Thesis Timeline of Required Actions
A thesis is a timely project, which requires immense planning and effort on behalf of the student. Students must be proactive, as deviation from the required timeline without departmental approval may result in graduation delays and, in some cases, loss of assistantship.
The following timeline is a guide to help you plan your path to thesis completion. Each department has its own procedures and deadlines for the following activities. For more information, check with your Department Chair or Advisor for additional detail details. Please note that most departments have more restrictive schedules than what appears below.
Semester 1.
- Throughout the semester: Begin exploring topics for your thesis.
- By the end of the semester: Your department may ask for a thesis pre-proposal prior to end of fall term.
Semester 2.
- No later than 2nd week: Work with your department to identify your Thesis Advisor.
- No later than 6th week: Form Thesis Committee and submit committee form to Registrar’s Office.
- No later than end of term: Submit an approved Thesis Proposal Form to Registrar’s Office. Approved Thesis Proposal & Committee Forms must be submitted prior to registration for Thesis 1.
- No later than end of term: Submit a 200-word abstract to the Office of Graduate Studies, ogs@floridapoly.edu.
Summer
- Throughout the semester: Coordinate with Thesis Advisor on research efforts. If funding is present and with departmental approval, you may be able to be employed over the summer.
- No later than end of summer: Submit a Gannt chart of tasks, milestones, and overall project schedule for the upcoming year to the Office of Graduate Studies, ogs@floridapoly.edu.
Semester 3.
- Throughout the semester: Students enroll in Thesis 1 in their 3rd semester. Thesis students should plan to spend approximately 10 hours outside of class per week working on a thesis. Students should regularly meet with their Thesis Advisor and provide progress reports as appropriate.
Semester 4.
- Throughout the semester: Students enroll in Thesis 2 in their final semester.
- By the first Monday of February: Submit an application for graduation (See Registrar’s Office for University Calendar for exact date.)
- At least 4 weeks prior to the date of the thesis defense, but no later than the Monday of Week 11: Submit an application for the thesis defense. This will ensure that all committee members agree to a date before finals week and that a room is available
- At least 2 weeks prior to the date of the thesis defense, but no later than the Friday of Week 13: Submit a complete, final draft thesis to the Thesis Committee. Once approved by the Committee, discuss next steps for a defense announcement approval.
- At least 1 week prior to the date of the thesis defense: Submit your approved announcement to ogs@floridapoly.edu for distribution of your defense date to all faculty, students, and staff in the Weekly Phoenix.
- By the last day of classes: Student will defend their thesis. After the defense, the Committee will provide notes and edits if needed. Students will have no later than the close of finals week to complete any corrections to the manuscript required by the Thesis Committee. Final copies of the complete manuscript with full-signatures must be submitted to the Student’s academic degree-granting department and the Office of Graduate Studies. The signature page must be submitted to the University Registrar as soon as possible upon successful completion of the defense.
- By the last day of Finals: After appropriately incorporating changes from the committee, the the student will submit the final thesis in PDF form to the Committee to request signatures. Upon receiving signatures from the Thesis Committee and Thesis Advisor, the student will submit the thesis and signed cover page, to the degree-granting department and the Office of Graduate Studies, ogs@floridapoly.edu. These documents will be stored in the student’s record and will be required to confer the student’s degree.
Thesis Committee
Students must have a Graduate Thesis Committee and a Thesis Advisor, who is their Committee Chair, as part of their thesis requirements per FPU 5.0123AP. Prior to the assignment of the Thesis Advisor, the department will provide interim advising for the student.
Thesis Advisor/Committee Chair
Requirements:
- Thesis Advisor must be an expert in the subject matter of the proposed thesis.
- Thesis Advisor should determined no later than the second week of the second semester that the student is registered in the graduate program.
- Thesis Advisor’s responsibilities include, but may not be limited to, advising the student’s course of study, forming the committee in consultation with Department Chair, and supervising the student’s research.
- Along with the committee, the advisor also oversees review and approval for the thesis content and format, and working with the student and committee to schedule a defense.
Disciplinary Track: The Committee Chair (thesis advisor) must be from the department that includes the “track” for the graduate degree.
Interdisciplinary Track: The Committee Chair (thesis advisor) must be from one of the departments that sponsors courses for the interdisciplinary track.
Committee Members
Requirements:
- Committee must be comprised of at least three full-time faculty members (not adjunct, nor visiting, nor courtesy) which includes the chair.
- Committee should be formed by the sixth week of the second semester that the student is in the graduate program. The student must submit the approved Thesis Committee Form to the Registrar’s Office.
- The Department Chair must approve the makeup of the Committee.
- In appropriate cases, industry partners may serve on the Committee as members in addition to minimum required full-time faculty by approval of department chair. These members will be referred to as Outside Committee Members. If students wish to include Outside Committee Members in their committee, they will need to submit a non-remuneration form along with their Thesis Committee Form, which can be requested from ogs@floridapoly.edu.
Disciplinary Track: Each department must determine how to staff graduate committees for the “track” in the department. One of the Thesis Committee members should be a faculty member in the department that is responsible for the track that the student has chosen, while the second Thesis Committee member should be from outside the department but with experience relevant to the student’s research area. Likewise, members from outside the University must have experience relevant to the student’s research area.
Interdisciplinary Track: The Thesis Committee must include a third committee member (four members total). This third committee member must 1. be a subject matter expert in a field relevant to the student’s thesis area; 2. be a member of a department other than the faculty advisor’s home department; and 3. be a member of a department that contributes to the interdisciplinary track. This committee member must be approved by the Chair of the Department that sponsors the track chosen by the student.
Changing the Committee Membership
Committee membership may not be changed at the student’s request in the last semester before graduation. Committee membership may be changed and approved, including the committee chair, in the same manner as the advisor and committee is originally approved.
Thesis Procedures
Additional details on rules and deliverables are detailed below. Students should consult with their Thesis Advisor for any additional requirements.
Thesis Proposal
Thesis proposals must be approved and submitted by the end of the second term of graduate study, but no later than the end of the 3rd week of the third semester (Thesis 1) of graduate study. Each department may choose to include a more formal review process for thesis proposals, but all thesis proposals must be approved by, at minimum, the Thesis Committee and the Department Chair. The thesis proposal must include:
- An abstract that provides a brief description of the problem statement and expected solution;
- A survey of current literature regarding the problem statement that demonstrates why the problem statement is important and how it aligns with the student’s research interest and course of study (students are encouraged to use reference management software such as Zotero to make additions of references and generation of bibliography easy);
- A description of the work to be performed, and how and where it will be performed. This section should convince the reader that the student has considered the problem and has a research plan that can be executed with the available resources and in the time that is appropriate for a master’s thesis.
- A Gannt chart of tasks, milestones, and overall project schedule.
Approved proposals must be retained by the thesis committee and a copy submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies at ogs@floridapoly.edu, and acceptance of the thesis proposal must be recorded by the Registrar’s Office.
Thesis Defense Announcement
Upon approval of the Thesis Advisor, students should announce their oral examination (defense) at least one week prior to the defense date. In order to meet this requirement:
- Prepare your announcement in consultation with your Thesis Advisor. Most students simply use their abstract for the body of the announcement. The announcement should include:
- A formal defense announcement like: “Announcing the Final Examination of Ms. Susan B. Student for the degree of Master of Engineering.”
- Date, time, location, and thesis/report title.
- An abstract or summary of the thesis/report.
- The student’s current major course of study.
- The student’s previously awarded degrees, including the year of conferment and the conferring institution.
- A list of all members of the Thesis Committee.
- The date on which the Thesis Advisor approved distribution of the announcement and that the public is welcome to attend.
- Ask your Thesis Advisor to approve your announcement for distribution.
- Once approved, contact the Office of Graduate Studies ogs@floridapoly.edu for distribution of your defense date to all faculty, students, and staff in the Weekly Phoenix. Make sure to plan ahead based on your defense date. Submissions are due by Mondays at noon in order to make it into that week’s Wednesday Weekly Phoenix announcement.
Oral Examination - The Defense
Thesis writers must perform a public defense of their work. The defense date must completed by the last day of classes. All committee members should be present at the defense and the thesis must have been submitted to the committee at least two weeks before the defense. Thesis advisors are responsible for working with the students to ensure that all committee members receive the thesis in an appropriate time.
Submission
Upon successful completion and defense of the thesis report, the student must obtain all Committee signatures and submit the signature page to the Office of Graduate Studies by emailing ogs@floridapoly.edu by the last day of finals. The Office of Graduate Studies will obtain the Graduate Director’s signature on the student’s behalf. Upon receiving the final signature, the Office of Graduate Studies will submit to the University Registrar to finalize requirements for the degree. The student and advisor must take possession of the fully signed, completed thesis and ensure that:
➢ One (1) copy is filed with the Office of Graduate Studies and;
➢ One (1) copy is filed with the Academic Department
Acceptance
A thesis is formally accepted at the discretion of the Thesis Committee, Thesis Advisor, Department Chair, and the Graduate Director upon signing the thesis. Students should thoroughly read and abide by the Thesis Format Manual, as format is considered in the acceptance process by the Office of Graduate Studies. Once all signatures are received, the Office of Graduate Studies will submit to the University Registrar to finalize requirements for the degree conferral.
Thesis Terms and Definitions
Program Advisor: a student’s initial faculty advisor upon entering the program.
Thesis Advisor/Committee Chair: the student’s faculty advisor who takes over from the program advisor once established as the committee chair or advisor for the student’s thesis. The thesis advisor/committee chair directs the student’s research and advises on course selection and other aspects of the program.
Committee Member: a faculty member who serves on the student’s thesis committee.
Outside Committee Member: A member of the student’s thesis committee who is not from the department offering the student’s selected track but provides external evaluation of the student’s thesis and research.
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