Dear Students,

One final, friendly reminder about the 791 thesis essay meeting taking place this Wednesday November 19, 6:00-7:15pm, in Klapper 710. This meeting is for all students who are planning to register for English 791 and write their thesis essay in the Spring 2015 semester.

Latecomers and early departers—those of you with 4:30pm or 6:30pm, or with work schedules that make it hard to get to campus right at 6:00—are most welcome. No apologies necessary! It’s better to come for just part of the meeting than not attend at all. I’ll bring snacks to keep everyone’s strength up.

Agenda for the meeting:

1. Planning and Logistics

I’ll distribute copies of the spring 2015 edition of the 791 course guide and talk you through the timeline for finding a thesis advisor and reader/submitting a thesis sign-up form/registering for 791/scheduling a preliminary advising meeting before the end of the current semester.

2. Thesis Essay proposal

The 791 sign-up form asks you to submit a short (approx. 300-word) topic proposal, outlining the scope and concerns of your thesis essay. I’ll hand out copies of two or three recent proposals and we’ll talk about the elements of the genre of the research proposal and how to write one successfully. I’m attaching an electronic copy of the sign-up form to this message, but I’ll also bring hard copies of the form to our meeting.

3. Q&A

We’ll make sure to leave plenty of time for discussion and questions. I can also stick around for a few minutes after the meeting has ended if you have concerns you’d rather discuss in private.

I’m looking forward to talking with you about your thesis plans!

With all good wishes,

Andrea Walkden
Director of Graduate Studies, MA Program
andrea.walkden@qc.cuny.edu