Thesis Guidelines 2017
Department of Philosophy
Thesis Guidelines
Spring & Fall 2017
An M.A. thesis should demonstrate ability to do research in Philosophy using both primary and
secondary sources. The thesis should take the form of a research paper of approximately 15,000
words in length, which convincingly defends an original thesis statement of the student’s own
devising.
I.
The Thesis Proposal

A student wishing to commence work upon the thesis must first identify a potential
advisor. It is the responsibility of students themselves to identify the most appropriate
faculty member from the Department of Philosophy to supervise their thesis, by
viewing the research interests of faculty members documented on the Faculty Profiles
on the departmental website. Once a potential advisor is identified, the student should
approach that person during their office hours (or by making an appointment via email)
in order to invite that faculty member to serve as their advisor. The faculty member
may decline this invitation if (a) he/she does not consider themselves to be the most
appropriate person to supervise this thesis or (b) he/she may not be present at AUC
during the time in which this thesis will be composed (as a result of either planned leave
or contractual expiration).

Once the student has found an advisor, they should then – in consultation with their
advisor – compose a thesis proposal. The thesis proposal constitutes an abstract of
around 1,500 words in length, which specifies the question which the thesis will attempt
to address. The thesis proposal should contain:
(a) a provisional chapter-by-chapter/section-by-section outline of the structure of the
proposed thesis;
(b) an explicit statement concerning how the proposed thesis relates to the already
existing literature upon the topic;
(c) a preliminary bibliography listing the primary and secondary sources that both
student and advisor consider relevant to this research.

A student must have successfully completed at least 18 graduate hours of coursework
before commencing work on the thesis proposal. Likewise, they must have completed
24 graduate hours of coursework before commencing work on the thesis itself.

The deadline for the submission of the thesis proposal is April 15, 2017 for projects
commencing in the subsequent Fall, and November 15, 2017 for projects commencing
in the subsequent Spring 2018. Thesis proposals should be submitted electronically to
[email protected].

The student’s thesis proposal will be reviewed by both the Chair of the Department and
the Director of Graduate Studies. If they approve the thesis proposal, the Chair of the
Department and the Director of Graduate Studies will select the two Readers. Although
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Thesis Guidelines 2017
both the student and advisor are welcome to recommend Readers, the final decision
upon this matter rests with both the Chair of the Department and the Director of
Graduate Studies. Readers will generally be chosen from among the faculty of AUC’s
Department of Philosophy, although – where appropriate – one of the two Readers may
be selected from other AUC Departments or other academic institutions. A faculty
member that is invited to serve as a Reader may decline the invitation and suggest that
someone else serve in their place if they feel that there is an available Professor who
would be a more appropriate choice (because of issues relating to linguistic
competence, contractual expiration, planned leave etc.).

Once the Readers have been decided, the student may then officially submit a hard copy
of the required Thesis Proposal Approval Form and of the IRB Preliminary Approval
or Waiver Form to the Philosophy Department Office, which will subsequently be
forwarded – along with a copy of their proposal – to the Registrar’s Office.

If a student’s thesis proposal is not approved, then, after due consultation, the student
will be asked to resubmit another proposal at the next deadline (on either April 15 or
November 15).

It is the duty of the student to inform their advisor, the program director and the
department of the current title of their work in the first week of each semester they are
enrolled in PHIL 5299 (Research Guidance & Thesis).
II.
The Thesis

A full-time M.A. student (who has no professional obligations outside of AUC) has –
once they have completed 18 credit hours of graduate coursework – a further two
semesters in which to officially submit a copy of the completed thesis. Therefore, any
full-time student who completes 18 credit hours of graduate coursework within Spring
2017 has until April 15, 2018 to officially submit their completed thesis.

A part-time M.A. student (who has professional obligations outside of AUC) has – once
they have completed 18 credit hours of graduate coursework – a further three semesters
in which to officially submit a copy of the completed thesis. Therefore, any part-time
student who completes 18 credit hours of graduate coursework within Spring 2017 has
until November 15, 2018 to officially submit their completed thesis.

In exceptional circumstances, a student may request an extension of one further
semester in which to complete their thesis. In order to obtain permission for such an
extension the student must justify the extenuating circumstances that lead to this request
within the context of a formal meeting with both the Chair of the Department and the
Director of Graduate Studies.

PHIL 5299 (Research Guidance & Thesis) is calculated as three credits in terms of
payment for the first two semesters in which the student is working on the thesis. If a
third semester is required, then that will be calculated as one credit in terms of payment.

Students are requested to compose their theses in accordance with The Chicago Manual
of Style. It will be the duty of the advisor to explain and enforce the application of this
norm.
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Thesis Guidelines 2017

Students are expected to make a concerted effort to attain the linguistic competence
requisite for reading primary texts within the language in which they were written.
Hence, students who are working upon a thesis dealing with Islamic Philosophy and
who are not native speakers of Arabic are strongly encouraged to elect for credit at least
one of the courses (at an appropriate level) offered by AUC’s Arabic Language
Institute. Likewise, students working upon theses dealing with Continental Philosophy
are required to have a basic reading knowledge of either French or German. (Thus, a
student whose thesis deals extensively with, e.g., Hegel or Heidegger, will be expected
to learn enough German to engage with the original texts, while a student whose thesis
deals extensively with, e.g., Sartre or Deleuze, will be expected to learn enough French
to engage with the original text.) Since AUC does not currently offer formal instruction
in modern European languages, students writing on Continental Philosophy who lack
basic reading knowledge of either French or German are strongly encouraged to
independently arrange tuition outside of AUC, for example at Cairo’s Goethe-Institut
or Centre Français de Culture et de Coopération.

Any student registered for PHIL 5299 (Research Guidance and Thesis) is required to
meet with their advisor for an hour-long tutorial.

Any student planning to submit the final draft of their completed thesis by May 15th or
November 15th, in order to be able to defend their thesis within the subsequent two
weeks, is required to submit a draft of their incomplete work to their advisor no later
than three weeks before the deadline for submitting the completed thesis.

It must be guaranteed that the readers of a thesis have at least two weeks of time at their
disposition to duly read and evaluate the student’s work before the defence.
III.
The Thesis Defence

The thesis defence will take place within two weeks of the student officially submitting
their completed thesis. The student will defend their thesis in front of their Advisor and
the two Readers.

The committee overseeing the student’s thesis defence (consisting of the Advisor and
the two Readers) may propose revisions to the thesis. The revisions required by the
committee must be incorporated in the final copy. The committee members may
consider the revised thesis individually or schedule another meeting with the candidate.

The accepted and signed thesis, alongside with two other copies must be submitted to
the Department of Philosophy at least two weeks before the commencement. Exact
dates will be announced in every semester.

For further information about the forms required in the process of finalizing the thesis,
please refer to the Department of Philosophy.
* For further information about AUC’s policies concerning the preparation of theses, please
refer to:
https://documents.aucegypt.edu/Docs/academics_grad/Thesis_Preparation__Guidelines_2016.pdf
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