Your thesis proposal should be developed in consultation with your supervisor and committee. The thesis proposal should include:

• a background theory
• a working hypothesis
• a methodology which should be organized under chapter headings
• a body of work for analysis
• a bibliography

If your thesis will be presented in an alternate format (such as performance), be sure to include this in your proposal.

Some graduate programs require students to undergo a thesis proposal defense. Check with your graduate program about the type of proposal required.

Documenting the Proposal

In order to save time and stress later, it is important to keep a bibliography of articles and other pieces of information that you come across as you do initial library research for your thesis proposal. Here are a few tips:

• Always keep full bibliographic information (author, title, place and date of publication) for each source you read.
• Write a full bibliographic reference on the first page of each article you photocopy.
• Keep a running bibliography up to date.
• Use a good bibliographic word-processing package; a librarian can help you choose one.
• Carry a notebook around with you and jot down new titles or ideas as you come across them.
• Work collaboratively if you can: ask friends to look out for articles or book chapters that you might be interested in.