Students who are not meeting progression milestones may risk funding, may not be allowed to proceed into second year, or may be required to withdraw from the program. In particular, students must pay close attention to the milestones related to the thesis proposal.
Students without an approved thesis proposal by July 1 of Year 1 will be placed in the Coursework with Viva Voce Examination option.
YEAR 1
Fall Term, Year 1
- PMC 9700: Interdisciplinary Foundations of Media Theory (required)
- PMC 9701: Introduction to Popular Music Studies (required)
Winter Term, Year 1
- Two PMC electives. Students wishing to take courses external to the PMC program must fill out the External Courses request form available on the FIMS Intranet and submit it to their supervisor for approval.
- PMC 9702: Listening to Popular Music (required)
- Selection of Thesis Supervisor and Second Reader
- Meetings with Thesis Advisory Committee to discuss thesis area and the development of the proposal
Summer Term, Year 1
- Approval of the Thesis Proposal by July 1
- Submission of Ethics Protocol to FIMS Research Committee in the case of all research topics involving human subjects. See http://faculty.fims.uwo.ca/McKenzie/Ethics for more information.
- Thesis research and writing (one draft chapter or equivalent is due by October 31 of the second year of the program.)
June 1: Last day to submit Draft Thesis Proposal (12-20 double-spaced pages)
June 15: Submission of a Revised Draft of the Thesis Proposal to the Thesis Supervisor and Second Reader (Thesis Advisory Committee).
July 1: Last day to receive approval of a Thesis Proposal by the Supervisor and Second Reader. The candidate may not proceed to Year 2 without having achieved this milestone. Students without an approved proposal by July 1 will automatically be placed in the Coursework with Viva Voce Examination option. Upon approval of the Thesis Proposal it will be recorded that the student has completed PMC 9708.
It is the joint responsibility of the student and Advisory Committee to determine appropriate deadlines so that there is sufficient time for the student to receive feedback and make revisions, and so that the student’s work can be received and reviewed by Committee members in a timely fashion.
YEAR 2
Fall Term, Year 2
- Thesis research and writing
Sept. 15: The student must submit either one draft chapter of the thesis or a comparable written component between September 15 and October 31. In addition, the student must provide his/her supervisor with a timeline for thesis completion, detailing when the various stages of the thesis (such as textual analyses of data, transcriptions, recordings, or data collection) will be completed, if not already provided in the thesis proposal.
Winter Term, Year 2
- Thesis research and final editing before submission to Supervisor and Second Reader
- Completion of any editing or revisions required by the Supervisor and Second Reader
- Submission of thesis by April 5 of Year 2
- Defense at an oral examination no later than April 30 of Year 2
Summer Term, Year 2 (Not Funded)
- Completion of any editing or revisions required by the Supervisor and Second Reader
- Submission of thesis and defense at an oral examination*
Note: Specific dates will vary each year so students must confirm dates by consulting the SPGS website.
*If the thesis has not been defended by the end of the seventh term, the student will be required to withdraw from the program. Once withdrawn, the student will have two years from the date of withdrawal to hand in a readily defensible thesis requiring no further revisions. During the period of the withdrawal, the student will have no access to the Chief Supervisor or members of his/her supervisory committee. After two years from the date of withdrawal, it is very unlikely that a thesis would be considered for defense.