The following is a set of guidelines intended to assist art history graduate students in conceptualizing and completing the thesis requirement for the MA degree. These guidelines are intended to suggest appropriate parameters for the thesis, codifying what was previously a loosely defined set of expectations for its completion. The guidelines are intentionally broad, however, reflecting the requirement that thesis proposals, research, and writing all take place under the guidance of a thesis advisor.
The thesis advisor must be selected from the tenure-track faculty members in the art history program. The advisor is a crucial part of completing the degree and should be a professor whose area of specialization is closely related to the thesis topic. Optimally, the student will have an established relationship with the desired advisor, developed through prior coursework.
The thesis committee consists of the advisor and at least two other faculty members. The committee is responsible for reading the thesis, providing student feedback, and approving the final document. One of the committee members may be selected from outside the School of Art and Design, from another discipline within the School of Art and Design, or from non-tenure-track faculty in art history.
Students should also be cautious about soliciting committee members from visiting faculty, recognizing that the obligations of visiting faculty are necessarily of limited duration. Visiting faculty can provide valuable feedback and insight to the thesis but are not obliged to continue their participation after their contract with the University expires. If, however, a student is confident of completing the thesis in a timely fashion and wishes to have a visiting faculty member on her committee, he/she should absolutely do so.
The thesis proposal is a document of 3 to 5 pages long, supplemented by a bibliography. It is a document intended to describe the topic and scope of the thesis and should be completed before writing the thesis itself. It is essentially a plan for completion that signals to the advisor and other committee members that the student is ready to complete the thesis and degree.
The proposal is developed in consultation with the student's thesis advisor and should articulate the thesis statement, review published literature on the topic, describe the methodology to be used, and lay out a timetable to completion. Copies of the finished proposal should be distributed to each of the student's thesis committee members who will approve the proposal and give appropriate feedback to the student.
The question of length inevitably arises when working on any substantive scholarly document, whether an article, thesis, dissertation or book. In some cases, the topic itself suggests an appropriate length for adequate analysis. As a very general guideline, for those cases where the topic is not self-limiting, the text of theses written in the art history Master's degree program should normally fall between fifty (50) and seventy-five (75) pages. A bibliography and appropriate illustrations are required components to the thesis that supplement the text. The advisor will consult with the student on the appropriate structure and length for a specific thesis.
It is expected that the thesis advisor will read and offer commentary on preliminary drafts of the thesis. The student and advisor should work out an arrangement concerning the number and frequency of preliminary drafts. When the draft has reached an appropriately finished stage, the student, in consultation with the advisor, will submit a final draft to the committee.
Deadlines for final submission of the thesis are set by the School of Art and Design and by the College of Arts and Sciences. Students are responsible for keeping track of their progress and the applicable deadlines. Master's candidates should plan to submit a final draft of the thesis (with bibliography and illustrations) to committee members for review AT LEAST four weeks prior to the School of Art and Design deadline. This is to provide ample time for committee members to read the document and suggest any final revisions, as well as time for the student to complete those revisions.
Students must provide committee members with hard (printed) copies of thesis documents. It is the responsibility of the student to see that committee members have legible illustrations and adequately completed citations and bibliography in order to evaluate the thesis. Emailed (or otherwise electronically submitted documents) are not adequate substitutes for the printed version.
As a capstone to the Master's degree, students are encouraged to arrange a final committee meeting to discuss the thesis. Such a meeting provides faculty members an opportunity to give oral feedback on the strengths of the thesis as well as suggest directions for further development of the topic. While not a formal thesis defense, this meeting would be particularly helpful for those students intending to pursue doctoral studies - providing insight into which committee member(s) would be best able to advise and support applications to doctoral programs as well as assessing the potential for publication of the thesis itself.