Preparing the M.A. Essay

Geoff Nathangeoffnathan@wayne.edu

Margaret Wintersmewinters@wayne.edu

Finding a Topic

• Start thinking about it early!• It must be interesting to you• Usually based on class material• Sometimes an extension of a term paper• Sometimes an offhand remark by a professor

or classmate• Something that is bothering you about a

language you know (why is X the way it is?)

Getting Started

• Refining a Topic– It will be too big – guaranteed!– Read widely and talk to your friends and

instructors– Try to write a paragraph-long thesis statement– Expect several false starts

Getting Started

• Building a Bibliography– Wikipedia is the beginning, not the end– Library databases are your friends• MLA• LLBA• Specialized bibliographies

– Follow leads in bibliographies of books and articles– Hope for a recent book or review article with an

extensive bibliography

Setting up the committee

• Approach someone you would like to work with and ask– Expertise– Compatibility

• Not everyone always has the time• The rest of the committee (at least 2 more and

generally all in the Linguistics program)– Consider expert knowledge (e.g. statistics, phonetics)– Find out how they want to see the essay (by section, not

until the end…)

Getting Feedback

• Work with your advisor on a timeline for submission to the advisor, the rest of the committee (learn the deadlines and work backwards)

• Expect feedback and the need for multiple versions• Give committee members time to read the draft

(two weeks is fair) but do not hesitate to check with them if you haven’t received any reaction by then

Human Subjects

• Required only for living people as a source of data– Interviews– Surveys, including on-line– Experiments– Classroom-centered research

• Pre-existent data (i.e. corpora, databases) do not need IRB clearance

• Procedures – before starting the work– Take the training (required)– Fill out the form(s) and get signatures– Your advisor and others can help – it’s not always clear or obvious

what is needed

Research and Writing

• Check in with your advisor on a regular basis• Consult with the rest of your committee and

others who are not but could help• Contact scholars elsewhere – don’t be shy

since even famous linguists often respond• Back up your data and text in two different

places• Form a support group

What Makes a Good Essay

• It’s more than a term paper: you should say something new

• State your goals at the beginning and summarize at the end

• Don’t pad• Write so any linguist can understand it• There is standard formatting for glossing foreign

language data: http://grammar.ucsd.edu/courses/lign120/leipziggloss.pdf

• There is no standard length

Your Bibliography

• For the bibliography use one of the following:http://celxj.org/downloads/USS-NoComments.pdf

or http://www.linguisticsociety.org/files/style-sheet.pdf

• Use the bibliography of any article in Language as your guide

• Exception: psycholinguistics and speech science use APA

The Oral Exam

• Bringing enough copies of the cover page for signatures is your responsibility

• The oral is attended by committee, moderator, and your cheering squad

• Format of the oral:– The 15 minute summary– Questions around the table and from the sidelines

• Stepping out: what happens behind that door• You will get final feedback when you come back in• Is it possible to fail? No – the oral will not happen until

your advisor thinks you are ready

Final Revisions and Submission

• Final revisions – they happen, so allow time!• Format (including for cover page): http://clasweb.clas.wayne.edu/Multimedia/CLAS/files/Students/Essay_Guidelines.pdf• Printing: allow time• Binding and deposit– Follow the guidelines scrupulously

Questions

• What have we forgotten?

• Thanks for listening• Contact us for other information