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Program information

Specialization in Bioethics

An option in the M.A. (thesis) programs is the M.A. in Religious Studies with specialization in Bioethics鈥攐ffered in collaboration with the Biomedical Ethics Unit.聽The curriculum is composed of required courses offered in the Biomedical Ethics Unit, bioethics courses offered by the base faculty or department, and any graduate course required or accepted by the base faculty for the granting of a Master鈥檚 degree. For more information on required courses, please refer to the "course requirements" tab.

M.A. with option in Gender and Women Studies

The Graduate Option in Gender and Women's Studies (GWS) provides graduate students with a cross-disciplinary specialization in feminist, women's, and gender studies. This Option is for those who wish to focus on gender-related issues and feminist research and methodologies.聽During the application process, prospective students can specify their interest in the Graduate Option when applying. There are no prerequisites to enter into the Option. However, previous coursework in gender and women's studies provides an ideal foundation for more in-depth study of and research in feminist scholarship.

Student supervision in the Option is undertaken by one's departmental supervisor who oversees student work, including choice of thesis, dissertation, or project topic. A student's M.A. thesis聽must be on a topic that significantly engages with issues of gender and/or women and/or feminism. For more information about GWS, visit the IGSF聽website.

Admission requirements

Applicants must possess a B.A. with a Major or Honours in Religious Studies or a Bachelor of Theology (B.Th.), or a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree normally with a minimum CGPA of 3.3/4.0 (B+) from an accredited university or college. Applicants with fewer than 30 appropriate credits in Religious Studies or Theology are normally required to take a Qualifying term or year before entering the M.A.聽 This will be assessed by the Graduate Admissions Committee at the time of application revision and the student will be informed accordingly.

Courses

Language requirements

All M.A. students are required to complete one language other than English during their program. Students in the Bioethics program are exempted; language requirements, if any, will be determined in the process of supervision. The School of Religious Studies offers courses in primary text source languages, such as Biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, Biblical Greek, Sanskrit, and classical literary Tibetan. The聽School relies upon other 捆绑SM社区 units for instruction in languages other than those mentioned above.

The successful completion of at least twelve credits at the post-secondary level in a language course, or successful completion of a language examination administered by the appropriate member of the School, will constitute evidence of the student鈥檚 having the required reading knowledge of the language in question.

Students are required to give their area committee evidence of reading knowledge of a scholarly language other than English. This language may be either a modern language in which there is a significant amount of scholarship relevant to the student鈥檚 area of research, or a classical language relevant to the student鈥檚 area of research. If a classical language is chosen, it must be in addition to any prerequisite language for the area in question.

Thesis proposal guidelines

The thesis proposal is prepared under the direction of your thesis supervisor(s) with the guidance of your research committee and submitted to the Graduate Programs and Policies (GPP) committee for review and approval.

Drafting and time of submission for the M.A. proposal is undertaken in consultation with the supervisor.

General guidelines:

• M.A. proposal word count: 1200 words maximum (excluding bibliography).
• Your proposal must be submitted two weeks before the meeting of the GPP committee to be considered. Keep review deadlines in mind; they must be respected.
• M.A. proposals are discussed and evaluated in the GPP meeting without the presence of the candidate.
• Submit your proposal with your name and student number, date, indication of the degree being sought, proposal title, and supervisory signature(s).
• It must be distributed in an unlocked PDF form that allows for highlighting and annotation by GPP committee members.
• Use a standard double-spaced format, with brief supportive footnotes.

Main elements of a proposal:

Apart from the provisional title, there are essentially FIVE main elements of a thesis proposal, which will normally (though not necessarily) appear discretely in the following order.

• Research question and thesis statement: The first section indicates the main subject of inquiry and the principal text(s) concerned. More specifically, it identifies the central task to be undertaken and the primary claim that is being made, a claim that will be elaborated and defended as the dissertation unfolds. Establishing the "problematic" and the "thesis" (that is, the question and the answer) is crucial to the viability of any proposal. Clarity here is essential and the labour required to attain it is an excellent investment. This process normally requires multiple revisions in the drafting the proposal and often involves important refinements or alterations to the version reviewed by the GPP committee. If one cannot formulate convincingly the main problem to be addressed, or the primary aim and claim of the work, the dissertation project is not yet ready to proceed.
• Literature Review: This section should position the thesis in relation to previous scholarship in the area, to show how the proposed project offers an original contribution to scholarly debate or addresses an important gap in the literature. The literature can be grouped into 鈥渟chools鈥� of interpretation, if such exist. A proposal cannot offer a thorough literature review but should offer an examination of representative studies as a backdrop or a foil for your own inquiry. This normally will involve weeks or months of intensive research and reading, beyond your comprehensives, in order to have a good grasp of the literature relevant to your topic. While some research topics might not have a large body of existing academic literature, this limitation can be explained in the literature review section and literature relevant to the broader thematic concerns of the thesis can be mentioned here.
• Methodology and approach: This section sets out the relevant operating assumptions and the theoretical tools or types of analysis to be employed. The former should be clearly indicated and the latter competently articulated. Assumptions do not have to be defended but their bearing should, as far as possible, be recognized. Analytical tools should be appropriate to the subject matter and their use (or non-use) may require explanation or defence. Proposals dealing with scriptural or foundational documents usually involve various forms of textual, hermeneutical, theological, critical, or historical analysis. Ethnographic topics may entail anthropological, sociological or qualitative ethnographical approaches. Some topics may lend themselves to a mixed-methods approach. How does the approach you are proposing address some of the limitations or difficulties of earlier approaches? Will your theoretical or methodological approach offer something original to scholarship in your field of inquiry?
• Annotated outline: Provide a basic map of your project in the form of an annotated chapter outline. This should evince a coherent structure within which to develop your aims and arguments systematically. A Master鈥檚 project will typically have three or four chapters, including introduction and conclusion. Descriptions of each should help the committee assess your readiness for the work proposed, though in that work you are not bound to its present outline, which may well undergo significant change dictated by future findings or conceptual adjustments.
• Select bibliography: This should include the main primary texts, or portions thereof, which constitute the focus of the inquiry. Also provide the most relevant critical literature which is most pertinent to the setting up of your own methodology and approach, specifically the most important criticism outlined in the literature review.
  M.A. bibliography: 1 page minimum (in addition to the proposal).
  You may attach your more extensive bibliography as an appendix if you wish.

General observations:

Keep the main text as clean as possible and make it accessible to those whose expertise is in other fields. Be concise, however, not impressionistic. Your research can and should proceed while you await review. Bear in mind that the labour that leads to a successful thesis proposal is the most important work that will go into your project. Where these elements are sound, the further work based on them is more likely of success and the misery of "thesis neurosis" much less likely. As Aristotle rightly maintained, 鈥渢he beginning is most difficult.鈥� It is perhaps more than half the labour.

Residency

Refers to the number of terms (or years) students must be registered on a full-time basis to complete their program. Students are not permitted to graduate until they have fulfilled the residence requirement (or paid the corresponding fees) in their program.

The normal residence requirement is three terms of full-time resident study. Students may apply to do the third term during the summer of their first year. Students may also register on a half-time basis.

Time limitation

Candidates for Masters degrees must complete the degree within three years of initial registration. If the degree is pursued strictly on a less than full time basis, it must be completed within five years of initial registration.

Please see聽GPS's policies on Time Limitation聽for more information.