Composition of Student's Graduate Committee

The student's graduate committee consists of three faculty members. The members will ordinarily be from the department in which the student is a candidate. However, cross-disciplinary theses/projects must have a faculty member from an appropriate outside department as second or third reader. Also, in some cases, an off-campus expert may be appropriate as third reader. In these cases a vita demonstrating the appropriateness of the person's expertise must be on file in the department. The chair of the committee must be a tenured/tenure track member of the student's department.

Responsibilities of the Chair and Members of the Committee

Thesis Chair: It is the responsibility of the thesis chair to:

1. Assist the student in the selection of the other committee members;
2. Determine the appropriateness of the thesis/project topic selected by the student;
3. Determine the adequacy of the thesis/project design before the student begins work;
4. Review and approve the Advancement to Candidacy Form (GSO 1) which describes the final thesis/project;
5. Ensure that the student has obtained the required clearances from the Committee on the Rights of Human Subjects for research involving human subjects before research gathering begins;
6. Review the scholarly execution of the study;
7. Assure that all of the committee members have reviewed the thesis/project before it is typed in final form and that all the necessary changes have been incorporated;
8. See that a high standard of writing quality is maintained throughout the thesis/project;
9. Make certain that the thesis/project, when word processed in final form, conforms to the style manual of the department;
10. Call all necessary meetings and work effectively with the student to set realistic timelines for completion of the thesis/project;
11. Chair the public defense of the thesis/project, which is a systemwide and campus requirement.

Committee Members: It is the responsibility of the committee members to:

1. Review and approve the Advancement to Candidacy Form (GSO 1) which describes the final thesis/project;
2. Check the adequacy of the thesis/project design before the study is begun;
3. Review the scholarly execution of the study;
4. See that a high standard of scholarship and writing quality are maintained throughout the thesis/project;
5. Review the thesis/project before it is typed in final form;
6. Support and participate in the public defense of the thesis/project, which is a systemwide and campus requirement.

Responsibilities of the Student

It is the responsibility of the student to:

1. Constitute a committee of three people willing to act as supervising faculty on the final thesis/project;
2. Decide, in consultation with his/her graduate advisor or committee chair, an appropriate and worthy focal topic for research;
3. Draft a description of the project and receive committee approval prior to enrollment in the thesis/project units;
4. Determine, in consultation with the committee, roles of the committee members, needs of the committee in working through the approval process, and the timelines and deadlines for submitting written work for approval;
5. Understand that re-writes will probably be necessary and that the guidance of the committee is to be taken seriously if the project is to be satisfactorily completed. The student needs to understand that no faculty member can be expected to act as simply a "rubber stamp" for his or her ideas and writing;
6. Obtain editorial help if necessary to meet the standards of the University and the program for quality and presentation of the information in the thesis;
7. Adhere to the appropropriate style manual determined by the student's department and to the thesis guidelines outlined herein;
8. Defend the thesis in an open forum prior to final approval;
9. Understand that final acceptance of the thesis/project is determined by the student's faculty committee, the Thesis Review Office, and the Associate Vice President for Academic Programs. Posting of the final degree is dependent on clearance by all of the above parties.

Preliminary Draft and Final Copy of Thesis/Project

The student should submit a preliminary draft of the thesis/project to the chair for suggestions and corrections; the draft should also be submitted to the other members of the committee for their suggestions, comments, corrections, and approval. The student is responsible for preparation of a manuscript that meets the standards of the committee. Committee members should not be expected to make extensive corrections or revisions, and the committee may recommend that the student use the services of an editor or typist. The selection of a competent editor/typist is up to the student although the Thesis Review Office does maintain a file of editors/typists but cannot guarantee the quality of their work.

After the thesis/project is prepared in its final form and prior to submission to the Thesis Review Office, it should be resubmitted to the students' committee for their signatures on the title page. The signatures of the committee members indicate their approval, the approval of the department, and certify that the thesis/project conforms to the department's style and reference format, methodology, spelling, punctuation, typing, grammar, and standards of content.

A public defense of the thesis/project must then be scheduled and held.

Final Approval of the Thesis/Project

The original, final copy of the student's thesis/project, signed by all members of the student's graduate committee, must be submitted to the Thesis Review Office, Stevenson 1041, on or before the appropriate deadline date, which is published each semester in the Schedule of Classes. The Completion of Requirements (GSO 2) must be submitted with the thesis/project. Theses/projects will not be accepted after the deadline or without all signatures on the title page and the signatures of the committee chair and graduate coordinator on the GSO 2 form.

The thesis/project will then be reviewed by the Thesis Review Office. Students should allow two to three weeks for the review process to be completed. In order to ensure the quality and uniformity of theses/projects, the following will be checked before clearance:

• all preliminary pages
• pagination
• word processing (accuracy, consistency, neatness, clarity, etc.)
• tables, figures and illustrative materials
• margins
• text (format, heading levels, writing quality)
• notes, references, bibliography (conforming to the approved departmental style manual) (See Appendix B)
• appendices

The thesis/project will be returned to the student for final changes, which will be outlined on the Thesis Review Form (see Appendix C). Once the changes have been made, the student will submit the following to the Thesis Review Office on or before the final clearance date noted on the Thesis Review Form:

• two looseleaf, signed copies of the thesis, one on paper with a minimum of 25% cotton rag content, the second on copy grade bond paper available at most reproduction centers.
• three signed copies of the abstract (unnumbered)*

*Theses/projects submitted with missing signatures will be returned to the student. Both copies and all abstracts must have signatures (photocopies acceptable)

Final approval of all theses/projects rests with the Associate Vice President for Academic Programs. If problems arise, the thesis/project will be returned to the chair of the student's committee. The Thesis Review Office will send both copies of the thesis for binding to the Library where they are permanently housed.