Appendix C: Thesis Guidelines

Thesis Supervision and Development Guidelines for Faculty and Students in Counselor Education:

Students who wish to complete a thesis in conjunction with their MA/MS should first discuss this option with their faculty advisor. The student would need to initiate the thesis project at least one year (during your first year in the program would be better) prior to the projected date of graduation. Since the planning, execution, writing, and defense of a thesis requires at least four quarters, faculty may decline to participate on a thesis committee unless a student initiates the thesis enough in advance of the projected term of graduation to allow adequate time for the development of a well-executed and written product.

COUN 582 (Research & Program Evaluation in Counseling) must be completed prior to the initiation of a thesis.

Students must be registered for at least 1 graduate credit in every term in which they are working on any phase of their thesis, including data development or collection, writing, revision, defense, and finalization through approval by the Office of Graduate Studies. Students must register for at least 6 to 9 credits of 503 Thesis in their department. (Since students must be continuously enrolled while working on the thesis, they frequently accumulate more than 9 credits of 503 Thesis. However, a maximum of 9 credit of 503 Thesis may be applied to the program of study.) IP (In Progress) is the interim grade reported until the thesis is defended and approved by the student’s thesis committee. Final grades for thesis credits are not recorded until the thesis has been approved by the Office of Graduate Studies.

NOTE: Students may not access the library or obtain faculty supervision for a thesis unless they are enrolled in at least one credit.

The following guidelines should be followed by students and faculty during the thesis development process:

1. Students obtain style manual for dissertations and theses from the College of Education. Note: Timeline guidelines should also be obtained. The oral presentation of a thesis and final copy must be completed well in advance of the end of the quarter chosen by the student to complete all degree requirements.

2. The thesis committee must be approved by the Office of Graduate Studies using the GO-16M form in advance of the thesis defense. The committee must consist of at least three and not more than five faculty members. The chair of the thesis committee must be regular, full-time PSU instructional faculty, tenured or tenure track, assistant professor or higher in rank; the other committee members may be non-tenure track or adjunct faculty. Two of the committee members (the committee chair and one other member) must be from the student’s department; the third member may be from the student’s department or may be PSU faculty from another department or OHSU faculty. If it is necessary to go off campus for one additional committee member with specific expertise not available among PSU faculty, a CV for that proposed member must be presented with the GO-16M form; that member must be in addition to the required three PSU faculty members. All committee members must have master’s degrees or higher.

3. The student, in consultation with the thesis chair, develops a thesis proposal (not to exceed 10 pages):

* Chapter I Introduction and Problem Statement

* Chapter II Literature Review

* Chapter III Methodology

* Chapter IV Presentation and Analysis of Data

* Chapter V Summary and Recommendations

NOTE: Not every thesis will be formatted into a five-chapter paradigm. Some topics may lend credence to a four chapter or a six-chapter format. Only the first three chapters are part of the thesis proposal.

4. Student organizes a committee meeting. Faculty should receive the proposal two weeks prior to the meeting as to provide input and suggest changes.

5. After the student incorporates suggested revisions and receives approval from the thesis chair, the student must submit the proposal to the University Human Subjects Committee if human subjects are part of the data collection process. If revisions are requested by the Human Subjects Committee, the student must organize an additional meeting with the Thesis Committee to incorporate such changes.

NOTE: Under no circumstances may a student begin writing or collecting data until the first five steps have been completed.

6. Student, with the consultation of the thesis chair, drafts all chapters. After satisfactorily revising the draft(s) according to the thesis chair’s feedback, the student provides copies to the other committee members.

7. Committee members provide written feedback to student within two weeks.

8. Student and thesis chair incorporate committee member feedback.

10. Student meets with graduate representative, as appointed by OGS, and provides a copy of the thesis.

11. Four weeks prior to the oral defense of the thesis, the student contacts faculty to organize the date and time. Student schedules location of defense via the Dean’s secretary (503) 725-4689.

12. A thesis defense may be scheduled only during the regular academic terms, no later than five weeks prior to the close of the term of application for graduation in which the degree will be granted (i.e., must be completed four weeks before the beginning of finals week). For summer term graduation, deadlines apply to the regular eight-week summer session dates. Later completion will result in graduation in a subsequent term. The student must deliver a final draft of the thesis to all members of the approved committee no fewer than 14 days before the thesis defense.

A thesis defense must take place in a meeting with the student and the entire, appointed committee. While it is expected that all members should be physically present, remote participation is permitted under specific conditions. The student’s oral presentation should not exceed 60 minutes. The thesis defense is open to the University faculty and may be open to the public at the department’s discretion. Passing of the thesis defense requires a majority approval. If the student fails the thesis defense, the department may dismiss the student from the master’s program or permit the student to hold a second defense after a minimum of three months. The results of the second defense are final. The final thesis must be submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies not later than three weeks prior to the close of the term of application for graduation.

After the oral defense, final changes suggested by faculty are integrated. The student then circulates signature pages to faculty after the chair of the Thesis Committee approves the final revisions.