English MA Student Resources

The absolute latest is by the add/drop deadline of the semester in which you plan to write the thesis; add drop is usually a week after classes begin, but check the University website for exact dates. 

However, waiting that long sets you up for problems. Your committee will almost always ask for revisions, and a proposal that isn’t finished until add/drop leaves no room for them.

Aim for these targets instead:

If you want to write in…

Submit your proposal by…

Spring

Thanksgiving (of the preceding fall)

Fall

April 15 (of the preceding spring)

Any revisions to your proposal should be finished by the end of the semester before your thesis semester; you should not still be revising the proposal once the thesis semester begins.

No later than the beginning of the semester before you intend to write. Choosing which seminar paper you want to work on, verifying if the professor you wrote that paper for is available, lining up two readers, and drafting a proposal all take time, and any of these can involve a few rounds of asking, waiting, and revising. Building in that runway is the single best thing you can do to keep the thesis on schedule.

No — plan to write in fall or spring. English faculty are on 10-month contracts and are generally not available to supervise thesis work during the summer. The Graduate Center does technically allow summer 698/699 registration, but only if every member of your committee agrees to be available in their usual role for the summer months, which is rarely the case in English. Treat summer as off-limits for thesis writing unless your full committee has explicitly committed to it in advance.

Yes. You do not have to save the thesis for the very end. Per the Graduate Center, you are eligible to register for thesis credit once you are in good standing (a minimum 3.0 GPA) and have completed a minimum of 18 credits of graduate coursework in your program. Most students write in their final semester, but you may begin earlier once you meet that threshold and have an approved proposal and committee on file.

There are only two commencement ceremonies each year — January and May — and you may participate only in the ceremony that corresponds to the semester your degree is conferred.

Remember to apply for graduation through NEST by the Registrar’s filing deadline for your intended conferral term; finishing the thesis alone does not enroll you for graduation.

Your committee has three members: a sponsor (also called supervisor or advisor) plus two readers.

• Sponsor. Usually the professor for whom you wrote the seminar paper your thesis is based on. Your choice should be driven first by the professor’s expertise in your general topic (it need not be a perfect match) and second by whether you work well together. (Don’t pick a sponsor just because you think they’ll be easy on you; that tends to backfire.)
• Second and third readers. Once your sponsor is on board, ask them to recommend readers — ideally people with similar or complementary expertise. These roles are lighter than the sponsor’s: readers often give their first substantial feedback on your complete first draft, midway through the semester.
• The third reader defaults to the GPC. Unless you have a particular third reader in mind — or the GPC is already serving as your sponsor or second reader — the GPC serves as the third committee member by default. Note that in this role the GPC offers only minimal feedback, so if you want more engaged input on your third reader’s part, it’s worth naming someone specific.

Per the Thesis Procedure Manual:

• Your sponsor must be a full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty member in the English Department.
• The other readers may be non-tenure-line (or from another department) with the approval of the GPC and the Graduate Center.
• One reader may come from outside Montclair State. You may have no more than one external member, and you and that person must complete the Approval of an External Thesis Committee Member form for approval by the GPC, Department Chair, and Graduate Center.

Committee changes: you can adjust members freely (with sponsor/GPC approval) up until you register for the thesis course. After you’re registered, changes are made only in unusual circumstances and must be requested in writing to the Dean of the Graduate Center.

You do not register for ENGL 698 yourself in NEST. The Graduate Center enrolls you after you submit two things together to thesisinquiry@montclair.edu:

1. Your thesis proposal, and
2. The Approval for Writing a Master’s Thesis form, signed by you, your sponsor, both committee members, and the GPC. (Fill in your own parts first, then route it for signatures — electronic signatures are fine.)

The sponsor and reader signatures confirm your proposal is approved; the GPC and Graduate Center signatures confirm you’re eligible. The Graduate Center then forwards the form to the Registrar, who enrolls you in ENGL 698 for the following semester. That same address, thesisinquiry@montclair.edu, is where you send any thesis-procedure questions.

ENGL 698 — Master’s Thesis is a one-semester, 3-credit independent research project done under faculty advisement. Its catalog description:

Under the direction of a faculty sponsor — typically the professor for whom the original seminar paper was written — students substantially revise a graduate seminar paper into an article-length manuscript (7,000–9,000 words; approximately 25–35 pages). Work includes a revision plan and timeline, multiple drafts, and a polished final manuscript. All written work must adhere to the current version of MLA for formatting, citation, and documentation. Enrollment requires an approved proposal and a thesis committee (one reader and the GPC) on file with the Graduate Center. Students must follow the MSU Thesis guidelines, which may be obtained from the Graduate Center. Students should take ENGL 699 if they do not complete ENGL 698 within the semester.

The thesis is a revision of a seminar paper — not a mini-dissertation or a book. Target roughly 25–35 double-spaced pages / 7,000–9,000 words. The best model to work from is a favorite scholarly article (ideally published in the last twenty years or so), studied for how it structures its argument, uses sources, and foregrounds its contribution. Because it’s an article and not a book, your thesis should not be divided into chapters; instead, use subheadings to organize your argument, and follow the latest version of MLA throughout.

The Graduate Center will enroll you on the basis of a proposal of roughly 4–7 pages (about 1,200–2,100 words), including a provisional bibliography. It’s an honest representation of your plan — not a contract. A strong English proposal generally includes:

• A creative title — often with a colon-separated subtitle for specificity. (If you change your title later, your committee needs to approve the change.)
• A brief narrative introduction (optional) — a short anecdote or hook, a few sentences to a paragraph, to orient your reader.
• An abstract of 250–500 words: your central research question, the materials/sources you’ll analyze, your preliminary argument or hypothesis, and what you hope to contribute.
• A summary of sources and methods — the primary texts or films you’ll study, the secondary scholarship you’ll engage, your theoretical framework, relevant archives, and search keywords.
• Scholarly context and contribution — the conversation you’re entering and what’s new about your approach.
• A preliminary outline of your structure — a general sense of the parts is fine; it need not be a formal outline.
• A provisional bibliography (primary and secondary sources) in MLA 9. Double-check citations by hand; citation generators are often wrong.

This proposal is what you attach to the Approval for Writing a Master’s Thesis and Committee Membership form. Stuck on how to write it? Meet with the GPC for tips, and book an appointment with the Center for Writing Excellence — graduate students may book double appointments there for more time.

Agree on a specific sequence of drafts and feedback with your sponsor before the semester starts, factoring in how your readers want to be involved. Check in with your sponsor at least once every two weeks. A suggested schedule:

Try to leave room for one extra round of revisions near the end, and keep your readers on board with the calendar you’ve set.

All three committee members sign off on the approval page, then you submit the completed thesis and the ETD form through the “Master Your Thesis” Canvas course (you’re invited to it once you’re registered for 698). The Graduate Center reviews it for form and style before certifying it.

The final thesis is due four weeks before your graduation date. Current final-submission deadlines:

You’ll see specific deadline announcements each semester in the “Master Your Thesis” Canvas course.

Follow the Graduate Center’s Thesis Procedure Manual for form and style, and your committee’s chosen citation manual. For English, that is MLA (current, 9th edition) for formatting, citation, and documentation. The manual specifies font, margins, page numbering, spacing, and the handling of footnotes, illustrations, and bibliography; check your draft against it in your final week, and proofread carefully. If your research involves human participants in any way, you must obtain IRB approval before beginning (allow three to six weeks; request a Cayuse account).

You register for the Thesis Extension course, ENGL 699 (1 credit), the following semester and continue until the thesis is finished and approved. Key rules:

• File a Thesis Extension Application every semester you haven’t finished; once your sponsor approves it, send it to thesisinquiry@montclair.edu.
• You must enroll in 699 each fall and spring until you’re done. Summer is excluded unless you’re making formal progress (or you’re working toward an August graduation).
• A second extension semester requires approval from both your sponsor and the GPC. A third extension is not permitted and may affect your ability to complete the program.
• If you fail to enroll in 699 in a semester when you should have, you can be billed retroactively for the missed extension credits.

Critical — write “699” on the extension form. Every semester the Graduate Center receives extension forms mistakenly marked with the 698 course number (e.g., “ENGL 698”). If you write 698 instead of 699, you’ll be enrolled in the 3-, 4-, or 6-credit thesis course again — and billed for it — rather than the 1-credit extension. Double-check the “Course #” line reads 699 before you and your sponsor submit.

• How is the thesis graded? While in progress, 698 is graded “S” (Satisfactory) and 699 as “P” on completion. Your committee assigns the actual final grade only after the Graduate Center confirms the thesis is correctly formatted; it applies to the original 698 course.
• Full-time status. Students registered for 698 or 699 are considered full-time regardless of credits. If you need health insurance while on 698/699, notify the Office of Student Accounts before classes start.
• Your committee can’t see the Canvas course. The “Master Your Thesis” Canvas site is for enrolled thesis writers — don’t assume any committee member is familiar with what’s on it.
• What if my first-choice sponsor says no? Don’t take it personally; ask who they’d recommend, and keep asking until someone says yes. The GPC can help if you get stuck.
• Writing help. The Center for Writing Excellence offers in-person and virtual appointments, and graduate students may book double appointments for more time; there’s also a departmental resource on vocabulary for writing about literature.

Have a question that isn’t here? Email thesisinquiry@montclair.edu or contact the English Department’s Graduate Program Coordinator.

These guidelines represent what has worked best for English thesis writers and do not modify or override the Graduate Center’s Thesis Procedure Manual. Where they differ, the Procedure Manual and current Graduate Center policy govern.