M.S.Ed. Thesis Guide

Upda

ted 12.2020

Partially adapted from the University Graduate School guide

CONTENTS

Contact Information………………………………………………………………………………….. 2

Thesis Timelines & Guidelines………………………………………………………………………. 3

Thesis Components Specifications……………………………………………………………........... 4

Thesis Formatting…………………………………………………………………………………..... 6

Appendix A. M.S.Ed. Thesis Proposal and Committee Approval…………………………………... 8

Appendix B. M.S.Ed. Thesis Defense Announcement………………………………………………. 9

Appendix C. M.S.Ed. Thesis Acceptance………………………………………………………… 10

Appendix D. M.S.Ed. Thesis Title page……………………………………………………………. 11

Appendix E. M.S.Ed. Thesis Copyright page………………………………………………………. 12

Appendix F. M.S.Ed. Thesis Abstract page………………………………………………………… 13

IU ScholarWorks Permission form…………………………………………………………………. 14

CONT

ACT INFORMATION

Questions?

The Graduate Studies Recorder is available via email, phone, zoom, or in person.

gsorecdr@indiana.edu

Graduate Studies Office (GSO)

W. W. Wright Education Building, Suite 2100

201 North Rose Avenue

Bloomington, IN 47405-1006

812-

856-8504 (phone)

812-856-8566 (TDD)

THESIS TIMELINES & GUIDELINES

____

At least 3 months prior to Thesis Defense:

• Form your three member Thesis Committee. At least two members, one whom will serve at thesis director, must

be from the major area of study. The committee is responsible for supervising the preparation of a thesis proposal

and work on the thesis study, and for administering an oral defense.

• Submit a signed M.S.Ed. Thesis Proposal and Committee Approval form (Appendix A) to your department office.

The department will submit it to the recorder in the Graduate Studies Office (GSO).

• A meeting with the thesis director must be held to discuss if Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval is needed.

For research using human subjects, all students should view http://researchcompliance.iu.edu/hso/index.html. If

needed, evidence of IRB review and approval must be attached to the signed M.S.Ed. Thesis Proposal and

Committee Approval form (Appendix A).

• Work with your committee and department office to arrange a mutually agreeable time for your Thesis defense

and to reserve a location on campus.

Last

semester:

• Enroll in 3 – 6 credit hours of 599 – Master’s Thesis in Education as part of the minimum 36 credits hours

required for the Master’s degree.

• Review your approved Plan of Studies (POS) for any needed updates. https://info.educ.indiana.edu/epos/.

• Apply for graduation at: https://education.indiana.edu/students/graduates/masters/graduation-

checklist.html.

At least 30 days prior to defense:

• Submit a M.S.Ed. Thesis Defense Announcement (Appendix B) to your department. They will submit it to the

recorder in the Graduate Studies Office.

Note: The announced date, time, and place cannot be changed without the approval of the Associate

Dean of Graduate Studies. You defense will be posted on the School of Education website.

• Provide the thesis to each committee member to give them sufficient time to read and critic your work.

• Verify that there are no holds on your academic record by contacting Student Central at scu@indiana.edu

. The

Registrar will not release a diploma or transcript until holds are resolved.

During the Thesis Defense:

• Have your FULL committee sign the M.S.Ed. Acceptance Page (Appendix C). The thesis director will hold this

document until your edits have been accepted. Once the edits have been accepted, the thesis director should

notify the department chair that the 599 grade(s) can be changed (all grades must be changed by the 27

of the

degree conferral month or earlier). The Thesis Director gives the Acceptance Page to the department office, who

will submit it to the recorder in the Graduate Studies Office.

By the 15

of the degree conferral month (degrees awarded monthly):

• Submit your thesis to the Graduate Studies master’s recorder at [email protected] via pdf for format review.

The IUScholarWorks Permission

form for Theses and Dissertations (page 14) should be attached in the email

separate from the thesis. Check your IU email regularly during this time in case additional format changes are

needed. A final pdf of the thesis (after formatting edits have been approved by the Graduate Studies recorder)

must be sent to the recorder.

By the 27

of the degree conferral month:

• The department will submit the signed Acceptance page to the recorder in the Graduate Studies Office. No proxy,

electronic, or copies of signatures are permitted.

THESIS COMPONENTS SPECIFICATIONS

Your thesis must comply with certain guidelines. Be sure to read the list of requirements thoroughly

before you begin, and check the list carefully before you submit.

Thes

is front matter should be in the following order. The front matter refers to the title page through the

end of the table of contents/supplemental materials. Required sections are indicated in bold while optional

sections are italicized.

Title Page (required)

Acceptance Page (required)

Dedication (optional)

Acknowledgements (optional)

Preface (optional)

Abstract (optional by department)

Table of Contents (required)

Supplemental Materials (lists of tables, figures, appendices, etc.) (optional)

Title Page—required (see Appendix D for format)

• The title page should be a separate page and no longer than one page. Begin 2 inches from the top

of the page. All other margins will be 1 inch.

• All content should be centered horizontally and vertically.

• Font size for title should be no smaller than 12-point font and no larger than 16-point font.

• No font on the title page should be in bold.

• No page number should appear on the title page. The title page is considered page i, but actual

pagination begins on the acceptance page as page ii.

• The student’s name must be the same as the primary legal name in the IU system. The primary

legal name is that which is displayed on the student’s unofficial SIS transcript. Students can

update their primary legal name through Student Central at [email protected]

• The month and year indicated on the title page is the month and year when all requirements have

been completed for the awarding of the Master's degree by the School of Education. This is not

necessarily the month in which you defend your thesis.

Acceptance Page – required (see Appendix C for format)

This page confirms the committee's approval and acceptance of your thesis. A completed, but

unsigned copy of the original Acceptance Page should be included in the thesis. The original

is submitted to the department office, who will give it to the GSO Recorder.

• Thesis Committee and Date of Defense are left justified.

• Committee name and signature lines are right justified. Behind each name place the post-

nominal initials (Jane Doe, Ph.D.)

•

Acceptance page is always page ii.

The copyright page is a separate page and no longer than one page. All content should be centered

horizontally and vertically.

NOTE: If you choose to copyright your thesis, YOU MUST REGISTER by following these steps

provided

by the U.S. Copyright Office (http://www.copyright.gov/register/literary.html

). If you

have trouble, call

them at (202) 707-8250. Generally, students copyright their work if they think

they might publish it under

their own name at a later date. If you are unsure about this, please

talk to your advisor.

Dedication, Acknowledgements, or Preface – opt

ional

You may wish to include a dedication, a set of acknowledgments, or a preface. The latter are designed to

recognize people or agencies to whom you feel grateful for any academic, technical, financial, or personal

aid. As a matter of courtesy, you would ordinarily mention the members of your committee, as well as

institutions that provided funding or anyone else who helped. For the dedication page, all content should be

centered horizontally and vertically. Only the dedication itself should be on the dedication page; no title

should appear. Acknowledgements and Prefaces pages should have a title.

Abstract, unsigned - optional by department (see Appendix F for format)

As people will learn about your work through your abstract, you should spend time and effort in the

composition of both the abstract and the title of your work. Try to convey the essence of your work, not just

the results of your findings. You should also work to phrase your title so that it truly describes the content

and will be easily found in the database index. The index is based on key words, so be specific about your

subject.

• Top, Bottom, Left, and Right margins must be one inch.

• Committee name and signature lines are right justified. Use post-nominal initials. All

other information

is centered.

• Font must match rest of thesis.

• An unsigned copy is included in the thesis. The original is submitted to the department

office, who will give it to the GSO Recorder.

Table of

Contents – required

Include a table of contents to guide readership of your thesis. Add an entry for your curriculum vitae

(CV) to the table of contents. The CV should be the last item in your thesis and listed last on the table

of contents. Since CV pages should not have a page number, the table of contents entry for it should

note only the presence of the CV at the end with no page number indicated. Add an entry/entries (as

is appropriate) for the reference/bibliography page/pages to the table of contents. Please remove your

address, phone, and email information.

Supplemen

tal Materials – optional

Include lists of tables, figures, appendixes, abbreviations, or other supplemental materials, if appropriate.

Main Bod

y of Thesis

• Font size must be no larger than 12 point and to smaller than 11 point, except in the case of footnotes,

which should be 11 point.

• Top, Bottom, Left, and Right must be one inch.

Resume/Curriculum Vitae - required

Include a resume/curriculum vita at the end of the thesis, after the main content. Do not add any page

number(s) to the resume/curriculum vitae. Your CV should be in the same font and have the same

margins as the rest of your thesis and should not contain your home address, phone, email address, or any

page number. Please list your M.S.Ed. degree as completed in the same month as listed on the title page.

IU Scholar Works form – required

Please complete the form and attach it separately to the email when submitting your thesis. This form is

required to submit your final thesis.

THESIS FORMATTING

Fonts

Font size should be either 11 or 12 point for the entire document. The only exception being the title on the

title page, footnotes, tables/charts, and picture/table descriptions. Font up to size 16 point may be used for

the document’s title on the title page, only. Font as small as 10 point may be used for footnotes, the content

of tables/charts, and picture/table/chart descriptions.

Black font is used throughout the thesis. The only exception being areas where a different font color serves

a purpose in explaining or highlighting some aspect of the research/thesis in a way black font could not.

Be consistent in font style throughout your thesis. The following font styles are recommended for the ease

with which they convert to a PDF. All theses have to be converted to a PDF in the submission process.

ial

Bookman Old Style

Calibri

Cambria Lucida Bright

Times New Roman

Spacing

The material should be double-spaced. Long quotations should be single- spaced with wider margins.

Photographs and Images

If photographs or detailed graphics are part of the work, make sure they are crisp and clear to achieve the

best possible quality.

Margins

Margins should be 1 inch on all sides, unless otherwise stated.

These margin requirements apply to all materials included in the thesis, including figures, tables, maps,

plates, etc., and any preliminary material you choose to include.

Page Layout

Ordinarily, the text and any other materials will appear on the right-hand page only. If, however, you and

your committee agree that it is necessary to include facing material on the left-hand page as well, be sure to

leave a 1½" margin on the right-hand side of the facing page.

Running heads are not used in thesis submissions. Please limit the content of your header and footer space

to the page number only.

Page Numbers

Page numbers must be clear, consecutive, and printed on every page, including appendices, tables, figures,

maps, charts, photographs, etc., except for the title page and vita page.

Lowercase Roman numbers (e.g. i, ii, iii) are used for the pages preceding the main body of work. Arabic

numerals (e.g., 1, 2, 3) are used in the body of the work, the bibliography and the appendices. The title page

counts as page i but does not bear a number.

Begin the a

ctual numbering with the acceptance page as page ii, and continue with lowercase Roman

numerals until the start of the actual body of the thesis. That page, whether part of your full introduction or

of your first chapter, should be numbered using the Arabic numeral 1, and every page thereafter should be

numbered consecutively until you reach the resume/CV page.

dinarily, page numbers should be centered at the top or bottom of the page, entered midway between the

edge of paper and the text.

References, Citations, Bibliography, and Footnotes

Check with your department on this requirement. This format depends largely on your particular field or

topic. For example, footnotes can appear either on the page where the annotation occurs, the end of each

chapter, or the end of the thesis. Be sure to follow the conventions of your department or discipline.

Recommended Style Manuals

“The Chicago Manual of Style”

Turabian, Kate L., “A Manual for Writers” Modern

Language Association (MLA) style sheet

American Psychological Association (APA) style sheet (especially for works in the social sciences)

Recommended Dictionaries for Spelling and Usage

Webster’s Third International Dictionary

Webster’s Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary

APPENDIX A

move content above line and line when submitting this form

M.S.Ed. THESIS PROPOSAL AND COMMITTEE APPROVAL

Name ______________________________________________________________________ ID# _____________________________

Address _____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Major _______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Proposed Thesis Title __________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thesis Committee

Name Typed Signature Date

Thesis Director________________________________________________________________________________________________

Member _____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Department Chair______________________________________________________________________________________________

Associate Dean for Graduate Studies ___________________________________________________________ Date _______________

A copy of the thesis proposal (and IRB approval, if needed) must be attached to this form.

APPENDIX B

M.S.Ed. THESIS DEFENSE ANNOUNCEMENT

(Separate page, content centered on page, limit of one page)

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Announcing the Oral Thesis Defense of

(Student's Name)

for the

Master of Science in Education Degree

(Day, Date, Time)

(Room, Building)

Thesis: (Title)

(Summary: The summary of the thesis should be limited to one page and not more than 300 words. It should

contain a statement of the problem, a description of the methods or procedures used, and a formulation of the

results and conclusions. Unlike the abstract, which is for specialists in the field, an attempt should be made in the

summary, whenever possible, to communicate the findings in language and style that can be understood by the

university community at large.)

Major Field of Studies

Major: (Field)

Educational Career

Degree, institution, year graduated (major area

not needed, ex. “B.A., Indiana University., 2015”)

Committee in Charge

Professorial Rank (Name), Thesis Director (Phone Number), (Department) (Alphabetically

list other

committee members)

Approved: (Signature and Thesis Director’s Name Typed)

(Any member of the Graduate Faculty may attend. As a courtesy, please notify the Thesis Director in advance.)

APPENDIX C

M.S.Ed. THESIS ACCEPTANCE

Separate page, content centered on page, limit of one page

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Accepted by the School of Education Faculty, Indiana University,

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Science in Education.

Student Name

Thesis Title:

M.S.Ed. Thesis Committee

(Chairperson’s signature)______________________________________

(Name typed, Post-Nominal Initials)

(Committee member’s signature)_______________________________

(Name typed, Post-Nominal Initials)

(Committee member’s signature)_______________________________

(Name typed, Post-Nominal Initials)

Date of Thesis Defense (MM/DD/YYYY)

APPENDIX D

M.S.Ed. THESIS TITLE PAGE

Separate page, content centered on page, limit of one page

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TITLE CENTERED, IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS &

DOUBLE SPACED IF TITLE EXTENDS TO MORE THAN ONE LI

NE OF TEXT

(Author's Name)

Submitted to the faculty of the School of Education in partial

fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree

Master of Science in Education

in the Department of (Department Name)

Indiana University

(MM/YYYY degree will be granted)

APPENDIX E

M.S.Ed. THESIS COPYRIGHT

Separate page, content centered on page, limit of one page

(In Microsoft Word, Alt-Ctrl-C (hold down all at once) will make the copyright sign.)

Remove content above line and line when submitting this form

(Student's Name)

APPENDIX

M.S.Ed.

THESIS

ABSTRACT

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Student’s Name Centered

THESI

S TITLE, CENTERED, DOUBLE SPACED,

AND EITHER IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS or Underlined

The a

bstract is double-spaced and limited to 350 words. The paragraph(s), layout, indention, and line

spacing should match the layout, indention, and line spacing of the rest of your thesis. Graduate

Studies must receive an original copy of the abstract, bearing the original signature of each member

of the thesis committee. A blank/unsigned copy of the same abstract should be included in the thesis

for submission.

M.S.Ed. Thesis Committee

(Chairperson’s signature)____________________________________

(Name typed, Post-Nominal Initials)

(Committee member’s signature)______________________________

(Name typed, Post-Nominal Initials)

(Committee member’s signature)______________________________

(Name typed, Post-Nominal Initials)

IUScholarWorks Permission Form for Theses and Dissertations

Thesis/dissertation title

Author name

Author email

Subject keywords

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