1	Completing a Thesis or Dissertation John F. Schmitt, Associate Graduate Dean & Assistant to the Executive Vice President and Provost www.graduate.ua.edu
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3	Our Topics Today First Things Once You Know the Problem/Question(s) General Tips Common Problems
4	Research and Travel Fund (up to $300 per sem.)
5	First Things… Interest Area Identify the Problem or Conflict Talk With Experts
6	First Things Committee Thesis = 3 Dissertation = 5 Graduate Dean Appoints (form on Web) 1 outside member
7	First Things: Graduate Faculty Membership & Your Committee Online Graduate Catalog, Sec. 2.6, defines Full vs. Assoc. vs. Temporary GF member Catalog, Sec. 2.7 = Table of all UA GF Must be “Associate” or “Full” Member of UA GF to qualify to serve on your committee Exception: Grad Dean can review credentials of outside member and give “Temporary” GF status, if department requests it and person is qualified Must be “Full” member of GF to chair a dissertation
8	First Things Institutional Review Board for the Testing of Human Subjects (IRB) approval required even for survey research http://osp.ua.edu/IRB.html
9	First Things… HANDOUT and Exercise Steps to Completion Take 2 minutes to identify the dates to: (1) Have the final defense meeting (≈3-4 weeks before final day to to turn it in to the Grad School) (2) Have the proposal defense meeting
10	The Manuscript Title: “A Study of…” (NOT!) Abstract (<350 words—don’t forget to include results and conclusions Table of Contents Intro. & Review of the Literature Method Results Conclusions References
11	The Manuscript Sample preliminary pages Thesis http://www.graduate.ua.edu/thesis/thesis.pdf Dissertation http://www.graduate.ua.edu/thesis/dissertation.pdf
12	General Tips
13	Why Begin Early? Avg. Number of Graduate Degrees Completed at UA Each Year for the Last 3 Years 178 Doctoral 1,068 Master’s
14	General Tips
15	Common Problems See Student Guide to Preparing Theses & Dissertations (Grad School Web site) 2 unbound copies Expecting Graduate School to proof Signatures—missing or not original
16	Common Problems Spell checkers “Dew knot trussed yore spell chequer two fined awl yore mistakes.” [MS Word’s spell checker will flag none of the above words]
17	Grammar Checkers “Marketing are bad for brand big and small. You Know What I am Saying? It is no wondering that advertisings are bad for company in America, Chicago, and Germany. “ [No problems would be underlined in green by MS Word’s grammar checker]
18	Thesis and Dissertation Reviewers’ Guide—1-page handout 21 of the main things that Graduate School editors check, that is, some of the problems we see most
19	Common Problems Mismatch of Table of Contents and text of manuscript Typeface creativity: multiple types; script; italics Type size (must be 12 pt.) Others in the Student Guide... If you avoid these problems...
20	Your Goal…
21	We Are Here to Help http://graduate.ua.edu/thesis deads@ua.edu jchamber@bama.edu 348-5921 The Graduate School
22	Questions?