The Master’s Thesis

Students are admitted into the CCP Program under the mentorship of a designated Core Faculty member, who serves as the Chair of the student’s Thesis Committee. As the Master’s Thesis is intended to promote development and learning of research skills, students work very closely with their mentor in all stages of the Master’s Thesis research project, from planning through the final defense. Students’ mentors will help them to select a Thesis Committee consisting of at least two additional faculty members. Of these, one must be CCP Core Faculty and one must be someone who is not CCP Core Faculty (CCP Affiliate Faculty can serve in this role). The purpose of this committee is to advise students about their research and provide feedback regarding the proposal and evaluate the student’s demonstration of knowledge and skills in research. The Committee Appointment Form committee must be completed and submitted to the DCT and program assistant via email for approval before they register for thesis hours.

The Thesis Proposal consists of a written document and an oral presentation. The Written Proposal is a document that describes the project in sufficient detail such that the committee can judge its merit prior to its commencement (or in instances of archival data, data extraction and analysis). A proposal consists of an introduction, literature review, a statement of research questions and hypotheses as well as how hypotheses will be analyzed and how constructs will be measured. A guide developed by the Graduate School for preparing the Written Proposal Document can be found here. This manual will aid you in the preparation of both your written proposal and the written defense. When that manual does not specify format, the most recent version of the APA Publication Manual should be followed.

The Oral Proposal is a presentation of the thesis proposal that occurs after the written document is complete. The Oral Proposal consists of a meeting with all of the Thesis Committee members. Coordination and scheduling of the Oral Proposal meeting is the responsibility of the student, including locating and securing physical space for the meeting and any necessary technology/audio-visual equipment. This meeting is open to all CCP Core and Affiliate Faculty and Students. The student must email the Program Assistant with the information on the date, time, and location of the Oral Proposal. The Program Assistant will forward this announcement to the CCP Faculty and Students. The written document must be submitted to all committee members via email no later than two weeks in advance of the meeting (i.e., 14 days inclusive of weekends). Failure to provide the document to the committee members at least two weeks prior to the scheduled meeting may result in cancellation and rescheduling of the meeting.

The Oral Proposal meeting involves a presentation of the proposal by the student, questions from the committee members, and a discussion about and feedback on the proposed study. The committee members, led by the committee chair, are tasked with evaluating the Written Proposal and Oral Proposal and determining if the student may proceed with conducting the study as described. The committee may also require modifications to the study and/or the written document prior to giving approval to proceed with the study. All students must also obtain approval of the thesis project from the IRB or the Animal Use and Care Committee before they can begin any research activities. This is usually completed after the proposal is approved by the committee. 

Once the Thesis Proposal is approved by the committee and the IRB, the student can proceed with the research as outlined in the document. The successful proposal of the Master's Thesis also serves as the Comprehensive Exam requirement for the MS Program of Study. Accordingly, the student should bring with them the Comprehensive Exam Report form to the Oral Proposal, which will be signed and submitted to the Program Assistant. Students should periodically update the committee regarding the progress of the research.

The Thesis Defense consists of a written document and an oral presentation. The Written Defense describes the completed project with appropriate analyses and interpretation in sufficient detail such that the committee can judge the quality of the completed project. The Written Document must conform to the formatting and standards of the American Psychological Association’s Publication Manual and the requirements of the Graduate School (see the Guide for Preparing Theses And Dissertations referenced above). Instances in which standards of writing conflict between these documents, students should follow the Graduate School guidelines.

The Oral Defense is a presentation of the completed Thesis Project and includes an examination of the student’s research, including, but not limited to, the justification for the research, the methodology, the analysis, and interpretation of the results, and the significance of the research. 

This meeting is open to all CCP Core and Affiliate Faculty and Students. The student must email the Program Assistant with the information on the date, time, and location of the Oral Defense. The Program Assistant will forward this announcement to the CCP Faculty and Students. The written document must be submitted to all committee members via email no later than two weeks in advance of the meeting (i.e., 14 days inclusive of weekends). Failure to provide the document to the committee members at least two weeks prior to the scheduled meeting may result in cancellation and rescheduling of the meeting. The Thesis Chair must submit the final written thesis document to Turnitin.com prior to the Oral Defense meeting. The results of this submission must be shared with the Thesis Committee. Any evidence of plagiarism may result in a referral for an academic misconduct charge.

The committee members, led by the committee chair, are tasked with evaluating the Written Defense and Oral Defense with a greater focus on evaluating the student’s knowledge, skills, and application of learning within the context of the Thesis Project compared to the Oral Proposal. Accordingly, after the Oral Defense presentation and question/discussion, the student is asked to leave the room while the committee deliberates and determines whether the student has passed or failed the Thesis Project. The committee chair completes the CCP Thesis/First-Year Project/Dissertation Evaluation form based on the consensus of the committee members. Using this form, students rated as Competent (rating of 3 or higher) across all domains of evaluation for both the Written Document and Oral Presentation are determined to have passed the Thesis Project. Students who receiving a rating of “2” in any domain of evaluation across both the Written Document and Oral Presentation may only receive a preliminary pass of the Thesis Project. Students who receive a “preliminary pass” will be required to make specific changes to the Written Document and resubmit the Document to the committee for additional review. The Thesis Committee will provide written feedback and instructions regarding the requirements and expectations a student must achieve to be elevated to pass the Thesis Project. If the committee rates the student’s performance in any domain a rating of “1”, the student is deemed to have failed the Thesis Project. If a student is deemed to have failed the committee chair will aggregate required improvements and feedback from the committee and is responsible for communicating this to and working with the student to improve the document and preparing for a second attempt at the oral defense. Students deemed to have failed the Thesis Defense must hold a second attempt at the Oral Defense. Any student who fails the Thesis Defense two times is automatically dismissed from the program and not eligible for readmission. Once the committee deems the student to have passed the Thesis Project, each member signs both the thesis signature page and the Graduate School Submission Form.

Once the student is determined to have successfully passed the Thesis Defense, the written document is deemed by the committee to be complete, and all committee members have signed the signature page and the final thesis form

1. The student will submit the thesis to the chair of the Department of Psychology, who will sign the signature page and final thesis form.
2. The student will submit the thesis to the Director of Graduate Studies for the College of Arts & Sciences (usually one of the Associate Deans), who will also sign the signature page and final thesis form.
3. The student then will submit the thesis to the Graduate School, specifically to the Graduate School Services Specialist. This must be done by the initial deadline for thesis and dissertation approvals set forth by the graduate school each year. These dates are posted on the academic calendar. This date is usually in late June for students submitting at the end of their 6th semester in the program. The student receives and makes edits from the Graduate School and receives a final approval memo. At this point the thesis is completed.

The student must respond in a timely manner to all reviewing parties each stage of the Master’s Thesis. Failure to respond and make edits in a timely manner may result in the thesis not being completed within the expected timeline. Students are expected to submit the finished thesis during the summer deadline of their sixth semester in the program. Students will graduate at that time, provided that all MS coursework including the thesis has been completed. Failure to respond to all reviewing parties in a timely manner may result in delays and/or disruptions in the student’s progress in the CCP Program.

When submitting the final thesis document to the graduate school, students must be precise in listing the month in which they intend to graduate with their MS on the signature page of the thesis document. Normally, students will submit their final thesis in the spring or summer of their second year. Regardless, the student will normally graduate from the MS at the end of their second summer semester. This should be noted as graduating in July on the thesis signature page. Students have become confused in the past because there is no graduation ceremony held by USA at the end of summer, and the next graduation ceremony is in the following December. This has led students to believe that they were not graduating from the MS until December, which was in error as they completed their degree at the end of the summer semester. Note, students can request to take part in the spring graduation ceremony to commemorate completion of their MS degree, even if they have not completed all coursework or the thesis by the end of spring semester. Students wishing to take part in the spring graduation ceremony should speak with the CCP Program Assistant, DCT or A-DCT for guidance on how to obtain approval to do so.

At the end of each semester in which a student is enrolled for the PSY 599 thesis course, an academic grade (e.g. A-F) is required to be entered reflecting the quality of the progress the student has made up to that point. In assigning a grade, CCP faculty may take into consideration prior work deadlines and progress benchmarks that were established in writing between themselves and the students at the outset of that semester. If some unforeseen circumstances impede the student’s ability to complete the expected progress on their thesis project for that semester, the student cannot be given a grade of “P” (in progress) and should only be given a grade of “I” (incomplete). Completion of a thesis, as evidenced by entering of a grade of “B” or higher on the final thesis course credit, is determined by the approval of the Thesis Chair, a majority of the Thesis Committee, the Psychology Department Chair, and the Dean of the Graduate School. Typically, a student will be enrolled in PSY 599 continuously from the inception of the research to its completion. However, a student MUST complete at least six credit hours of PSY 599 course credits in order to graduate and must be enrolled in at least one credit hour of thesis or project in the semester in which they intend to graduate, unless an override to this policy is granted by the Dean of the Graduate School.