1. Managing Your Thesis:
Getting a Head Start With
Your Proposal
“IF THERE’S A BOOK YOU
REALLY WANT TO READ, BUT IT
HASN’T BEEN WRITTEN YET,
THEN YOU MUST WRITE IT.”
-TONI MORRISON

2. What You Will Learn Today
 Learn how to analyze the thesis proposal
requirements
 Develop a strong research question
 Gain resources for being successful in this thesis
proposal project

3. ANALYZE THE
THESIS
PROPOSAL

4. Why Write a Proposal:
 It’s like a contract: You say you will do X, and if you do
X, then you’ve fulfilled that component of the grad
program.

5. Why Write a Proposal
 It’s like a contract: You say you will do X, and if you do
X, then you’ve fulfilled that component of the grad
program.
 It forces you to conceptualize what you are trying to do
before starting the thesis project, as well as articulate it
persuasively to your committee who may or may not be
experts in your proposed field of study.

6. Why Write a Proposal
 It’s like a contract: You say you will do X, and if you do
X, then you’ve fulfilled that component of the grad
program.
 It forces you to conceptualize what you are trying to do
before starting the thesis project, as well as articulate it
persuasively to your committee who may or may not be
experts in your proposed field of study.
 It demonstrates that you understand how to conduct
discipline-specific research within an acceptable timeframe. In other words, it forces you to demonstrate
that you know how to be part of the discourse.

7. The essential elements of a successful thesis proposal
 Inquiry (e.g. research question, problem, gap in
scholarship, opportunity for exploration)

8. The essential elements of a successful thesis proposal
 Inquiry (e.g. research question, problem, gap in
scholarship, opportunity for exploration)
 Background (e.g. rationale, lit review, definitions,
assumptions)

9. The essential elements of a successful thesis proposal
 Inquiry (e.g. research question, problem, gap in
scholarship, opportunity for exploration)
 Background (e.g. rationale, lit review, definitions,
assumptions)
 Purpose (e.g. significance, implications, “so
what?”)

10. The essential elements of a successful thesis proposal
 Inquiry (e.g. research question, problem, gap in
scholarship, opportunity for exploration)
 Background (e.g. rationale, lit review, definitions,
assumptions)
 Purpose (e.g. significance, implications, “so
what?”)
 Methodology (e.g. procedure, scope/limitations,
approach, timelines)

11. Finding disciplinary-specific guidelines
 Search for “Graduate student handbook (fill in your
department)” on Western’s website

12. Finding disciplinary-specific guidelines
 Search for “Graduate student handbook (fill in your
department)” on Western’s website
 Google “(fill in your department) thesis proposal
example”

13. Finding disciplinary-specific guidelines
 Search for “Graduate student handbook (fill in your
department)” on Western’s website
 Google “(fill in your department) thesis proposal
example”
 Talk to an advisor or fellow graduate students for an
example

14. GETTING (OR
REFINING) YOUR
RESEARCH
QUESTION

15. Getting Your Research Question
 The first part of any thesis project is the research
question
 Having a good research question is not only the first
thing you should start with, it is the foundation for
all the work you will do
 Pick something you are passionate about!

16. Getting Your Research Question
 Talk about your ideas
 Collaboration and communication are key
components of research and will help you to refine
your topic
 Talk with people from different backgrounds
 Advisors and professors
 Field experts
 Peers
 The Graduate Research/Writing Center

17. Getting Your Research Question
 Talk to someone briefly about your research
interests.

18. Getting Your Research Question
 If you could boil down your interests into one
research question, what would it be?
 Write it down

19. Getting Your Research Question
 Example Research Question:
What kind of renewable energy is good for the
community?
 Now let’s “interrogate” the question

20. Refining Your Research Question
 Question # 1: What words are vague or
undefinable?

Good
Good as in what? Healthy? Sustainable?
 There are many kinds of good, so which one is it?


Community
Which community?
 The Western campus community? Bellingham community? US
community?


21. Refining Your Research Question
 Question # 2: What is the methodology?


How would we measure if certain renewable energies are good for
the community?
Would we test them all? In every conceivable way?
If you’re realizing that the methodology is impossible for the timeframe
in which you have to produce your thesis, it’s time to refine your
research question even further.
If your methodology is doable, you still may even consider revising if
you’re finding that your research question doesn’t really line up with
the method of research that you actually want/plan to do.

22. Refining Your Research Question
 Question # 3: How does this question fill a gap in
the scholarship?

A good research question is embedded within a field of
scholarship and adds to the conversion

If you already know the scholarship surrounding your subject,
you can refine your research question so that you are adding
something new to the academic conversion

If you are unsure if your question fills a gap, you will want to
identify the topics you need to research to know if your
question is original to the field

23. LOCATING YOUR
QUESTION IN
THE FIELD OF
RESEARCH

24. Is your research project…
or is it…
Focused
Novel
Feasible
Theoretical
Near-Term Results
Extended
Grounded
Challenging
Empirical
Long-Term Prospects
VS
Compared with other research in the field, you want to make sure
your research project fits in a happy medium for each of these
different considerations.

25. Is your research project…
or is it…
Focused
Novel
Feasible
Theoretical
Near-Term Results
Extended
Grounded
Challenging
Empirical
Long-Term Prospects
VS
Take each of these binaries and consider your own research
question within the body of scholarship research that you’ve found
already (or know you will need to find).

26. MOVING FORWARD
FROM THESE
INITIAL EXERCISES

27. We’ve started the process, now ask yourself
 What do you need to further consider or find out
about the proposal assignment itself?
 What do you need to further consider as you refine
your research question?
 What do you need to further consider in terms of
framing your inquiry within a field of research?

28. MANAGING
YOUR THESIS &
THE THESIS
PROPOSAL
PROCESS

29. Why the thesis process is so hard
 Challenges in writing a thesis are often not rooted in
academic ability, but in being able to manage the project as
a whole. Organizing your thesis project research/writing is
a Herculean task, to say the least.
 Luckily, there are many resources that make this process
exponentially easier than it has been in the past.
 Links for the following items can be found on the Graduate
Research/Writing Center webpage, which you can find
through WWU’s library website.

30. Research
 Zotero is a "personal research assistant" that helps
you collect, organize, cite, and share your
references.
 Mendeley is a "reference manager and academic
social network" that helps you organize your
research and collaborate with others.
 Endnote is reference management software used to
collect and manage bibliographies, citations, and
references.

31. Writing
 Gingko is a mapping and writing tool that allows
you to write spatially and in smaller chunks.
 Scrivener is a "content-generation tool" that allows
you to compose in one place throughout the writing
process, from brainstorming to final polishing.
 Evernote is a content management tool that allows
to collect, find, and share anytime an idea strikes
you.

32. Planning and Mapping
 Mindomo is a mapping and task-oriented program
that allows you to plan out what you need to get done
in a project.

33. People
 Although all librarians can help with research, each has a
subject specialty. Get to know your librarian.
 Keep in close contact with your advisor(s), since they are
the ones to whom you are ultimately writing your thesis
and thesis proposal.
 Email us to make an appointment to work with a
Graduate Writing Center Assistant. Or submit a draft
online and we’ll work with you asynchronously!

34. GOOD LUCK
WRITING!