Thesis timeline & requirements 3
Recommended Timeline for M.A. Thesis
Department of Psychology
CSULA
Starting the thesis
· Thesis committees must consist of three or more faculty. At least 2 members of the committee, including the committee chair, must be tenured or tenured-track CSULA faculty. A committee member who is not a CSULA faculty member must submit a CV with the student’s GS-12 form to the College Graduate Dean.
· Prior to GS-12 form submission, the student must prepare a thesis proposal (prospectus), stating the specific topic, objectives, methods, and significance of the proposed thesis project. The prospectus shall be prefaced by a narrative abstract of 250 to 500 words that is comprehensible to a general audience. It must include a hypothesis, objective, or the research question of the study, an overview of the methods, and a description of the significance of the research.
· Once a student has an approved topic and a completed GS-12 form submitted (which must include the prospectus, described above), it is strongly recommended that each student develop and submit an acceptable draft of their Introduction (literature review & hypothesis/objective/research question), and Methods sections before the data collection is completed.
· At minimum, an acceptable draft of each student’s introduction should be submitted and reviewed by the committee chair, in the quarter prior to the quarter of the planned defense.
· Please keep in mind that faculty will need a minimum of 10 working days (i.e., 2 weeks) to review all drafts of any part of the thesis. Thus, the draft of a student’s introduction and methods sections should be submitted by the end of the 7th week of the quarter prior to the quarter they plan to defend.
· Do not expect faculty to review drafts during the Summer, Winter, or Spring breaks. Although some faculty may choose to work on their own time over the breaks, these breaks should not be included in the time-line for the submission and review of drafts.
Data collection
· If a thesis involves independent data collection (as opposed to using data from ongoing projects done by the chair or other parties), students should submit an application to collect data with human subjects to the Institutional Review Board at least 6 working weeks before they plan to begin data collection (this does not include the winter or spring breaks).
· Students should keep in mind that although the IRB will review many proposals quite promptly, others may take much longer to review, and ultimately approve.
· Students should plan to have their data completely collected by the end of the quarter prior to the quarter of their planned defense.
o For example, if a student thinks data collection can be accomplished in one quarter, and they plan to defend in the Spring, the student should apply to the IRB by the 4th week of the Fall quarter. This should assure that they can start collecting data by the start of the Winter quarter.
Completing the thesis: Minimum standards for the turnaround of drafts
· By the start of the quarter that a student plans to defend, they should already have, 1) a completed and reviewed 1st draft of their Introduction and Methods sections, and 2) all data collected.
· Keep in mind that most drafts of introduction and methods sections go through multiple reviews and edits. Thus students must account for multiple rounds of reviews in their projected time lines. As noted above, faculty need a minimum of 10-working days to review and return edits/suggestions for any draft. Also, although students work at different speeds, they should plan on taking at least one week to complete suggested edits and make recommended changes.
· Students may not submit a complete draft of the final document to their chair or other committee members prior to, 1) having their chair review the 1st draft of the Introduction and Methods sections, and 2) making all of the suggested changes to the Introduction and Methods, and returning that 2nd draft to their chair.
· Students must have a complete 2nd draft of the final document submitted to their committee chair by the 1st day of the 5th week of the quarter they plan to defend in.
· By allowing the members two working-weeks to review the draft, the student should plan to have the faculty feedback in hand by the 1st day of the 7th week of the quarter they plan to defend in.
· If the student is able to make the suggested changes in one week (this is considered a fast turnaround), the 3rd draft could be in the faculty’s hands by the 1st day of the 8th week of the quarter they plan to defend in.
· By allowing the committee members to have two working-weeks to read the 2nd draft, the student will have the faculty feedback for the second complete draft in-hand by the 1st day of the 10th week.
· Keep in mind that these are minimum requirements, and the deadlines listed above push a defense into finals week (the last possible chance to defend for a given quarter).
Student expectations regarding how fast this can be done.
· Always allow 10 working days for faculty edits.
· Always plan on your changes taking at least one week between drafts.
· Always plan on having a minimum of two complete drafts reviewed prior to scheduling a defense (that means 2 complete drafts AFTER having your introduction and methods reviewed and revised at least once).
· Understand that many thesis may need more than two rounds of edits (build in 3 weeks for each round-two weeks for review and 1 week for changes).
· Do not plan of scheduling a defense before your second complete draft if reviewed and revised.
· There is no justification for not meeting the minimum deadline dates noted above. Do not expect faculty to expedite this process beyond the timeline noted above for any reason whatsoever, including but not limited to: Financial need and trouble paying for another quarter, desire to defend to obtain employment or advance to another graduate program, need to more out of the state.
Checklist for Recommended Thesis Timeline
1. Thesis committee formed.
2. Thesis prospectus completed and approved by committee chair.
3. Submit GS-12 with approved prospectus.
4. Introduction & Methods section (initial drafts & revisions with chair).
5. IRB form completed and approved by chair.
6. IRB form submitted 6 working weeks before data collection is planned to begin (keep in mind IRB may take longer to review; therefore submit IRB by 4th week of quarter prior to quarter planned for data collection).
7. IRB approval.
8. Data collection initiated.
9. Data collection completed by end of quarter prior to quarter of planned defense.
10. 1st draft of Introduction & Methods sections submitted to chair by 1st day of 1st week of quarter planned for defense.
11. 2nd draft (with suggested changes) submitted to chair & committee members by 1st day of 5th week of quarter planned for defense.
12. 3rd draft submitted to chair & committee members by 1st day of 8th week of quarter planned for defense.
13. Schedule defense for finals week (or earlier) of quarter planned for defense.
rev. 2.04.09