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GUIDELINE
FOR THESES AND DISSERTATIONS
1. Students who intend to write a thesis
or dissertation should consult early in
their programs with the department chair
or program director/coordinator for a list
of Members of the Graduate Faculty from
which to select an advisor to supervise
and direct their research.
2. If the Member of the Graduate Faculty
selected by the student consents to serve
as an advisor, then the advisor and
student initiate a recommendation for a
thesis/dissertation committee using GS
Form 11.
3. Ph.D. dissertation committees must
include at least one Full Member of the
Graduate Faculty who is the committee
chair and normally the student’s
advisor/major professor. A Master’s
thesis committee must have a minimum of
three members and a dissertation committee
must include at least four members of the
Graduate Faculty. Both thesis and
dissertation committees must have at least
one member from outside the student’s
department or program. Two-thirds of the
committee must be USA faculty.
4. The Dean of the Graduate School is the
appointing authority for thesis and
dissertation committees. Once the Graduate
Dean has appointed the committee, the
student prepares a thesis or dissertation
prospectus under the direction of the
committee.
5. A Guide for Preparing Theses and
Dissertations, Ninth Edition, 2004, is the
guide for preparation of the prospectus
and the thesis or dissertation. The manual
is for sale in the campus bookstore.
6. Once a thesis or dissertation committee
is appointed by the Dean of the Graduate
School, the student may then enroll for
599 Thesis or 799 Dissertation credit with
permission of the thesis/ dissertation
committee chair (advisor or major
professor).
7. To be considered for approval by the
Dean of the Graduate School, an acceptable
thesis or dissertation must be submitted
to the Graduate School office by the first
submission deadline announced in the
University Calendar.
STANDARDS FOR THESES AND DISSERTATIONS
1. A thesis/dissertation should
demonstrate that the student has the
capacity for original research, facility
in the use of the English language, the
ability to review appropriate background
material, formulate and address (a)
significant question(s), obtain, collate,
and analyze appropriate data and draw
logical conclusions therefrom, and
integrate in a meaningful way the new
knowledge into the greater body of
existing knowledge and state its
significance. The final
thesis/dissertation must be acceptable to
the major professor, a majority of the
thesis/dissertation committee, the chair
of the student’s department, the
college/ school director of graduate
studies and the Dean of the graduate
school.
2. The thesis or dissertation must be an
original research and/or creative project.
This document will demonstrate the
student’s ability to:
A. Select a topic
and delineate a problem that can be
studied in terms of time, equipment needs
and experimental population available to
the faculty sponsor.
B. Search the
literature for relevant studies on the
topic of choice.
C. Organize and
analyze the information that is available,
using logical and/or statistical analysis
appropriate for the project.
D. Present the
results orally and in a written form to
the satisfaction of the
thesis/dissertation committee and the
Graduate Faculty.
E. Present a
final document as the Thesis or
Dissertation to the Graduate School Office
in an acceptable form and by the
procedures outlined in the Guide for
Preparing Theses and Dissertations,
University of South Alabama.
Download newest pdf file from www.southalabama.edu |
| APPLICATION
FOR DEGREE |
Each
candidate for the Master’s degree must
make application for the degree during the
semester preceding the semester of
graduation, in the Registrar’s Office.
The dates are specified in the University
Calendar.
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