| Preparing Your Thesis Guidelines for the Preparation of the Master's Thesis Murray State University Effective 2005 The individual student is responsible for fulfilling all university requirements for the preparation and submission of the thesis. These guidelines provide information helpful in the preparation of the thesis and describe certain formal requirements to which the thesis writer must adhere. Failure to follow these requirements may jeopardize the planned completion date of the degree. I. Selection and Appointment of the Thesis Committee II. Thesis Proposal III. Writing the Thesis IV. Parts of the Thesis V. Production VI. Reproduction of the Thesis VII. Copies Required Appendix I. Sample Title Page Appendix II. Sample Signature Page |
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I. Selection and Appointment of the Thesis Committee A. The student must consult with a professor in the area of specialization and discuss the general topic of the proposed thesis. Upon mutual agreement, and subject to departmental policies, this professor will serve as the Thesis Advisor. B. Subject to specific departmental policies and procedures, the Thesis Advisor will meet with the Department Chair in order to select members of the Thesis Committee. The minimum size of the committee, including the Thesis Advisor, shall be three members. C. The Department Chair will forward the names of the Thesis Committee to the Dean of the College (or Collegiate Graduate Coordinator) for review and approval. After endorsement, the college will forward the makeup of the Thesis Committee to the Graduate Admissions Office. Subsequent changes to the committee’s membership will be governed by departmental and/or collegiate policies. II. Thesis Proposal For studies that involve human subjects, the individual student must receive approval for his/her activities from the Institutional Review Board following the current Procedures and Guidelines for the Protection of Human Subjects. Failure to receive this approval may result in the disqualification of the thesis. III. Writing the Thesis A. The student shall write the thesis under the guidance of the Thesis Advisor. B. The student may seek guidance from other committee members as needed. C. Style and Form of the Thesis IV. Parts of the Thesis Regardless of the style manual adopted by the department, the thesis should contain the following parts in the order listed: A. First Fly Leaf (blank page) B. Title Page (see Appendix I for specifics) C. Signature Page (see Appendix II for sample) D. Acknowledgements (optional) E. Abstract (unpaged) F. Preface (optional) G. Table of Contents H. List of Illustrations (if applicable) I. Text (divided by chapters, if applicable) J. Appendices (to include IRB approval letter if applicable) K. Bibliography L. Last Fly Leaf (blank page) V. Production A. The thesis should be produced on a word processor using standard serif fonts such as Times New Roman or Century; if desired, sans serif fonts such as Arial may be used for headings. Any fonts used must be clear and easily readable with a font size of at least 11. B. Text should generally be double-spaced, though single- and/or triplespacing may be employed consistent with the adopted style manual (e.g., for long quotations, bibliography, etc.). C. Final printing must be done on a laser or high-quality ink jet printer; dot matrix printing is not acceptable D. The original and all copies must be submitted on at least 25% rag content, 20-pound, 8.5-by-11 inches white bond paper. E. Top, bottom, and right margins must be one inch and the left margin 1.5 inches for binding. A two-inch top margin should begin the first page of each text chapter. F. Page numbers should be placed _ inch from the top and _ inch from the edge of the upper right corner of the page. Preliminary pages to the actual text are numbered in lower-case Roman numerals. The title and signature pages are not numbered, but are considered as numbers one and two in the page series. Consequently, the next page (usually acknowledgements) is numbered iii, the next iv, and so forth. The actual text and following parts of the thesis are assigned Arabic numerals continuously to the last page, except that a page number will not appear on any page with a major heading (e.g., the first page of a chapter, the bibliography, etc.); however, a number in series should be allowed for such pages. G. Illustrative Materials VI. Reproduction of the Thesis A. The student is responsible for either printing five copies of the thesis or having the original copy reproduced four times. B. All copies should be clean, clear, and straight. Students may carefully make these copies themselves, or may use agencies such as University Printing Services, Copy Express, or commercial printing firms. If such services are used, care should be taken to allow enough time for reproduction before the date of graduation (see deadlines below). VII. Copies Required A. The Graduate Admissions Office requires five unbound copies – the original plus four clear copies. B. Distribution of bound copies: Original and one copy to MSU Libraries; one copy to student’s department; one copy to relevant dean; one copy to student. Additional bound copies may be made at the student’s expense. C. Submission Deadlines Appendix 1: Sample Title Page
Appendix II: Sample Signature Page
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