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Non-Thesis Option
The Non-Thesis Option exists for graduate students who do not plan to pursue Ph.D. studies or who find themselves better served by further coursework than by a thesis project. (Students who plan to pursue Ph.D. studies should not choose the Non-Thesis Option.) NTO students take two extra 600-level graduate courses, for a total of 6 s.h. Students’ decisions to write or not to write a thesis must be made before the end of their first full-time year; during their full-time second semester, students must submit to the Director of Graduate Studies in English the form Declaration of Thesis or Non-Thesis.
Students who decided to write a thesis and took thesis credits may decide not to write a thesis after all. To withdraw from the thesis option, students must inform their director and the Director of Graduate Studies in English, and they must process the Request for E699 Withdrawal form. These students will not get credit for any E699 hours that they may have completed, and their transcripts will have a W next to the 699 course(s).
Creative-Writing Thesis
A Creative-Writing Thesis is an option for graduate students who have a strong background of creative-writing coursework. Several 500-level courses in creative writing are among those courses that a graduate student may decide to take while in the program; in special cases, a creative-writing professor may grant a creative-writing Independent Study with a graduate student. The Creative-Writing Thesis should be a substantial and unified body of newly written or significantly revised poetry, fiction, creative prose, drama, or perhaps some combination thereof. As the upper cap of English Master’s theses at WSU is one-hundred pages, the Creative Thesis does not lend itself to a long novel. Evincing a scholarly knowledge of its genre and demonstrating advanced skill in the technical and thematic aspects of the type of creative writing that the project embodies, the thesis should be made up of serious work demonstrating expertise in traditional and/or contemporary creative-writing modes. In addition, a significant portion of the thesis will constitute a Critical Introduction, devoted to intelligent reflection upon and scholarly articulation of the literary philosophy, history, and methods, as well as the aesthetic principles and critical standards, that pertain to the creative manuscript. This Critical Introduction should, furthermore, articulate specific connections between the creative work and the student’s scholarly reading.
Scholarly Thesis
A Scholarly Thesis comprises a critical, analytical, and/or historical study of a suitably complex topic associated with literature, linguistics, or TESOL. The subject of a thesis should be chosen carefully, in consultation with pertinent faculty and the student’s academic background and intellectual interests. Not to exceed one-hundred pages, the thesis should be based on a careful study of primary and secondary sources relating to the selected subject, and it should reflect the student’s ability to synthesize diverse secondary sources with one another and with his or her own close examination of, and argument about, primary sources associated with the project. The thesis ought, moreover, to reflect the student’s awareness of various critical and theoretical approaches that might affect his or her methodology in approaching the chosen topic, which should be handled from a clearly defined perspective.
Thesis Prospectus & Committee
After submitting the Declaration of Thesis or Non-Thesis form to the English Graduate Director, thesis students must formulate a topic, approach, and research plan (i.e., a rough prospectus) early in their second semester—the spring term of their first academic year. They must then assemble a thesis committee, which will include a director and two readers. In consultation with the thesis director, the student will finish the prospectus (samples of which may be borrowed from the graduate files) and have it approved by the two readers. By the end of the first academic year, the thesis student must submit to the English Graduate Director the form Prospectus Submission & Thesis Committee. A student may not register for E699: Arranged Course, Thesis Credits until this step has been completed.
Customarily, a prospectus for a Scholarly Thesis runs between two and four pages and also has a working bibliography of one or two pages in an appropriate documentation style. This preliminary list must show the student’s basic knowledge of primary and secondary sources pertinent to the project. The text of the prospectus should address the proposed topic, its significance, and its academic/intellectual context; the envisioned approach to and argument about this topic; the questions to be explored through research and reading; and a prospective plan for the chapters of the thesis.
A prospectus for a Creative-Writing Thesis should similarly include two to four pages of text and one to two pages of working bibliography (in MLA style). This prospective list may include not only scholarly and critical works relevant to the creative project, but also literary works that have influenced the student’s writing. The text of the prospectus should explain what the creative work will be—genre, style, subject, and so forth—and should elaborate on the motivations behind these choices. If feasible, the student may wish to incorporate into or append to the prospectus a very brief sample of the creative writing that the thesis will likely encompass.
Thesis-Writing & Thesis Credits: E699
At the end of the first academic year, or in the first week of the second academic year, the student and his or her director must submit the form for Arranged Class: E699, Thesis Credits (P/NC). Located in the English Office files, this triplicate form will have a copy of the approved prospectus attached. The same form-submitting process must be completed at the end of the third semester, or in the first week of the fourth semester, to register again for E699. A thesis student is permitted to take 1-5 semester hours of E699. Usually, students divide these five credits between the two semesters of their second academic year. Thesis directors and their students will devise a thesis-writing schedule of drafts and revisions.
The summer between the thesis student’s first and second full year should conclude with the student’s near completion of, or substantial progress towards, a solid first draft of the thesis. During the following fall, the student’s third semester, the thesis director and the student should work on the draft so that by the end of the term, the thesis may be ready for the two readers. Early in the fourth and final semester, the student will revise and edit the thesis in accordance with the readers’ comments. Simultaneously, the student will write an abstract and have it approved by the thesis director.
Thesis Defense
At the beginning of the semester during which the student plans to defend the thesis, he or she must submit to the English Graduate Director the form Intent to Defend and should make sure that his or her Candidacy Form(s) and Application for Graduation are in order. The thesis (including the abstract) must be finished, proofread, and distributed to the thesis committee before Spring Break. The student, thesis committee, and English Graduate Director will together schedule the defense date. Before the defense, the thesis committee and the defending student should meet briefly to discuss the questions that the student may be fielding.
A thesis defense routinely takes about an hour, often preceded and followed by a reception that frames the defense. Usually, the thesis director will begin the discussion by asking the candidate a question that prompts him or her to present an overview of the thesis and perhaps his or her experience in research and writing it.
After the defense, the Report of Successful Thesis Defense form will be signed by the thesis committee and will then be submitted by the English Graduate Director. If the defending student has also passed the Comprehensive Exams and met all other requirements for the degree, the Final Certification of Master’s Degree will also be processed at this time. The thesis student who intends to graduate in the following month should make sure that both forms have been received by the WSU Office of Graduate Studies. He or she should also rent or purchase the appropriate graduation regalia at this time.
Thesis Binding
Immediately after the defense, the student must, if necessary, conduct a final round of minor editing, and then, with the Bindery Form, take care of the thesis-binding process. A minimum of four bound copies of the thesis must be ordered, though the candidate may order more if he or she would like to pay for additional ones. When the bound copies arrive (this need not occur before graduation), one copy is the candidate’s, and the other three go the Library, the Department of English, and the WSU Office of Graduate Studies.
The bindery procedure has several steps:
- The student pays for the binding in advance at the cashier’s office, where the student acquires and has the cashier sign a Bindery Form, aka WSU Master’s Research Paper Certificate. (The English Graduate Director may, if necessary, provide the student with this blank form.) The student must save the receipt from the cashier.
- The student takes this form and receipt, along with four unbound copies of his or her finished thesis, to the library. There, the Bindery Form is signed again.
- The student then takes the Bindery Form and the receipt to the Office of Graduate Studies. A copy of the form and the receipt must be given to the English Graduate Director.
Note : If the student desires to have his or her name on the graduation program and to participate in the graduation ceremony, all of the above must be accomplished one month before the anticipated graduation date. |
