Thesis Procedures

a. Review the Policies and Procedures of The Graduate School

b. Review the Graduate School Process Graphic for an overview

c. Review the Thesis and Dissertation Assistance page of The Graduate School

d. Review and note The Graduate School’s Dates and Deadlines

• Note that missing a deadline for submitting required forms to the Graduate School may delay your graduation
• Note that the thesis, as with all degree requirements, must be completed within six years.

Consult with your Program or Sequence Coordinator about timelines for completing each stage of the thesis.

Develop a general idea or topic of interest:

a. Based on general interests

b. Based on an intriguing research article

c. Based on an emerging theoretical base

d. Scope: Consult with your Program or Sequence Coordinator about expectations for the type, scope, and nature of thesis projects within your area.

e. Familiarize yourself by attending one or more thesis proposal and defense meetings.

Form a Thesis Committee:

a. Consult with faculty with expertise in the general topical area of interest (see the Faculty Research Interests) and recruit a Chair (or two Co-Chairs) for your committee.

b. Complete the Department Approval of Thesis Committee Chair Form
- This form includes an override request to enroll in thesis credit hours (PSY 499)

c. Recruit a second committee member In consultation with your Chair(s) and in keeping with the Graduate School policies, including the requirement that a majority of committee members have Full Graduate Faculty Status in our department

d. Complete the Department Approval of Thesis Committee form

e. If you need to change your committee membership, thesis topic, or both, use the Change of Thesis Committee and/or Topic form

f. If you have already proposed your thesis, then you must also complete the Graduate School’s Committee Change Form to change your thesis committee

Work with your thesis chair(s) to develop and refine the thesis project, identifying the central goals, research questions, and/or hypotheses based on a review of the extant literature.

Begin writing your thesis proposal, consulting with your thesis chair(s) frequently:

a. The thesis may follow the Mini Dissertation model or the Journal Article model in terms of scope, breadth, and depth, subject to your chair(s) approval

b. Organize your thesis into chapters with your chair(s). Typically (but not necessarily), these chapters are

1. Introduction (problem statement)
2. Review of Literature (leading to research questions and/or hypotheses)
3. Methods
4. Results
5. Discussion

c. The proposal document typically includes only the first three chapters listed above, although some students will write short chapters to delineate expected results and discussion potential implications

d. Formatting

• You are not required to formally format the thesis proposal document for the proposal meeting, but the thesis will have to be formatted eventually.
• Follow the Graduate School’s Formatting Guidelines (you will need to comply fully to deposit your thesis after your defense)
• All style and formatting detailed in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association that do not contradict the Graduate School’s Formatting rules must also be followed.
• Some students start with the Graduate School’s Thesis Template (scroll to the APA Style link and instructions) to avoid later struggles with formatting.

e. Revise your document until your chair(s) are fully satisfied.

f. Provide your committee members with your revised document, seek their input, and make suggested revisions in consultation with your chair(s) until your committee is satisfied that your document is ready for proposal.

a. As you identify materials to be used in your thesis research (e.g., measures, instruments, stimuli), confirm or obtain permission from the copyright holder for use in your research

b. Not all journals include blanket permission for research use of published measures, so consult with the Milner Library Copyright Librarian for assistance obtaining permission

c. Consult the Copyright information for Graduate Students provided by Milner Library

d. If you will use any copyrighted materials, obtain the signature of the Copyright Librarian that permissions has been granted on the Graduate School’s Proposal Approval Form (see the Copyright Checklist page)

a. Review the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct for conducting research

b. Complete The Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI Program) ethics training (or complete refresher training) to be sure your training certificate is up-to-date.

a. Request a Reader (i.e., the department representative) from the Graduate Programs Office. Please note that the reader is not listed as a committee member on your thesis document.

b. Consult with your chair and schedule the Proposal Meeting with their consent

• Between 8:00am and 5:00pm, Monday through Friday
• While classes are in session (i.e., excluding holidays, final exams week, or semester breaks)
• Mutually agreed upon by the student, committee members, and the reader
• Request a room for the meeting from the Graduate Programs Office or have your chair(s) create a Zoom meeting
• Be mindful that many faculty are not under contract during the summer and might not be available for a proposal (or defense) during the summer, so it is best to keep your committee appraised of your anticipated timeline as it changes

c. One week in advance:

Distribute Document to your committee members and the thesis reader (electronic or hard copy as per faculty preference)

• Submit the partially completed Proposal Approval Form to the Graduate Programs Office
• Note the reader is not listed on Page 3
• Consult with the Graduate Programs Office to determine Graduate Faculty Status of Committee Members on page 3
• Note that the copyright signature must be obtained if any copyright checklist items are selected
• Note that committee members do not sign until after a successful thesis proposal meeting
• Note that IRB or IACUC approval might or might not have been obtained prior to the proposal meeting

d. Consult with your chair(s) about your presentation

• scope, breadth, and depth
• presentation materials (e.g., PowerPoint slides)
• timing of questions (e.g., during the presentation or held until after)

e. Participants

• Thesis proposal and defense meetings are open to the University academic community
• Consult with committee about inviting non-academic guests (e.g., friends or family members)
• Chair(s) have discretion to limit questions or comments from individuals during the meeting
• The department prohibits any refreshments at thesis proposal or defense meetings.

f. Deliberations

• Only faculty participate in the deliberations
• Faculty who are not members of the committee (including the thesis reader) may present their remarks or opinions about the proposal for the consideration of the committee
• The decision to approve or withhold approval is the responsibility of the committee, who must reach a consensus
• The student will then be informed of the committee’s decision
• If the proposal is not approved, the student has two options:
  1. With the agreement of the committee (which remains the same), the student may rewrite the proposal document and make a second formal proposal presentation as per above
  2. The student may develop a new thesis topic, repeating all steps of this process. This option may result in different committee membership

g. Revisions

• The chair(s) will provide a written list of any changes that are required
• Some changes may be required prior to approving the thesis proposal, and these changes must be made and a revised document circulated to the committee
• Some changes may be required prior to defending the thesis

h. Institutional Permission to Conduct Research

• If conducting research with Human Subjects, obtain permission from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) through your chair(s) as Principal Investigator
• If conducting research with Animal Subjects, obtain permission from the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) through your chair(s) as Principal Investigator
• Note, some chair(s) direct thesis students to obtain permission prior to the thesis proposal and some delay until after

i. Forms

• The committee members and student will sign the Proposal Approval Form once any required changes have been made and approved.
• If institutional approval is required for human or animal subjects research, provide the approved protocol number on your Proposal Approval Form
• The student will submit the completed Proposal Approval Form to the Graduate Programs Office for approval by the department chair

a. Once the thesis proposal has been approved, students must enroll for at least 1 credit hour of thesis research (PSY 499) each Fall and Spring semester until they successfully defend their thesis.

b. Summer registration for 499 is required only if defending during the summer semester.

a. Data collection must adhere to protocols approved by the IRB or IACUC.

b. Any alteration of the protocol must have prior approval of the changes by the IRB or IACUC prior to implementing those changes.

a. Make any revisions requested by your committee at the proposal meeting that have not already been made

b. Edit your Methods chapter to use past tense as this chapter will typically be written in future tense for the proposal

c. Write (or substantially edit) the remaining chapters to reflect the actual rather than expected results and discussion

d. If you did not format the thesis according to both APA style and the formatting rules of the Graduate School, do so now (see formatting above)

e. Revise your document until your chair(s) are fully satisfied.

f. Provide your committee members with your revised document, seek their input, and make suggested revisions in consultation with your chair(s) until your committee is satisfied that your document is ready for defense

a. Upload your Thesis Draft to ISU RED

b. Request an optional format review while you are waiting for approval to defend from the Graduate School

c. Complete the Right to Defend Form and submit it to the Graduate School at least 10 business days prior to your intended defense date. You cannot schedule your defense until you receive an email from the Graduate School granting the right to defend.

d. Schedule your defense meeting with the procedures and rules noted above under scheduling the proposal

e. You will typically have the same reader, although a new reader can be assigned by the department if the reader for the proposal is not available (e.g., during the summer semester if they are not on contract).

f. At least one week prior to your defense date, distribute electronic or hard copies of the thesis document to all committee members and the reader

g. Fill out the Outcome of Defense Form and bring it with you to your defense meeting (or email it to your chair(s) for an online defense)

h. Follow the same procedures as the proposal meeting in terms of the presentation, participants, refreshments, and deliberations.

i. If the thesis is not approved, the chair(s) will discuss available options with the student.

j. If the thesis is provisionally approved, the chair(s) will provide written feedback detailing the necessary revisions.

k. After any necessary revisions are completed and approved by the committee, the committee members sign the Outcome of Defense form, which is submitted to the Graduate Programs Office, and the student will proceed with depositing the thesis.

a. Instructions for depositing your thesis are provided on the Graduate School Student Support page

b. Resubmit your final thesis document to ISU RED

c. Complete the Final Deposit Checklist form

d. Submit the signed Outcome of Defense Form and the Final Deposit Checklist form to the Graduate School.

e. Note that the Graduate School may request additional revisions to your thesis to comply with formatting rules before your thesis is accepted as meeting the degree requirements. If required revisions are not completed prior to the final deposit deadline, graduation will be postponed until the following semester.

a. Authorship of any publication or presentation of the thesis should follow the provisions of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.

b. An agreement between the student and committee members should govern whether committee members are identified as co-authors.