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Procedures

All students presenting a thesis or a project must follow the procedures discussed below. Many of these also apply to doctoral students (see your adviser for information specific to your program). The procedures listed below are presented in the order to be accomplished, although some procedures may be handled concurrently.


ESTABLISH THE FACULTY COMMITTEE and SUBMIT THE APPOINTMENT OF THESIS/PROJECT COMMITTEE FORM

Doctoral Students
See your program adviser for eligibility requirements and procedures.

Master's Students
Before you will be allowed to formally establish your faculty thesis committee, you must have met university and departmental requirements for advancement to candidacy.

Once you are eligible to form your committee, you may obtain the Appointment of Thesis/Project Committee Form from the Graduate Division. This is a restricted form; therefore, it is not available on the web. It may be mailed upon request or picked up by the student in the Graduate Division (CH-3320, 619-594-5213). The form has 2 pages. Page 1 records information about your proposed thesis and faculty committee. It requires a signature verifying that research involving humans or animals has been pre-approved by the appropriate committees. Students conducting research involving human subjects are required to apply for review through the Institutional Review Board (IRB); research involving animals through the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). Page 2 records the agreement between you and your thesis chair regarding rights to data and authorship of any publications. Both pages must be completed and returned to the Graduate Division for approval before you will be given a schedule number for enrollment in Thesis 799A. Read these instructions for detailed information about completing and submitting this form.

Warning: The Graduate Dean must approve the faculty committee that you are proposing; the graduate adviser's approval is not sufficient to guarantee that the committee has met all eligibility requirements. It is important, therefore, that you formalize your committee as early as possible. If you wait to complete this step until you have completed your research, written the thesis, and presented your oral defense (if applicable), you may find yourself in the position of having worked with a group of faculty where one or more are not (or are no longer) eligible to serve on master's thesis committees. Should this situation occur, you will be required to replace the ineligible member or members, complete a new Thesis Committee Form, and present the thesis for the review, approval, and signature(s) of the new member(s).


The Appointment of Thesis/Project Committee form should have the names and signatures of at least two faculty members from the student's department, and one from any department outside of the student's major. All three members must be full-time faculty, although one adjunct or emeritus member is allowed. If members from institutions other than SDSU are involved, these are in addition to the three members mentioned above. For complete information on composition of a thesis committee, students should see SDSU's Policy for Service on Master's Thesis Committees (click on the Thesis Committees link on the left side of this page).


Order of signatures. The order of the faculty committee's signatures on page 1 of the committee form is prescribed as follows:

First position: The chair of your thesis committee (the faculty member from your major department who will be working most closely with you on your research).
Second position: The 2nd faculty member who is also from your major department.
Third position: The faculty member who is outside your major department.
Fourth position: If the need for a fourth committee member arises, whether this person acts as a co-chair or simply as an expert in the field, that person must be listed in 4th position. The designation "co-chair" may be used, if appropriate, after the person's name.

Your department Graduate Adviser must also sign the Appointment to Thesis/Project Committee form, indicating approval by the department of the committee.


SECURE APPROVAL OF TOPIC

Before beginning formal research, you should have approval of the research topic from all members of your faculty committee and, in some cases, the approval of the departmental faculty in general. (For departmental policy, check with your graduate adviser.) If you are conducting research involving human subjects or animal subjects, you are required by federal law and university policy to obtain institutional clearance before beginning such research. This is particularly important because the university may not be able to accept your completed dissertation or thesis if it involves research on human or animal subjects and you did not have prior approval.

When a clearance for human or animal subjects is required, verification of an approved protocol must be presented to the Graduate Division when the Thesis Committee Form is submitted. For the human subjects clearance this will take the form of a copy of the IRB approval letter. For animal subjects, the chair of the IACUC must sign the committee form in the designated area. Doctoral students should contact their program advisor for corresponding procedures and deadlines.


FOLLOW FORMATTING GUIDELINES

The required text for Thesis 799 students as well as doctoral students in the SDSU/USD Ed.D program is the SDSU Dissertation & Thesis Manual: Policies, Procedures & Format (DTM) available in the Aztec Shops bookstore. Click on the Dissertation & Thesis MANUAL and Formatting links on the left side of this page for important information regarding formatting requirements for the dissertation and thesis.

Doctoral students should contact their program advisor for procedures.

Departmental Style Guides: For SDSU/USD Ed.D. and ALL Master's Students, departmental style guides (listed in Table 2.3 of the DTM) should be used: (1) for source documentation, (2) to deal with formatting issues not addressed in the DTM and (3) when specifically directed to do so by the DTM. You should consult your faculty chair and departmental graduate adviser to ensure that all appropriate style sheets, manuals, or other departmental instructions regarding the preparation and submission of dissertations or theses are up to date. Any updates to the DTM, including Table 2.3, will be posted on this web site (see the Dissertation & Thesis Manual UPDATES link on the left-side navigation bar). Also, prior to performing the literature review, you may wish to read the Citing Internet Sources and Top 10 Formatting Problems handouts.

Dissertation & Thesis Review Services
ENROLL IN THESIS 799

Prerequisites
Dissertation & Thesis Review Services Students will be allowed to register in Thesis 799A after they have:

  1. attained classified status,

  2. submitted and received approval of an official Program of Study,

  3. been advanced to candidacy, and

  4. received approval from the Graduate Division of their Appointment of Thesis/Project Committee Form. The Appointment of Thesis/Project Committee Form must be complete, signed by all members of the proposed committee as well as the Graduate Advisor, and must be approved by the Graduate Division. This should be completed well in advance of the date of registration.

Registration Information
799A. Thesis 799A MUST be registered through SDSU during all semesters. Thesis 799A is not available through Extended Studies.

A student who registers for course 799A, Thesis but who does not complete the thesis or project by the end of the semester or summer session in which the student is registered, will receive, upon recommendation of the thesis committee chair, a grade of RD (report delayed). This grade symbol will remain on the student's record until the thesis is completed. Because a second registration in course 799A, Thesis, is expressly prohibited, students must enroll in its extension, 799B, to complete work on the thesis.

Students must be enrolled in Thesis 799A or Thesis Extension 799B when any of the following conditions exist:

  1. During any semester or term in which a student requires the use of university facilities and resources (including the faculty thesis committee),

  2. When the completed thesis, signed by the faculty thesis committee, is submitted to the Graduate Division for format review by the Thesis Reviewer, or

  3. To maintain continuing student status. NOTE: To obtain a degree from this university you must maintain continuing student status. To do this you must be in good academic or administrative standing and you can only stop out of the university one semester per calendar year. To be absent from school for longer than one semester, you must request an educational leave of absence. If you do not maintain continuing student status, you will be required to reapply for admission should you wish to return to SDSU to finish your thesis and complete your degree. Be aware, also, that if you choose to attend another institution for more than one semester, you must also apply for readmission. Students who have attended another institution must submit a transcript of courses taken. For detailed information about these university policies, see the section titled "Leaves of Absence" under General Regulations in the Bulletin of the Graduate Division.

799B. During the fall, spring, and summer semesters, Thesis Extension 799B may be taken either through SDSU or Extended Studies, but registration fees through Extended Studies are somewhat lower than through the university.

Registration Procedures
Contact the Graduate Division to obtain the suppressed schedule number for Thesis 799A or Thesis Extension 799B. This applies even when you will be enrolling in 799B through Extended Studies.

Students not enrolled in Thesis by the add deadline (the 15th day of the semester) will not be allowed to add later in the semester. Remember that payment of fees does not constitute enrollment.

Full-Time/Part-Time Status
Thesis 799A carries 3 units and is considered full-time. Thesis Extension, 799B, carries 0 units (because it is only an extension of 799A) and full- or part-time status in that course is dependent on the nature of your research.

Upon request, the Graduate Division can provide a letter verifying full- or part-time status deferment for student loans for those enrolled in Thesis Extension 799B. To provide the letter, the student must submit a memo from the Thesis Chair to the Associate Dean of the Graduate Division, Graduate and Research Affairs, stating that the nature of the research warrants either a full- or part-time load. The student should also bring any enrollment verification forms from the loan agency or bank.

For Further Information
Students with questions regarding registration in courses Thesis 799A or Thesis Extension 799B, should contact the Graduate Division at 594-5213.


WRITE AND EDIT THE MANUSCRIPT

During this part of the process, you will be working closely with your faculty chair and referring constantly to your departmental style guide and the SDSU Dissertation & Thesis Manual. As formatting questions come up that you are unable to resolve, check the rest of this site for guidance. If you cannot find answers to your questions on this site, call the Dissertation and Thesis Reviewer at (619) 594-4165 for assistance.


FILE AN APPLICATION FOR GRADUATION

Graduation is not automatic upon the completion of degree requirements. An Application for Graduation with an Advanced Degree is only available from the Graduate Division and must be filed with the appropriate fee at the Cashier's Office. Students are encouraged to apply the semester prior to anticipated graduation as the deadline for each semester usually occurs during the second week of classes. Click here for the form and more detailed information.


PASS REQUIRED FINAL EXAMINATION/ORAL DEFENSE

For Plan A (Thesis) students, the Thesis/Project, rather than a comprehensive examination, is the culminating experience. However, some programs also require an oral defense of the thesis. Contact your graduate adviser for program requirements and to find out if a signed form will need to be submitted to the Graduate Division.


OBTAIN SIGNATURES FROM COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Once you have completed the defense of your thesis, and the committee members have approved the content, they will sign the formatted signature page. For questions regarding the formatting of the signature page, see the DTM (Sec. 5.1.2) and the template. Once you have obtained all of the signatures, and your thesis formatting is complete, you will be ready to submit your thesis to Graduate Affairs for formatting review.

SUBMIT THE MANUSCRIPT FOR FORMAT REVIEW

Doctoral students should contact their program advisor for corresponding procedures and deadlines.

ALL SDSU Master's Students: There are three steps to the submission process.

Having Problems with the Online Submission system??? When registering onto our online system you will be asked certain questions. If you are unsure of how to answer, please read the following comments:

--Did you format the thesis yourself or hire a professional? If you hired a formatter, please include the name of that formatter. If you formatted it yourself, did you use the Thesis Template? If yes, which one--Word or LaTeX? If you hired a formatter, please select 'yes' to the template and select 'Word' as the template type.

--The referencing style is the style you used to create your reference page and in-text citations. A list of what each department requires for referencing styles is found in the Dissertation and Thesis Manual on pages 16 - 20. Examples of referencing styles are APA, MLA, IEEE etc.

Before submitting your thesis to the Graduate Division for format review, please ensure that you check the list below to make sure you meet the requirements and have all the necessary paperwork.

Requirements:

  • Ed.D. Doctoral Students: You must be currently enrolled in Dissertation 899 at SDSU or in Dissertation 695 at USD. If enrolled at USD, you must provide proof of enrollment to the Graduate Division at the time of submittal. (Note: You must have been enrolled in each class at least once in order to graduate.)

  • Masters Students:
    You must be currently enrolled in Thesis, either 799A or 799B.You should have applied for graduation for the current term (otherwise, apply for graduation for the term in which you expect to have completed all academic requirements).

  • You must have the signatures of all of your committee members on the signature page of your dissertation or thesis (9 original signature pages for doctoral students on 100% cotton paper) and the signature block should be formatted correctly with the signatures in the correct order. Any students experiencing difficulty in meeting this requirement by the end-of-semester deadline should contact the Dissertation and Thesis Reviewer or Graduate Division staff for guidance.

Materials

The electronically submitted copy of the manuscript must be complete, which means it must contain:

  • Signature page with original signatures (delivered in person)

  • Abstract [Manuscript Version] (350-word limit for dissertations)

  • Table of Contents and any necessary Lists (e.g., List of Tables, Figures, etc.)

  • Main body of the text (no pages missing)

  • References section

  • Appendices (if any)

  • In addition to the above, you must submit:

  • Optional: A separate <> [Library Version

And for SDSU/USD Ed.D. doctoral candidates only:

  • Signed JDP-5 form

  • Proof of registration in 695 at USD (as noted under Requirements above).

  • Survey of Earned Dctorates form (a separate form must be submitted to BOTH institutions).

THE FORMAT REVIEW PROCESS

After you have submitted a thesis (and are in Submitted status online), the following steps will be followed.

Intake and Review Process
Upon submittal, all manuscripts will undergo a brief intake screening to determine the condition of the formatting. The intake screening will result in one of the following actions:

  1. Manuscripts with no obvious errors will be approved and signed off during the intake screening process. (For dissertations, this will occur upon submittal for the final format check; see the SDSU Dissertation & Thesis Manual, Sec. 6.4.1)

  2. Manuscripts in excellent condition (only minor errors observed) will be given an expedited review (i.e., these manuscripts will be reviewed before those determined to require a full review). All dissertations submitted for the first format check will be expedited automatically to ensure feedback by the day of each student's defense. You will receive an email notification stating you are in Expedited status.

  3. Manuscripts with more than minor errors but less than five areas of non-compliance with university-wide regulations (see Intake Screening form) will be put into queue for a full review. After all expedited reviews of dissertations and theses have been processed, these manuscripts will be reviewed in order of submittal. (Dissertations and theses are handled separately; see the SDSU Dissertation & Thesis Manual, Sec. 6.5.2. for more information.) You will receive an email stating you are in Full Review status. NOTE: A student whose manuscript will require a full review will be allowed to take it back immediately after the intake scan. The student can then re-read the SDSU Dissertation & Thesis Manual and the department style guide, fix the problem areas noted on the Intake form, recheck the entire manuscript for compliance, then resubmit the manuscript directly to the Dissertation and Thesis Reviewer for a second intake scan. Alternatively, the student may take the manuscript to a professional formatter. Students will get this "second chance" only once.

  4. Manuscripts deemed unready for submission will be rejected and returned to the student. A manuscript is "unready for submission" if any one of the following is true.

    1. It is not in compliance with departmental regulations (i.e., one or more of the categories listed under "Departmental Requirements" on the Intake Screening Intake Form are checked),
    2. It is incomplete (something is missing, e.g., Table of Contents or other lists, References, Abstract, etc.), or
    3. There are gross deficiencies of format or presentation (i.e., five or more of the categories listed under "University-wide Requirements" on the Intake Screening Intake Form are checked).

    The faculty committee and graduate adviser will be notified of all theses that have been rejected (returned to the student) by copy of the Intake Screening Intake Form. The intake form will note whether the errors reflect non-compliance with either departmental or university requirements or both. Consistent with current policy, students whose theses have been rejected must be enrolled in Thesis at the time they resubmit their thesis for format review. Since dissertations are reviewed twice, it is anticipated tat they will be in good to excellent condition when they are submitted for the final format review. Any dissertation deemed unready for submission at the final format check will be subject to rejection as stated above.

Turn-Around Time
Manuscripts going through an expedited review will normally be processed within two weeks, but check with the Dissertation and Thesis Reviewer at the time of submittal. Manuscripts that require a full review involving a detailed inspection may take 30 working days or more during periods of peak activity. It is to your benefit, therefore, to consult with the Thesis Reviewer early to verify that you are formatting your thesis correctly. If you need to graduate the semester in which you submit your thesis for format review, make sure to submit it by the without-risk deadline to allow for the time it will take to conduct a full review.


Thirty-Day Deadline (Master's students only)
Once the Dissertation and Thesis Reviewer has completed the review and contacted you, a new, 30-day-to-completion deadline begins. If there are no corrections necessary, all you need to do to complete the process is deliver your manuscript to Montezuma Publishing within 30 days (or the publishing deadline if it comes first) and pay the required fees for the University Library hardbound and microfiche copies along with any departmentally required copies.

If revisions are necessary, you must make all changes and submit the revised thesis directly to the Thesis Reviewer for final approval. You may make an appointment for an immediate review of the corrections while you wait. If corrections are still necessary, this process repeats. Once you receive final approval from the Thesis Reviewer, you must follow the above instructions for delivery to Montezuma Publishing. This entire process must occur and be completed within 30 days following the date of initial contact by the Thesis Reviewer.


Warning: Theses that have not completed the process within the 30-day period (i.e., have received final format review approval and have paid processing/binding fees) will lose priority status. Normally, revisions submitted within the 30-day deadline have priority over theses that have not yet undergone the initial review (i.e., they are reviewed immediately or within 24 hours). Loss of this priority status means that the revised thesis is put into queue with new, incoming theses that require a full review. This action could result in a delay of 30-60 days during periods of peak activity. If the delay means that you do not complete the thesis review process until the following semester, graduation will be delayed and you will be required to reapply for graduation. In extreme cases, where a student repeatedly fails to complete the process, the Graduate Dean may request that the original faculty thesis committee review the thesis for currency. In such cases, the student will be required to enroll in Thesis 799B as well as to reapply for graduation. For serious and compelling reasons, the Thesis Reviewer may grant a one-time, 30-day extension of the 30-day deadline. Request for an extension must be made in writing, either hard copy or email. However, if the extension takes you beyond the deadline for graduation, you will be required to reapply for graduation for the following semester.


SUBMIT APPROVED MANUSCRIPT FOR THESIS PROCESSING (MONTEZUMA PUBLISHING)

After the Thesis Reviewer has approved your thesis, arrangements must be made for the preparation of the University Library hardbound and microfiche copies as well as any departmentally required copies, the cost of which is your responsibility. This is also a requirement for graduation. To facilitate this process for you, the university has made arrangements with the Montezuma Publishing division at Aztec Shops. After approval of your thesis, the Thesis Reviewer will submit your file to Montezuma Publishing electronically. They will then contact you within 1-3 days to arrange for payment. For questions regarding pricing and payment options, please contact Montezuma Publishing (619-594-7551).

Last Revised 08-24-09 (updated)



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