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Master's/Thesis Project

• Appointment of Thesis/Project Director and Thesis/Project Committee
• Registration for Master's Thesis ONLY
• Registration for Master's Project ONLY
• Approval of Thesis or Project Topic
• Completion of Thesis or Project
• Remote Participation in a Thesis Defense
• Finalization of Thesis
• Finalization of Project

Appointment of Thesis/Project Director and Thesis/Project Committee

When a student is ready to begin thesis or the project planning, they should meet with the faculty member who has been assigned as graduate program advisor. If the student is considering a topic outside the advisor’s area of expertise, the advisor will arrange for the student to meet with another faculty member for advice on the topic.

The advisor and the student are responsible for securing the consent of a qualified professor to act as director. The advisor may serve as director if this arrangement is agreeable to both parties. As per , the thesis committee will consist, at minimum, of three members:

• The advisor, who chairs the committee
• Minimum two additional members from the candidate’s academic unit (department or school)
• If appropriate, one or more committee members also may be selected from other academic units. However, the majority of the committee members must be from the student’s home academic unit.

The director will guide the student during the development of the thesis or project proposal. The director will also assist the student in the selection of two other graduate faculty members appropriate to advise and serve on the committee.

Registration for Master’s Thesis ONLY

The student is required to register continuously for Thesis I (6x199) each semester (fall, spring) for a total of 6 credit hours. A student who has completed the required 6 credit hours of Thesis I but has not finished the thesis is expected thereafter to register continuously for Thesis II (6x299) each semester (fall, spring) until all degree requirements are met. Students who are planning to defend their thesis in summer or early fall, or who are requiring access to university resources during the summer months — including, but not limited to, feedback or mentoring from their thesis advisors, use of university  buildings and other research resources — must register for thesis in the summer term.

Registration must be for 2 to 6 credit hours per semester, distributed over 1 to 3 semesters, as necessary. No more than 6 credit hours of Thesis I credit may be counted toward completion of degree requirements.

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Upon completion of coursework, students are required to register for 6 hours of Master Project. Registration must be for 2 to 6 credit hours per semester, distributed over 1 to 3 semesters, as necessary. Continuous registration for Master Project is not required.

Approval of Thesis or Project Topic

The students are to prepare a thesis or project topic proposal as directed by their thesis or project advisors. The proposal is presented to their committee for review and approval.

When the committee is satisfied with the proposal, the student will initiate the form Master's Thesis or Master's Project Committee & Proposal. This form, accompanied by a copy of the abstract, is accessed on the electronic forms page no later than the first day of the term in which the student plans to graduate.

Completion of Thesis or Project

Students completing the thesis must consult the Guidelines for Preparation of Theses and Dissertations regarding thesis style and form. The committee director will act as consultant during the time the thesis or project is being completed. Students must complete the thesis or project to the satisfaction of the committee. Students should deliver copies to each member of the committee at least ten days prior to the oral defense of the thesis or project.

Students will arrange for an oral defense of the thesis or project with the various members of their committee. The entire three-person committee is required to be present for the defense meeting. Upon completion of the defense, the student will initiate the Thesis or Project Report of Oral Defense form and the Thesis Approval page.

Thesis only: Students must adhere to established EHHS deadlines in applying for graduation, scheduling the oral defense of thesis or project, and electronically submit the thesis. Please note that EHHS deadlines are earlier than the university deadlines to allow for format checking. Deadlines can be found online at the Graduate Student Services Important EHHS Graduate Dates page.

Remote Participation in a Thesis Defense

Under normal circumstances, all members of a thesis committee must be physically present in the examination room during the entire thesis defense and during the committee's private deliberations following the examination. In most cases, the chair of the thesis committee is expected to be physically present in the examination room. Students enrolled in a fully online degree program are not required to be physically present for their thesis defense. For on-campus and hybrid (online/on-campus) degree programs, remote participation by web conferencing is permitted only if the student and/or committee member has obtained permission in advance from the chair of the thesis committee in consultation with committee members. They must provide a compelling reason and/or explanation as to why they cannot be physically present. With any thesis defense that is approved to be conducted with remote participation, the following rules must be enforced:

• The web-conferencing software to be used allows all participants to see and hear each other during the entire defense.
• The defense remains open and available to the university community.
• The program pays for any costs associated with the remote participation.
• The chair of the thesis committee is responsible for ensuring that all requirements for remote participation are met, that the remote participation was uninterrupted and, if interrupted, that the defense was paused until all remote participations were fully restored.

Participation by telephone only is not permitted under any circumstances.

Finalization of Thesis

1. Approval/Signature Pages
   Following successful defense of the thesis, students can immediately initiate the approval/signature page form.
2. Upload to Electronic Thesis and Dissertations
   1. Unless requested by the committee stuents do not need to submit a paper or electronic version for review prior to upload.
   2. Students should consult the Office of Graduate Students Services / Master's Student website for information on uploading thesis.
   3. The Associate Dean's assistant will be notified electronically when students have uploaded their thesis.
3. Review of Thesis
   1. The Office of Administrative Affairs and Graduate Education will pull a copy of your document and review for any formatting issues.
   2. The office will be in touch with you via your KSU email.
   3. Once you and/or your editor have made the appropriate corrections you will re-upload to OhioLINK, following the instructions provided.
   4. The document is again reviewed for appropriate formatting.
   5. Once all corrections have been made, submit the final revised version.

Finalization of a Project

1. Students must follow the established deadline for applying for graduation.
2. Students must defend the completed project by the EHHS posted deadline.
3. The project must be submitted to project director by the end of the semester in which student plans to graduate.