Thesis Proposal
Format of the Dissertation Proposal
- The dissertation proposal should include the following sections (2 single-spaced pages, twelve-point font, 2 cm margins):
- Introduction / Motivation
- Previous Work
- Proposed Research / Methodology
- Contributions / Summary
- References (1 single-spaced page, twelve-point font, 2 cm margins)
- Table of Contents (1 page, twelve-point font, 2 cm margins)
- Submit your thesis proposal form ( PhD/D.Mus. Dissertation Proposal Form)
The proposal is approved by the supervisor and then submitted to the faculty members of the Music Technology Area by the deadlines indicated below.
Thesis Dissertation Proposal Deadline
Submit your thesis proposal form and proposal to the Area, after approval by the supervisor, at any time.
Evaluation of the Proposal
The proposal will be evaluated by all professors of the Area. Corrections and suggested revisions, if necessary, will be communicated to the candidate by each professor and this process may have several iterations, until the document is deemed acceptable. At that point, the Area Coordinator will sign the PhD Thesis Proposal Form and the candidate will submit the form and proposal to the Music Graduate Studies Office (Graduatestudies.music [at] mcgill.ca).
For Ph.D. proposals only, it will be standard practice for Graduate Studies to circulate the approved proposals to the Graduate Music Research Sub-Committee members, so that further comments and suggestions may be offered to the candidate.
Thesis Submission
Thesis Evaluation Criteria
The thesis document will be reviewed by an expert from outside the University (external examiner), and a Schulich School of Music faculty member in discipline expertise (internal examiner).
Each of the following criteria are ranked on the following scale, Excellent, Very Good, Good, Satisfactory, Fail.
- Evidence of originality and creativity;
- Resourcefulness, alertness to significance of findings;
- Diligence, care, technical skill in the research;
- Usefulness of the results to other workers in the field; value as a contribution to knowledge;
- Grasp of subject, powers of criticism and general adequacy in review of previous work;
- Quality of presentation (coherence, lucidity, grammar, style, freedom from typographical errors).
Thesis Submission:
Your supervisor may find some useful tips for selecting examiners on the Graduate Supervision website.
- At least two months before initial submission:
Students must submit their 鈥淚ntent to Submit Thesis鈥� through myThesis.
Complete and detailed thesis guidelines including general requirements, preparation of a thesis, initial thesis submission, thesis examination, doctoral oral defense, thesis FAQ, deadlines and final thesis submission can be found on the Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Office website: /gps/thesis/thesis-guidelines.
Note that students in composition may be asked to submit hard copies of their thesis upon request of the examiner(s).
Other Resources
Tools for writing and research (including the Schulich School of Music Style Sheet)
