Planning for the Dissertation or Thesis
Preparing a dissertation or thesis (from the proposal development stage to the final manuscript) takes advance planning to manage time, people, external resources, and expenses. This page offers some suggestions for your consideration.
TIMELINE
Following are some questions to think about as you plan for the preparation of your dissertation/thesis and attempt
to establish a timeline for its completion. When the SDSU Dissertation & Thesis Manual contains answers to a
question, the relevant sections are shown in parentheses.
- What steps need to be completed before I can enroll in dissertation/thesis and what is the registration deadline? (See Sec. 2.2.1 & 2.2.3.)
- What university deadlines do I need to know about and when are they? (See section 2.3.3.)
- Do I need to plan for animal or human subjects research clearances? (See Sec. 2.1.1 and 2.1.2.)
- At what point will the full committee be involved in reading the dissertation/thesis? That is, will your prospective faculty chair want to approve a penultimate draft before allowing it to go forward to the rest of the committee?
- How much time is "normal" for a full committee review and subsequent revisions? If an oral defense is required (for thesis), when does the department normally schedule thesis defense--only at a specific time during the semester or as needed? Doctoral students, check with your program coordinator.
- Will the committee members be available when you anticipate that you will need them?
To answer the last question, you will need to prepare a timeline, share it with all committee members, and directly ask them if
they will be available when you are nearing completion of your dissertation/thesis (as indicated in the timeline).
Maintain constant communication with all committee members to update them on the progress of your manuscript and any
revised timelines. YOU are the project manager for your dissertation/thesis, and it is your responsibility to coordinate the
work and the people involved.
Remember that faculty are not always present during an entire semester.
They may have commitments to conference attendance or be working on joint projects with faculty at other universities in the
United States or abroad. Be prepared to work around their schedules! For master's students: If a faculty member is absent when
the thesis is ready for signature, and such absence will delay your ability to submit your thesis by the at-risk or end-of-semester deadline, be sure to contact the Dissertation and Thesis Reviewer or the Graduate Division to discuss available options.
Summer session. If you expect to complete a thesis or project during the summer session, it is especially important to make sure that your committee members will be available. Many faculty are not on campus, or even in town, during the summer. Remember, if it is necessary to appoint a substitute member, your graduate adviser and the Associate Dean of the Graduate Division must give prior approval for that change.
Once you have prepared your timeline, consider the possibility of not meeting the deadlines you have set. If your research and writing take longer than expected, do the answers to any of the above questions change? Will the members of your committee still be available? If you are working, will your work commitments change during this period? Do other possible problems surface?
TIME CONSIDERATIONS FOR FORMATTING
You must know your word processing system well in order to format your dissertation or thesis to the
required specifications. If you don't, you need to build in time to learn it. For example, in addition to the basics,
those using M.S. Word also need to know how to: use templates and wizards;* work with headers and footers, including
page numbering;* use the ruler to change indentation and apply hanging indents and tabs; insert and delete footnotes
and endnotes; insert graphics (tables & figures); work with styles (applying and removing);* create
an auto-generated Table of Contents using styles;* work with line spacing features; know the
difference between page breaks and section breaks;* insert or remove hyperlinks; and be able to
work with the reviewing, comments, and tracking functions.
* Items with an asterisk denote skills needed to use the SDSU Template effectively.
Students working in LaTeX have available a thesis template produced by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics that conforms to the DTM. As with the SDSU Template in Word, the LaTeX program has a significant learning curve.
In conclusion, build in time to format your thesis when you make projections about a completion date. It is suggested that you allow:
- 2-30 hours learning the regulations of your departmental style guide, depending on your current level of familiarity with it. This includes rules on how to cite sources in your text and how to prepare the reference list. Also, see the Citing Internet Sources handout.
- 8 hours, minimum, becoming familiar with and using the SDSU Dissertation & Thesis Manual.
- 8 hours reading the ReadMe File and learning how to use the SDSU Thesis Template. If you are using LaTeX or some other software program, you should plan on spending the same amount of time or more depending on your level of expertise.
- 40 hours, minimum, to actually format your thesis. Even if you are using one of the templates, some things need to be formatted manually. The templates help with most but not all of the formatting.
- 8 hours proofreading and tweaking.
Therefore, as an absolute minimum, you should plan to spend two weeks (80 hours) formatting your dissertation or thesis. Some students may be able to format their theses in 40-60 hours. However, many more are likely to need 100 hours or more. Therefore, don't underestimate this part of the process! It will be much easier on you if you spread these hours across 2 semesters by starting the formatting process as you write your thesis/dissertation proposal. On the other hand, if time is worth more than money to you and you are not confident about formatting, you might want to consider hiring a professional. The Graduate Division maintains a list of professional formatters and editors for your use (see the Formatters & Other Professionals link on the left side of this page).
DEADLINES
The responsibility for meeting deadlines rests with you, the student, not the faculty. Once your
committee has been formed and your topic approved, check for the deadline dates you will need to meet and take these into
consideration as you prepare your timeline (see the Deadlines link on the left side of this
page).
EXPENSES
Some of the expenses you will incur are mandatory, such as:
- Enrollment in dissertation or thesis. You are required to be enrolled in Dissertation 899 (or the joint institution's corresponding course) or Thesis 799 whenever using university resources (faculty, library, labs, etc.) as well as when the final manuscript is submitted to the Graduate Division for format review. Cost will vary depending on whether you are enrolled through the university or through the College of Extended Studies (master's students only). If you need financial aid, you must enroll through the university. Please note that you must be enrolled in Dissertation 899 or Thesis 799 (A or B) by the add deadline (the 15th day of the semester). See Enroll in Thesis on the Procedures page for more information.
- Preparation of the required hardbound and microfiche copies for deposit in the University Library as well as any departmentally required copies. These costs vary depending on the size of the manuscript and whether special action (color copying, production of oversized maps or charts, etc.) will be required. The Montezuma Publishing Thesis Processing - itemizes the fees and provides an example of a typical order.
Some costs are not mandatory (as in "required by the university"), but are necessary in order to conduct your research or produce the manuscript to your own specifications. Examples of these are:
- postage (for questionnaires)
- printing supplies and other computer-related costs
- consultant fees (Will you need to pay someone to help you with statistics, input data to a database, conduct interviews or focus groups, type or format your thesis?)
Think about these issues early so that you will have the resources you need when you need them.
Also of Interest:
