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Master of Arts Degree Capstone
Women's and Gender Studies

To complete the WGS master’s degree, students select either WGS 497 Master's Project (with 33 semester hours) or WGS 490 Thesis (with 30 semester hours).

Objectives

Both WGS 497 and WGS 490 are designed to give students the opportunity to engage in advanced independent research and analysis. Each option allows students to dedicate significant time and research to a topic of their own interest and development. Students may base their capstone on the development of earlier projects or pursue an appropriate subject that was not part of their coursework.

Both options require students to demonstrate the ability to conceptualize and conduct independent, well-focused, relevant research on a specific topic. Successful completion requires student competence in the following areas: 1) analytical reading, thinking, and writing skills; 2) commitment to multiple stages of drafting and revision; 3) well-organized, logically-developed, syntactically and grammatically-correct writing; 4) research methods, including an appropriate and adequate system of documentation (MLA or Chicago Style).

Students may choose to complete one of the options listed below as the Master’s Project or choose to complete the Thesis. Capstone selection will be decided in close consultation with the WGS Program Director.  With both options, the student works closely with the committee chair to complete the multiple steps of the capstone.

WGS 497 Master’s Project

Scholarly Paper

• Requires the production of a scholarly 25 to 30-page paper that includes the implementation of new research and the integration of relevant theories and scholarship in the field of women’s, gender, sexuality, and/or feminist studies

• Requires the exploration and synthesis of numerous and interdisciplinary perspectives

• Should be envisioned as a publishable paper, which requires research of possible venues for publication and emphasizes extensive attention to the processes of revision and writing

• Demonstrates command of the subject matter with a level of specificity that exceeds the standards for a traditional seminar paper

Curriculum Development Project

• Designed for students who are or would like to teach in a school or community setting

• Requires the production of a curriculum project developed in a particular format for a specific community and purpose, including the development of a syllabus/unit/program curriculum and supporting written documents

• Requires a 20 to 30-page narrative that explains and argues for the importance of the different aspects of your course/unit/curriculum

Community Outreach Project

• Requires the production of a project developed in a particular format for a specific purpose that enables students to work closely with a community that extends beyond the classroom

• May include a component of field research or activism, in which the student works in the community central to their project

• Requires a written component that analyzes the objectives, content, and significance of the project, employing relevant theories of feminism, feminist research methodology, women, gender, and or/sexuality. This will vary in length and is determined with the committee chair

• Can be developed in a number of ways and may take a number of different forms: start their own organization or website; mount an art exhibit, or present a series of workshops on a particular issue; create an oral history of a WGS/feminist-related organization that includes interviews with living members; produce and edit an anthology of writings by a particular community or group of women; or, write and submit a grant proposal

In order to register for WGS 497, you must complete the WGS 497 Approval form. You can download it here.

WGS 490 Thesis

• Requires the student to complete a 45 to 50-page research paper based on an approved proposal, exploring one case of original inquiry related to the field of women's, gender, sexuality, and/or feminist studies

• Requires sustained attention to foundational contexts, signifying both breadth and depth, that grounds the research and demonstrates knowledge of several important frameworks for situating and analyzing the object of study

• Designed for students who wish to concentrate on the development and execution of one piece of scholarly work over an extended period of time

• Should be envisioned as an opportunity for extended analysis exceeding that of a traditional seminar paper in degree of specificity, contextualization, and interdisciplinarity

• Entails particular awareness and articulation of the significance of analytical claims and their importance in a larger field of study

In order to register for WGS 490, you must complete the WGS 490 Approval Form. You can download it here.