Thesis guidelines
In the Department of Philosophy, master’s students have the choice of a research thesis or a monograph thesis.
Choosing a supervisor
This should happen as early in the course of your MA studies as possible, optimally within the first 3 months. The process requires students getting in contact with prospective supervisors, to introduce themselves and their interests, and prospective supervisors agreeing to serve as supervisors. The Graduate Program Director (GPD) can help you with choosing a supervisor and can serve as a consultant. Supervision is limited to full-time faculty. Limited term and adjunct faculty can serve on MA defence committees or as advisers for MA research, but not as MA supervisors.
Your thesis proposal
The proposal is written before the thesis. It should demonstrate that the student has a philosophically viable research project, at a suitably high level of scholarship, that is feasible for them to complete and defend. It should also demonstrate ability to research and master a body of scholarship appropriate for the research topic. As a general guideline your proposal should address the following questions (not necessarily in this order):
- You are adding to existing philosophical analyses, arguments, scholarly interpretations, etc., through your own analyses and research. What is your claim?
- To add a claim to existing philosophical analyses, etc., you need to provide reasons for your claim. What are they?
- What scholarship, analyses, conceptual points, etc. are you drawing on? This concerns the context to which your point contributes and on which it draws.
- What is your Research Thesis contributing that is not already out there in scholarship? What’s new in your claim?
- What is the significance of your claim? Why does it matter to philosophy, or to discussions of the topic addressed? What makes the work worth doing?
A succinct 3-6 sentence thesis statement will encapsulate an answer to all these questions: “The Research Thesis will claim that P, by drawing on research materials B, in the context set by those materials. It will add something new, N, in ways that are significant and worth caring about. The reasons for claiming that P are roughly R (or along the lines of R).”
Typically, discussion of the scholarly basis and context is no more than 40% of the proposal. Discussion of the claim and an outline of the reasons for it constitutes a substantive part of the proposal, with the remaining elements (what’s new, why it matters) having equal emphasis.
Research thesis:
An initial draft of the research thesis proposal is to be submitted to your supervisor by the end of month 9 of your program (May 31 for students beginning in September), with the proposal submitted to the Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) by the end of month 12. ‘Fast track’ students arrange a shorter timeline with supervisors. Your approved proposal must be submitted by the end of month 16.
Monograph thesis:
The supervisor-approved monograph thesis proposal must be handed in to the GPD by May 1 for September admission and by December 1 for January admission. The GPD will then circulate the proposal among the members of the Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) for their approval. The GSC reserves the right to reject the proposal, suggest changes to it, or to expand the bibliography.
Submit your proposal via email to the GPD, cc’ing your supervisor. The proposal is assessed by the Graduate Studies Committee (GSC). See possible assessments below.
The GSC’s decision to accept the proposal indicates that the student is ready to proceed with writing the Research Thesis itself, under the guidance of their supervisor(s), taking any feedback from the GSC into consideration.
Research proposals are to be no more than 3,000 words, including all footnotes/endnotes, but not the bibliography or title. The proposal is double spaced and submitted electronically, preferably as an editable document (DOCX, or RTF), to facilitate review and comment by the committee (PDFs may also be submitted). The bibliography is formatted in Chicago style; generally, it is expected that it will comprise 30-40 items.
A monograph thesis proposal should be between 4 and 6 single-spaced pages and use gender-inclusive language. It should first offer the thesis statement the student wishes to defend, and indicate the main arguments in its favour (2 to 3 pages). It should then supply a breakdown of the projected chapters and their content, and add a bibliography relevant to the thesis.
Your thesis
Writing the Research Thesis
This is a time of intenstive research and writing, often in the spring and summer of the second year. It typically involves several to many iterations of sending a draft to the supervisor for feedback, revising the draft, and sending it back for further feedback, to arrive at a research thesis that is ready for defence.
Research theses demonstrate a high level of scholarship and intensive research. Broadly speaking, they are modelled on research papers that could be submitted to a refereed philosophy journal or conference.
Formatting specific to the Department
- Use endnotes rather than footnotes. Endnotes should be gathered at the end of the document.
- Citation style should follow the most recent edition of The Chicago Manual of Style.
- A research thesis should be between 30 and 40 pages (7,500-10,000 words), including endnotes and bibliography.
- A monograph thesis usually numbers around 80 pages, including the bibliography.
Formatting must otherwise follow the thesis submission process outlined by the School of Graduate Studies.
Graduation application
If you have completed all program requirements except for your defence and final thesis submission, you should apply to graduate by mid-January for spring graduation or by mid-July for fall graduation. See the Graduation & Convocation site.
Your oral defence
The defence is in principle public, and is advertised by the Department, in particular among faculty and fellow graduate students.
The examination committee is then appointed by the Graduate Studies Committee of the Department of Philosophy, as represented by the GPD in consultation with the student’s supervisor. Students may suggest possible examiners to the supervisor and/or the GPD. A third faculty member is required on examination committees in those cases in which two faculty members serve as co-supervisors. The third faculty member then serves as independent overseer of the examination.
Students have the right to submit their thesis for examination without approval of the principal supervisor or oral examination committee members, but it highly advisable to have it judged ready for defence.
The target is a defence by the end of the second year of study, typically between May and end of August (for students beginning in September). It usually lasts 90 to 120 minutes.
- A defence begins with the MA student’s summary of the project and an account of what motivated them to write it (7-10 minutes maximum).
- Several rounds of questions (2-4 rounds are typical), with the second examiner beginning each round. An examination Chair who is not the supervisor may also ask questions during the defence, though they do not typically have their own round of questions.
- The Chair invites questions from the audience, if any.
- When the examination Chair has closed questions, the examinee (and audience, if any) leaves the room so that the examiners debate the outcome. Typically, the deliberations begin by the second examiner suggesting an outcome.
- After the deliberations, the examination Chair invites the examinee back in and informs them of the outcome.
- Accepted as submitted which may include corrections that do not require the supervisor’s approval.
- Accepted with minor modifications, defined as corrections that can be made immediately and to the satisfaction of the supervisor.
- Accepted with major modifications. The Master's Examination Committee Report shall include a precise description of the modifications along with a date for their completion of no more than six months. The Examining Committee shall examine the modified Thesis and, by majority vote, determine if the modifications specified in the Examination Committee Report have been completed to the Examining Committee’s satisfaction. If they have, the research thesis may be accepted, and the supervisor will confirm the Examining Committee’s approval to the GPD and the GPA. It is not necessary for the Examining Committee to reconvene. If the Examining Committee is not satisfied that the specified modifications have been made, then the Examining Committee must reconvene to decide if the Research Thesis is rejected or an additional period of modifications is to be granted. The Chair shall report in writing to the Dean of Graduate Studies the outcome of the Examining Committee meeting.
- Rejected. This notation is used for a Thesis for which the Examining Committee is not prepared to request either minor or major modifications, i.e., where the work shows serious deficiency, or its validity is in question. Such Thesis may be re-submitted only once, in revised form. Such a resubmission can only be made six (6) months or more from the date of the original defence. Formal re-submission of a Thesis follows the same procedure as an initial submission.
Decision impasse: If the Examining Committee is unable to reach a decision, it is the responsibility of the Chair of the defence proceedings (often the supervisor) to call a meeting of the Examining Committee with the GPD to determine the outcome. The student is not normally required to be present at the second meeting of the Examining Committee. If no agreement is forthcoming at this meeting, the GPD will call a new oral examination that the GPD will chair. At the request of the student, a third examiner may be added to the Examining Committee at the second defence.
Final submission
Final, approved copies of the thesis must be submitted to the Department of Philosophy Department and to the Spectrum Research Repository.
Once all modifications have been made to the satisfaction of the supervisor and/or the Examining Committee, the supervisor informs the GPD and the Graduate Program Assistant (GPA) in writing of this fact. The GPA then submits to the Associate Dean, Graduate Studies, the Graduate Activity Grade Report, signed by the supervisor, GPD, and Department Chair.
The student must email the final after-defence version of the research thesis, with all required modifications, to the GPA of the Department. The GPA will add this copy, with copies of the Graduate Activity Grade Report and of the Master’s Examination Committee Report, to the student’s file.
Students must submit their final, revised Research Thesis to the Spectrum Research Repository by the final thesis submission deadlines.
