A sample prospectus produced by a student in this course is provided at the end of the table. Additional sample work by prior years' students is on the Guides, Templates and Tools page.
ASSIGNMENTS | DESCRIPTIONS |
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Thesis Topic and Elevator Pitch |
Create a document with three items:
Please upload your document in PDF form. |
Central Hypothesis |
Write the central hypothesis of your proposed research, based on our discussions in class. This should be a total of 3–5 sentences, and should contain the following information:
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Hypothesis Revision and Signoff |
For this assignment, you need only provide two things:
Please make sure to discuss your hypothesis with your advisor before completing this assignment. |
Rough Drafts of Thesis Prospectus and Outline |
Thesis ProspectusWrite a full draft of all sections of your thesis prospectus here. Make sure to follow all the relevant MIT style guidelines, it will save you lots of time later. Be sure to include the following sections:
Thesis OutlineWrite a fully detailed outline of all the relevant sections and sub-sections in your undergraduate thesis. This will help to organize your thoughts, frame what you want to do, and ensure that you're covering enough background. This assignment is, in essence, writing the fully detailed Table of Contents of your thesis, plus 2–3 sentences in each sub-section of what each one will contain. Please see the example theses from prior year students for an appropriate amount of detail in a Table of Contents. |
Communication Lab Reviews |
Make an appointment with one of the fellows in the NSE Communication Lab, for the purposes of reading through your thesis prospectus and outline for content and overall structure. Revise your prospectus and outline according to the suggestions by the Communication Lab fellow(s). We will separately request confirmation from the fellows that you attended a session. Attendance is mandatory to receive a grade for this assignment. |
Detailed Thesis Outline | Submit a new draft of your thesis outline, with more detail filled in. This should include a sentence about every 1–3 paragraphs, which should read like an executive summary of what you will be studying. The introduction and background sections in particular should be fully outlined, as you will be writing them in their entirety in later assignments. |
Thesis Introduction and Background Sections |
Using your highly detailed thesis outline from the previous assignment, write a fully fleshed-out version of the introduction and background sections of your thesis. By now you should have surveyed the literature, to describe the following:
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WRAP Review |
Schedule an appointment with MIT's Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication (WRAP) Program to go over your thesis prospectus, outline, and intro / background sections. Submit the comments and suggestions from the WRAP here, along with a revised version of any documents for which the WRAP has requested a revision. We will separately ask the WRAP for confirmation that you attended a session. Confirmation of attendance is required to receive a grade for this assignment. |
Final Thesis Prospectus |
Submit a finished copy of your thesis prospectus, with all pages signed and nothing missing. These will be graded carefully, as they are the final output of this course. Sample student work: Tran, Vivian Y. "Treatment of Neutron Resonance Elastic Scattering Using Multipole Representation of Cross Sections in Monte Carlo Simulations." (PDF) (Courtesy of Vivian Y. Tran. Used with permission.) |