If you would like for me to direct a 595 project, a thesis, or a dissertation, these are items you should know:

Overview of Project:

At least one month prior to scheduling your qualifying exams, I require that you write an overview of your project. This narrative is for your benefit in that it encourages you to begin articulating the nature of your project. It also benefits the committee in that we will have a solid understanding of what you want to accomplish. I will draw the exam question(s) from this overview. In your overview, you will identify:

• Your thesis or statement of the problem
• Questions or observations that are guiding your project
• The significance of your project (the "so what" factor)
• A working bibliography identifying your primary and secondary texts you have read or will read by the time you take your exams. You should generally have at least 20 secondary texts for a 595 project or a thesis and at least 30 secondary texts for a dissertation

The narrative portion of your overview will be 4-5 pages (595), 7-8 pages (thesis), or 10-12 pages (dissertation). In other words, you need to be concise.

My Style as a Director and My Expectations:

I don't keep track of graduate school or departmental dates and deadlines. That's your responsibility. Besides, if you relied on me to keep track of deadlines, you'd never graduate.

While I will work very closely with you from the beginning to the completion of your project, I won't generally badger you about meeting deadlines. That would require that I keep track of dates and deadlines, which I don't do. However, if you're not making satisfactory progress on the project, I'll let you know and might resign as your director in that someone else might be better at motivating you to complete your project. My goal is to make certain your project meets departmental requirements and that you get it done.

I suggest you read Destination Dissertation by Sonja Foss if you're writing a dissertation.

Read the departmental Graduate Handbook and become so familiar with it that you can quote from it. Being able to do so will ensure that you're a smash at parties.

Once you have defended your proposal (or in the case of a 595 paper, you proposal is accepted by your committee), you need to identify projected dates and goals. Do that by determining when you want to graduate and work backwards from that. Remember that you want to give your committee sufficient time to read drafts and make suggestions. Be sure to allow plenty of time at the end of the semester so that you're not making revisions and asking your committee to read your project at the last minute. Everyone is busy at the end of semester. Respect your time as well as that of your committee members. If you're defending a dissertation, remember that the graduate school's deadline for defending your dissertation is quite early and realize that they will ask for revisions.

You should know I have a pretty good record of helping students complete their projects in a timely manner. And they live to tell about it.