DMA students work with their capstone mentor to develop a pre-proposal of approximately 500-800 words, not including the bibliography. The pre-proposal must be submitted to mpap-doctoral-studies@nyu.edu at least four weeks before the last day of class, the semester prior to enrolling In Performing Arts Research Collegium. The following sections should be included:
1) Proposed title
2) Purpose: Identify the primary research problem, following the instructions in Part 1 of The Craft of Research by Wayne Booth. A strong research problem articulates that you will investigate X to find about Y in order to help people understand Z. You may also describe sub-problems that are related to your main research problem.
2) Need for study: Explain why there is a need for study and how scholarly discourse does not already address your topic. You will eventually undertake a more involved literature review, however we need a preliminary understanding of what has already been researched in this area.
3) Methodology: Explain your methodology in some detail. For instance, what pieces and composers do you intend to focus on, and what techniques will you use to analyze them?
4) Format: Specify what the format of your capstone project will be. Do you anticipate a purely written document or will there be supplemental materials included, like a guide for performance, recorded materials, etc?
5) Bibliography: Include the primary and secondary sources relevant to the proposed research. Dictionary or encyclopedia entries should not appear in a bibliography, and a separate discography should be attached if recordings will be utilized.