Thesis proposals
My (history) thesis discussion seminar last Wednesday devolved into a bitchfest discussion on, among other things, thesis proposals. Some of my cohort's advisors are requiring that their proposals be accepted by their committees before the students are allowed to go forward in their thesis. Baldly, one student's advisor refuses to read any of her chapter drafts until her proposal is accepted. Some of the other advisors aren't as strict, but they still require fairly substantial work on the proposals. My advisor, on the other hand, told me to not worry about the proposal and as long as it's turned in before my defense, I'm fine. (She also doesn't want it to be more than 4-5 pages.)
What are your thoughts on the importance, or not, of the proposal for a master's thesis in the humanities? Are you more in line with my cohort's advisors or my advisor? What about for a dissertation? If the field makes a difference, I'm a medievalist, while the rest of my thesis-cohort are Americanists.
Please note that I'm not trying to prove anything either way; I'm genuinely curious to get other points of view. Our advisors all have a large amount of leeway in directing our theses, and that's not going to change anytime soon.
(For what it's worth, my history department is fairly small; 14 professors and maybe 30-40 grad students total, including part-time students. We don't have a doctoral program.)
Edit: I wanted to clarify that our topics have been discussed and approved. My question is more how important do you think the proposal is? Is two or three drafts and a shorter proposal acceptable, or should the proposal be longer and perfected through many drafts? Would you send a proposal back multiple times for fairly minor wording and style corrections (as I understand it) while refusing to let the student continue working on the thesis itself? Does it matter, or not, that we have already been working on our proposals and theses for a year? (Most of us are second-year students.)
Edit 2: I'm not trying to suggest that we shouldn't (or don't) have proposals at all. I do understand they are a necessary part of the whole process. At what point is enough enough? (Sorry for the lack of clarity in the original post and any comments; it's getting late for me.)
What are your thoughts on the importance, or not, of the proposal for a master's thesis in the humanities? Are you more in line with my cohort's advisors or my advisor? What about for a dissertation? If the field makes a difference, I'm a medievalist, while the rest of my thesis-cohort are Americanists.
Please note that I'm not trying to prove anything either way; I'm genuinely curious to get other points of view. Our advisors all have a large amount of leeway in directing our theses, and that's not going to change anytime soon.
(For what it's worth, my history department is fairly small; 14 professors and maybe 30-40 grad students total, including part-time students. We don't have a doctoral program.)
Edit: I wanted to clarify that our topics have been discussed and approved. My question is more how important do you think the proposal is? Is two or three drafts and a shorter proposal acceptable, or should the proposal be longer and perfected through many drafts? Would you send a proposal back multiple times for fairly minor wording and style corrections (as I understand it) while refusing to let the student continue working on the thesis itself? Does it matter, or not, that we have already been working on our proposals and theses for a year? (Most of us are second-year students.)
Edit 2: I'm not trying to suggest that we shouldn't (or don't) have proposals at all. I do understand they are a necessary part of the whole process. At what point is enough enough? (Sorry for the lack of clarity in the original post and any comments; it's getting late for me.)