School of Education

Students who opt to carry out a master's thesis must enroll in three to six credit hours of X599 Master's Thesis in Education as part of the minimum 36 credit hours required for the master's degree.

Thesis Committee

A master's thesis committee consisting of three faculty members must be appointed.

• At least two members, one of whom serves as thesis director, must be from the student's major area of study.
• The thesis committee is responsible for supervising the preparation of a thesis proposal and work on the thesis study, and for administering an oral defense examination of the thesis study.

Download a copy of the Master's Thesis Committee and Proposal Approval Form or pick up a copy in the Office of Graduate Studies, Room 4215 of the W.W. Wright Education Building.

Thesis Proposal

The proposal must be approved at least three months before the oral defense.

Thesis Defense

A public oral defense of the completed thesis must be held. This defense meeting must be scheduled at least four weeks prior to the date of the defense.

Follow the format of the defense announcement (see sample in the Master's Thesis Committee and Proposal Approval Form).

Thesis Formatting

You can review detailed formatting requirements in the Master's Thesis Guide.

The thesis must be printed in pica or elite type, or an equivalent print size from a letter-quality printer.

No script or italics type is acceptable (except italics for emphasis).

The printing must be double spaced, on one side of the paper.

The paper used must be 100% rag paper, 8½ x 11 inches.

Printing must be black ink. Figures and tables must also be in black ink.

Margins must be 1½ inches on the left (to facilitate binding) and one inch on all other sides.

A standard professional style should be followed, ordinarily one used in the student's field of study.

All pages of the text, including bibliography and appendices, must be numbered using Arabic numerals.

Pages preceding the text are numbered in small Roman numerals. The title page and vita page are unnumbered.

The ordering of pages is as follows:

• Title page
• Acceptance page
• Dedication page (optional)
• Acknowledgments (optional)
• Table of Contents
• Text of thesis
• Bibliography
• Appendices (tables, figures, etc.)
• Vita page (a brief summary of the student's professional history)

One copy of the completed thesis must be bound and submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies, Room 4208 at least two weeks prior to the degree conferral date.

Education degrees are conferred four times yearly, in May, June, August, and December.