Five Elements of a Thesis Prospectus

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The purpose of a thesis prospectus is to give your reader a succinct overview or outline of
your thesis project. It is not a collection of a interesting “facts” about a “topic” (whether
framed as an issue or a country).

You will spend two semesters (about 9 months) working on a thesis project. During that
time, you will do more than just “read about a topic” and “report what you learned.”
Instead, you will be seeking to answer a clearly specified research question, framed
within existing theory, and using a specific methodology to answer your question. If you
are doing social science (rather than a humanities research project), you will also be
testing a hypothesis. In either case, you will also be working on one or more cases.

I am asking you to write a short thesis prospectus of no more than 500 words. Your
prospectus should have five paragraphs, each corresponding to one of the five basic
elements. That means you should make every effort to limit each paragraph to fewer than
100 words.

Below are brief descriptions of each of the five components, plus a brief single-sentence
example (in italics) of each for a fictitious project:

RESEARCH QUESTION
The first paragraph provides a (very) brief introduction. Remember, your thesis is not a
“report” about a country, theme, or issue. It is a research project. You should get to your
research question—and quickly. A good research question can be stated as a simple, one-
sentence question.

Example: What caused the Sultanistan Revolution?

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Every research question can be placed within a broader theoretical framework. Your
second paragraph should let the reader know how you do this for your project. Later, you
will expand this into a much longer literature review (which will become the second
chapter of your thesis). In a short prospectus, it is enough to simply give your reader a
taste of the theoretical literature you plan to use during your project. In particular, this is a
good time to mention the different “schools of thought” you will address later in your
literature review.

Example: There are two explanations for why revolutions happen, theory A and theory B;
I prefer theory B.
 CASE SELECTION
It may seem obvious that your thesis is about a case (or maybe a number of cases). But
keep in mind that any good research project—including your Croft senior thesis—is
about more than just answering a particular question. A good thesis aims to contribute to
knowledge by expanding theory. This is done either by showing how current theory
doesn’t explain your case very well, by showing how your case does fit current theory, or
by trying to show how one rival theory explains your case better than other theories. In
effect, this is where you argue that you selected your case because it helps you address a
conceptual debate.

Example: Sultanistan is a good case to test the assumptions of theory A and theory B.

HYPOTHESIS
The hypothesis is a critical component of your entire thesis—if you are doing a “social
science” thesis. This may be the shortest section of your prospectus, but it is the most
important. A hypothesis is an “educated guess” of what you think the answer to your
research question is. Like a research question, a hypothesis can be (and should be!) stated
in a single sentence. But that sentence should contain at least two key elements: a
dependent variable and an independent variable. These variables should be derived from
theory, and should be defined.

Example: I hypothesize that rapid modernization [independent variable] was a key factor
in Sultanistan’s revolution [dependent variable].

METHODOLOGY
The methodology section is another critical component of the thesis. Here, you outline
for your reader exactly how you plan to test your hypothesis and/or answer your research
question. Please note that “doing research at the library” and “collecting statistics”are not
in and of themselves research methods. What we mean by “method” here is an explicit
description of the kind of evidence you plan to collect and or use. Key factors: explaining
how you will measure variation in your variables (this is called “operationalization”),
detailing what sources of data you will, and specifying any specific methodological
technique you will use.

Example: I will use World Bank, UNDP, and IMF data to measure the degree of
modernization in Sultanistan from years X to Z [the year of the revolution].
Below are some additional considerations about your research prospectus:

Prospectus As Contract
The purpose of your prospectus is to guide your reader through all the elements above.
Think of the prospectus as a “contract” with your reader (or, in this case, your thesis
committee): You commit to doing exactly a particular kind of work, in a particular way,
to answer a particular question (of your own choosing). Like all contracts, your final
prospectus is the product of a negotiation between you and your thesis committee. If you
fulfill all your obligations, you will earn a high grade. Be sure to agree to a project you
know can execute successfully; don’t promise more than you can deliver!

Prospectus Should Be “Scalable”

Your prospectus should be “scalable.” It should easily translate to different contexts,
lengths, and format. A good prospectus can be compressed or expanded in size easily. A
well thought out prospectus works as a 500-word brief, a 10-minute PowerPoint
presentation, or a 10-page thesis introduction.

Prospectus As First Chapter

Your task over the next several weeks is to “expand” your prospectus (even as you
continue to refine it) from a 500-word brief document to a 10-page document that will
serve as the first chapter of your thesis. Combined with the literature review (which will
serve as the second chapter of your thesis), you will be almost halfway to a finished
thesis by the end of the fall semester.