Download Writing a Master's Thesis in Music: A Step-by-Step Guide and more Summaries Music in PDF only on Docsity! 1 Gradus ad Parnassum: Writing the Master’s Thesis Michigan State University, College of Music September 2007 Carol A. Hess The following is an incremental plan–like the steps to Parnassus–that should help you select a topic and write a proposal for your master’s thesis (music history or theory). 1. Broad topics. To decide on a topic, try this exercise: Jot down three topics that interest you and that you think you’d like to pursue in detail. Flesh out each topic a bit. Ask yourself about its a. relationship to what you already know b. broader ramifications c. the tools you would need to answer further questions about it Write informally on each without worries about writing style. Allowing your imagination and your musical training to take flight, write a few lines about each topic. 2. Narrowing. For each of your topics, ask three questions that interest you. Example: Let’s say your topic is Beethoven. You might ask: 2a. At what point in his career did Beethoven become deaf? 2b. What are some of the most important pieces Beethoven wrote after becoming deaf? 2c. Does the fact that Beethoven was deaf affect the way we think of his music? 3. More narrowing. “Interrogate” each of the three questions in greater detail. For example: 3a. How might the question I have posed be divided into 34 subcategories of inquiry? 3b. Can any one of these subcategories be broken down further? Ideally, you will identify a manageable “problem.” Around this problem, you’ll form an argument, that is, a point of view. 3c. List any concerns or problems you might confront. Consider a possible advisor and committee. 3d. Don’t overlook the personal. Keep asking: why does this topic appeal to me? Could I live with it for many months? Do I have the necessary skills for this project? These include foreign languages, availability of sources, compatibility of your personal timetable with the demands of the topic. Do this additional “narrowing” for each of your three topics. 2 4. Finding Sources. A paper depends on good sources. Part of your work is to engage with others’ reflections. For each topic and its accompany series of “narrowing” questions, find three relevant sources. Provide a bibliographic citation for each source and a brief annotation that shows the source’s relevance to the question posed. Use Chicago format (consult cheatsheets provided in MUS 830). Remember: as you track down sources, you are seeking out the company you will be keeping for a good many months. Do you like the authors you’ve found? If they strike you as boring, move on! There are plenty of authors out there. 5. Commitment. By now you are probably drawn to one of your topics, with its “narrowing” questions. Find 34 more sources for that topic only. Begin to elaborate on the following: 5a. What, exactly, is the question you will be addressing? 5b. Who else has thought about it? 5c. How can previous insights be enhanced or modified? 5d. What broader issues is it connected to? Example: Let’s go back to Beethoven. The string quartet you’re playing with this semester is working on op. 132, which you and colleagues find perplexing. You will be glad to learn that many others have seen the work this way. At the same time, you will deepen your interpretation of this work if you understand the role the late quartets have played in our understanding of Beethoven. (This is the “broader issue.”) NOTE: the student’s initial interest in Beethoven has suddenly ballooned into a huge topic. At this point, the adviser would encourage the student to narrow further. 6. More Sources. Continue finding and annotating additional sources. For your proposal, you will need around twentyfive. Again, use Chicago format. 7. Proposing. Draft your thesis proposal as described below. (Note: The excerpts here are from student efforts.)