do know intrinsically suggest the parts of the language they don't? As users engage in a dialogue with a medium, how can both user and software grow and change together as a coupled system?

Conclusion

It's still an open question as to whether black squiggles, properly deployed, could allow us to communicate directly with supernatural forces. In the meantime, it's my hope that by developing systems for creative visual communication, we may at least have a means for connecting to each other in the reality beyond verbal language. The questions and issues I describe above are only some of the many interesting hurdles that lie in the path of creating such a connection.

The design space of interactive abstract visual communication remains fundamentally unexplored. My goal is to derive an understanding of this space as well as create systems which embody the design principles I discover. The lessons learned from this pursuit may be generalizable to traditional software applications and potentially to all areas of human-computer interaction, transforming the design of our already-prevalent dynamic information graphics in ways that have not yet been brought to bear.

The research I have conducted thus far, and which I propose to continue, cannot be understood as located wholly within the domain of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research, or the domain of Computer Graphics (CG) research. Instead, the work I propose resides in the connection between these two areas of endeavor — an interdisciplinary niche which must necessarily assume a hyphenated acronym at best. It is my hope that, as a graduate student at the MIT Media Laboratory, I will be able to delve deeply into this niche, toward the design of intuitive, articulate, whole-body instruments for multimedia play and communication.

Golan Levin, 15 December 1997


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