Writing the Successful Thesis and Dissertation: Entering the Conversation

3. The Proposal as an Argument: A Genre Approach to the Proposal

“For mark! no sooner was I fairly foundPledged to the plain, after a pace or two,Than, pausing to throw backward a last viewO’er the safe road, ‘twas gone; grey plain all round:Nothing but plain to the horizon’s bound.I might go on; nought else remained to do.”—Robert Browning, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came

ALTHOUGH EACH ASPECT of a thesis or dissertation can be problematic, writing the proposal probably generates the most anxiety; for many students, the path to writing it seems dangerous, fading into a “gray plain” as one proceeds. In fact, according to research conducted by Mauch and Birch, “the period between the end of the course work and the serious initiation of the ...