CONTRIBUTION

1. The graduate student must obtain the approval of the graduate program director or the department chairperson to undertake a thesis or professional contribution project.

Two points should be made about this first step. The first point is that the student should discuss his or her ideas for a topic with a faculty member the student would like to serve as a mentor for the project. The student’s mentor will, in conference with the student at the student’s initiative, aid in the definition of an acceptable and feasible project. It is the responsibility of the chair to actually appoint a mentor, but everyone benefits if the student knows in advance that there is in fact a faculty member willing and able to serve as mentor.

Second, the discussions with both the potential mentor and the chair should take place before the student registers for the thesis or professional contribution. Once that registration occurs, the “clock starts ticking,” and it is definitely in the student’s interest to know in advance that both the topic and the mentor are in place.

2. Once you have your topic approved, you register. If you are doing a master’s thesis (for credit) you will register for the thesis and pay the normal tuition, depending on the number of credits involved, and you will work under the same one-semester constraints you would have for any other course.

If you are doing a professional contribution (no credit) you will pay a special fee of $250.00, which will enable you to work for one full calendar year on your project. Unless there should arise some personal or medical crisis there should be no reason why your project would take you more than one year to do, so you should by all means plan on finishing your professional contribution within this time.

If a crisis does arise, you may be able to receive ONE one-semester extension for an additional $100.00 fee. Your mentor and department chair will need to approve granting you such an extension, and the dean only in extraordinary circumstances will grant it. Under no circumstance will a professional contribution be extended beyond this fifth semester.

3. In the case of a professional contribution another faculty member from the department, in addition to the mentor, may be asked to serve on the student’s review committee. Typically another faculty member would serve if the professional contribution’s topic covered more than one area of expertise.

In the case of a thesis at least one, and in some cases more than one, other faculty member from the department, in addition to the mentor, will be asked to serve on the student’s review committee.

The mentor and the student together will agree upon the member(s) of the department faculty to serve on the review committee, and will initiate requests to those other faculty members.

4. When the review committee has been formed, the mentor will recommend the members’ names to the dean through the chairperson of the department. The “Form for the

Appointment of a Thesis/Professional Contribution/Dissertation Committee” (attached)

will be used for this purpose. The dean will officially appoint the committee and notify its members of their appointment. The mentor will serve as chair of this committee.

At the same time the committee is appointed, the dean will appoint a “dean’s reader” from a different, preferably allied, department or program. The “dean’s reader” will participate in all committee meetings relating to the student’s project. The primary role of the “dean’s reader” is to review the quality of

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articulation and exposition in writing, interpretive exposition and overall logical presentation. The role of the “dean’s reader” may be expanded to review of content at the invitation of the mentor.

5. As soon as possible after the committee has been formed, the student will submit a written proposal of her or his project to the committee for their tentative approval. Each department may determine the format and length of the proposal. If no department guidelines define proposals, then the following information at a minimum should be included in the proposal: a) A statement of the problem or topic is to be studied.

b) A brief description of how the problem or topic relates (positively or negatively) to recognized issues or theories within the field.

c) A statement on why the student believes the problem or topic is significant.

d) A brief description of the means the student expects to use to test her or his hypotheses about the problem or topic.

e) An “educated guess” about what the student expects the outcome of the project to show and how that outcome will (as appropriate) either make an original contribution to knowledge or apply theory to practice.

6. When the committee has given tentative approval to the student’s proposal, the mentor will send the dean two copies of the proposal. One copy will be kept in the dean’s office until the completed thesis or professional contribution is submitted or until the project is abandoned. The other copy will be returned to the mentor for inclusion in the student’s departmental file. 7. The student will remain in close communication with the mentor while carrying out the

project. During the course of the project the mentor may convene the review committee (including the “dean’s reader) to discuss with the student any changes in subject matter or methodology, which may seem advisable.

8. When the student has completed a draft version of the thesis or professional contribution acceptable to the mentor, copies of the draft will be submitted to each member of the committee for evaluation. Specific deadline dates for the academic year are included in the Marywood Calendar or may be obtained from the departmental or dean’s office.

The committee will meet at least once without the student to review the draft. The committee may accept the draft as presented return it for revisions, or reject the draft altogether. The mentor will communicate the decision of the committee to the student.

9. In the case of a thesis, if the committee accepts the draft then an oral defense will be scheduled. The committee will then either pass or fail the student on the oral defense and on the thesis and assign a grade.

If the student fails the oral defense, but it is the opinion of the committee that the student should be given a second opportunity for an oral defense, then the second oral exam will be scheduled and, if needed, an interim grade of “I” will be reported to the registrar. If the student fails the second oral defense, a grade of

“F” will be recorded. A majority of the committee will determine the grade.

10. In the case of a professional contribution an oral defense may not be required (although individual departments may require one – check with your department chair or program director).

11. Once the committee has approved, or approved with revision, the thesis, professional contribution and dissertation, the student will then prepare the final version and submit it to the committee members, who will sign the title page (format copy attached).

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12. After the review committee has approved the thesis, professional contribution or dissertation, one copy of the final approved draft will be submitted to the dean’s office. The dean will be responsible for determining whether the copy meets the minimal formatting requirements set forth in the next section of this document. After the draft has been approved as formatted, the student will have copies made and brought back to the dean’s office to be bound. Uniform binding will be handled by the dean’s office and the Learning Resources Center; the student will be required to pay for each bound copy, usually about $20.20.

For thesis one bound copy must be filed with the student’s department. Additional copies may be bound for the student’s own use.

For professional contribution one bound copy must be filed with the student’s department. Additional copies may be bound for the student’s own use.

For dissertation one (original) bound copy may be placed in the Learning Resources Center, where it will be catalogued and made available as part of the library’s regular holdings; that decision is at the discretion of the student and mentor. One bound copy must be filed with the student’s department. Additional copies may be bound for the student’s own use.

13. The grade for the thesis, professional contribution or dissertation must be submitted by the department to the registrar by the final day of the University’s final examination period (during the summer session, the last day of classes).

FORMAT SPECIFICATIONS FOR THESIS, PROFESSIONAL