Master's Project Guidelines

The Master’s Project

The Master’s Project is the culmination of your education at XE, and it should accordingly represent your strongest scholarly, critical, and/or creative effort to date. The Master’s Project may be a revision of a paper or project you have done for a class, or an entirely new undertaking, but it should be a piece of substantial research or creative composition on a topic with potential to advance knowledge in a field of your choosing.

 

Requirements, Expectations, and Standards

The Master’s Project can take the form of either:

~an academic research paper  

OR

~a creative project, with accompanying scholarly introduction.

Academic research papers must be a minimum of 8,500 words in length, not including the mandatory abstract, footnotes, and bibliography. 

Among examples of creative projects are: a collection of essays, short stories or poems, a novella, a film, a photographic portfolio, a graphic novel, a musical composition, a website, a curriculum, etc. The creative component of the Master’s Project must be accompanied by a formal 2,500-word scholarly introduction that discusses the project within any intellectual, historical, or aesthetic contexts that will help to situate it for an academic audience. This paper is not intended to be a personal, anecdotal reflection; rather, it must critically engage with the key discourses, issues, ideas, and texts that the student researched in the course of creating the work. Finally, it must be accompanied by a substantial bibliography.

Each completed Master’s Project will be read and commented on by two people: the Master’s Project Advisor (MPA), and a Second Reader—normally a member of the XE faculty, appointed to that role by the Director of XE.

The assessment of each XE Master’s Project is keyed to the project’s unique research ambitions and intellectual stakes, as agreed upon by the student and the Master’s Project Advisor. Within that frame, assessment of each academic research paper will reflect readers’ view of how it does the following:

·      makes a compelling and innovative claim. 

·      situates its central claim in relation to other scholarship and engages with other interpretations and claims. 

·      defines its key terms and explains the methods of the project. 

·      supports its claim through description, analysis, and interpretation of a well-chosen group of examples. 

·      draws from a sufficient number of relevant, reputable, and up-to-date sources. 

·      is logically argued and organized; has a discernible structure and effective transitions.

·      is written in prose that is clear, precise, and grammatically correct. 

·      observes accepted academic norms of formatting and citation, using either MLA, Chicago, or APA style.

 

Application and Registration Process

The Master’s Project is completed within the context of a required one-credit course entitled “Master’s Project,” taken in the final semester of your period of matriculation.

A completed and approved Master’s Project Proposal Form is required for students to enroll in the Master’s Project course.

This form requires two signatures, in the following order:

1. Master’s Project Advisor (MPA); by signing the completed Master’s Project Proposal Form, the Master’s Project Advisor agrees to work with you to devise and implement a plan of research and writing, to provide regular feedback on your work, and to provide XE with written comments (“First Reader’s Report”) once the project is complete.

2. XE Director or Associate Director.

 

The form is due in the semester preceding the one in which you want to graduate, according to the following schedule of deadlines:

Intended Month of Graduation Term	Abstract Submission	Master’s Project Submission
January	August 16*	December 16*
May	December 16*	May 11*
September	May 1*	August 16*

*Or the next day on which the XE office is open, should these dates fall on a weekend or holiday.

 

Work Process

The Master’s Project is prepared and produced under the supervision of an NYU full-time faculty member who has agreed to work with you in this capacity, and is referred to as your Master’s Project Advisor (MPA). (Adjunct faculty do not normally supervise MA projects, but approval from the Director may be sought in exceptional cases.) XE encourages students to cast widely to find the right advisor, normally from among professors with whom they have already taken a course in their first year. Being proactive about taking courses with potential advisors in the first year is one key step in this process.

First, identify a full-time professor at NYU who is appropriate for your proposed Master’s Project, and approach them to ask whether they are available to serve as your advisor. If you are unsure whom to approach, please consult with the Director, who may point you to faculty who might be a good fit for your project. The Advisory Board might also be a good resource to navigate programs across the university.

Next, in conversation with your advisor, create a plan to complete the project. Your Master’s Project Advisor will closely supervise your work. You should plan to meet with your advisor regularly to identify a focused topic, develop a bibliography, and write an abstract.  Once your MPA is ready to approve your proposal, fill out the appropriate form, get your MPA’s signature, and submit it to XE.

Students working on approved Master’s Projects are strongly encouraged to enroll in the 2-point “Master’s Project Workshop” (pass/fail only) which meets every two weeks and functions as a supportive intellectual community, brainstorming selected aspects of each member’s project and process. While the workshop is not a required course, students are strongly encouraged to enroll in it. Students who have already completed 32 points are also encouraged and invited to audit the course. For all students who join the course, attendance at all sessions is mandatory.

 

Process for Completing the XE Master’s Project in Fall 2020

By December 16, 2020, XE needs to receive the following at xe@nyu.edu:
1. a final version of your thesis as a PDF (the version that your advisor has approved by then)
2. an abstract
3. a signed* cover page (sample here) 
4. a signed* GSAS Master's Thesis Reader's Sheet . You must fill out your own student information including your name, NYU ID number, thesis title, and department.
5. Ask your Thesis Advisor to email XE (at xe@nyu.edu) the signed* cover page and signed* reader sheet (as “First Reader”) no later than December 16th.

Please use the subject line "[first name last name] Master's Project" on the emails sent to XE.

*"Signed" means "signed by the Thesis Advisor." For this semester we are authorized to consider a signature "verified" if we receive the form from the signatory's (the thesis advisor's) email address, along with a note stating that they approve the thesis.

Students completing creative projects that cannot be delivered in a digital or paper-based hard copy form (i.e. three-dimensional art works, performances, interactive web sites) must discuss and receive approval for final deliverables from their Master’s Project Advisor. They are also required to attach to their Scholarly Introduction a 250-500-word description of their creative project. In the case of websites and other digital resources, relevant links should be included along with this one-page description.

The Master’s Project is read and graded (Pass/Fail) by the Master’s Project Advisor and a Second Reader, usually an XE faculty member, assigned by XE.
 

Formatting Guidelines for Written Portions of Master’s Project

·       The cover page must include the title, your name, and your student ID number; your Master Project Advisor’s name and approval signature (see above); the month and year the degree will be conferred (not the month in which the project is submitted); and the statement: “A Master’s Project in XE: Experimental Humanities & Social Engagement, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at New York University” (a sample cover page can be found here)

·       All sources for quotations and paraphrases must be documented. You must use one of the standard citation styles (MLA, Chicago, APA) and consistently follow a single style throughout the project.

·       The hard copies of your written portion should be printed or typewritten on standard paper (not applicable for Fall 2020 submissions).

·       We prefer unbound texts -- a simple binder clip is sufficient. If you decide to bind your project, please make sure that your original, signed cover page is unbound (not applicable for Fall 2020 submissions).

 

Guidelines for a Collaborative Master’s Project in XE

In addition to the general Master’s Project Guidelines, the following additional guidelines apply to Collaborative Master’s Projects:
·      Collaborators must all be XE students, and all of them must be treating the project as the Master’s Project required for the degree.
·      A single Master’s Project advisor must agree to oversee the work of the entire team and to provide individualized final assessments of each of the collaborator’s work.
·      The Master’s Project Proposal must clearly explain and justify the essential role of collaboration for achieving the intellectual and creative goals of the project.
·      The Master’s Project Proposal must also address the scale of the work relative to the required parameters set forth for individual projects—i.e., an 8,500-word minimum academic paper, and a creative project with a 2,500-word minimum scholarly introduction—to indicate what each student is responsible for producing.
·      Each student will produce a 1,000-word accompanying statement on the purpose and experience of collaborating. Each student will also submit an individual cover sheet and receive their own comments on the project from their first and second reader.
·      The collaborators will be solely responsible for the working dynamic and shared responsibilities of work on the project. Neither the Master’s Project Advisor nor members of XE faculty and administration will intervene to resolve disagreements or disputes; the collaborators must negotiate the dynamics of collaboration themselves.

 

Human Subjects

Projects involving interviews, surveys, or other research on human subjects often require prior approval. Because approval can take time, you should begin the application process as early as possible. Further information is available at http://www.nyu.edu/ucaihs/ or from the Office of Sponsored Programs, 212-998-2121.

 

Conclusion

Once your project has been read and approved by your Master’s Project Advisor and your Second Reader, XE will file the necessary paperwork with the registrar's office and they will process your graduation. This series of steps takes approximately one month. Once your degree has been conferred, you will see it appear at the top of your online transcript. Eight weeks after that, the registrar will mail your diploma to you, so please be sure that your mailing address is correct in Albert. If you do not receive your diploma and request a new one, it will incur a fee. In due course, you will receive the two Reader’s Reports by e-mail. 

 

OTHER FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What are the administrative requirements to graduate?

You must be enrolled in the semester in which you graduate, which means you must either take a course or maintain matriculation. Matriculation is not required during the summer term. You must also apply for graduation (set your graduation date) using Albert within the period the Registrar has specified for that semester (see the Graduation and Diplomas page).

How do I submit the final project?

You must first give a clean copy of the finished project to your Master's Project Advisor. After your advisor has read and approved your work, it is your responsibility to submit the final copy, signed by your advisor on the cover page, to XE by the deadline listed above. You must also submit two Thesis Reader Sheets (one signed by your advisor, one blank), a thesis abstract, and the Exit Questionnaire. Your Master's Projecy Advisor is the first reader and the Program will provide a second reader, and XE faculty or Advisory Board member. Students must have met all graduation requirements, including timely submission of the project, to participate in commencement ceremonies.

What happens after that?

XE will assign your second reader, an XE faculty or Advisory Board member. Once your project has been signed by the second reader, we will file the necessary paperwork with the Registrar's Office and they will process your graduation. This series of steps takes approximately one month. Once your degree has been conferred, you will see it appear at the top of your online transcript. Eight weeks after that, the registrar will mail your diploma to you, so please be sure that your mailing address is correct in Albert. If you do not receive your diploma and request a new one, it will incur a fee.