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To work for the proper implementation of canon law is to play an extraordinarily constructive role in continuing the redemptive mission of Christ. Pope St. John Paul II |
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Updated 7 August 2018 |
Dr. Peters' Protocols for Master's and Licentiate Theses |
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Notices ► |
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General remarks
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These protocols apply to MA and STL theses that I direct. They also provide some indications of things I look for as a Reader, but Directors differ in approach. Always do what your Director says.
Master's and Licentiate theses come in two broad types:
• Descriptive (narrates or explains a complex matter, in which case its text needs to be comprehensive, though not exhaustive, of the topic); or
• Argumentative (seeks to move the reader toward or away from a position, in which case its text needs to be persuasive, if not compelling, to an open and intelligent mind).
The line between these two approaches is not always bright, but in both cases, the burden of a thesis is carried solely by what is written between its covers.
A thesis is not a mini-doctoral dissertation and I do not expect MA or STL theses to make a contribution to the field (although theses occasionally make such contributions). Rather, a successful MA or STL thesis demonstrates that its author possesses a graduate-level command of the sources and studies in the discipline and could, with some additional course work and guidance, go on to make a contribution to the field (typically in a doctoral dissertation).
Licentiate students should recall that their thesis is a requirement toward the degree by which they receive a license to teach at the college and graduate level within ecclesiastical institutions (Canon 253 § 1) and their thesis must reflect that level of competence. One who writes a successful STL thesis should be able to turn around and direct an MA or STL thesis.
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Getting started |
Over time conventions have arisen that make the development of a thesis easier and contribute to its eventual use by readers. To those requirements set out in the current SHMS Bulletin, I add (or reiterate, as the case may be) the following expectations for Master's and Licentiate theses under my direction.
• Read the applicable SHMS Bulletin regarding general thesis requirements and this web page carefully.
• Formulate the general idea of your thesis and check it out with your academic advisor.
• Assuming your advisor's written approval of the concept, talk with me at your convenience. Bring your complete contact information and a listing of your course work and research language abilities. We will likely need to meet more than once to make a decision about directing.
• If, after conferencing, you wish me to direct your thesis and I agree to do so, our formal relationship will be inaugurated in writing.
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Basic format |
All theses and their drafts shall be typed in Times New Roman 12 point or in Arial 11 point, on 8.5" x 11" quality white paper, printed on one side only. Leave 1 inch margins all around, except the left margin which is 1.5 inches (to allow for binding). Body text must be double-spaced, footnote text must be space-and-a-half. Every page shall carry your last name and be numbered (lower-right). Inset by half an inch, at space-and-a-half, all quotations of 60 words or more. Use left-side only justification throughout. Variations on these parameters not approved by me prior to submitting drafts and/or final versions will not be accepted.
While SHMS Master's theses may not exceed 60 pages, you should expect to write at least 45 pages, exclusive of front materials and bibliographies, for me. SHMS Licentiate theses must be between 75 and 100 pages.
I work primarily from hard copy, but every time you deliver a printed version of something to me, simultaneously email the same material to me as well. I do not deem your materials as submitted until I have both the hard copy and electronic versions on hand. When I return a marked-up version of your material for re-writing, and you rewrite it and return it in to me, be sure to return the marked-up earlier version as well. I will check to see how you handled my suggestions and corrections.
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Languages
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I expect Masters students to use their research language (i.e., at least one relevant scholarly language other than English) in their thesis. I expect Licentiate students to use Latin and a modern research language in their thesis. This ability is demonstrated by making competent use of sources or commentaries not also available in English.
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Deadlines |
It is the student's responsibility to be aware of institutional deadlines. Get started early: the time projections for thesis-completion in academic bulletins routinely assume optimal working conditions, and who has those?
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My margin notes and editorial markings |
Huh? ... I do not understand what you are saying.
Oh? ... There is a substantive, and likely obvious, objection to your assertion. Figure it out or ask me.
STET or OK ..."Let it stand", as in, whatever I might marked, ignore it, I think it is okay after all.
S.O. ...Spell out (you likely used an unfamiliar abbreviation).
A word or phrase circled-and-winged (you'll know it when you see it) or anything drawn-through, should be dropped (usually a sign of verbosity, occasionally error.)
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X or NO ...Your claim or citation is wrong.
DOD ... Develop or Drop. The point is interesting, but it is not necessary for your thesis. In any case, you have mentioned it without adequate foundation or explanation, and as it stands it distracts the reader more than it helps.
SP? ...check your spelling. nb: I only marked spelling problems once; you should search for other appearances of the same word or phrase.
PV ... Passive voice dangers.
CITE ... The assertion needs a citation.
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Common mistakes in student writing
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Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur! The single greatest flaw in student writing is the gratuitous assertion. Mere assertions warrant no assent. Virtually every claim in a thesis must be: easily recognizable by the average adult practicing the Catholic faith in the United States; or, defensible internally (as in, the assertion itself considered in context satisfies the demands of formal logic); or, supported exteriorly by authority (usually by a footnote or in-text citation). If your claim does not qualify as one of these three kinds of assertions, footnote it.
Bibliographic omissions and intrusions. List in your bibliography every work that is actually quoted in your thesis, and list no works that are not directly quoted in your thesis.
Citing class notes. Class notes are not "peer-reviewed" and I am disinclined to e-mail professors and ask them if they really said XYZ. Don't even cite me to myself (I might disagree with what I said). If you gained a special insight though a lecture by or conversation with a professor, acknowledge it, but develop the point from standard academic sources.
Colloquialisms. A thesis is not a chat room. Avoid slangy or trite expressions. Write in a clear, professional manner. But avoid verbosity (see below).
Contractions. Don't use'm.
Creeping clericalism. Distinguish between the respect which is due for the clerical (or religious) status of an author and the relevance of the status to the issues in your thesis. For example, if you want to cite John Myers' 1991 health-care directives to Catholic hospitals, it would be relevant to mention that Myers was a bishop because the directives were issued in his capacity as ordinary; but, if you want to cite Myers as an authority on the history of property law, his possession of the fullness of holy orders is not relevant to his reliability as a canonist. Similarly, in comparing Felix Cappello's writings on sacraments to those of Heriberto Jone, it is of little moment that the former was a saintly Jesuit and the latter a learned Capuchin. Omit consecrated life honorifics unless they are relevant to the issue at hand.
Italics-mania. The more italics are used, the less they mean.
Jokes. Occasional use of irony is one thing; trying to make a joke is quite another.
Language-mixing. All body text must be in one language (usually English). Terms of art (e.g., ad nutum episcopi) need not be translated. Avoid 'showy Latinisms' which, per opportunitatem, one might be tempted, diabolo suadente, to use as if they were de rigueur for academics.
Misspelled words. If I can spell it correctly, you can spell it correctly.
Passive voice. While one need not ban passive voice verbs from a thesis, be aware that passive voice tires the reader and, worse, tends to mask the agency described in a sentence. For example, in a paragraph discussing the role of the diocesan bishop, the vicar for finance, the finance officer, and the diocesan finance council in developing a budget, a closing phrase such as "After the diocesan annual budget is approved..." has slipped into the passive voice and does not tell the reader who had to approve the budget.
Person-informality. Use of the third person fosters objectivity in a thesis; occasionally I countenance use the first person; but if you ever write in the second person, you will regret your decision.
Personal feelings. I don't care about personal feelings. Leave them out of your thesis. And no heart-rending anecdotes from real life to illustrate how important the questions in your thesis are. I can't track down dear sweet Mrs. McGullicutty and verify for myself that "she struggled her whole life to raise her children in the Church and was completely crushed when Fr. Jones thoughtlessly uttered those stinging words from the pulpit, leaving her adrift in doubt about the mercy Jesus" and that's why you are writing your thesis on homilies in the New Evangelization, yaddah yaddah yaddah.
Pietism, a common sub-species of personal feelings, equally to be avoided. If you want to cite, say, John Paul's address to the American bishops during their 1998 ad limina visit, by all means do so, but don't tell me that "our most Holy Father delivered a moving speech that surely inflamed the hearts of the happy men who heard it." I mean, unless it really was like that, in which case you'd better have some evidence for your claim.
Sentence fragments. If it doesn't have a subject and a predicate, it's not a complete thought, and if it's not a complete thought, it doesn't belong in a scholarly paper. Even for effect.
Sources and studies extremes. A thesis must demonstrate competence in handling both original sources and subsequent studies on those sources. To write without regard for the sources is to limit one's remarks to what others have said about XYZ, instead of dealing directly with XYZ. To write without reference to subsequent studies is to imply that nothing of value can be found in the works of others, an untenable proposition for a thesis writer (or most any other academic). Don't strive for a numerically even balance between sources and studies, but make sure both are adequately represented in your thesis.
Syntax. I can't quite describe it, but I cringe when it's been violated. Example: "I know a man with a wooden leg named Smith." All together now, "What's the name of his other leg?"
Translations offered on faith. When providing your own translations, reproduce the original text in a footnote. Do not italicize the quoted foreign text.
Verbosity. Don't take 30 words to say what could be said in 20. Generally, if the elimination of a given word would not change the meaning the sentence, eliminate the word. Example: Reduce "Francis of Assisi was a validly ordained deacon." to "Francis of Assisi was a deacon."
Citing Wiki, or almost anything else on-line. There is a place for on-line research, of course. I use it all the time, and occasionally, very occasionally, I cite an on-line source in a scholarly paper. But the vast majority of what's available on-line is not "peer reviewed" and therefore it is about as unpersuasive as one can get and not be totally irrelevant. Use the Library and Inter-Library Loan, and experience the pleasure of sitting down in a big overstuffed chair under good diffused lighting with a thick tome and a cup of tea and just reading, instead of word-searching an electronic file and cutting and pasting blocks of text.
Rare, but still wrong:
Referring to an author by his or her first name, e.g., "Karol" instead of "Wojtyła" or "Henri" instead of "de Lubac". Exceptions: those for whom we have only first names, such as the Apostles. Also "Thomas" is preferable to "Aquinas".
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Pay attention to footnotes
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Given the nature of a graduate thesis and the vital importance of avoiding gratuitous assertions, this section on footnotes, the primary way that gratuitous assertions are avoided in academic writing, is going to take awhile.
A footnote should be a beautiful thing, beautiful either in its simplicity or in its complexity, but either way, beautiful. Footnotes are a service to the reader, so justice and charity demand high quality. I suggest that there are three basic kinds of footnotes: Citation, Referral, and Commentary. A single footnote might contain two or even all three sorts of information, but they should be kept distinct and presented in the above order. All footnotes go at the bottom of the page.
1. A citation footnote identifies succinctly, accurately, and unambiguously where its referent text came from. If you are making but a single use of a given source, cite it completely in the appropriate footnote. If you are making two or more uses of a source, use only an abbreviated citation each time, and reserve the full citation for your Bibliography.
Note: When citing universal ecclesiastical documents (the majority of which are in Latin), Master's students must provide a complete citation to an approved translation. Licentiate students must provide the official citation to the Latin original (typically this will be in something like the Acta Apostolicae Sedis) and then a cite for the translation they might use.
2. A referral footnote tells the reader where else he may look for related information. If the related information is consistent with your own assertion, it should start with "See also ..." or "See likewise...", but if the related information is inconsistent with your assertion, it should begin with "But see ..." and should generally include a brief explanation of the difference. Do not shy away from "But see" footnotes. Few things sap a reader's confidence more quickly than a writer's ignorance of, or unwillingness to address, contrary views. If you are confident of your position, you should be able to deal with a "But see" reference in a few words. If you need more than a few words to defend your position against the other author, that might be a sign that the objection warrants a fuller direct discussion in the main text. Do not multiply referral references for the sake of showing erudition or research.
3. A commentary footnote makes an observation that, while genuinely interesting, is not necessary to carry your in-text assertion. Typically, a commentary footnote presents an idea that, if included in the main text, would have been distracting (but recall, most readers glance at footnotes immediately, so there is an element of distraction inherent in a footnote.) Beware of excessive comments in footnotes. If the comment must be extensive, it likely warrants inclusion in the main text.
Assuming the basic accuracy and clarity of references, the consistency of one's citation style is more important than the conformity of that style with some "authority" such as Turabian or the Chicago Manual. Check out doubts with me first.
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Some other points |
Tense of Verbs
Use present tense when referring to materials that are still in force, such as the 1983 Code and commentators thereon; use perfect tense when referring to materials that are no longer in force, such as the 1917 Code and commentators thereon. When an author is known to be deceased, use perfect tense, even if one would have otherwise used the present tense.
Sample: “The 1917 Code generally forbade one’s baptismal sponsor from later serving as the sponsor at Confirmation, but the 1983 Code encourages exactly this form of continued service.”
Sample: “Cappello and Regatillo rejected so-called ‘confession-at-a-distance’, but Peters seems more open to the possibility.”
Sample: "Provost regarded the 1983 Code as an improvement over the 1917 Code. Coriden does as well."
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At the MA Defense / STL Lectio coram
Note: I believe that graduate academic presentations should be open to the entire seminary community and invited guests. If you are going to ask for a "closed defense", let me know from the outset so that I can consider, but likely decline, serving as director. |
I generally ask MA students defending their thesis and STL students presenting their Lectio coram the kinds of questions that they would encounter as teachers. Thus some of my questions will have painfully obvious answers. Others are not so simple and are designed to plumb the depth of one's reading. A few have no obvious answers and call for reasonable speculation. It never hurts to answer, from time to time, a fair question with "I don't know, but I'll look into it."
I react negatively to the following:
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Materials on this website represent the opinions of Dr. Edward Peters and are offered in accord with Canon 212 § 3. This website undergoes continual refinement and development. No warranty of completeness or correctness is made. Dr. Peters' views are not necessarily shared by others in the field nor are they intended as canonical or civil advice.
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