Completing the Masters
program in 8 Easy Steps
B
RIGHAM
Y
OUNG
U
NIVERSITY
Step 1: Creating a Program of Study
Masters: 35 credits required (29 of approved course work, 6 thesis hours)
Availability of required courses (17 credits):
Take 12 additional hours of electives
Note: Soc 604 or 608 is required, not both 2 Semesters of 598R required
Fall Semester Winter Semester
Soc 598R Soc 598R
Soc 600 Soc 605
Soc 604 Soc 608
Soc 610 Soc 611
Important things to know:
• The program of study form is available online at www.byu.edu/gradstudies (under current student forms)
• Masters students need to submit program of study to graduate secretary by beginning of their second semester
• The department expects masters to be finished in 2 years
• Be sure to take at least 6 credits a year or you will be deleted from the program • Program of Study Change forms are available online at www.byu.edu/gradstudies
If you change your program of study, be sure to have a form signed by your committee and turned in to the graduate secretary
• Rules regarding transfer credits: Classes have to be clearly graduate level
Student has to have earned a B grade or better
Credits cannot have applied to another degree
Credits cannot total more than 10 hours
*For a more comprehensive reference of instructions and procedures, see the Graduate Pro - gram Handbook, available online at http://sociology.byu.edu/student/graduate/index.htm
Step 2: Choosing a Committee
Masters Students:
• Obtain form from graduate secretary
• Choose one chair from within the department • Choose two other members
• Committee list due to graduate secretary by beginning of second semester in program • Change in Committee forms available at front desk
Step 3: Learning about a New Job
• Be sure to see Margaret and sign your contract before you start working
• Graduate assistantships are professional internships with explicit obligations.
Assistant-ships are thus considered to be part-time jobs (20 hours a week unless otherwise speci-fied). They are not fellowships. We expect a full 20 hours of work a week from you.
• Masters students: $15,000 for a ten month assistantship
• You must be a registered student to be eligible for departmental employment
• Spring/Summer employment: 20 hours in either spring or summer term or split 10/10 be-tween the two terms
• The department covers up to two years of funding for masters students • We do not have tuition waivers
Step 4: Writing and Defending a
Prospectus
• Present thesis prospectus to graduate committee no later than the beginning of the last se-mester of course work
• Consult with your committee for guidelines and expectations • Pick up a scheduling form from the graduate secretary
• Leave at least a week between the time defense is scheduled and the actual proposal • The prospectus should outline the proposed topic, methods, theory, and procedures for the
completion of the final project.
Suggested Components of a Thesis or Dissertation Prospectus
Introduction - objectives (what you want to accomplish), procedures (how you are going to accomplish it), relevance (why it’s important to accomplish).
Statement of the Problem - Why is your topic a problem worthy of study?
Significance of Problem - Locate your topic in the general area of knowledge. Need for more knowledge. Describe the consequences of this action. APPLICATION.
Background to the Problem - What have others said about the problem?
Methods - questions, hypotheses, component parts (methodology, connection between what you have already said and how you are going to empirically collect and analyze the data to sup-port it, defining and articulating concepts and their measures as well as dependent, independent, and control variables).
Time Table
Step 5: Defending a Thesis
• Your committee decides when your thesis or dissertation is ready for defense
• The draft should be clean and edited before being presented to the graduate committee for consideration of an oral defense
• Formatting guidelines are available online at www.byu.edu/gradstudies • Scheduling forms are available online at www.byu.edu/gradstudies
• The defense must be scheduled through the graduate secretary at least two weeks in advance • Be aware of deadlines for defending (graduate secretary will keep you informed of these via
email)
• Leave an unbound copy of your thesis with the graduate secretary to display for the depart-ment at least twp weeks in advance
• Make sure your committee has adequate time to review the work before the defense (usually 2 weeks)
• Defenses may not be scheduled between semesters (between the last day of finals and the first day of class)
• You must be registered for two credit hours the semester you defend • Possible outcomes of oral defense:
• Pass
• Pass with qualifications
• Recess - If two or more members vote to Recess, examination is adjourned. You may reschedule a second and final examination with the original committee no sooner than a month after the recessed examination.
• Fail - If two or more examiners vote to Fail, your graduate degree program in soci-ology is terminated.
**Should you meet the deadline to defend but miss the deadline for revisions to graduate that semester, you will not be required to register for credits the following semester as you finish revisions and the submission process. However, it is imperative that you finish during this “free semester”
Step 6: Making Revisions
• Work closely with your committee as you put the final touches on your thesis or dissertation • Be sure your committee chair tells the graduate secretary when you finish. Your chair will
need to sign a form telling the university this, and you will not be able to graduate unless this is taken care of.
Step 7: Getting ready for publication
of
Thesis
or
Dissertation
Having a Hard Copy Bound:
• If you are submitting hard copies of your work to the library, you will have to make as many copies of your work as you are expecting to have bound. The library will not make the copies for you.
• Pay attention to the type of paper required
• Be sure to follow the formatting directions very closely (outlined in “Minimum Standards for Submitting Dissertations, Theses, or Selected Projects,” available at www.byu.edu/ gradstudies).
• Take copies, along with form 8d to 2060 HBLL for binding • Keep a close eye on the deadlines!
Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs):
• http://etd.byu.edu/creating.html has lots of helpful information about this. • Some things we look for when we approve ETDs:
Bookmarks
Pages with horizontal tables should be turned horizontally in the PDF for easy reading • Computers with Adobe Acrobat are available for use in the library
• Submitting an ETD instead of a hard copy will save you money
Step 8: Tying up Loose Ends
• Fill out program evaluation
• Make sure your copy bill is paid off
• Notify senders of mail you are regularly receiving of address change • Give the secretaries a forwarding address
General Things to Know:
• The department and your committee chair will each want a copy of your finished work • Consult with your committee chair about this - he or she may accept an ETD instead • The department does accept ETDs in place of a hard copy.
