Pre-Thesis Planning

Students contemplating a thesis should discuss their interests with as many individuals as possible to gain a broad perspective of the experience. Students will find their department faculty and graduate program advisor knowledgeable and willing to offer excellent suggestions and advice regarding an appropriate thesis topic.

The student should identify the thesis topic and develop a draft of the thesis proposal. The student is encouraged to discuss topic ideas and research direction with his/her faculty advisor and with other faculty who have an interest in the student's topic and who may be willing to serve as the student's thesis advisor or as a member of the thesis committee.

The student should give considerable thought to the identification and planning of a thesis topic. Reviewing literature related to the student's interests is a very worthwhile activity and is strongly recommended. Also, the student should read a variety of research papers, abstracts, and proposals for content, methods and structure. Looking at completed master's theses will be a useful activity toward expanding inquiry skills and thought processes.

Thesis Committee

The student and thesis advisor will jointly identify the student's thesis committee. A thesis committee should be comprised of at least three faculty members, one of whom should be the thesis advisor. At least two members of the committee must be from the student's department and the third person may be from outside the department.

Once the student's thesis committee has been identified, the student should request Departmental and College approval of the committee. The student should complete the Appointment of Thesis Committee form (see attached) and submit it to his/her department chair. The student may proceed with scheduling a thesis proposal meeting as soon as the committee has been approved.

You can download the following forms for your committee members.

M.T. Thesis Committee Appointment Form
M.S. in Trainig & Development Thesis Committee Appointment Form

Thesis Proposal Defense

The student should meet informally with the thesis committee and each committee member to achieve direction for and assistance with the development of the thesis topic and proposal. The student and the committee chair will jointly determine when a thesis proposal defense meeting should be called to formalize the thesis proposal. To avoid any misunderstanding, the student should not proceed with the research until the thesis topic and proposal have been approved by the thesis committee.

The student should request and schedule a proposal defense meeting which is agreeable to all members of the committee. The student should provide a copy of the thesis proposal to all committee members at least one week prior to the scheduled meeting.

A meeting will not be considered official if the thesis proposal is not distributed as prescribed or if less than three committee members are present at the proposal defense. The outcome of the proposal defense meeting should be clear to the student as well as to committee members. The proposal will be accepted, accepted with modification, or rejected.

Thesis Defense

When a consensus has been reached by the student and his/her thesis advisor that the thesis is ready to defend, the thesis advisor will instruct the student to schedule a thesis defense meeting. The student will schedule a thesis defense meeting at a time when all committee members can be present. The student must distribute the thesis to all committee members at least two weeks in advance of the thesis defense meeting.

The defense meeting will be open to the university community. All committee members must be in attendance at the thesis defense. As with the proposal defense meeting, the outcome of the thesis defense meeting should be clear to the student. Timelines should be established for the final thesis copy to be submitted for committee approval. The student should refer to the University academic calendar for deadlines to submit the final draft and bound copies of the thesis.

Once the committee has approved the final draft of the thesis, one copy of the unbound thesis must be submitted to the College of Technology, Director of Graduate Studies. This must be done at least two weeks prior to the deadline for submitting bound copies of thesis printed in the class schedule. After final approval by the Director of Graduate Studies, the thesis can be taken for binding.

Contact For Additional Information

Academic Services Center
Office: 385 T2
Phone: 713-743-4100
Email: asc@uh.edu