In this section, you'll find forms you need to fill out and submit for thesis or capstone work, as well as helpful documents to guide your thesis or capstone research and writing. The Graduate Committee approved the motion to no longer accept creative writing/full-length novels or creative writing works (i.e., short stories, memoirs, etc.) after Spring 2020. Capstone projects related to professional writing or digital media will still be accepted.
At the bottom, you'll find a Pre-Thesis Checklist. Please review this list to make sure you have completed all documents and processes, so that you can graduate on schedule.
Plan of Study — This form is required by the Graduate College and is meant to be submitted after you complete your first 12 hours of graduate study. You cannot graduate without submitting this form.
Thesis Committee Nomination Form — This form is required before you can sign up for Thesis 590.
Plan of Study Amendment (*if you make any changes to your Plan of Study after it has been filed and approved)
Plan of Study Extension (*if you need to take more time on your MA program)
PDMW Thesis Guidelines — Read these to see what our PDMW requirements are.
School of Graduate & Extended Studies Thesis Formatting Requirements — All theses are now submitted to SGES for approval. A copy that adheres to these requirements must be submitted for review AT LEAST TWO WEEKS prior to graduation.
Thesis Protocols — These are guidelines for how graduate thesis and capstone committees should interact and how any issues should be handled. Both student and committee members should review this document. Make sure your Thesis Director forwards it to all committee members.
Electronic Thesis Submission — You should receive information about this from the Graduate School.
Thesis Proposal Guidelines (from University of South Florida)
Thesis and Dissertation LibGuide (Guidelines for electronic thesis submission and formatting, plus more)
Master's Thesis Proposal Outline (General)
Developing a Prospectus for a Master's Thesis (from a communications dept.)
Top Tips When Writing Your Postgraduate Thesis or Dissertation
Institutional Review Board (IRB) Manual — for those doing research on humans ONLY
Human Subjects and Research Training Courses through CITI — On this page, click Register and type in East Stroudsburg University for your affiliation on the next screen. Then, proceed to choose the course(s) you want to take to complete your registration. You must complete the course(s) and obtain the completion certificate(s) to proceed with your research on human subjects.
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Fill out the Plan of Study form and give it to the graduate coordinator ?
Read the Professional Writing MA Thesis Guidelines?
Choose a committee (at least two committee members must be tenured or tenure-track English faculty; third [or additional members, if desired] may come from outside our department)?
Fill out and have graduate coordinator sign a Thesis Committee Nomination form?
Have your committee chair or graduate coordinator register you for Thesis hours?
(If doing research on human beings) Successfully complete Protecting Human Subjects certification? (See Links for Writers, above.)
Note: If you took English 510, you likely already did this online course. As long as your certificate is within the past three years, you should be fine.
Enrolling in ENGL 590
Students who register for three Thesis hours and need to carry on researching for one or more additional semesters may ask their thesis director to enter an "O" (for Ongoing) as their final grade. The O will need to be changed to a letter grade (A-E) before graduation. This must be done by the instructor of record (i.e., the thesis committee chair/director).
Students who know ahead of time that they will require more than one semester to complete their projects should discuss with their thesis director how many Thesis hours to sign up for. The student may choose 1, 2, or 3 thesis hours. If the student requires a good deal of help from his or her committee during a given semester, then the director should choose 2 hours. In a semester during which the student needs less hands-on help, the director should choose 1 hour. The advantage to students is mainly one of cost savings: one thesis hour is much easier to pay for than three.
For example:
Anna decides to start working on her thesis in Fall 2019, but she wants to have two semesters in which to do the work. She thinks she will be okay to work mostly independently during fall, but she feels she will need a great deal of help during the drafting and revising stage in the spring. So, for Fall 2019, she signs up for 1 thesis credit; for Spring 2020, she signs up for 2 credits.
Working on Your Prospectus
After you have finalized the steps listed above, you will begin working on your prospectus (thesis proposal). The proposal outlines the rationale for working on the thesis topic, includes a theoretical framework for the thesis, and a provides a timeline for the submission of drafts, when to receive feedback from committee, etc. Your director will help guide you through the submission and revision process with the committee. Then, your director will forward your prospectus to the coordinator and department chair after it has been approved by the committee.