Thesis Proposal Step-by-step

1. Confirm Thesis Proposal Committee Members
2. Apply for Thesis Proposal
3. Checklist Before Proposal
4. Present Thesis Proposal
5. Apply for Thesis Proposal Again (if proposal is rejected)
6. After Passing the Thesis Proposal

1. Confirm Thesis Proposal Committee Members

A proposal committee is composed of the student's adviser, co-adviser (if applicable), and one other committee member.

You should discuss potential thesis proposal committee members with your thesis adviser. You should then politely request an appointment with these potential committee members to see if they are available and feel they would be able to give useful feedback on the thesis topic. There is no honorarium nor reimbursement available for thesis proposal committee members.

Schedule the Thesis Proposal Day

You should also arrange a time that is convenient to all of your thesis proposal committee members for the thesis proposal. Note that a two-month gap is required between the day you pass your thesis proposal and the day you defend your thesis, and the last possible time to defend your thesis is January 31 for a first semester and July 31 for a second semester. So, do look ahead and plan your thesis proposal around these time restrictions.

Not only are revisions required for many theses, but many professors will not be able to attend a defense during the semester break due to research and other travel. Therefore, if you wish to try to defend your thesis in the same semester as your proposal, we recommend giving your written proposal to your committee members by or before WEEK FOUR of the semester (usually early October or mid-March). According to the regulations, committed members need two full weeks to read the proposal. You should schedule your proposal during or before week six, which, unless your committee members must go out of town immediately when the semester ends, will allow the required two month-gap between proposal and defense.

The thesis proposal normally takes place in one of the department rooms. You should therefore also check the availability of your desired room on the arranged thesis proposal day and schedule to use it with the department office when you apply for your thesis proposal.

Time

There is no specific deadline as to when you should confirm your thesis proposal committee members. However, keep in mind the time frame of the thesis proposal application. If you wish to defend your thesis in the same semester, it is very wise to confirm your thesis proposal committee members in early September or March in order to give yourself and your committee members more flexibility. Committee members should be given at least two full weeks to read your thesis proposal before your proposal presentation.

Member Qualifications

Department of English follows the “Taipei Tech Master's Degree Thesis Defense Policy” (#9) on the qualification of thesis proposal committee members. The policy states that the thesis committee members should specialize in the student’s thesis topics, works of art, exhibition, or technical reports. They should also fit in one of the following qualification types:

1. Past or current full professor, associate professor, or assistant professor

2. Academician of Academia Sinica; or past or current researcher, associate research, or assistant research

3. PhD holder with distinguished achievements

4. People with distinguished achievements in rare and special topics or professional practices

The qualification of Type 3 and Type 4 should be reviewed in a department faculty meeting. Relatives may not serve as committee members.

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2. Apply for Thesis Proposal #5 

Prerequisites

1. Having confirmed your thesis proposal committee members

2. Having completed eighteen (18) credits of coursework (counting credits from courses in which you are currently enrolled)

Documents

You should submit the followings to the department office...

• Coursework Transcript - Printed copy.

• Thesis Proposal (at least fifteen (15) pages) - Printed copy. 

• Thesis Proposal Application (.doc, .odt, .pdf)- Printed copy

• Thesis Proposal Committee Member List (.doc, .odt, .pdf)- Printed copy

You should also schedule with the department office the venue in which you will defend your thesis.

Time

• Earliest: When you have completed eighteen (18) credits of coursework (counting credits from courses in which you are currently enrolled)

• Latest: Before the end of the first semester of the fourth year

Administratively, in order to successfully graduate in the same semester that a thesis is proposed, students must have completed the thesis proposal in the following time. These deadlines, however, are subject to change based on the school calendar. Of course, you can and should always try to apply as early as possible.
  1. In the last week of November in any first semester;
  2. In the last week of May in any second semester.

The aforementioned time frames are calculated as follows: 
  "Deadline to complete a thesis defense" minus "required two (2) months between a successful thesis proposal and a thesis defense" minus "required one (1) week between applying for a thesis proposal and the actual thesis proposal"

It is recommended that students apply for their thesis proposal in the first semester before October 15 and in the second semester before April 15, allowing sufficient time for the committee members to review the proposal. Please note that the last possible date for thesis defenses is January 31 (first semester) and July 31 (second semester), and committee members may have scheduling conflicts if students wait until the deadline to do their defense.

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3. Checklist Before Proposal 

Documents

• Thesis Proposal Acceptance Form (.doc, .odt, .pdf)
  Download the form and replace the information. Print out the form and bring it to the thesis proposal committee on the day of the thesis proposal. All thesis proposal committee members need to sign the form to confirm the acceptance of the thesis proposal.

Final Confirmations

1. Confirm the attendance of your thesis proposal committee members

2. Confirm the availability of the venue with the department office

3. Confirm technology works as expected in the venue

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4. Present Thesis Proposal 

Prerequisites

1. Having completed the thesis proposal application procedures one week before the scheduled thesis proposal day

2. Having given a printed copy of the thesis proposal to each of the proposal committee member at least two weeks before the scheduled thesis proposal date

Time

One week after having completed the thesis proposal application procedures

After Passing the Thesis Proposal 

Bring the required official documents and give them to the proposal committee for scoring purpose. After the thesis proposal, if your thesis proposal is accepted, bring the signed Thesis Proposal Acceptance Form to the department office to complete the thesis proposal procedure. Read more about applying for thesis proposal again if your thesis proposal is rejected.

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5. Apply for Thesis Proposal Again (if proposal is rejected) 

This does not apply if the thesis proposal committee accepts your thesis proposal.

If the thesis proposal committee rejects your thesis proposal, you need to revise your thesis proposal based on the feedback provided by the thesis proposal committee members. After both your adviser and you are satisifed with the revised thesis proposal, you need to start from confirming your thesis proposal committee members and go through the entire thesis proposal process.

You may schedule the next thesis proposal any time you want as long as your thesis proposal committee members are okay with the date and time. You can also apply for thesis proposal again any time you want. There is also no specific limit to the number of thesis proposals you can have.

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6. After Passing the Thesis Proposal 

After passing the thesis proposal, you need to wait at least two months before you may defend your thesis. Pay special attention to the deadline of applying for thesis defense if you're aiming to graduate in the same semester that you present your thesis proposal.

Meanwhile, you should continue to work on your thesis and compose the final thesis.

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