The Prospectus and Prospectus Examination (click here for Checklist for Dissertation Prospectus Approval) The Prospectus Examination is a key step towards earning a Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of Oregon. Students are expected to complete this step by the end of the second full quarter after the quarter when they passed Comprehensives. To this end: Students should form a dissertation committee. A committee typically consists of four members, three, including the thesis advisor, who are regular members of the department, and one from a department in the University other than the philosophy department. (The committee may also include an additional member who may not be at the University of Oregon.) The membership of the committee should be formed in consultation with the thesis advisor, who can provide suggestions about the selection of the outside member. The selection of the thesis advisor should be made with the following considerations in mind. First, the advisor should have a research focus in the central area of the proposed topic. Second, the advisor should be someone that the student can work with. Third, the advisor has the responsibility for the reading and evaluation of initial drafts of the dissertation. Typically, other committee members read a draft of (parts of) the dissertation upon the recommendation of the thesis advisor . After preliminary discussions with a thesis advisor, students should prepare a draft of the Prospectus and submit it to the thesis advisor. When the advisor and student agree that the Prospectus is ready for submission to other members of the Ph.D. committee, a version of it should be presented to them; committee members may request revisions of the Prospectus, and students should allow time for these revisions (in order to be in compliance with Departmental expectations). A Prospectus Examination should be scheduled (for about sixty minutes) in consultation with the thesis advisor and other members of the committee. The Examination is expected to be attended by the candidate and all of the members of the dissertation committee. It should be held only when the advisor and the committee members believe that there is a workable project, something they determine after their evaluation of a submitted draft of the Prospectus. The Prospectus Examination provides an opportunity for all of the members of the committee, including the outside member, to share their views of what needs to be done to strengthen the project; how it might need to be expanded or, as is more likely, narrowed in its focus. The concern is that the thesis address a problem that can be handled adequately by the candidate in a reasonable amount of time. By accepting the Prospectus the committee agrees that the Prospectus presents a project suitable in content and scope for a dissertation. There are certain ingredients that a Prospectus must contain. Most importantly, there should be a problem that the Prospectus identifies and explains. To this end, the introduction to the Prospectus should include some motivation for addressing the problem, as well as an attempt at explaining, illustrating and clarifying what the problem is. The Prospectus also should try to make clear how the candidate intends to address that problem. It is not sufficient for the Prospectus to indicate that certain claims will be defended or attacked; it must be made clear how the candidate proposes to establish these claims or to illuminate them. To this end, a synopsis of each chapter is needed together with an indication of how the chapters are linked, why one chapters leads into another. A Prospectus should not be overly long, somewhere from seven to ten pages, not including the bibliography. Not only is the thesis expected to be an original piece of work, something that would be reflected in what it has to say about the problem it addresses, but it is also expected to demonstrate the candidate's familiarity with the relevant literature and his or her competence in providing critical readings of this literature. The candidate is expected to know the more influential and important writings on the problem the thesis is to address, and the Prospectus should reflect the fact that the candidate has plans to acquire that knowledge. To this end, the candidate should provide an extensive Bibliography appended to the end of the Prospectus.

 

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