A thesis is a systematic study of a significant scholarly problem. It identifies the problem or gap, explains the significance of the undertaking, sets forth the sources for and the methods of the study, analyzes the data, and offers conclusions. The finished product evidences new knowledge, originality, critical and independent thinking, appropriate organization, language, and format, professional writing, and thorough documentation.  The operative term is new knowledge.  Theses typically run between 40 and 100 pages.

Examples of recent RWS theses (available in our library):

Joseph Bush. Philosophy and Praxis of Multilingual Tutors. Chair, Kathryn Valentine

Rebecca Cammack. From Toilet to Tap: The Evolving Discourse of Recycled Drinking Water. Chair, Richard Boyd

Clara Cushing.  Old as Time: Circulation of Gender Conceptions in Beauty and the Beast Tales. Chair, Suzanne Bordelon 

Lorise Diamond. Implicitly Biased Diversity: An Ideological Aporia in Digital White Space. Chair, Cezar Ornatowski

Bree MacDonald. Musical Borderisms: An Ideological and Narrative Analysis of Tejano, Norteño, and U.S. Country Music. Chair, Glen McClish 

Ruben “Ruby” Mendoza. Hollow Eve: A Non-binary Artist Queering Heteronormativity. Chair, Suzanne Bordelon 

Sarita Tanori. Shifting to Conocimiento: A Qualitative Study on Rhetorical Vulnerability in First­ Generation Latinx Experiences. Chair, Kathryn Valentine

Download the full list of RWS Theses.

A project is primarily an application of disciplinary knowledge, expertise, and capacities. It demonstrates originality and independent thinking, appropriate language use, organization, and rationale. Examples in RWS are a technical manual, handbook, curriculum plan, or web-based or other instructional program. The project is described and summarized in a written abstract that includes the project’s significance, objectives, methodology, and a conclusion or recommendation. Students prepare a “cover” report/paper or “intellectual framework” detailing their project, approach, methodology, literature, and rationale that serves as an introduction (10–20 pages).  Projects vary considerably in length, but typically run between 40 and 100 pages.

Examples of RWS projects (available through our library):

Martin Ciesel. Ethos Building in the Digital Realm: A Practical Guide to Digital Portfolios. Chair, Jennifer Sheppard

Colleen Dong.  A Rhetorical Approach to Teaching Children's Literature. Chair, Glen McClish

Lubna Nona.  Using the Common Core Standards to Teach Rhetoric in the Middle School English Language Arts Curriculum. Chair, Glen McClish

You should plan at least two semesters for writing your thesis or doing your project.  Remember to check the deadlines for thesis submission listed on the Graduate Studies website  while you plan your schedule for research and writing and before you commit yourself to a graduation date.  These deadlines come long before the end of the semester. Calculate back from the submission deadline to allow sufficient time for members of your committee to read your thesis and for you to accommodate their comments and suggested revisions.  

Steps for Selecting a Thesis Committee and Registering for 799 Thesis

You may assemble a thesis committee and register for 799 Thesis after completing 8 of the 9 courses on the official program of study.  That is, you may begin working on the thesis concurrently with the last course on the official program of study if you have met all other requirements (e.g., removal of conditional status; filing of Program of Study, advancement to candidacy).  You may continue thesis work in successive semesters by registering for 799A, 799B, and thesis extension.  However, you should begin the research and background work for your thesis, including identifying faculty for your thesis committee, as early as your RWS 640 course in your first year.

While approaching a prospective thesis chair, it is wise to have a fairly good idea of what your thesis project will be. The more clearly you can articulate your idea, the better the chances that the faculty member understands clearly what you are proposing to do and the easier it is for him or her to decide to be your chair.  Generally, if the faculty member and you share a mutual interest in an area of the faculty member’s expertise and the faculty member knows that your work is of acceptable quality, he or she will agree to chair your thesis.  However, faculty members are not required to agree to chair a specific thesis.  You’ll choose the other members of your thesis committee in consultation with your chosen committee chair. You are required to have one committee member from an SDSU department outside of RWS. Use the thesis prospectus (see guidelines below) to select prospective members of the thesis committee.

When you have assembled the thesis committee, you should

• get a thesis committee form from the Graduate Office, SSE 1401

• have the form signed by the chair and the other members of the committee

• agree in principle with your thesis chair on the rights to the results of the work reported in the thesis. Agreement over such issues should be obtained in writing before beginning research. To facilitate this process, an agreement form is attached (as page 2) to the Appointment of Thesis/Project Committee form. It must be completed and submitted with the Thesis Committee Form to the Graduate Division. For the entire policy regarding “Rights to Dissertation/Thesis Data and Publication Authorship,” see the Thesis Department section of the Montezuma Publishing website.

• be familiar with university policy on using human subjects for research and secure appropriate permits. University policy requires that students intending to engage in research involving human subjects receive approval of their research procedures before beginning the collection of data.  Detailed information regarding the approval process can be found at the Research Integrity/Regulatory Compliance website. Remember, the Graduate Division will not accept the Appointment of Thesis Committee Form until the necessary approvals have been obtained.

• register for RWS 799 Thesis

Preparing a Thesis Prospectus

Once you have selected a faculty member who has agreed to chair your thesis, you can begin to work with him or her to prepare a thesis prospectus (see the guidelines below). The purpose of the prospectus is to help you articulate your ideas to a point where it is clear to you and to your chair, as well as to prospective members of your thesis committee and to any other interested readers, what your thesis project is and how you will approach it.

The thesis prospectus should be between five and eight pages long and contain the following sections:

1. TITLE
   
   
2. DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT
   A brief (one page) description of the proposed study or project: What is your research question?  What are you going to investigate and write about? What are the goals of the study or project? How do you see the general shape of the work? 
   
   
3. BACKGROUND OF PROJECT: REVIEW OF LITERATURE
   This section should demonstrate familiarity with the major issues and literature involved.  Think of this section as providing the context for your proposed study. You may provide a brief description of the situation, issues, debates, and questions that motivate interest in the topic and in the proposed study.  The section should also serve as the rationale for the proposed study, demonstrating the need for such a study: Why is the proposed study or project relevant, interesting, called for, or worth doing? What does your project add to existing knowledge?
   
   
4. METHODOLOGY
   This section should explain the proposed method of proceeding (archival research, ethnography, empirical research, textual analysis, observation, data analysis, and so on) and well as your “archive” or data.  In so far as possible, this section should also demonstrate the relevance of the proposed method to the goals of the study. 
   
   
5. TENTATIVE CHAPTER OUTLINE
   This section should list the tentative chapters or sections of the thesis and briefly describe their proposed content.
   
   
6. TIMETABLE FOR COMPLETION
   This section should present the timetable for completing the thesis, allotting sufficient time for research, writing, reviewing, and revising.  
   
   
7. WORKING BIBLIOGRAPHY
   This section is a list of primary and secondary sources that will be used in the study.

For more information on preparing a thesis, please read information from SDSU’s Division of Graduate and Research Affairs' website.

For details regarding deadlines, formatting requirements, and detailed submission information see Montezuma Publishing's Thesis Review website.

A comprehensive examination is defined by the CSU as an assessment of the student’s ability to integrate the knowledge of the area, show critical and independent thinking, and demonstrate mastery of the subject matter. The results of the examination evidence independent thinking, appropriate organization and high level of writing competency, critical analysis, and accuracy of documentation.

The exam functions as a capstone experience, with students drawing upon and synthesizing disciplinary knowledge acquired in their coursework. It also functions as a demonstration of competence (broad-based knowledge of some important disciplinary issues) and in some cases it provides an opportunity for students to develop research interests they have been working on for some time. 

In practice the exam changes a fair amount depending on the cohort of students.

We negotiate a reading list at the start of the semester that combines coverage as well as the particular interests and trajectories of the group.

Exam Procedures:

On the first day of the exam students write a series of short, specifically focused essays. Following the first day, students spend six days writing essay responses to three more expansive prompts. All work is open book and open notes and the exam is pass/fail.

Learning Outcomes for the Exam:

In the three parts of the exam, taken together, students will:

• articulate the projects and arguments of texts on the reading list, showing the role of each in constructing the field of rhetoric;
• create connections across texts and historically, showing how authors build on, expand, illustrate, revise or differ from previous writers' work;
• use texts on the reading list as lenses through which to reflect on their experiences as M.A. students in Rhetoric and Writing Studies and on their current or projected vocations;
• extend one or more writers' arguments by showing how they could be built out, illustrated, or used as the basis for further research.

Sample Exam Questions:

• There is a substantial body of research in the field of technical and professional communication devoted to the transitions writers experience when moving from academic to professional discourse communities. Selzer’s “The Composing Processes of an Engineer,” published in 1983, and Anson and Forsberg’s “Moving Beyond the Academic Community,” published in 1990, were two of the first pieces of scholarship to examine this issue. Subsequent scholarship (Dias, Dias et al., Freedman and Adam, and Bay) has compared reading practices, task definition, engagement, authority, contextual shaping, and a variety of other factors in order to chart disciplinary and workplace topographies. This research presents arguments about the theoretical frameworks best suited to understanding workplace and academic writing, and it often suggests ways of reforming pedagogy and practice.
  
  Drawing from this body of research, answer the following questions: What are some of the major findings of this body of research? What are some major shifts in the research literature?  Which findings, and which proposals for reforming pedagogy, seem most promising to you and why?
  
  
• Amidon, Nelson, and Plfugfelder argue that “by examining how ‘flatten the curve’ (FTC) visualizations served as a rhetorical anchor for communicating the risk of viral spread during the COVID-19 pandemic, technical and professional communication (TPC) stands to learn much about visual risk literacy (Richards, 2019): the ability to comprehend visual depictions of risks and translate this understanding into informed and ethical decision making. Risk visualizations function as useful aids to understanding text-based messaging, but in a highly visual culture, these graphics often stand alone.” Begin by unpacking what they mean in the context of this article and then, drawing on other pieces on your reading list, discuss some of the key issues raised by these authors for the TPC field broadly and in relation to visual communication specifically.

• In “Composition at the Turn of the Twenty First Century” Richard Fulkerson attempts to map what he calls “Comp-Landia.” He contrasts two texts, Eight Approaches to Teaching Composition, published in 1980, and A Guide to Composition Pedagogies, published in 2001. This comparison is used to identify “large-scale changes in the discipline” and describe what he sees as the major philosophies of composition at the turn of the century. This raises the question of how one might update Fulkerson’s map of “Comp-landia.”  Present an account of how you would update Fulkerson’s map. You could use the new, 2014 edition of A Guide to Composition Pedagogies, b) texts you are familiar with, and/or c) the 2010 issue of CCC titled “The Future of Rhetoric & Composition.” 
  
  
• Yancey’s “Writing in the 21st Century” is one of several recent texts arguing that digital technologies present exciting new opportunities for rhetoric and composition. She claims that the new digital environments reconfigure practices of composition, definitions of literacy, and the nature of what it means to be a writing teacher. Discuss her main claims, and consider how other scholars have responded to her text. You may wish to consider extensions/adaptations of Yancey’s work, challenges, critiques, and how recent studies of digital literacy can be brought into conversation with her article. Lastly, you can analyze Yancey’s rhetoric – the way she constructs the terms of the debate, constitutes a disciplinary community, and the precise nature of her call to action.

• In Plato’s Phaedrus writing is discussed in relation to memory, knowledge and authority. True rhetoric is compared to ‘pure’ writing inscribed in the soul of the listener, and is associated with stability, order, transparency and clarity (276a, 277a). False rhetoric is likened to ‘impure’ writing and defined as transitory, promiscuous, unreliable and unstable (275e).  Contemporary arguments about electronic text and new media literacy typically stress the novel, revolutionary nature of digital technologies. However, to what extent do these texts remain indebted to concepts and distinctions identifiable in Phaedrus?

• A number of writers on your reading list make the case for argument-based approaches to the teaching of writing. Discuss and evaluate the case they make for a) why argument matters, b) how it is best taught, c) which rhetorical theorists provide the most useful resources for argument-based pedagogies, and d) whether argument-based approaches can be integrated with alternative frameworks such as cultural studies or expressivism.

• Two of your texts, Katz and Burke, offer readings of Hitler’s rhetoric, though in the interest of different projects.  Both could be said to be anchored in Aristotle: Burke clearly traces in Hitler what Aristotle called “available means of persuasion.” Katz suggests that technical writing is a form of what Aristotle called deliberative rhetoric and its concern with efficiency.  Sketch the overall argument of each piece, and show how both could be of use for professional/technical writers.

• Filing the Program of Study
  The Program of Study (POS) is a contract among you, RWS, and the University.  Essentially, it’s an electronic list of the courses you will take in order to satisfy the requirements for the degree, including both required courses and electives.  The POS requires classified graduate standing and is submitted by the graduate advisor electronically in consultation with you.  Once the POS is approved by Graduate Studies, it becomes binding. However, we can petition for changes using a Petition for Adjustment of Academic Requirements.
  
  
• Advancement to Candidacy
  Once advanced to candidacy, you are officially recognized by the University as a candidate for the degree.  In order to be advanced to candidacy, you need to have an approved POS on file, completed 12 POS units, have a minimum GPA of 3.00, and no grade lower than a C. The graduate advisor recommends you electronically for advancement to candidacy, usually at the same time the POS is submitted.
  
  
• Select committee chair
  The principal criteria for selecting your thesis chair are expertise and a good working relationship.  Of these two, the latter is paramount.  Your chair needs to be someone with whom you work well.  
  
• Complete Thesis Prospectus
   Work with your committee chair to complete your thesis prospectus. This step can be completed any time up to this point, but must be finished before you can choose your other committee members. 
  
  
• Select second department member and outside member for committee
  The second member should also be a person who knows and appreciates your work.  Your outside member must come from a department other than RWS and should have expertise relevant to your subject, although this is not absolutely required. 
  
  
• Arrange and attend pre-thesis committee conference
   After selecting your committee and sharing your thesis prospectus with them, you will arrange a meeting with the committee.  This event is intended to provide you with initial guidance for your thesis/project.  At the close of the meeting, your committee members will sign your Appointment of Thesis/Project Committee form. 
  
  
• File Appointment of Thesis/Project Committee Form with GRA
  You will not be able to register for RWS 799A until this form is submitted and processed by GRA.

• Register for RWS 799A
  
  
• File for graduation
  This is accomplished through your Webportal and requires a small fee.  The deadline is usually at the end of January or the beginning of February  for spring graduation. 
  
  
• Complete Thesis/Project
  Working first with your chair and subsequently with the remaining two members of your committee, complete the chapters necessary for completing your thesis. 
  
  
• Attend Thesis/Project debriefing meeting or presentation
  Once your three committee members are essentially satisfied with your work, you will schedule and attend your debriefing meeting or presentation.  This could be a conversation with your committee, in which they discuss the project and make final suggestions for completion, a presentation of your findings open to the public, or a combination of the two.  At the successful completion of this meeting/presentation, your committee will sign your signature page.
  
  
• File thesis with Montezuma Publishing
  In order to guarantee spring graduation, you need to file your thesis with Montezuma Publishing by the “at risk deadline,” which is in late March.   Filing “at risk” may require you to register for RWS 799B through Open University and subsequently graduate in a later term. 
  
  
• Graduate
  You have the opportunity to attend both our departmental graduation and the College of Arts and Letters ceremony.  They are typically held on a Friday in mid-May.  Students who intend to graduate in summer are also invited to participate. 

• Filing the Program of Study
  The Program of Study (POS) is a contract among you, RWS, and the University.  Essentially, it’s an electronic list of the courses you will take in order to satisfy the requirements for the degree, including both required courses and electives.  The POS requires classified graduate standing and is submitted by the graduate advisor electronically in consultation with you.  Once the POS is approved by GRA, it becomes binding. However, we can petition for changes using a Petition for Adjustment of Academic Requirements.
  
  
• Advancement to Candidacy
  Once advanced to candidacy, you are officially recognized by the University as a candidate for the degree.  In order to be advanced to candidacy, you need to have an approved POS on file, completed 12 POS units, have a minimum GPA of 3.00, and no grade lower than a C.  I recommend you electronically for advancement to candidacy, usually at the same time the POS is submitted.  When approved for advancement to candidacy, you become eligible to sit for the comprehensive examination/Plan B.

• Register for RWS 790
  
  
• File for graduation
  This is accomplished through your Webportal and requires a small fee.  The deadline is usually at the end of January or the beginning of February.  For 2023, the date is January 31.
  
  
• Attend RWS 790
  RWS 790, the course in which you prepare for and take the exam, meets weekly to discuss the course reading list, which is usually determined by the instructor and students. This course is typically only offered in the spring semester.
  
  
  
• Sit for the Comprehensive Exam
  The comprehensive examination assesses your ability to integrate knowledge of your subject area, show critical and independent thinking, and demonstrate mastery of the subject matter. The exam is usually held in April.  The  deadline for reporting exam results is usually in early May. All sections of the exam must be successfully completed before then for you to graduate. 
  
  
• Graduate
  You are invited to attend both our departmental graduation and the College of Arts and Letters ceremony.  They are typically held on a Friday in mid-May.  Students who intend to graduate in summer are also invited to participate.