Current Students

ALL Students:

1. Must complete 30 credits.
2. Must take these two required courses: Inventing the Americas | Research Methodologies
3. The Capstone course or the thesis option
4. The foreign language requirement: Students will need to meet a foreign language reading proficiency requirement in one of the following: French, Haitian Kreyòl, Spanish, or Portuguese. Other languages may qualify, with consultation and approval from the director of the MA in the Study of the Americas. This requirement may be fulfilled by either passing an exam, or completing a language proficiency course with the passing grade of C or above. For students apprehensive about foreign-language acquisition, please do not be discouraged. We have a very supportive faculty.

Dominican Studies Track Students:
Completion of four courses centering Dominican Studies.

Human Rights Track Students:
Completion of four courses centering Human Rights.

Planning for Graduation:

1. At least one to two semesters before you plan to graduate, be sure to see the director of the M.A. program so that you may fill out a ‘Graduation Check.’ In fact, we suggest that you do the ‘Graduation Check’ with the director once you have taken three to four courses in the program so that you may plan the rest of your time in the MA program.
2. Consider whether you will take the capstone course or if you will register for thesis credits and write a thesis for your graduation requirement. You may both take a capstone course and also write a thesis, but you must do at least one of the two. This decision should be made in consultation with the M.A. Director, as per the above instructions.
3. Make sure you have met the language requirement: Students will need to meet a foreign language reading proficiency requirement in French, Haitian Kreyòl, Spanish, or Portuguese. This requirement may be fulfilled either by passing an exam, or completing a language proficiency course with the passing grade of C or above.
    

Capstone:

The capstone course is an advanced graduate-level course that assumes that you already can conduct high-level research and write well. The goal is that you explore ways in which you may make significant interventions in a particular topic. Each capstone course has a general theme, which offers you a means by which to engage your own personal research interest through the prism of the capstone’s theme.

Thesis:

The thesis advisor also known as the first reader accompanies you during your thesis. A certain amount of independence is expected on your part. The thesis advisor is just that, an advisor. 

The second reader also supports the research process for the thesis.

The role of both the thesis advisor and the second reader is to support your research process. Your topic will be yours. The advisor and the second reader will not necessarily be specialists in your topic. They bring to you their general expertise in research methodologies. So if you choose to write a thesis, you must be comfortable with the research process. Expect that rewriting is part of the process of writing a thesis. The entire thesis process might take between two semesters and three years to complete. The thesis process includes:

1. a proposal (for sample thesis proposals please contact the M.A. Program Director);
2. a 40-60 page thesis with proper citations and a full bibliography; and,
3. an abstract of the thesis (400 words).

Both the Capstone and the Thesis:

We suggest that you take the capstone course regardless of whether or not you do a thesis. In this way, if for some reason you do not finish your thesis, you can still graduate. If you choose to do both the capstone and the thesis, then the capstone would apply to your course requirements as an elective. Also, you can explore your thesis topic in the capstone course.
 

One or two semesters before you would like to register for the three-thesis credits, you should follow the directions for approaching the professor with whom you would like to work. PLEASE READ, as the directions are very specific.
 

Students planning to write a thesis, should follow the below steps:

1. By the time you have arrived at the point of writing a thesis, you should be able to formulate:
- your own general topic;
- a point of interrogation/a problematic with which to address your topic; and,
- one or or methodological approaches to your research topic.

2. To this end, before approaching a potential primary thesis advisor, you should write up the first 2,000 words of a research proposal.

3. Formulate, on your own time, the first 2,000 words of your research proposal narrative.Be sure to make sure that the grammar, syntax, citations, and bibliography are correct. You may share with colleagues, friends, or the writing center. Writing a thesis requires a certain amount of capacity to work alone. For this reason, we ask that you work on these first paragraphs independently of your thesis advisor or a class. That said, once you are admitted to the thesis track, you will work in close consultation with your thesis advisor: see Nota Bene at the end of this weblink.

4. Once you have the 2,000 words completed and in a presentable format (see #3), write a formal email to the research advisor with whom you would like to work.
Send the potential thesis advisor the 2,000 words as an attachment and request a meeting with her or him. Of course, you may speak to her or him before you send the email.

5. TIMELINE: Give the potential thesis advisor two weeks to respond to you, and plan according to the below timeline guidelines:
- If you would like to take the three-credit thesis independent study in the Fall, then email the professor the 2,000 words by August 1.
- If you would like to take the three-credit thesis independent study in the Spring, then email the professor the 2,000 words by December 1. 
- If you would like to take the three-credit thesis independent study in the Summer, then email the professor the 2,000 words by April 15.

6. When the potential thesis advisor meets with you, s/he will: 
- Give you advice as to how to better execute your research;
- Communicate to the M.A. Director that you will take the three-credit thesis independent study with her/him in the following semester: either Fall, Spring, or Summer;
- If the professor feels that you would do better to rewrite the 2,000 words, the professor will communicate with the M.A Director. 
- Please note that both the potential thesis advisor and/or the M.A. director may decline your request to follow the thesis track. If this occurs, you may of course appeal this decision with the M.A. Advisory Committee. 

7. Once the thesis advisor has accepted to work with you, s/he will consult with you as to the second reader.

8. During your three-credit thesis research independent study, you will be graded on the following:
- Finishing your thesis proposal: See sample proposals that the M.A. Director can provide, and directions at bottom of this web link; and,
- Approval of the thesis proposal by the M.A. Advisory Committee. Please submit your thesis proposal to the M.A. Advisory Committee at least three weeks before then end of the given semester.  If for some reason, your thesis proposal is not approved by the M.A. Advisory Committee, you may request an Incomplete from your thesis advisor, who has the ultimate say in whether or not to allow you to do an Incomplete. 

9. After your proposal is complete, you continue to work on your 40-60 page thesis until it is complete (usually it takes an additional 1-6 semesters).
During this time, if you have already finished your coursework (i.e. the 30-credits for the program), you pay a Maintenance of Matriculation fee. Please confirm the process and the amount with the Bursar’s Office at the uptown campus. It is your responsibility to check this payment procedure with the Bursar's Office.

10. If you have finished all of your course-work, but if you have not yet finished your thesis, then what do you do?
Once you have registered and paid for the three-credit research course with your first reader, and if you have completed your other twenty-seven credits, then you just need to pay the Maintenance of Matriculation (M.O.M.) until you graduate. Again, please confirm this regulation with the Bursar’s Office at the uptown campus. It is your responsibility to check this payment procedure with the Bursar's Office. You may register for this directly with the Registrar’s office and pay at the Bursar’s office, uptown at the main City College campus.

Some caveats:
- If you plan to study abroad, try to study abroad before you get to this point, because it is difficult to get course credit for study abroad once you are doing the M.O.M.
- As explained by the Bursar’s office, if you plan to submit your final thesis and graduate during the summer, you must pay the M.O.M. for the summer. If you do not plan to submit the thesis and graduate in the summer, then you only need to pay the M.O.M. in the Fall or Spring semester/s. It is your responsibility to check this payment procedure with the Bursar's Office.