M.A. Thesis Standards

Writing and defending a Master's thesis is the culmination of our M.A. program. It is writing a thesis that distinguishes the M.A. from a typical undergraduate philosophy program, in which a student just needs to pass a certain number of classes that cover the various areas of philosophy. A thesis should reflect a greater depth and breadth of research than the usual end-of-term seminar paper, and it will be written over a longer period of time, with several rounds of substantial revision in response to input from a range of philosophical viewpoints. (It is for this reason that we require the series of thesis writing deadlines that we do.) And so, the thesis should be much more substantial, incisive, and polished than the usual class paper. That said, the successful thesis need not be a landmark achievement in philosophy. Instead, it simply needs to demonstrate that the student has acquired sufficient philosophical skills and knowledge. And so, many of the things we will be looking for in a successful thesis are the same sorts of things we want in a good seminar paper. Philosophical Skills. Philosophy is (in part) an activity of offering arguments for a conclusion. An M.A. thesis needs to have a clear overall thesis, and the rest of the M.A. thesis needs to be clearly organized around the goal of supporting that thesis, by offering arguments in support of it, rebutting objections, etc. Some exposition will be necessary to lay out background for one's project, to set out objections before answering them, and the like, but your M.A. thesis should not be primarily expository. Likewise, your M.A. thesis should not be a set of disconnected reflections on some topic or philosopher. In the course of writing the thesis and refining it in response to feedback from your advisor and committee members, you will end up demonstrating that you can lay out a series of clear and sustained arguments for some conclusion, and anticipate and rebut objections. NB: the thesis of your thesis need not be ambitious ("I will prove that substance dualism is true"); for an M.A. thesis, a modest and tightly focused thesis is more likely to be successful. And a 'negative' thesis is acceptable ("I will argue that so-and-so's arguments against substance dualism, which are based upon the causal interaction of mind and body, do not give us good reason to reject substance dualism"). Finally, a thesis can demonstrate a great deal of philosophical skill, far more than enough to pass, even though (in the opinion the advisor or committee) its arguments have serious problems, some major objections are still outstanding, etc. In fact, it would be shocking if a thesis didn't have flaws, loose ends, and the like. Mastery of content. By the time you're done with your thesis, you should know what you're talking about. This includes being to explain clearly the relevant distinctions, arguments, and positions in the topic you're exploring in a way that demonstrates your understanding of them. (NB: being able to do this is consistent with having a controversial interpretation of what's going on with some argument or philosopher, even one that your advisor might regard as mistaken.) It also involves being able to bring to bear the relevant scholarly literature on one's topic. The scope of the literature you will be expected to consider will vary widely from topic to topic; determining its scope should be done in close consultation with your advisor. Other. The M.A. thesis should be a professional piece of work. Typos, grammatical mistakes, and other pieces of sloppiness should have been ruthlessly sought out and destroyed by the time you are ready to turn it in. Philosophy does not have one standard reference system, but textual references should be clear, complete, and not in some strikingly atypical format. And if there are other scholarly conventions adhered to by people in the field in which one is writing (e.g., using Stephanus numbers to refer to passages in Plato, not page numbers in particular translations), one should follow them. Length. We do not have a set length for M.A. theses. Because the thesis is supposed to be more in-depth than a seminar paper, it typically will be longer. It's possible to imagine a polished, tightly-argued, well-done thesis that clocks in at 15 pages, where it would be obtuse to ask for more, but this would be highly unusual. At the same time, we do not want theses to sprawl on forever. It's not a dissertation, and you're better off keeping it within manageable limits. So--keeping in mind that we do not mandate particular page lengths--somewhere between 30 and 60 pages would be a decent range. Please also remember that longer does not equal better. We recently had an M.A. thesis whose first draft was 75 pages, and the final one 32 pages, and partly as a result of this, was far better at the end. Please note that it will be much easier to meet these standards if you use, as the starting point for your thesis, a paper you've already researched and written for a seminar, rather than beginning your thesis ex nihilo. So, insofar as it is practical to do so, try to select paper topics that you could see yourself possibly doing more work on in your thesis. Return to the degree requirements. Revised 2/6/2006