Prospectus Guidelines In order to advise students effectively and to certify that the proposed dissertation is worthwhile and will be carried out in the most expeditious and professional manner, the History Department requires that each student prepare a prospectus for the Ph.D. dissertation. Before a student begins formal work on the dissertation, a committee of the student's advisors must approve the prospectus. A prospectus should clearly state the topic of the proposed research and what questions and problems the work proposes to address and answer. Since the dissertation must be an original contribution to learning, the prospectus should make clear how the proposed work develops, challenges, or departs from past research. It should demonstrate that the student has a sufficient and critical command of the historiography and the present state of the field. It should make clear what languages, methodologies, and theories the student will use when examining the sources. The prospectus should identify the sources to be used and their locations. A tentative outline of chapters should provide some sense of the work's overall plan and structure. A tentative schedule in the prospectus should estimate how much time the various aspects of research, travel to collections, writing, and revision will take. The text of the prospectus cannot be longer than ten pages. A bibliographical essay listing primary and secondary sources and unpublished doctoral and master's research may be included, but should appear as an appendix.