HDFS MS Degree

To carry out your thesis project, you will work hand-in-hand with your advisor, and closely with your committee. Your advisor may suggest you read the “Guidelines for Proposals: Quantitative Research” or “Guidelines for Proposals: Qualitative Research” to help you structure your proposal writing—or your advisor may suggest an alternate structure for you. Work with your advisor to create a format that works best for your thesis. At the suggestion of your advisor, you may wish to share drafts (or a section) of your proposal with other committee members, especially if they have expertise in the content or methods. In most cases, however, your advisor will provide most of the feedback for your proposal revisions. You may need to write several drafts before the advisor considers it ready for your committee to read. Below are some suggestions and guidelines for the structure of proposals.

Proposal Structure

  • Proposals should include the following core components:
    • Background and significance of the topic
    • Specific aims or research questions to be addressed
    • Research design, methods, and analytic approach
  • The following guidelines can be helpful for ensuring that you have included all the relevant information in your proposal – your advisor may give additional or alternative guidance
  • Theses use an array of data and research designs: secondary data from your advisor, another faculty member, or a publicly available dataset, or original data collection for your project.
  • The scope for a master’s thesis is a single publishable paper. Many students initially conceptualize projects that are too big – do not be surprised if your advisor or committee recommends that you narrow the scope of your work.
  • The amount of information you provide in the proposal should be adequate for the committee to understand what you plan to do, why you plan to do it, and how you will go about the work. The research design, methods (including data analysis plan), and potential implications, in particular, should be detailed and allow the committee to assess and provide suggestions on feasibility. This is akin to a grant proposal.
  • If you are doing secondary data analysis, you should include some preliminary results supporting the feasibility and viability of your proposed research.
  • A typical master’s proposal is approximately 15-20 pages in length (not including figures or preliminary tables).
  • It is advisable that you communicate with your committee throughout the proposal writing process. Plan to meet with committee members at a very early stage to discuss/describe your research plan. It is particularly important to communicate with the committee if you have sizable changes in the way you are thinking about your research question or methodological/ analytic approach. You can also ask the committee members if they would like to read an early/mid-stage draft.

Masters Proposal Meeting

When you and your advisor feel ready, schedule a formal proposal meeting. Advanced scheduling is useful because it is often difficult to find available dates on short notice. Scheduling in the summer can be particularly difficult because most faculty are on 9-month appointments and may not be available during the summer. Below are some suggestions and guidelines for proposal defense meeting.

Before the meeting your committee needs to review your coursework to make sure that you’re on track for graduation upon completion of your thesis. They must approve and sign your MS Checklist. This form is submitted to the SoHE Graduate Program Coordinator.

Bring the Proposal Approval Form to your meeting. When your committee approves and signs off on your research plans, submit the signed form to the SoHE Graduate Program Coordinator. If your committee has suggested changes in your research protocol make sure to submit these changes to your Institutional Review Board (IRB) before proceeding, or if you have not yet submitted an IRB protocol, do so now! Before beginning data collection, you must have a Human Subjects Approval Form submitted and approved or exempted. You will also need to have passed the CITI Human Subjects Protection Training course. Learn more about the Human Research Protection Program (HRPP) here.

After your meeting, expect to make corrections and provide the committee with an update of any crucial changes in your research plan.

Proposal Defense Logistics and Recommendations

  • Schedule the proposal defense 1-2 months in advance, as schedules fill up quickly. It can be helpful to confer with your advisor as you decide your timeframe. It is always OK to push the meeting back if you find you are not ready.
  • The proposal defense is recommended to be scheduled for 90 minutes to allow adequate time for discussion and advice.
  • Send your proposal to your committee at least one week in advance (preferably two), unless otherwise agreed upon by the committee.
  • Students should send committee members an electronic version of the thesis and ask whether any member would like a hard copy. If the faculty member would like a hard copy, the student should provide one, using the 2nd floor copy service or their own printer.
  • Students are often asked to step out of the meeting for a few minutes at the start of the meeting, while the committee members touch base.
  • Students are advised to give a short (5 to 10-minute) presentation at the beginning of the proposal defense, summarizing the significance of the topic, aims, and methods. The goal of this presentation is to reorient the committee to the goals of the project and introduce any questions that the student has for the committee. This often gives the committee additional insight into the students plans and priorities than they get from reading the proposal alone.
  • The remainder of the time is for questions and discussion. The goal of this conversation is to advise the student and help set them up for success.
  • At the end of the proposal defense meeting, the student will be asked to leave the room while the committee debriefs and decides on next steps. The student will then be invited to rejoin the meeting and advised of the outcome.
  • Possible outcomes include full pass (student moves forward with their proposed research), pass with revisions (student makes suggested edits to the proposal which are approved by their advisor or committee), or re-evaluation (student makes substantial changes to the proposed research and schedules a new proposal defense meeting). Even in a full pass, expect to make revisions to your research plan based on the suggestions for your committee.
  • The Thesis/Dissertation Proposal Approval form should be signed by your committee, and submitted to the SoHE Graduate Program Coordinator.
  • When revisions are requested by the committee, students are recommended to create a point-by-point response document (similar to a revise-and-resubmit for a journal article) to address each substantive comment or question the committee would like to see addressed. Students should communicate with their committee and advisor to determine if this is an expected step.

MS Thesis Completion and Oral Defense Meeting

Now you get to conduct your masters research and write your thesis!  The thesis should be structured as a single manuscript appropriate for submission and publication in an academic journal. Typical length may be anywhere from 25-35 pages – specific length can be based on the requirements of the target journal.

It is advisable that you communicate with your committee throughout the proposal writing process. Plan to meet with committee members in advance to discuss/describe your research question and planned approach at the very early stage. You can also ask the committee members if they would like to read an early/mid-stage draft. Your committee members are there to support you in your work.

As with the proposal defense, schedule your thesis defense well in advance. You will need to request your Final Defense Warrant at least three (3) weeks prior to your oral defense meeting (see next section for details). Plan to send your proposal to your committee at least one week in advance (preferably two), unless otherwise agreed upon by the committee.

MS Checklist Completion and Warrant Request

At least 3 weeks prior to your oral defense meeting, you must contact the SoHE Graduate Program Coordinator, who will fill out the paperwork to order your Final Defense Warrant. You must have a completed and signed MS Checklist on file to order your Warrant. If your committee did not review and sign the MS Checklist at your proposal meeting, you will need to obtain the signatures of all three of your committee members prior to ordering your warrant.

MS Oral Defense Meeting Process and Logistics

When you and your advisor feel you have a satisfactory draft of your thesis, you should set up a meeting of your committee for your “Oral Defense” meeting. It is your responsibility to schedule this meeting and arrange for a room. Below are some specific logistics and recommendations that may assist you in planning for the meeting:

MS Thesis Defense

  • Schedule the defense 1-2 months in advance, as schedules fill up quickly. It can be helpful to confer with your advisor as you decide your timeframe. It is always OK to push the meeting back if you find you are not ready.
  • The defense is recommended to be scheduled for 90 minutes to allow adequate time for discussion and advice.
  • Remember to request your Warrant at least three weeks before the meeting by contacting the SoHE Graduate Program Coordinator
  • Send your thesis to the committee at least one week (preferably two) before the meeting
  • On the day of the meeting, students are often asked to step out of the meeting for a few minutes at the start of the meeting, while the committee members touch base.
  • Students are then advised to give a 10- to 15-minute presentation, summarizing the significance of the topic, aims, methods, and results.
  • The remainder of the time is for questions and discussion. The goal of this conversation is to fully understand the research undertaken, probe the student’s thinking, and push the student’s growth and success.
  • At the end of the defense, the student will be asked to leave the room while the committee debriefs and decides on next steps. The student will then be invited to rejoin the meeting and advised of the outcome.
  • When revisions are requested by the committee, students are recommended to create a point-by-point response document (similar to a revise-and-resubmit for a journal article) to address each substantive comment or question the committee would like to see addressed. Students should communicate with their committee and advisor to determine if this is an expected step.

The student and their advisor should request that the committee members complete the Thesis/Dissertation Evaluation. Please share this Qualtrics link with your committee.

At the defense meeting, you’ll present your research and defend your findings. It’s similar to the proposal meeting, but now focuses on the actual conduct of the study, the results, and your discussion of your findings. Your committee will ask questions about your thesis, and the questions can cover any part of it. The questions will critique the thesis in the same way that editors and reviewers critique journal article submissions, and your reply to the committee should be much like a good reply to a journal editor: you should defend and explain your research to the committee if, for example, they have misinterpreted something you wrote, or if you disagree with the committee member; but you should be able to admit weaknesses in your thesis when they are identified, and modify your position as necessary. This is one of the tests of a scholar: to be able to both defend your position and change your position, and to have the good judgment to know when to do each. Even though defending the thesis is your responsibility, your committee will help you as needed. They will be happy to restate questions, and may even suggest possible answers. Sometimes they will argue with each other about the best answer, and then ask you to join in the argument. Even though they ask very difficult questions, they are committed to your success. When they identify weaknesses (and they always do), they will make recommendations to make your final, revised thesis the best it can be.

At the end of the defense hearing, you will be asked to step outside the meeting room so that the committee can meet briefly in private to settle on a set of recommended and/or required changes and decide whether or not you have passed. When you return to the room you will learn the results of this brief meeting. You may need to do some additional work, so you may need an additional meeting before your committee members will sign the warrant. Or they may only request some minor changes and sign at the meeting. It is common that your advisor does not sign the Warrant and the Degree Completion Form until all of the requested changes have been made. It is highly unusual to have your thesis accepted with no changes at all.

To officially complete your MS degree, the Warrant must be signed electronically by all members of your committee. It is your responsibility to see that the Warrant is requested through the school’s Graduate Program Coordinator and confirm that it has been completed. The signed warrant will be sent electronically to the Graduate School for degree processing.

Master’s Final Thesis

Although the department does not require that you deposit your Master’s Thesis with the Graduate School to be placed in Memorial Library you may choose to do this. For information about submitting your thesis, see the Graduate School website: “Guide to Preparing Your Master’s Thesis”.

The department does require that you provide us with an electronic copy of your thesis. This should be the final, fully-approved version. You should also provide your advisor and committee members with a copy of your final, fully-approved thesis.

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School of Human Ecology Graduate Programs Handbook Copyright © 2022 by Michelle Holland. All Rights Reserved.

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