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Division of Research and Graduate Studies

THESIS 299 PROCESS

  1. File a Petition of Advancement to Candidacy form with the Graduate Division.

  2. Select a thesis topic and write a proposal, if required by your program. Select a chairperson and two committee members for your thesis committee (the chair and one other committee member must be graduate faculty from your degree program).

  3. Determine (check with your chair) whether or not you need to file a Human or Animal Subjects clearance for your thesis, and start the process as soon as possible.

  4. Complete the top half of the Thesis (299) Committee Assignment sheet form, including your topic and committee members; get the required signatures; and file this form with the Graduate Division. Complete this form before you sign up for thesis units in your department.

  5. Enroll in your department for your thesis units (Thesis 299). (For summer enrollment, you will need to pick up your enrollment form from the Division of Graduate Studies office.)

  6. Establish a timeline and meeting schedule with your chair and your committee. Include goals for each stage of thesis development and establish member responsibilities.

  7. Download from the Thesis Office Web site the university's Guidelines for Thesis Preparation and obtain a copy of the style manual/journal style sheet used in your program. Check with your thesis chair if you are not sure of the correct choice of manual/journal style sheet.

  8. Organize your work, do your research, and write your study, staying in close touch with your committee. Get the Thesis Template from the Thesis Office Web site, if using MS Word.

  9. Maintain university enrollment throughout each semester of your thesis work, either through regular university enrollment (required of all international students) or (for those domestic students who have completed all their coursework) through 0 units GS Continuation. Students intending to graduate in summer must register for the summer term.

  10. At the beginning of the semester (first two weeks) or summer term (three weeks) when you intend to graduate, apply for graduation. Be sure you are also registered (see #9 above).

  11. Note the posted deadline for final thesis submission to the Graduate Division. When you have finished your thesis and have obtained approval of all members of your thesis committee, submit your final thesis to the Blackboard portal for electronic review (see Thesis Office Web site for submission instructions).

  12. When you have been notified that your initial thesis review is complete, retreive your thesis from the BB portal and make the required corrections. Resubmit your revised thesis until all corrections have been made and you are given clearance to print your publication copy. Laser print your thesis, collect your committee signatures on the Publication Copy approval page, and submit this copy to the Graduate Division for its final review and approval for binding. The Thesis Consultant will obtain the Graduate Dean’s signature for you.

  13. When given the final Thesis Office approval, take your publication copy to the Kennel Bookstore Print and Copy Center for copying onto acid-free 20-pound bond paper, pay the other processing and binding fees at the university cashier, and bring the payment form to the Graduate Division for final thesis clearance.

  14. Check with your department to assure that they have submitted your Master’s Degree Clearance form (which includes your thesis grade) to the Graduate Division by the posted clearance deadline.