Exposé

An Exposé is a preliminary outline or proposal of your thesis project, required for both Bachelor’s and Master’s theses. It serves as a detailed plan that guides your research and writing process, ensuring that you have a clear roadmap for your thesis. An Exposé is usually drafted before the official registration of your thesis topic, allowing you to refine your ideas and receive feedback from your advisor or committee. After the registration, the Exposé will serve as the foundation that you will expand into the full thesis document.

Purpose

The primary purposes of an Exposé are:

  1. Clarify Your Research Plan: It helps you articulate your research question, objectives, and methodology clearly.
  2. Receive Constructive Feedback: Your advisor can provide early feedback, ensuring that your project is feasible and academically rigorous.
  3. Demonstrate Feasibility: It shows that your proposed research is manageable within the given time frame and resources.
  4. Formalize Your Ideas: Writing an Exposé helps in structuring and organizing your initial ideas into a coherent plan.

Timing

You should begin working on your Exposé well before the official registration of your thesis. This allows ample time for multiple drafts and revisions based on feedback from your advisor. Ideally, start your Exposé as soon as you have a rough idea of your research topic.

Expected Contents

A high-quality Exposé typically includes the following sections:

  1. Title Page
    • Title of your thesis
    • Your name and student ID
    • Advisor’s name
  2. Introduction
    • Brief background of the research topic
    • Significance of the study
    • Specific aims and objectives of your research, typically in the form of a research question
  3. Literature Review
    • Overview of existing research relevant to your topic
    • Identification of gaps in the literature that your research will address
    • Theories or models that will guide your research (if applicable)
  4. Methodology
    • Description of the research design and methods
    • Data collection and analysis plan
    • Justification for chosen methods
    • Key methods papers
  5. Expected Results
    • Potential findings and their implications
  6. Timeline
    • Timeline outlining each phase of your research and writing process
  7. References
    • List of scholarly sources cited in your Exposé

The following is an example Timeline. The schedule can be structured according to weeks or months.

Time period Phase Tasks
November 2016 Literature review Review of current literature, discussion of the thesis exposé
December 2016 Development of theoretical model Development of a theoretical research model based on the review of the literature
January – February 2017 Implementation phase Implement the prototype
February 2017 Evaluation phase Evaluate the prototype against the manually coded dataset
March 2017 Implementation refinement Improve the prototype based on the results of the evaluation
April 2017 Analysis Application of the prototype to the complete dataset
May 2017 Write-up Write-up and final feedback

Recommendations

  • Solicit Feedback: Actively seek feedback on open questions from your advisor. Prepare and think through alternative approaches to your research. Use bullet points for parts that are likely to change or are up for discussion.
  • Be clear and concise: Ensure that each section is well-organized and succinctly written. Avoid unnecessary jargon and complex sentences.
  • Demonstrate relevance: Clearly articulate why your research is important and how it contributes to the field.
  • Show depth of knowledge: Your literature review should demonstrate a thorough understanding of the current state of research on your topic.
  • Detail your methods: Be specific about your research design and methods. Explain why these methods are the most suitable for your study.
  • Plan realistically: Your timeline should be realistic and show that you have carefully considered the time required for each stage of your research.
  • Manage risks: Anticipate risks and response plans, e.g., how to address low survey response rates, and when to create a backup.
  • Proofread: Ensure that your Exposé is free from grammatical and typographical errors. A well-written Exposé reflects your attention to detail and commitment to your research.

Note: You can use the template provided, which outlines the expected structure and format of your Exposé. Typically, an Exposé is expected to be 5-10 pages in length.

Example Structure

Here is a structure example from a completed thesis. You can use this template to structure any of the chapters of your thesis. This will help you with your writing process. In addition it is a great document to share with your advisor and talk it through before writing a whole text. Here is the Structure Example.