Academic
Catalog August 2008 - August 2009 Undergraduate
and Graduate
The purpose of preparing a master's thesis or doctoral dissertation is to give you experience in carrying out the kind of research you can expect to do throughout your professional career. Through this process, we expect you to demonstrate your ability to work independently on a problem and to document your familiarity with the literature in your field, your command of the techniques and principles of research, and your ability to form valid generalizations from the data you use.
While working on your thesis or dissertation, keep in mind the following steps and requirements:
During a preliminary conference with your graduate adviser, you should select a suitable area for research. Several factors help determine the appropriateness of a research topic, such as whether you can readily obtain essential data, whether critical library references and/or technical or specialized equipment are available, whether you can attain significant results within a reasonable time, and whether faculty members with appropriate specialties are available to provide you with proper guidance.
As early as is reasonable, you should select your thesis or dissertation committee in consultation with your adviser. Submit your request, in writing, to the department chair for approval. (For dissertation committees, the department chair then makes a recommendation to the Graduate College, which officially appoints the members of your committee. You will be notified of this action in writing.) You should work closely with the members of your committee in carrying out your program of research and writing your thesis or dissertation.
Please note that a thesis committee must have at least three members and at least two of them must be from within your department. A dissertation committee consists of at least four faculty members, and at least one member must be from a department outside the department in which you are earning your degree.
You can register for 1 to 12 hours of thesis (699) or dissertation (799) credit during any fall or spring semester or 1 to 6 hours of credit during any summer session. However, each degree program limits the number of hours of thesis or dissertation credit that you can apply toward your degree; see your specific program requirements in the Academic Programs chapter of this catalog.
Even after you have completed all course requirements for a degree, you may need to use lab or other facilities to carry out a required independent study or research project. For the protection of both you and the university, you must be enrolled for units of credit during any term that you use university facilities or require the professional time of faculty members.
When you are working on a thesis or dissertation, we expect you to enroll for the number of credits that adequately reflects the amount of faculty involvement and your use of university facilities. If you are in residence and are using lab and other research facilities and are interacting with your faculty advisor on a regular basis, you should enroll for at least 3 units. If you are not on campus but are corresponding with your advisor as you work on your thesis or dissertation, you should enroll for at least 1 unit. During the term that you complete and defend your thesis or dissertation, you should enroll for at least 3 units to reflect your demands on faculty time.
Early in the semester in which you expect to graduate, you must submit an unbound copy of your document to the Graduate College's format editor, who will check it against that office's requirements pertaining primarily to the binding and microfilming processes. (To obtain the Binding and Microfilming Requirements, contact the Graduate College.)
When your thesis or dissertation is in essentially final form and your committee agrees that you are ready, your defense should be scheduled. Some departments have restrictions on when defenses can be held; consult with your adviser or department chair for information about this. Dissertation defenses must be scheduled using the Dissertation Defense Scheduling Form, which must be submitted to the Graduate College at least two weeks before the anticipated defense date. Dissertation defenses may not be held during reading week or final exam week.
You may submit final copies of your thesis or dissertation to the Graduate College as soon as your committee signs your title page and you make any corrections noted by the format editor--and no later than the last day of the semester or summer session in which you plan to graduate.
If you are unable to complete your document during the semester in which you defend, you must register for 3 hours of thesis or dissertation credit each semester after your defense until you submit your final copies to the Graduate College. If you do not submit your final copies within six months of the date of your defense, your defense shall be declared invalid and must be repeated.