THESIS REOUIREMENTS


A. THESIS COMMITTEE AND PROPOSAL

In the spring semester of their first year students must file a proposed Program of Study with the Graduate School. At this time, all students must declare a thesis committee of at least three faculty, one of whom is designated as the advisor and committee chair. (You may elect to have one faculty member be from another department.) In the fall semester of the second year, students will sign up for 6 credit hours of Research and Thesis (PSCI 5994) as a preliminary "readings course." This will be directed by their advisor, with appropriate input from the other committee members. Near the end of the course, the student will submit a formal Thesis Proposal which describes the thesis project in detail. The full committee will read the proposal and orally examine the student on it at least three weeks prior to the end of the semester (in order to allow time for any rewriting that might be necessary). A defense is considered successful when three committee members have signed the Thesis Proposal Defense Form. This is to be returned to the department office and kept on file. All students must pass the proposal defense in order to continue with the thesis.

 

B. THESIS AND ITS DEFENSE
If successful in the proposal defense, the student must then take at least six credit hours in the following semester to actually write the thesis. The thesis is an independent research project closely supervised by the faculty committee. The completed thesis will be orally defended before this committee. If, for some reason, the membership of your committee must be changed, you are required to file Thesis Committee Change Form in the department office. You must get the signature of any faculty member you add or drop.

 

The oral defense is a crucial part of the thesis project; it is not just a formality. It provides the student with an opportunity to receive constructive criticism of the project and to gain new perspectives on the significance of the work they have undertaken. Its purpose is 1) to determine if the student has mastered relevant material and techniques, and thoroughly understands the project; and 2) to provide guidance for improving the thesis. Students should expect to make revisions in the thesis in response to points raised in the defense and should leave enough time for rewriting between the defense and the end of the semester in which they hope to graduate.

Initial drafts of the thesis should be read by the advisor (the others can be included if you and they wish). When he/she indicates that you are ready to defend, you then arrange a date and time with all committee members and deliver to them a final draft. It must be given to them at least two weeks prior to the date of defense. At that time, the student will complete a "Request to Admit Candidate to the Final Examination" form obtainable from the Graduate School in Sandy Hall to notify the Dean of the Graduate School of his/her intention to graduate. No changes in the composition of the thesis committee should be made within the two weeks preceding the defense. Committee members who absolutely can not attend the defense may be represented in the defense by a surrogate of their choosing, if they agree to this procedure and are willing to leave questions for the surrogate to ask. Faculty members are expected to read the thesis carefully and provide the student with helpful feedback.


The defense must be held at least three weeks prior to the end of the semester. For the student to pass the defense, a majority of the committee members must be willing to acknowledge satisfactory performance by signing the thesis defense card provided by the Graduate School.
 

C. THESIS SPECIFICATIONS


The faculty of the Department of Political Science expect each  thesis to be a well-written, thoroughly researched and methodologically sophisticated example of political analysis which presents an adequate review of relevant literature and relates the project to other research in the social sciences. Mechanically, the paper should be:

a) 50 or more typed pages in length on a standard, double-spaced, 8 1/2 x 11 inch format;

b) in conformity with the style specifications of the Graduate School at Virginia Tech;

c) written under the direction of a thesis advisor and at least two other faculty members, who will assist the advisor in supervising the thesis project; and

d) orally defended to the thesis committee at a formally scheduled defense.

GRADUATION REOUIREMENTS

The right to graduate in any given semester is dependent upon successful completion, not later than two weeks before the end of the semester, of a thesis or dissertation defense and approval of the defense form, signed by the advisory committee, by the Graduate Director, and fulfillment of the requirements of the Graduate School. A student may defend the dissertation or thesis in the first twenty days of a semester in which otherwise not registered by submitting a "Certification of Defending Student Status" form to the Graduate School. In order to qualify for Defending Student Status, however, the student must be prepared to defend within the first twenty days of the semester the form is submitted in. The student cannot register for Defending Student Status, via Hokie Spa. This is a special category granted by the Graduate School to alleviate paying for 3 semester credit hours to defend. The student will have two weeks after defending to submit the ETD (electronic thesis dissertation). Please see the Graduate School web site for further information.