The progress for your MA/PhD

The beginning

In consultation with your supervisor, you should arrange an "advisory panel", which includes your supervisor and one (for MA students*) or two or more (for PhD students) advisers. Your adviser(s) can be in any area of ANU: in either of the philosophy departments or (especially if your thesis has an interdisciplinary orientation) elsewhere in the University.

Faculty

The constitution of your panel and a reasonably detailed thesis outline should be finalised within 6 months of enrolment. A "thesis proposal review" takes place between 4 and 6 months after enrolment. You should give a short presentation (15-20 minutes) of your thesis topic to a seminar to which your advisory panel should be invited. Several student presentations are held in the one afternoon.

RSSS

A "thesis proposal review" takes place between 6 and 9 months after enrolment. You must present a paper to a seminar which your advisory panel attends. The paper should include information about your proposed thesis topic and methodology, and a literature review. The Head of Department will write a report on your proposal.

The middle

Annual reports

All graduate students must complete an Annual Report each year before the anniversary of their enrolment. Forms are sent out by the Research and Scholarships Office about 6 weeks in advance. You and your supervisor each have to fill out a section of the form, and your supervisor should discuss her/his written comments with you.

Mid-term review (PhD students only):

After about 18 months, and at most 2 years after first enrolling, students must undergo the Mid-term Review. By this stage, you should have a reasonable amount of your thesis completed, and have a reasonably comprehensive outline for the remainder.

The main requirement of the Mid-term Review is that you present a paper based on your thesis work to the Friday morning seminar series, if you are a PhD student in the Faculty, or the Thursday Seminar or PhilSoc if you are a PhD student in RSSS. This is a good opportunity to improve your paper-writing and presentation skills. Your advisory panel must also fill out a form commenting on your progress to date.

The end

Check out the University guidelines for submission of PhD theses and Masters theses well in advance. Note that while your supervisor must advise you about the readiness of your thesis for submission in her/his view, final responsibility for submission rests with the student. In other words, you are entitled to submit against the advice of your supervisor - although of course in general this is not advisable.