East Carolina University
Department of Psychology
Probably the most important tip I can give you is to finish your thesis, including defending it, before you leave campus. Once a student has left campus, taken a job out-of-town, gotten married, procreated, started a doctoral program, etc., completing the thesis becomes more and more difficult to accomplish -- due not only to declining motivation, but also to the many difficulties involved with accomplishing such a task remote from various university resources, most importantly from the director of the thesis and other thesis committee members.
Exit Interview Now Required
Before they graduate, but during the semester of their graduation, graduate students are required to complete an exit survey. How the Graduate School will know that a student has done this is a mystery to me, since providing a university ID (social security number) on the form is voluntary. I encourage you to complete the form even if it is not required. I was told, in April of 2007, that graduating graduate students would receive an email asking them to log into OneStop
Scheduling the Defense
You should keep in mind that the end of the semester is an exceptionally busy time for professors. As I am updating this paragraph (December 98), the deadline for depositing the thesis to graduate this semester is nearly one week past. One of my graduate students successfully completed the defense of her thesis the afternoon of the day before the deadline for delivering the thesis to the Graduate School for graduation this semester. Because the Graduate School requires that students be registered the semester they graduate, this student, who pays out-of-state tuition, could pay a substantial penalty (about $2,000) if she does not get the thesis in on time or if the Graduate School does not give her special consideration. Unfortunately, there were dozens of changes needed in the draft of the thesis that she brought to the defense, and these changes have not yet all been made. Another student on whose committee I served also defended her thesis the afternoon before the deadline. Because of some change in licensing regulations for her specialty, were she not to get her thesis in by the deadline to graduate this semester, she would be required to take about an additional semester of coursework. Since you do not want to get in a bind like these students did, I recommend that you schedule your defense at least two weeks prior to the deadline for delivering the thesis to the Graduate School. It really is not reasonable for students to expect thesis committee members to be able to free up enough time at semester's end to help them get the thesis completed by the deadline. If at all possible, avoid having the thesis "end game" happen at the end of a semester. Also, don't count on professors being around all summer long, some of us like to take a week or two off, and we don't all take our vacations at the same time.
The chairperson of your thesis committee is not likely to schedule your defense until she or he feels that your thesis is in good shape. Some chairpersons will not even ask other committee members to read a draft of your thesis until that point. If the committee members find no major problems with your thesis, your defense will be scheduled. Bring to your defense a signature page on 100% rag. At this point all other pages should be on economy paper, as it is nearly certain that corrections will be needed.
At the defense you can expect to be asked to give a ten minute summary of your thesis. Then the committee members will ask you questions and advise you regarding what changes (generally minor) need to be made in the thesis. You will then be asked to step out of the room while the committee discusses your defense. After a few minutes you will be invited back into the room and congratulated on passing the defense. The chairperson will fill out the form which indicates that you have passed the defense. You can download a copy of this form here: Th-Orals.doc. The form is a Word document, so your thesis director can fill out the necessary information after reading it into Word. If I (Karl Wuensch) am not directing your thesis, be sure to replace my name with your director's name on this form. If you have brought with you a signature page on 100% rag, all of the committee members (except the chair) may sign it at this time. The chairperson of your committee will sign it once she or he has a perfect final copy from you.
You should provide your thesis advisor with a bound copy of the thesis, although the university does not require this. Do ask the other committee members if they would like an unbound copy.
After the Defense
It is important that you realize that even after the final draft of the thesis is accepted by your committee and the chair of the committee has signed the signature page, there are some time consuming activities involved in getting the thesis really finished. You must get the signature of the chair of your department and of the Dean of the Graduate School. You should allow the chair at least a week to review your thesis before signing it.
Once the chair of your thesis committee has signed your thesis, deliver the thesis (still on economy paper, except for the signature page on rag) to the chair of the Department of Psychology for his approval. After the chair has signed it, you deliver it to the Graduate School for review. They will contact you when the review has been completed. If they have not gotten back to you within 5 working days, you should call the Graduate School and ask about the status of your thesis.
You may need to meet with staff of the Graduate School to review any changes they suggest. If you disagree with them on the requested changes, involve the chair of your thesis committee. Do inform the chair of your thesis committee regarding any changes that were requested, so that she or he is informed about what the Graduate School is expecting these days. Also, I (Karl Wuensch) would appreciate being informed of any changes not consistent with the information in my web pages (that way I can update the information in my web pages).
When the Graduate School has decided that your thesis is in perfect or nearly perfect form, you will receive a "Dissertation/ Thesis Acknowledgment" form signed by one of the deans (if there are only a few minor corrections needed they will give you this form, signed by one the deans, prior to your making the final few corrections). You will make the required corrections and return the corrected copy to the Graduate School for final approval. If there are many corrections to be made, you may want to print the corrected copy on regular paper and take it back to the Graduate School to be checked again before making multiple copies on rag paper. If there are few corrections and you are confident that you have made them without error, then you can go ahead and make all of the final copies on rag and take them over to the Graduate School for final review. One of the deans will meet with you and verify that the corrections have been made. Once the Graduate School has given final approval of the thesis, you make the appropriate number of copies on 100% rag.
Usually 5 copies of the thesis will be bound: Two copies go to the library, one to the department, and one to the chair of the thesis committee. Usually the student wants a copy for emself too. There is no charge for the three copies that go to the library and department, the other copies cost $10 each (I verified this price in April of 2007). The Graduate School will want an extra copy of your abstract, so be sure to take one along.
Now you are ready to run over to the library and make arrangements for the thesis to be bound and deposited in the library. You will pay for the binding there. You get to choose the color of the binding and the printing on the binding for the copies that go to you and your thesis advisor. The library representative signs your acknowledgment form and then you take that form to the Registrar's office. If you have not already done so, you will need to fill out an application for graduation. If you have received any financial aid while at ECU, they may insist on your also going to the financial aid office for an exit interview (so they can stress the importance of paying your debts, get the information they need to put a lien on your property, life insurance, etc. if you don't pay, and let Vito, their bill collector, know where you live and which leg to break if you are late with a payment).
One copy of the acknowledgment form (signed by a dean of the Graduate School, you, and the library representative) goes to the Registrar, one goes back to the Graduate School, one is for you, one is for the department, and one for your thesis advisor. When you come back to Rawl to give the department and your advisor their copies, make an extra copy and give it to your program director so that e will know you have finished the thesis.
As you can imagine, all of this "end-game" obtaining of signatures etc. can consume considerable time. You should NOT expect your director to take care of this for you, it is YOUR responsibility. If you have moved far out of town, you probably cannot afford to spend a couple of weeks in Greenville to take care of all of this yourself. In that case you would need to find someone you can trust to do it for you. Unless that person already owes you a big favor, you ought to compensate em for e's troubles. Do be sure that that person knows what all needs to be done to get the thesis deposited and that e has all of the necessary information and money (how many copies to be made, for whom, for optional copies of the thesis in what color should it be bound, etc.).
Contact Information for the Webmaster,
Dr. Karl L. Wuensch
This page most recently revised on 29. April 2008.