Thesis Proposal Lab
The New School
Parsons School of Design
School of Art, Media & Technology // MA, Media Studies
Spring 2026
Course webpage is here: http://peterasaro.org/courses/2026SThesis.html
Course blog is here: https://thesisproposal26s.wordpress.com
Course Description
This course supports students working on their Masters Thesis project Proposals for the Master of Arts in Media Studies degree.
This course supports students working on their Masters Thesis in Media Studies proposals. Open only to M.A. degree candidates who have met with the Thesis Coordinator and have a faculty member who has agreed to supervise their project. Students refine their project's research question, literature review, and methodology and are expected to complete their Thesis Proposal by the end of the semester. The class mixes group workshops, in which students give progress reports and receive feedback, and one-on-one meetings with the Thesis Coordinator and thesis advisors. Following successful completion of Thesis Proposal Lab, student move on to Thesis SUpervision and work directly with their thesis advisor and second reader.
OFFICE HOURS: By Appointment
Please email me to setup an appointment.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS & GRADING:
Thesis Proposal is a Pass/Fail course, which is graded based on successful completion of the Thesis Proposal. The essential elements of this are: 1) To secure the commitments of two eligible Full-time faculty members to serve as Thesis Advisor and Second Reader to guide your thesis project. 2) To clearly state your Research Question. 3) To articulate how you will Operationalize answering/responding to the Research Question. 4) Successfully motivate and describe the Research Methods/Design Process to be used in the Thesis. 5) To initiate a Literature Review that captures the theoretical frameworks, discourses and key authors and concepts needed to articulate your Research Question and Methods/Process.
Welcome to Thesis Proposal
The goal of Thesis Proposal is to develop your Thesis Proposal, and get it approved and signed by your First Reader (Thesis Advisor) and Second Reader, and submitted. You should already have discussed the project with potential faculty memebers to serve these roles. Please contact me immediately if you have not. Because every Thesis is different, the structure of Thesis Proposal is one of guided peer-learning and sharing. Which means students mainly share their research projects, questions, methods, strategies, issues and challenges with each other and receive helpful criticism and feedback from each other, as well as guidance and feedback from the Thesis Coordinator, and at several points from the Thesis Advisor and Second Reader.
This course will be meeting in a hybrid setting. This will consist of a mixx of in-class and Zoom on-line class sessions, alll of which will be recorded an archived via Zoom. Students are strongly encouraged to atten the in-person presentations of your thesis projects, with accomodations for those who cannot attend.
This course is graded Pass/Fail, and in order to Pass you must continue to meet with your Thesis Advisor (First Reader) and make progress on your Thesis Proposal, and complete ALL of the Tutorial Lab requirements:
1) One-on-one Meeting with me
2) Initial (Overview) Presentation of your Thesis Project to the group
3) Research Question Written Exercise
4) Research Methods Written Exercise
5) Literature Review Written Exercise
5) Final (Research Question & Methods) Presentations of your Thesis Project to the group
You will have three short written assignments.
In the first, you will write out your Research Question as clearly and succinctly as possible. You will also describe how you will Operationalize your Research Question.
The second assignment is to write out the Research Methods you will deploy to answer your Research Question. If you are pursuing a predominately production-based project, you will articulate out your Production and Design Process. You may also be required to write a revised version of this assignment based on my feedback.
The third assignment will be to draft an initial Literature Review, which captures key authors, text, concepts and ideas needed to both explicate your Research Question, and to contextualize your Thesis within a larger historical discourse or practice of research, scholarship or media produciton.
You should post these assignments to the Course BLog, and comment on those of your classmates. I will also provide feedback on them on the Course Blog. You should revise them based on this feedback. Each assignment should be discussed with your Primary Thesis Advisor before the assignment, and you should share the revised draft with them for feedback.
I strongly recommend that you review the readings for Week 4 "The Research Question: Formulation and Operationalization" of my research methods course Designing Methods for Media, which examines various ways of mixing methods to answer research questions about media, and prepares students to write a Thesis Proposal. Depending on your project, the readings for the other weeks may also be helpful for you as you think about your methods.
A major theme of the Methods course is that your research question and methods will, and should, evolve as you get deeper into you research project. This is true at the Proposal stage, but also as you begin to conduct the research during Thesis Tutorial. The iterative improvement of your research question and methods, based on feedback and initial results and discovery, are key to any successful research project.
You will be expected to make 2 presentations of your Thesis project to this class during the semester, one towards the beginning and again at the end of the semester. Details for the objectives of each presentation are below. It is strongly recommended that you attend these in-person if possible. If not, there will be options for on-line participation and presentations.
You will all also have required one-on-one meetings with me to discuss your Thesis projects and progress.
Your Research Question Assignment, stating your research question and methods, will be due March 10.
Both presentations will be recorded in order to share with our on-line students, and on-line students will provide feedback. Presentations should aim to be 10 minutes long, with 5 minutes for questions. That is not much time so try to be concise and to the point, and recognize what your audience might already know and what you need to tell them. Practice your presentation for time. Powerpoints and other visuals are optional, but most students tend to use them.
Key Objectives for the First Presentation:What is your research topic and why is it interesting?
Key Objectives for the Second Presentation:
What is your research question and why is it relevant? What is the value of answering it?
What results/impact do you expect from this project?What methods will you use in your research?
Why are these methods appropriate, and why will they lead to greater understanding?
How are you going to operationalize your research question, and develop a practical research plan?
How do you plan to interpret your results? How do you plan to present your results?
What challenges do you foresee in completing the research?
By the end of this semester, you should be prepared to write your thesis, and register for Thesis Supervision.
Electronic Devices Policy
The use of electronic devices (phones, tablets, laptops, cameras, etc.) is permitted when the device is being used in relation to the course's work. All other uses are prohibited in the classroom and devices should be turned off before class starts.
Generative AI Policy
You are expected to do your own writing for this class. While you may use generative AI creatively in your final project, if you do you must carefully describe its use and your own original conrtibutions to your final project as part of your proposal and final paper. You may also use generative AI to correct and improve your grammar and use of language, but the ideas and arugments of your texts should be yours. Your weekly blog posts should be your own writing and ideas. Any and all use of generative AI should be disclosed in the assignment when you turn it in. Violation of this policy will be treated as plagarism.
Academic Honesty and Integrity
Compromising your academic integrity may lead to serious consequences, including (but not limited to) one or more of the following: failure of the assignment, failure of the course, academic warning, disciplinary probation, suspension from the university, or dismissal from the university.
Students are responsible for understanding the University’s policy on academic honesty and integrity and must make use of proper citations of sources for writing papers, creating, presenting, and performing their work, taking examinations, and doing research. It is the responsibility of students to learn the procedures specific to their discipline for correctly and appropriately differentiating their own work from that of others. The full text of the policy, including adjudication procedures, is found at http://www.newschool.edu/policies/# Resources regarding what plagiarism is and how to avoid it can be found on the Learning Center’s website: http://www.newschool.edu/university-learning-center/student-resources/
The New School views “academic honesty and integrity” as the duty of every member of an academic community to claim authorship for his or her own work and only for that work, and to recognize the contributions of others accurately and completely. This obligation is fundamental to the integrity of intellectual debate, and creative and academic pursuits. Academic honesty and integrity includes accurate use of quotations, as well as appropriate and explicit citation of sources in instances of paraphrasing and describing ideas, or reporting on research findings or any aspect of the work of others (including that of faculty members and other students). Academic dishonesty results from infractions of this “accurate use”. The standards of academic honesty and integrity, and citation of sources, apply to all forms of academic work, including submissions of drafts of final papers or projects. All members of the University community are expected to conduct themselves in accord with the standards of academic honesty and integrity. Please see the complete policy here.Intellectual Property Rights
If you have concerns over the intellectual property rights for your thesis work, please refer to the University policies here: https://www.newschool.edu/provost/faculty-policies/# .
Week 1: January 27
Introductions and Thesis OverviewRequired:
Week 2: February 3
The Research Question: Formulation and Operationalization (NO CLASS MEETING)Research Question Assignment Due, Comment on Others by February 9Required:
Martyn Shuttleworth, "Operationalization," Experiment-Resource.com
"Conducting Research," Purdue OWL, Purdue University.
Recommended:
"Formulating the Research Question: Step by Step"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operationalization
Week 3: February 10
Research Questions Feedback & DiscussionWeek 4: February 17
Thesis Formats & Literature ReviewRequired:
"Scientific Writing: Literature Review," The New School Writing Center.
"Scientific Writing: Research Proposals," The New School Writing Center.
"Artist's Statement," Wikipedia.org.
"Literature Review," Wikipedia.org.
"Literature Reviews," University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Writing Center..
Recommended:
"Handouts," The New School, University Learning Center..
"A Guide to Writing and Formatting Gallery Text," Denver Art Museum.
Week 5: February 24
Literature Review Assignment Due (NO CLASS MEETING)Week 6: March 3
Work on First Presentation (NO CLASS MEETING)Week 7: March 10
Thesis Project Presentations (In-Person D909 & ONLINE)Week of March 17: SPRING BREAK NO CLASS!
Week 8: March 24
One-on-One Meetings (NO CLASS MEETING)Week 9: March 31
Research MethodsRequired:
Review the syllabus for Designing Research Methods, determine which methods might be most applicable to your project and do the associated readings.
Week 10: April 7
Research Methods Assignment Due (NO CLASS MEETING)Week 11: April 14
In addition to sending me a copy of your Proposal, share it with your Primary Thesis Advisor and Second Reviewer, and ask them for comments.
Draft Thesis Proposals DUE! (NO CLASS MEETING)Week 12: April 21
After completing revisions, ask your Primary Thesis Advisor and Second Reviewer to sign the Cover page (one will need to sign first), the template for which you can find in the Appendices of the Thesis Handbook:
Complete any revisions requested by me, your Primary Advisor, or Second Reviewer (NO CLASS MEETING)Week 13: April 28
Final Thesis Proposals DUE! (NO CLASS MEETING)Week 14: May 5
Thesis Presentation Event for students who recently completed their Thesis (Room D538, Time TBA).