2. Make Thesis Proposal

Making and passing a thesis proposal is a prerequisite to defending your thesis. At this stage, you're required to produce a written thesis proposal and a list of twenty-five reference works and make a presentation of your thesis proposal to a thesis proposal committee. Both you and your adviser should be satisfied with your thesis draft before you attempt to make the thesis proposal. Members of the proposal committee will decide whether to accept your thesis proposal based on your written proposal and the presentation. Your thesis proposal will be accepted or rejected. You will not receive a numeric score.

Thesis Proposal Step-by-step

Confirm Thesis Proposal Committee Members
Apply for Thesis Proposal
Checklist Before Proposal
Present Thesis Proposal
Apply for Thesis Proposal Again (if proposal is rejected)
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 two other faculty members of the department.

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 arrange a time that is convenient to all of your thesis proposal committee members for the thesis proposal. Note that a three-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 and submit 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. It is unwise to have a late defense date since most students are asked to do at least minor revisions before submitting their final thesis.

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 three 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

Thesis committee members and thesis proposal committee members should specialize in the student’s thesis topics and fit one of the following qualification types:

Past or current full professor or associate professor
Academician of Academia Sinica; or past or current researcher or assistant research of Academia Sinica
PhD holder with distinguished achievements
People with distinguished achievements in rare and special topics

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

Regulation Sources

On thesis proposal committee composition - Article V.G, Department of English Master's Degree Thesis Policy & Procedures for Cultural & Literary Studies Track & Topics
On proposal committee member qualification - Article IX, Taipei Tech Master's Degree Thesis Defense Policy

2. Apply for Thesis Proposal

Prerequisites

Having confirmed your thesis proposal committee members
Having completed thirty credits of coursework (counting credits from courses in which you are currently enrolled)

Time

Earliest: When you have completed thirty 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

Note on Time

Administratively, in order to successfully graduate in the same semester that you make the thesis proposal, the following dates are the general deadline to apply for your thesis proposal. These deadlines, however, are subject to change based on the school calendar. Read more about it in the date calculations section below. Of course, you can and should always try to apply as early as possible.

First semester: October 1
Second semester: April 1

Student's Tasks

With the Department Office...

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

Coursework Transcript - Printed copy.
Thesis Proposal (at least ten pages) - Printed copy.
A list of twenty-five reference works, signed by adviser - Printed copy.
Thesis Proposal Application (.doc, .odt) - Printed copy
Thesis Proposal Committee Member List (.doc, .odt) - Printed copy

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

With the Proposal Committee Members...

Each of your thesis proposal committee members should receive a printed copy of your thesis proposal and have at least two full weeks to read your proposal before the actual proposal presentation. You should therefore take into consideration the time required to deliver your thesis proposal to your proposal committee members.

Department Office Tasks

After receiving the required documents from the student, the department office should...

Confirm venue availability for the student's thesis proposal
For any outside reader...
- Send a printed copy of the invitation letter (on department letterhead) and department map
- E-mail a scanned copy of the invitation letter (on department letterhead)
E-mail the time, date, and venue to any department faculty member on the proposal committee.

Regulation Sources

On thesis proposal prerequisite, time, and required documents - Article V, Department of English Master’s Degree Thesis Policy & Procedures for Cultural & Literary Studies Track & Topics

3. Checklist Before Proposal

Official Documents

Thesis Proposal Acceptance Form (.doc, .odt)
Download the form and replace the information in the brackets and then remove the brackets (see sample). 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

Confirm the attendance of your thesis proposal committee members
Confirm the availability of the venue with the department office
Confirm technology works as expected in the venue

4. Present Thesis Proposal

Prerequisites

Having completed the thesis proposal application procedures four weeks before the scheduled thesis proposal day
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

Two weeks after having completed the thesis proposal application procedures

Student's Tasks

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.

Department Office Tasks

The signed thesis proposal acceptance form should be dated and signed by the department chair and then filed.

Regulation Sources

On thesis proposal format - Article V, Department of English Master's Degree Thesis Policy & Procedures for Cultural & Literary Studies Track & Topics

5. Apply for Thesis Proposal Again

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 apply for new thesis proposal date at any time, but according to the department thesis policy, your next thesis proposal should be scheduled at least one month after the rejected proposal. There is no specific limit to the number of thesis proposals you may have.

6. After Passing the Thesis Proposal

After passing the thesis proposal, you need to wait at least three months before you may defend your thesis. This, however, does not mean you need wait three months to apply for the defense thesis. For the proper timeline of thesis defense, refer to the flowchart or the Defend Thesis section. 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.

Regulation Sources

On the time gap between proposal and defense - Article VI.B, Department of English Master's Degree Thesis Policy & Procedures for Cultural & Literary Studies Track & Topics