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Guidelines for Conducting and Writing a Thesis
Revised May 4, 2007
General Requirements
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To obtain credit for two semesters of thesis (PSYC 4395 and 4396), all students must produce a manuscript written according to departmental guidelines (see "Requirements for the Manuscript").
The manuscript must describe an empirical study, simulation, or model of a phenomenon of a psychological nature.
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| 2. |
If the project will incur expenditures, the funds must be procured before the project begins.
If the expenses exceed $100, requests for funding should be sought from sources other than the department budget.
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| 3. |
The grade for PSYC 4395 will be recorded as "in progress" and will be replaced by a letter grade, determined by the supervisor, when the thesis is completed.
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| 4. |
Each student enrolled in 4395, in consultation with the supervising faculty member, will arrange for another full-time member of the faculty to read and comment on the thesis.
Both faculty members will decide, on the basis of its merit, whether it is to be considered for placement in the department library.
The faculty member who serves as reader should receive the final version of the thesis no later than three weeks before grades are due, so that suggested revisions can be approved by the supervising faculty member in time for submission to the department chair.
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| 5. |
The completed thesis will be submitted to the chair of the department, who will receive it on behalf of the department and approve it for placement in the department library.
It should be submitted at least one week before grades are due.
The chair may require changes in style or format before placement is approved.
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If the thesis is approved for binding, the student should deliver the desired number of copies to the senior secretary (and the amount charged for binding).
The department will bind the original and keep it in the department library.
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| 7. |
In the event the student chooses not to bind copies, a pdf file should be submitted to the chair for the departmental library.
It should be submitted at least one week before grades are due.
The pdf file will be kept on electronic media such as an archival CD in the library and in a folder on the departmental server.
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| 8. |
All thesis students must present their work to the faculty at a meeting scheduled during either the semester in which they are enrolled in PSYC 4396 or the next semester.
Each presentation will be delivered extemporaneously, timed to last approximately 15 minutes, and followed by questions.
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Style and Format
General Information
With the exceptions noted below, the manuscript must observe the guidelines for style and format set forth in the latest edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.
The entire manuscript must be double spaced, with a left margin of 1.5 inches and top, right, and bottom margins of 1 inch.
Page numbers are centered in the bottom margin; running heads and short titles are omitted.
Sections
Title Page
Acknowledgments (new page)
This page may be added following approval.
It acknowledges the help and guidance that led to the completion of the thesis; inclusion of specific persons is at the discretion of the student.
Table of Contents (new page)
Abstract (new page)
The abstract follows APA guidelines, but it may be longer.
Introduction (new page)
The introduction begins with the centered heading, "Introduction" (not the title).
The introduction should be written in the style of a research report submitted to a journal.
Only relevant literature should be cited, and irrelevant details from prior research should be omitted.
Remainder of the Main Body
In single-study manuscripts, the following sections each begin on a new page: Method, Results, and Discussion (or Method, Results and Discussion, and General Discussion).
In multi-study manuscripts, the following sections each begin on a new page: Study 1 (or Experiment 1), Study 2 (or Experiment 2), and General Discussion.
Please note that any table or figure is placed within the text near where it is first mentioned, instead of at the end of the manuscript; placement should avoid continuing tables across pages, if possible.
References (new page)
These are the references for the citations in the main body of the thesis (Abstract through General Discussion).
If the student includes an appendix that contains a separate literature review, those references should be included in that appendix and they should be called "Bibliography."
Appendices
A thesis may include a literature review that begins on a new page and is headed with "Appendix A" on the first line and the title "Review of the Literature" on the second line.
Other appendices should include materials that would be pertinent to replication (e.g., lists of words, passages, exact instructions) and may be organized as desired.
Each appendix should be headed by "Appendix [letter]."
It should be titled descriptively and begin on a new page.
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