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Management and Organization Theses and Dissertations

Theses/dissertations from 2023 2023.

For Love or Money: Investor Motivations in Equity-Based Crowdfunding , Jason C. Cherubini

The Great Resignation: An Exploration of Strategies to Combat School Bus Driver Shortages in the Post-COVID-19 Era , James E. Cole Jr.

An Empirical Analysis of Sentiment and Confidence Regarding Interest Rates in Disclosures of Public Firms in the U.S. Fintech Sector , James J. Farley

Motivations for Planning: Uncovering the Inhibitors to the Adoption of Comprehensive Financial Planning for Business Owners , Daniel R. Gilham

An Examination of Reward-Based Crowdfunding Performance and Success , Matthew Alan Grace

All Quiet on The Digital Front: The Unseen Psychological Impacts on Cybersecurity First Responders , Tammie R. Hollis

Commitment to Change Dimensions: The Influence of Innovative Work Behavior and Organizational Environments , Michael Holmes

Turmoil in the Workforce: Introduction of the Nomadic Employee , Catrina Hopkins

Attention-Grabbing Tactics on Social Media , Arjun Kadian

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

Building a Mentor-Mentee Maturity Model , Leroy A. Alexander

Do Auditors Respond to Changes in Clients’ Analyst Coverage? Evidence from a Natural Experiment , Mohammad Alkhamees

Designing a Messaging Strategy to Improve Information Security Policy Compliance , Federico Giovannetti

Are all pictures worth 1,000 words? An Investigation of Fit Between Graph Type and Performance on Accounting Data Analytics Tasks , Shawn Paul Granitto

An Enterprise Risk Management Framework to Design Pro-Ethical AI Solutions , Quintin P. McGrath

Deceptive Appeals and Cognitive Influences Used in Fraudulent Scheme Sales Pitches , Rafael J. Toledo

Using Online Reviews to Identify How Hotels Can Satisfy Travelers With Pets While Making Money , Sonia Weinhaus

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

The IS Social Continuance Model: Using Conversational Agents to Support Co-creation , Naif Alawi

The Use of Data Analytic Visualizations to Inform the Audit Risk Assessment: The Impact of Initial Visualization Form and Documentation Focus , Rebecca N. Baaske (Becca)

Identification of Entrepreneurial Competencies in I-Corps Site Teams at the University of South Florida , Mark A. Giddarie

Understanding Nonprofit Boards: An Exploratory Study of the Governance Practices of Regional Nonprofits , Susan Ryan Goodman

Strengthening the Entrepreneurial Support Community , Andrew J. Hafer

Who to Choose? Rating Broker Best Practices in the Medicare Advantage Industry , Darwin R. Hale

Bridging the Innovatino Gap at SOCOM , Gregory J. Ingram

Improving Environmental Protection: One Imagined Touch at a Time , Luke Ingalls Liska

Residential Curbside Recycle Context Analysis , Ntchanang Mpafe

Fighting Mass Diffusion of Fake News on Social Media , Abdallah Musmar

Managing Incomplete Data in the Patient Discharge Summary to Support Correct Hospital Reimbursements , Fadi Naser Eddin

GAO Bid Protests by Small Business: Analysis of Perceived and Reported Outcomes in Federal Contracting , David M. Snyder

Engagement and Meaningfulness as Determinants of Employee Retention: A Longitudinal Case Study , Calvin Williams

Public Budgeting as Moral Dilemma , Ben Wroblewski

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

Improving Engagement: The Moderating Effect of Leadership Style on the Relationship Between Psychological Capital and Employee Engagement , Scott Beatrice

Physician Self-Efficacy and Risk-Taking Attitudes as Determinants of Upcoding and Downcoding Errors: An Empirical Investigation , Samantha J. Champagnie

Digital Identity: A Human-Centered Risk Awareness Study , Toufic N. Chebib

Clarifying the Relationship of Design Thinking to the Military Decision-Making Process , Thomas S. Fisher

Essays on the Disposition Effect , Matthew Henriksson

Analysis of Malicious Behavior on Social Media Platforms Using Agent-Based Modeling , Agnieszka Anna Onuchowska

Who Rises to the Top: An Investigation of the Essential Skills Necessary for Partners of Non-Big 4 Public Accounting Firms , Amanda K. Thompson-Abbott

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

The Financial and Nonfinancial Performance Measures That Drive Utility Abandonments and Transfers in the State of Florida , Daniel Acheampong

Locating a New Collegiate Entrepreneurship Program, a Framework for a University Campus , Douglas H. Carter

Understanding Employee Engagement: An Examination of Millennial Employees and Perceived Human Resource Management Practices , Danielle J. Clark

The Potential Impact Radius of a Natural Gas Transmission Line and Real Estate Valuations: A Behavioral Analysis , Charles M. Hilterbrand Jr.

Introducing a Mobile Health Care Platform in an Underserved Rural Population: Reducing Assimilations Gaps on Adoption and Use via Nudges , Joseph Hodges

Controlling Turnover in an Inside Sales Organization: What are the Contributing Factors , Dennis H. Kimerer

An Emergent Theory of Executive Leadership Selection: Leveraging Grounded Theory to Study the U.S. Military's Special Forces Assessment and Selection Process , Darryl J. Lavender

Essays on Migration Flows and Finance , Suin Lee

The Underutilized Tool of Project Management - Emotional Intelligence , Gerald C. Lowe

Increasing the Supply of the Missing Middle Housing Types in Walkable Urban Core Neighborhoods: Risk, Risk Reduction and Capital , Shrimatee Ojah Maharaj

Playing Darts in the Dark: How are Chamber of Commerce Leaders Aligned for Greater Effectiveness? , Robert J. Rohrlack Jr.

Are Transfer Pricing Disclosures Related to Tax Reporting Transparency? The Impact of Auditor-Provided Transfer Pricing Services , Stephanie Y. Walton

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

Price Transparency in the United States Healthcare System , Gurlivleen (Minnie) Ahuja

How to Build a Climate of Quality in a Small to Medium Enterprise: An Action Research Project , Desmond M. Bishop III

Banking on Blockchain: A Grounded Theory Study of the Innovation Evaluation Process , Priya D. Dozier

Enhancing the Design of a Cybersecurity Risk Management Solution for Communities of Trust , James E. Fulford Jr.

An Examination of the Progressive and Regressive Factors that Business Owners Consider When Choosing Whether or Not to Implement an Exit Strategy , David C. Pickard

The Relationship between Ambient Lighting Color and Hotel Bar Customer Purchase Behavior and Satisfaction , Kunal Shah

The Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) Industry and the Business Impacts of the Evolution of the Federal Regulatory Environment , Darren W. Spencer

Intercultural Communication Between International Military Organizations; How Do You Turn a ‘No’ Into a ‘Yes’? , Douglas A. Straka

Essential Leadership Skills for Frontline Managers in a Multicultural Organization , Janelle Ward

Moffitt Cancer Center: Leadership, Culture and Transformation , W. James Wilson

Two Essays on String of Earnings Benchmarks , Yiyang Zhang

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

Multi-Step Tokenization of Automated Clearing House Payment Transactions , Privin Alexander

The Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility Investment and Disclosure on Cooperation in Business Collaborations , Sukari Farrington

What Factors during the Genesis of a Startup are Causal to Survival? , Gilbert T. Gonzalez

The Great Recession of 2007 and the Housing Market Crash: Why Did So Many Builders Fail? , Mohamad Ali Hasbini

The Effect of Expanded Audit Report Disclosures on Users’ Confidence in the Audit and the Financial Statements , Peter Kipp

An Examination of Innovation Idea Selection Factors in Large Organizations , Troy A. Montgomery

Essays on Sales Coaching , Carlin A. Nguyen

Vital Signs of U.S. Osteopathic Medical Residency Programs Pivoting to Single Accreditation Standards , Timothy S. Novak

Leaders Who Learn: The Intersection of Behavioral Science, Adult Learning and Leadership , Natalya I. Sabga

Toward a Systemic Model for Governance and Strategic Management: Evaluating Stakeholder Theory Versus Shareholder Theory Approaches , James A. Stikeleather

A Longitudinal Study of the Effects of Cognitive Awareness Training on Transaction Processing Accuracy: An Introduction to the ACE Theoretical Construct , John Townsend

Theses/Dissertations from 2016 2016

The Effect of Presentation Format on Investor Judgments and Decisions: Does the Effect Differ for Varying Task Demands? , Kevin Agnew

Theses/Dissertations from 2014 2014

Multi-Task Setting Involving Simple and Complex Tasks: An Exploratory Study of Employee Motivation , Maia Jivkova Farkas

Essays on Mergers and Acquisitions , Marcin Krolikowski

Do Social Biases Impede Auditor Reliance on Specialists? Toward a Theory of Social Similarity , Rina Maxine Limor

Theses/Dissertations from 2013 2013

Psychological Distance: The Relation Between Construals, Mindsets, and Professional Skepticism , Jason Rasso

Theses/Dissertations from 2011 2011

Combining Natural Language Processing and Statistical Text Mining: A Study of Specialized Versus Common Languages , Jay Jarman

An Empirical Investigation of Decision Aids to Improve Auditor Effectiveness in Analytical Review , Robert N. Marley

The Effects of Item Complexity and the Method Used to Present a Complex Item on the Face of a Financial Statement on Nonprofessional Investors` Judgments , Linda Gale Ragland

Theses/Dissertations from 2010 2010

Two Essays on Information Ambiguity and Informed Traders’ Trade-Size Choice , Ziwei Xu

Theses/Dissertations from 2008 2008

Two Essays on the Conflict of Interests within the Financial Services Industry-- Financial Industry Consolidation: The Motivations and Consequences of the Financial Services Modernization Act (FSMA) and “Down but Not Out” Mutual Fund Manager Turnover within Fund Families , Lonnie Lashawn Bryant

Two Essays on Multiple Directorships , Chia-wei Chen

Two Essays on Financial Condition of Firms , Sanjay Kudrimoti

A Study of Cross-Border Takeovers: Examining the Impact of National Culture on Internalization Benefits, and the Implications of Early Versus Late-Mover Status for Bidders and Their Rivals , Tanja Steigner

Two Essays on Corporate Governance⎯Are Local Directors Better Monitors, and Directors Incentives and Earnings Management , Hong Wan

Theses/Dissertations from 2007 2007

The Role of Ethnic Compatibility in Attitude Formation: Marketing to America’s Diverse Consumers , Cynthia Rodriguez Cano

Two Essays on Venture Capital: What Drives the Underpricing of Venture CapitalBacked IPOs and Do Venture Capitalists Provide Anything More than Money? , Donald Flagg

Two essays on market efficiency: Tests of idiosyncratic risk: informed trading versus noise and arbitrage risk, and agency costs and the underlying causes of mispricing: information asymmetry versus conflict of interests , Jung Chul Park

The impact of management's tone on the perception of management's credibility in forecasting , Robert D. Slater

Uncertainty in the information supply chain: Integrating multiple health care data sources , Monica Chiarini Tremblay

Theses/Dissertations from 2006 2006

Adolescent alcohol use and educational outcomes , Wesley A. Austin

Certificate of need regulation in the nursing home industry: Has it outlived its usefulness? , Barbara J. Caldwell

The impacts of the handoffs on software development: A cost estimation model , Michael Jay Douglas

Using emergent outcome controls to manage dynamic software development , Michael Loyd Harris

The information technology professional's psychological contract viewed through their employment arrangement and the relationship to organizational behaviors , Sandra Kay Newton

The causal effect of alcohol consumption on employment status , Chanvuth Sangchai

The effect of transportation subsidies on urban sprawl , Qing Su

The effects of in-group bias and decision aids on auditors' evidence evaluation , Eileen Zalkin Taylor

The single market and pharmaceutical industry in the European Union: Is there any evidence of price convergence? , Aysegul Timur

A structural approach to the study of intra-organizational coalitions , Dean T. Walsh

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How To Write A Dissertation Or Thesis

8 straightforward steps to craft an a-grade dissertation.

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) Expert Reviewed By: Dr Eunice Rautenbach | June 2020

Writing a dissertation or thesis is not a simple task. It takes time, energy and a lot of will power to get you across the finish line. It’s not easy – but it doesn’t necessarily need to be a painful process. If you understand the big-picture process of how to write a dissertation or thesis, your research journey will be a lot smoother.  

In this post, I’m going to outline the big-picture process of how to write a high-quality dissertation or thesis, without losing your mind along the way. If you’re just starting your research, this post is perfect for you. Alternatively, if you’ve already submitted your proposal, this article which covers how to structure a dissertation might be more helpful.

How To Write A Dissertation: 8 Steps

• Clearly understand what a dissertation (or thesis) is
• Find a unique and valuable research topic
• Craft a convincing research proposal
• Write up a strong introduction chapter
• Review the existing literature and compile a literature review
• Design a rigorous research strategy and undertake your own research
• Present the findings of your research
• Draw a conclusion and discuss the implications

Step 1: Understand exactly what a dissertation is

This probably sounds like a no-brainer, but all too often, students come to us for help with their research and the underlying issue is that they don’t fully understand what a dissertation (or thesis) actually is.

So, what is a dissertation?

At its simplest, a dissertation or thesis is a formal piece of research , reflecting the standard research process . But what is the standard research process, you ask? The research process involves 4 key steps:

• Ask a very specific, well-articulated question (s) (your research topic)
• See what other researchers have said about it (if they’ve already answered it)
• If they haven’t answered it adequately, undertake your own data collection and analysis in a scientifically rigorous fashion
• Answer your original question(s), based on your analysis findings

In short, the research process is simply about asking and answering questions in a systematic fashion . This probably sounds pretty obvious, but people often think they’ve done “research”, when in fact what they have done is:

• Started with a vague, poorly articulated question
• Not taken the time to see what research has already been done regarding the question
• Collected data and opinions that support their gut and undertaken a flimsy analysis
• Drawn a shaky conclusion, based on that analysis

If you want to see the perfect example of this in action, look out for the next Facebook post where someone claims they’ve done “research”… All too often, people consider reading a few blog posts to constitute research. Its no surprise then that what they end up with is an opinion piece, not research. Okay, okay – I’ll climb off my soapbox now.

The key takeaway here is that a dissertation (or thesis) is a formal piece of research, reflecting the research process. It’s not an opinion piece , nor a place to push your agenda or try to convince someone of your position. Writing a good dissertation involves asking a question and taking a systematic, rigorous approach to answering it.

If you understand this and are comfortable leaving your opinions or preconceived ideas at the door, you’re already off to a good start!

Step 2: Find a unique, valuable research topic

As we saw, the first step of the research process is to ask a specific, well-articulated question. In other words, you need to find a research topic that asks a specific question or set of questions (these are called research questions ). Sounds easy enough, right? All you’ve got to do is identify a question or two and you’ve got a winning research topic. Well, not quite…

A good dissertation or thesis topic has a few important attributes. Specifically, a solid research topic should be:

Let’s take a closer look at these:

Attribute #1: Clear

Your research topic needs to be crystal clear about what you’re planning to research, what you want to know, and within what context. There shouldn’t be any ambiguity or vagueness about what you’ll research.

Here’s an example of a clearly articulated research topic:

An analysis of consumer-based factors influencing organisational trust in British low-cost online equity brokerage firms.

As you can see in the example, its crystal clear what will be analysed (factors impacting organisational trust), amongst who (consumers) and in what context (British low-cost equity brokerage firms, based online).

Need a helping hand?

Attribute #2:   Unique

Your research should be asking a question(s) that hasn’t been asked before, or that hasn’t been asked in a specific context (for example, in a specific country or industry).

For example, sticking organisational trust topic above, it’s quite likely that organisational trust factors in the UK have been investigated before, but the context (online low-cost equity brokerages) could make this research unique. Therefore, the context makes this research original.

One caveat when using context as the basis for originality – you need to have a good reason to suspect that your findings in this context might be different from the existing research – otherwise, there’s no reason to warrant researching it.

Attribute #3: Important

Simply asking a unique or original question is not enough – the question needs to create value. In other words, successfully answering your research questions should provide some value to the field of research or the industry. You can’t research something just to satisfy your curiosity. It needs to make some form of contribution either to research or industry.

For example, researching the factors influencing consumer trust would create value by enabling businesses to tailor their operations and marketing to leverage factors that promote trust. In other words, it would have a clear benefit to industry.

So, how do you go about finding a unique and valuable research topic? We explain that in detail in this video post – How To Find A Research Topic . Yeah, we’ve got you covered 😊

Step 3: Write a convincing research proposal

Once you’ve pinned down a high-quality research topic, the next step is to convince your university to let you research it. No matter how awesome you think your topic is, it still needs to get the rubber stamp before you can move forward with your research. The research proposal is the tool you’ll use for this job.

So, what’s in a research proposal?

The main “job” of a research proposal is to convince your university, advisor or committee that your research topic is worthy of approval. But convince them of what? Well, this varies from university to university, but generally, they want to see that:

• You have a clearly articulated, unique and important topic (this might sound familiar…)
• You’ve done some initial reading of the existing literature relevant to your topic (i.e. a literature review)
• You have a provisional plan in terms of how you will collect data and analyse it (i.e. a methodology)

At the proposal stage, it’s (generally) not expected that you’ve extensively reviewed the existing literature , but you will need to show that you’ve done enough reading to identify a clear gap for original (unique) research. Similarly, they generally don’t expect that you have a rock-solid research methodology mapped out, but you should have an idea of whether you’ll be undertaking qualitative or quantitative analysis , and how you’ll collect your data (we’ll discuss this in more detail later).

Long story short – don’t stress about having every detail of your research meticulously thought out at the proposal stage – this will develop as you progress through your research. However, you do need to show that you’ve “done your homework” and that your research is worthy of approval .

So, how do you go about crafting a high-quality, convincing proposal? We cover that in detail in this video post – How To Write A Top-Class Research Proposal . We’ve also got a video walkthrough of two proposal examples here .

Step 4: Craft a strong introduction chapter

Once your proposal’s been approved, its time to get writing your actual dissertation or thesis! The good news is that if you put the time into crafting a high-quality proposal, you’ve already got a head start on your first three chapters – introduction, literature review and methodology – as you can use your proposal as the basis for these.

Handy sidenote – our free dissertation & thesis template is a great way to speed up your dissertation writing journey.

What’s the introduction chapter all about?

The purpose of the introduction chapter is to set the scene for your research (dare I say, to introduce it…) so that the reader understands what you’ll be researching and why it’s important. In other words, it covers the same ground as the research proposal in that it justifies your research topic.

What goes into the introduction chapter?

This can vary slightly between universities and degrees, but generally, the introduction chapter will include the following:

• A brief background to the study, explaining the overall area of research
• A problem statement , explaining what the problem is with the current state of research (in other words, where the knowledge gap exists)
• Your research questions – in other words, the specific questions your study will seek to answer (based on the knowledge gap)
• The significance of your study – in other words, why it’s important and how its findings will be useful in the world

As you can see, this all about explaining the “what” and the “why” of your research (as opposed to the “how”). So, your introduction chapter is basically the salesman of your study, “selling” your research to the first-time reader and (hopefully) getting them interested to read more.

How do I write the introduction chapter, you ask? We cover that in detail in this post .

Step 5: Undertake an in-depth literature review

As I mentioned earlier, you’ll need to do some initial review of the literature in Steps 2 and 3 to find your research gap and craft a convincing research proposal – but that’s just scratching the surface. Once you reach the literature review stage of your dissertation or thesis, you need to dig a lot deeper into the existing research and write up a comprehensive literature review chapter.

What’s the literature review all about?

There are two main stages in the literature review process:

Literature Review Step 1: Reading up

The first stage is for you to deep dive into the existing literature (journal articles, textbook chapters, industry reports, etc) to gain an in-depth understanding of the current state of research regarding your topic. While you don’t need to read every single article, you do need to ensure that you cover all literature that is related to your core research questions, and create a comprehensive catalogue of that literature , which you’ll use in the next step.

Reading and digesting all the relevant literature is a time consuming and intellectually demanding process. Many students underestimate just how much work goes into this step, so make sure that you allocate a good amount of time for this when planning out your research. Thankfully, there are ways to fast track the process – be sure to check out this article covering how to read journal articles quickly .

Literature Review Step 2: Writing up

Once you’ve worked through the literature and digested it all, you’ll need to write up your literature review chapter. Many students make the mistake of thinking that the literature review chapter is simply a summary of what other researchers have said. While this is partly true, a literature review is much more than just a summary. To pull off a good literature review chapter, you’ll need to achieve at least 3 things:

• You need to synthesise the existing research , not just summarise it. In other words, you need to show how different pieces of theory fit together, what’s agreed on by researchers, what’s not.
• You need to highlight a research gap that your research is going to fill. In other words, you’ve got to outline the problem so that your research topic can provide a solution.
• You need to use the existing research to inform your methodology and approach to your own research design. For example, you might use questions or Likert scales from previous studies in your your own survey design .

As you can see, a good literature review is more than just a summary of the published research. It’s the foundation on which your own research is built, so it deserves a lot of love and attention. Take the time to craft a comprehensive literature review with a suitable structure .

But, how do I actually write the literature review chapter, you ask? We cover that in detail in this video post .

Step 6: Carry out your own research

Once you’ve completed your literature review and have a sound understanding of the existing research, its time to develop your own research (finally!). You’ll design this research specifically so that you can find the answers to your unique research question.

There are two steps here – designing your research strategy and executing on it:

1 – Design your research strategy

The first step is to design your research strategy and craft a methodology chapter . I won’t get into the technicalities of the methodology chapter here, but in simple terms, this chapter is about explaining the “how” of your research. If you recall, the introduction and literature review chapters discussed the “what” and the “why”, so it makes sense that the next point to cover is the “how” –that’s what the methodology chapter is all about.

In this section, you’ll need to make firm decisions about your research design. This includes things like:

• Your research philosophy (e.g. positivism or interpretivism )
• Your overall methodology (e.g. qualitative , quantitative or mixed methods)
• Your data collection strategy (e.g. interviews , focus groups, surveys)
• Your data analysis strategy (e.g. content analysis , correlation analysis, regression)

If these words have got your head spinning, don’t worry! We’ll explain these in plain language in other posts. It’s not essential that you understand the intricacies of research design (yet!). The key takeaway here is that you’ll need to make decisions about how you’ll design your own research, and you’ll need to describe (and justify) your decisions in your methodology chapter.

2 – Execute: Collect and analyse your data

Once you’ve worked out your research design, you’ll put it into action and start collecting your data. This might mean undertaking interviews, hosting an online survey or any other data collection method. Data collection can take quite a bit of time (especially if you host in-person interviews), so be sure to factor sufficient time into your project plan for this. Oftentimes, things don’t go 100% to plan (for example, you don’t get as many survey responses as you hoped for), so bake a little extra time into your budget here.

Once you’ve collected your data, you’ll need to do some data preparation before you can sink your teeth into the analysis. For example:

• If you carry out interviews or focus groups, you’ll need to transcribe your audio data to text (i.e. a Word document).
• If you collect quantitative survey data, you’ll need to clean up your data and get it into the right format for whichever analysis software you use (for example, SPSS, R or STATA).

Once you’ve completed your data prep, you’ll undertake your analysis, using the techniques that you described in your methodology. Depending on what you find in your analysis, you might also do some additional forms of analysis that you hadn’t planned for. For example, you might see something in the data that raises new questions or that requires clarification with further analysis.

The type(s) of analysis that you’ll use depend entirely on the nature of your research and your research questions. For example:

• If your research if exploratory in nature, you’ll often use qualitative analysis techniques .
• If your research is confirmatory in nature, you’ll often use quantitative analysis techniques
• If your research involves a mix of both, you might use a mixed methods approach

Again, if these words have got your head spinning, don’t worry! We’ll explain these concepts and techniques in other posts. The key takeaway is simply that there’s no “one size fits all” for research design and methodology – it all depends on your topic, your research questions and your data. So, don’t be surprised if your study colleagues take a completely different approach to yours.

Step 7: Present your findings

Once you’ve completed your analysis, it’s time to present your findings (finally!). In a dissertation or thesis, you’ll typically present your findings in two chapters – the results chapter and the discussion chapter .

What’s the difference between the results chapter and the discussion chapter?

While these two chapters are similar, the results chapter generally just presents the processed data neatly and clearly without interpretation, while the discussion chapter explains the story the data are telling  – in other words, it provides your interpretation of the results.

For example, if you were researching the factors that influence consumer trust, you might have used a quantitative approach to identify the relationship between potential factors (e.g. perceived integrity and competence of the organisation) and consumer trust. In this case:

• Your results chapter would just present the results of the statistical tests. For example, correlation results or differences between groups. In other words, the processed numbers.
• Your discussion chapter would explain what the numbers mean in relation to your research question(s). For example, Factor 1 has a weak relationship with consumer trust, while Factor 2 has a strong relationship.

Depending on the university and degree, these two chapters (results and discussion) are sometimes merged into one , so be sure to check with your institution what their preference is. Regardless of the chapter structure, this section is about presenting the findings of your research in a clear, easy to understand fashion.

Importantly, your discussion here needs to link back to your research questions (which you outlined in the introduction or literature review chapter). In other words, it needs to answer the key questions you asked (or at least attempt to answer them).

For example, if we look at the sample research topic:

In this case, the discussion section would clearly outline which factors seem to have a noteworthy influence on organisational trust. By doing so, they are answering the overarching question and fulfilling the purpose of the research .

For more information about the results chapter , check out this post for qualitative studies and this post for quantitative studies .

Step 8: The Final Step Draw a conclusion and discuss the implications

Last but not least, you’ll need to wrap up your research with the conclusion chapter . In this chapter, you’ll bring your research full circle by highlighting the key findings of your study and explaining what the implications of these findings are.

What exactly are key findings? The key findings are those findings which directly relate to your original research questions and overall research objectives (which you discussed in your introduction chapter). The implications, on the other hand, explain what your findings mean for industry, or for research in your area.

Sticking with the consumer trust topic example, the conclusion might look something like this:

Key findings

This study set out to identify which factors influence consumer-based trust in British low-cost online equity brokerage firms. The results suggest that the following factors have a large impact on consumer trust:

While the following factors have a very limited impact on consumer trust:

Notably, within the 25-30 age groups, Factors E had a noticeably larger impact, which may be explained by…

Implications

The findings having noteworthy implications for British low-cost online equity brokers. Specifically:

The large impact of Factors X and Y implies that brokers need to consider….

The limited impact of Factor E implies that brokers need to…

As you can see, the conclusion chapter is basically explaining the “what” (what your study found) and the “so what?” (what the findings mean for the industry or research). This brings the study full circle and closes off the document.

Let’s recap – how to write a dissertation or thesis

You’re still with me? Impressive! I know that this post was a long one, but hopefully you’ve learnt a thing or two about how to write a dissertation or thesis, and are now better equipped to start your own research.

To recap, the 8 steps to writing a quality dissertation (or thesis) are as follows:

• Understand what a dissertation (or thesis) is – a research project that follows the research process.
• Find a unique (original) and important research topic
• Craft a convincing dissertation or thesis research proposal
• Write a clear, compelling introduction chapter
• Undertake a thorough review of the existing research and write up a literature review
• Undertake your own research
• Present and interpret your findings

Once you’ve wrapped up the core chapters, all that’s typically left is the abstract , reference list and appendices. As always, be sure to check with your university if they have any additional requirements in terms of structure or content.  

Psst... there’s more!

This post was based on one of our popular Research Bootcamps . If you're working on a research project, you'll definitely want to check this out ...

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20 Comments

thankfull >>>this is very useful

Thank you, it was really helpful

unquestionably, this amazing simplified way of teaching. Really , I couldn’t find in the literature words that fully explicit my great thanks to you. However, I could only say thanks a-lot.

Great to hear that – thanks for the feedback. Good luck writing your dissertation/thesis.

This is the most comprehensive explanation of how to write a dissertation. Many thanks for sharing it free of charge.

Very rich presentation. Thank you

Thanks Derek Jansen|GRADCOACH, I find it very useful guide to arrange my activities and proceed to research!

Thank you so much for such a marvelous teaching .I am so convinced that am going to write a comprehensive and a distinct masters dissertation

It is an amazing comprehensive explanation

This was straightforward. Thank you!

I can say that your explanations are simple and enlightening – understanding what you have done here is easy for me. Could you write more about the different types of research methods specific to the three methodologies: quan, qual and MM. I look forward to interacting with this website more in the future.

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions 🙂

Hello, your write ups is quite educative. However, l have challenges in going about my research questions which is below; *Building the enablers of organisational growth through effective governance and purposeful leadership.*

Very educating.

Just listening to the name of the dissertation makes the student nervous. As writing a top-quality dissertation is a difficult task as it is a lengthy topic, requires a lot of research and understanding and is usually around 10,000 to 15000 words. Sometimes due to studies, unbalanced workload or lack of research and writing skill students look for dissertation submission from professional writers.

Thank you 💕😊 very much. I was confused but your comprehensive explanation has cleared my doubts of ever presenting a good thesis. Thank you.

thank you so much, that was so useful

Hi. Where is the excel spread sheet ark?

could you please help me look at your thesis paper to enable me to do the portion that has to do with the specification

my topic is “the impact of domestic revenue mobilization.

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Theses and Dissertations

Defense and submission.

Below is an overview of the main steps in preparing, defending, and submitting your thesis or dissertation. For detailed instructions on each step, see The Graduate School's  Guide for Electronic Submission of Thesis and Dissertation (PDF) , in addition to this video recording from a workshop given on the subject. 

• Schedule your defense and apply for graduation in DukeHub ( defense and graduation deadlines ).  
• At least 30 days before your defense: Confirm or update your defense committee.  
• Give your thesis/dissertation to your advisor for inspection, and prompt your advisor to send a letter to [email protected] stating that it is complete and ready to defend. Note: For students in School of Medicine Ph.D. programs, their advisor letters are generated through T3.  
• Request your DGSA to send a departmental defense announcement to  [email protected] . Note: For students in School of Medicine Ph.D. programs, their departmental defense announcements are generated through T3.  
• At least 2 weeks before your defense: Submit your complete, correctly formatted dissertation/thesis to ProQuest (initial submission). Also provide it to each member of your committee.  
• Optional: After you receive an email through ProQuest from the Graduate School administrator who reviewed your thesis/dissertation format, you may make an appointment for a brief, virtual meeting with the administrator to discuss any questions you have about the defense process or the recommended formatting revisions.  
• A few days before your defense, The Graduate School will generate your final examination certificate and email it to the chair/co-chair(s) of your examination committee and the DGSA of your department. Note:  For students in School of Medicine Ph.D. programs, their final examination certificates are generated and released through T3.  
• Defend your dissertation. After your final examination, your committee members will vote on whether you passed or failed. Your chair and DGS will record the votes on your final examination certificate, sign it, and submit it to The Graduate School. Your committee may vote that you passed but still require minor edits or corrections before final submission.  
• As soon as possible after your defense, submit to [email protected] the Non-Exclusive Distribution License and Thesis/Dissertation Availability Agreement (“embargo agreement”) signed by yourself and your thesis/dissertation advisor.  
• Within 30 days after your successful defense, or by the established final submission deadline (whichever is first): Submit the final version of your dissertation/thesis to ProQuest.

Guide for Electronic Submission of Thesis and Dissertation (PDF)

We provide the following templates for your convenience and to help you eliminate common formatting errors. However,  all submitted theses and dissertations must meet the specifications listed in the ETD guide . The manuscript must be a completed document, formatted correctly, with no sections left blank.

• Word Template for Thesis/Dissertation (Word)
• LaTeX Template for Thesis/Dissertation (ZIP)

Notes about the LaTeX Template

• This LaTeX template is for both master's and Ph.D. students. Master's theses must also have an abstract title page.
• Neither The Graduate School nor OIT supports LaTeX beyond providing this template.

Ph.D. and master’s students are required to apply for graduation in  DukeHub  by the established application deadline for the semester in which they plan to graduate.

Review the full graduation guidelines on the  Graduation Information and Deadlines  page. 

When you submit your thesis or dissertation electronically, you will also permit Duke University to make it available online through  DukeSpace  at Duke Libraries. See the pages below for more information about ETDs:

• ETDs Overview
• ETD Availability
• ETD Copyright Information 
• ETD Technical Help 

Check out the writing support  offered by The Graduate School, such as writing spaces, consultations, and access to online writing workshops, communities, and resources.

Graduate Research: Theses & Dissertations: Getting Started & Planning

• Getting Started & Planning
• Research Integrity
• Literature Review
• Data & Analysis
• Writing a Thesis / Dissertation
• Academic Publishing of Your Research
• Your Scholarly Identity
• Presenting Your Work
• UW Resources
• Graduate Students' Guide to the Library (Guide) This link opens in a new window

Graduate Research = Building Advanced Information Skills

Graduate research and the process of writing a thesis or dissertation involves honing advanced skills in managing information: gathering and organizing information, analyzing information, synthesizing information, creating information, sharing information, and communicating or teaching information.  This requires many specialized skills, often discipline specific, as well as generalized work productivity skills such as time management, team building, and stress management.  This research guide is designed to lead you to general resources that may help you in your learning process as a graduate student and support your success.

Find resources to get started on this page, then navigate to additional resources using the tabs above, or click a link to a topic area below:

• Understand your responsibilities for Research Integrity and avoiding research misconduct
• Find guidance for conducting your Literature Review
• Peruse resources for managing Data & Analysis
• Explore tips and tools to help in Writing a Thesis / Dissertation
• Consider Academic Publishing of Your Research in an academic journal, university press book, or another academic format
• Establish Your Scholarly Identity with author identifiers
• Find Tips for Presenting Your Work at professional conferences
• Take advantage of other UW Resources to support your graduate studies
• Link to the Graduate Students' Guide to the Library

Research Process

• Project Planner (from Sage Research Methods) Content describing steps in the research process. Jump to any of the stages or subtopics as needed.

Exploring Research Ideas

• Where Can I Get Ideas for My Thesis or Dissertation Topic? Tips for deciding on a research topic (from ProQuest).

Dissertation (& Thesis) eLearning from ProQuest

• Module 1: Getting Started on Your Thesis or Dissertation
• Module 2: Efficient Discovery and Research Curation
• Module 3: Developing a Productive Writing Plan

Individual Development Plan (IDP)

An Individual Development Plan is a good way to reflect on your interests and develop career goals.  This is best done in collaboration with your faculty advisor or mentor, but can be done by yourself.  Some research funding agencies, such as NIH and NSF, encourage use of IDPs for graduate students and post-doctoral scholars.  Here are a few resources to help you get started creating an IDP. 

• myIDP: Science Careers
• American Psychological Association's Resource for Individual Development Plans
• ImaginePhD (for Humanities & Social Sciences)

eBooks / Guides

Blog on Research & Writing

• The Thesis Whisperer Written by Professor Inger Mewburn, director of researcher development at The Australian National University. Topics especially helpful for Ph.D. students, but useful for any researcher.

Related Research Guides

• Graduate Students' Guide to the Library by Jordan Hemingway Last Updated Apr 5, 2024 757 views this year
• Grants & Funding Resources by Ask a Librarian Last Updated Feb 19, 2024 51 views this year
• Research Data, Data Management & Planning by Michaela Clark Last Updated Mar 27, 2024 294 views this year
• Videos & Tutorials from the UW Libraries by Susan Schulz Last Updated Apr 3, 2024 267 views this year

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Library search/retrieval options.

UW Libraries QuickSearch: includes the collections of the University Libraries, UW Law Library, and the American Heritage Center.

Prospector : a unified catalog of twenty-three academic, public and special libraries in Colorado and Wyoming. UW students, faculty and staff can borrow materials from Prospector.

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Thesis/Dissertation

To graduate with a master’s (thesis program) or doctoral (dissertation program) degree, students are required to submit an Electronic Thesis/Dissertation (ETD) and a Committee Approval Form to the Graduate School through the  UW ETD Administrator Site . ETDs are distributed by ProQuest/UMI Dissertation Publishing and made available on an open access basis through UW Libraries  ResearchWorks Service .

The Graduate School partners with the UW Libraries to provide comprehensive resources for students as they write, submit, and publish academic theses or dissertations. These pages outline information and policies related to preparing your thesis/dissertation, including formatting, deadlines, copyright and distribution decisions, and, ultimately, graduation. We also encourage you to review the  ETD Library Guide  for additional information.

For comprehensive information on preparing to graduate, please refer to our graduation requirements information page .

Writing Your Thesis or Dissertation

Etd resources.

As a starting point, students submitting an ETD are encouraged to review the below resources:

• Hacking the Academy: UW Theses & Dissertations (Recording of July 29, 2020 event) This session helps students think through their options for how and when to share their work, including the copyright and publishing considerations they may need to take into account.
• Electronic Theses & Dissertations with the UW Libraries The University Libraries welcomes you to this self-guided course on electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) at the UW. In this five-part learning experience, you will learn a lot about the ETD process including how the submission process works, how to give and receive recognition for your work, how to find and interpret publisher policies and how to read and inspect publishing contracts.

Formatting Guidelines

After you submit your ETD, the Graduate School will review your document as part of the graduation process at the end of each quarter. We will review for information accuracy, consistency, and to ensure your ETD meets the formatting requirements described below. There are three required sections (pages) that must be included at the beginning of your manuscript: 1) Title Page, 2) Copyright Page, 3) Abstract. Templates for these sections are provided below.

Apart from these first three pages, the Graduate School does not adhere to any specific formatting or publishing requirements unless explicitly stated by the ProQuest Author Guide: Preparing Your Manuscript for Submission (provided below). You should refer to the citation, formatting, and style specifications of your discipline and the guidance of your supervisory committee.  Note: theses and dissertations must be submitted in PDF format.

For a complete overview of the graduation process, please review  Preparing to Graduate .

Required Sections:

• Must include all items listed in the sample title page and placed in the same order
• May be the first or second page of your document
• Title of document
• Author’s Full Name
• Name of degree as it will appear on your diploma
• Year of graduation
• Names of chair/committee members (do not include signatures or professional titles, e.g. Dr. or PhD, before/after faculty names)
• Program authorized to offer degree (school or department)
• Name and year must match title pages
• List the year of graduation
• Place abstract after copyright and title page

Master’s Thesis Approval Form:

You are required to upload a completed and signed Master’s Thesis Approval Form into the UW ETD Administrator (ProQuest) site; the Approval Form is part of your ETD submission. This Approval Form is a separate PDF and should not be included as a page in the thesis or dissertation itself.

• Master’s Thesis Approval Form

Electronic Doctoral Dissertation Approval:

Final Exams scheduled after March 3, 2020 include a link for Reading Committee Members to approve the dissertation online at MyGrad Committee View.

ETD Formatting Resources:

• Thesis/Dissertation Formatting Checklist  – a quick reference guide of the formatting do’s and don’ts provided below.
• ProQuest Dissertation Publishing — Author Guide: Preparing Your Manuscript for Submission
• ProQuest Online Submission FAQs
• Master’s Thesis Title Page – Fillable PDF Template 
• Doctoral Dissertation Title Page – Fillable PDF Template
• Word Templates  – Alex Mamishev, Professor in Electrical Engineering maintains a Word file that other students may find useful when formatting their document.

Common ETD Formatting Revisions Requested

To ensure timely graduating, take some time before you submit to review this information and ProQuest’s document formatting guidelines. These are all common errors and revisions the Graduate School will request when reviewing ETD formatting. You will be required to resubmit if revisions are needed. Be precise, and consistent as you format your document.  Many formatting errors result from following a fellow or former student’s example, so it’s important to review the most current templates and guidelines.

Title Page, Copyright Page, Abstract

Language requirement.

Your document must be written in English ( policy 1.1.4.3 ). If you need to write your document in another language to accommodate the main audience, you must get prior approval to do so by  submitting a petition the dean via MyGrad . If the petition is approved, the required sections (title page, copyright page, abstract) must still be written in English.

Plagiarism is using words, ideas, diagrams, and other content from publicly available work without appropriately acknowledging the sources of these materials. This definition constitutes plagiarism whether it is intentional or unintentional and whether it is the work of another or your own, previously published work.

Plagiarism is a very serious offense that the University of Washington does not tolerate. Evidence of plagiarism may prevent granting of your degree.

Submitting and Publishing

Submitting for dissemination and access.

The Graduate School and the Libraries require that all UW theses and dissertations be submitted electronically for management efficiency, cost control, ease of dissemination, and long-term preservation reasons. In addition, your ETD must eventually be made available openly on the web. Your ETD will be hosted in both UW’s institutional repository,  ResearchWorks , and in  ProQuest’s ETD Database .  Consequently, you will need to indicate your choices in two sections about how your ETD is made available. Most students choose to make their work available immediately, but you can choose to limit access  temporarily  before making it available openly.

Students may restrict access to their theses and dissertations…

• while seeking to publish journal articles or books based on them,
• to protect intellectual property during the patent application process, or
• to prevent the disclosure of sensitive or classified information.

During the submission process, you will select ProQuest and ResearchWorks (Institutional Repository, or IR) publication options. The options are summarized on a table below, followed by selected scenarios to assist you in making your decisions.

IMPORTANT: The metadata describing your ETD, including the citation and abstract, is openly available  immediately— regardless of the embargo or restriction status. This information is searchable by Google, Bing and other search engines, so take care that neither the descriptive information nor the text contain confidential or sensitive information.

Selecting Access Options

Selected etd access scenarios.

The UW Libraries and the Graduate School are committed to the goal of sharing graduate students’ research as soon and as widely as possible, while allowing students to temporarily limit access to their theses and dissertations for such reasons as to support formal publication in journal article or book form or to allow time for filing patents. Below are some examples of how students may wish to use these options to support their publishing or intellectual property-protection goals.

Discussion of Scenarios

• Journal Article Publishing. In recent years graduate students – especially in scientific, medical and technical fields — have increasingly been publishing results of their research in journals.
• The “Research Article” Dissertation. In some disciplines students may be expected to publish 2 or more journal articles during the course of their studies and submit them as the core of their thesis or dissertation — along with an introduction, literature review, and conclusions. Because this has become so common, most journals now permit authors to immediately republish their articles within their theses or dissertations as long as they provide the full article citation and a statement that an article is being “reprinted with permission” of the journal. However, some other journals allow the practice but require that an article not appear on an open access basis before a delay of 6 or 12 months. The Libraries strongly suggests that students become familiar with the policies in place at the journals in which they would like to publish their work, and choose appropriate access restrictions if needed when they submit their ETD’s.
• Book Publishing. Some students in such humanities and social science disciplines as history and political science may hope to publish a revised version of their dissertation as their first book. As they consider that possibility they may be concerned they might undermine their prospects by making their dissertations widely available via ProQuest and/or on an open access basis.Before deciding whether or for how long to limit access to their work based on these concerns, The Libraries recommends students become familiar with the arguments and evidence put forward on these issues. For example, Cirasella and Thistlethwaite 3 and Courtney and Kilcer 4 provide excellent discussions of issues and review recent literature, while William Germano’s classic From Dissertation to Book 5 and Beth Luey’s Revising Your Dissertation 6 offer important insight into what might be involved during the dissertation revision process. While the Libraries recommends that most students hoping to publish their dissertations as books make them widely available while they work toward that goal, they should feel free to consider choosing otherwise, such as “Immediate Access” for ProQuest and limiting to UW for five years – at the end of which students may request additional time.
• Patent Protection Strategies. Students whose theses or dissertations describe work for which patent protection might be appropriate should contact Jesse Kindra at CoMotion ( [email protected] or 206 616-9658) prior to submitting their work to ProQuest and choosing access restrictions. Depending on the circumstances, a student may choose to completely withhold access for one year, but should recognize that doing so will prevent anyone else at the UW from having access to it during the restricted access period. To exercise this option, students should delay releasing their work to ProQuest for 1 or 2 years, and then choose “No access for 1 year, then make Open Access” from the Institutional Repository (IR) Publishing Options menu for the UW copy. In unusual circumstances, requests for access to be withheld an additional year may be considered. To make such a request, students should describe the reason(s) for it in an email to [email protected] prior to expiration of the original embargo period.

1 Marisa L. Ramirez, Joan T. Dalton, Gail McMillan, Max Read and Nancy H. Seamans, “Do Open Access Electronic Theses and Dissertations Diminish Publishing Opportunities in the Social Sciences and Humanities,” College and Research Libraries 74 (July 2013): 368‐80, http://crl.acrl.org/content/74/4/368.full.pdf+html .

2 Marisa Ramirez, Gail McMillan, Joan T. Dalton, Ann Hanlon, Heather S. Smith and Chelsea Kern, “Do Open Access Electronic Theses and Dissertations Diminish Publishing Opportunities in the Sciences?” College and Research Libraries 75 (November 2014): 808-21, http://crl.acrl.org/content/75/6/808.full.pdf+html .

3 Jill Cirasella and Polly Thistlethwaite, “Open Access and the Graduate Author: A Dissertation Anxiety Manual,” pp. 203-224 in Open Access and the Future of Scholarly Communication: Implementation (Kevin L. Smith and Katherine A. Dickson, eds.: Rowman and Littlefield, 2017), http://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_pubs/286/ .

4 Kyle K. Courtney and Emily Kilcer, “From Apprehension to Comprehension: Addressing Anxieties about Open Access to ETD’s,” pp. 225-244 in Open Access and the Future of Scholarly Communication: Implementation (Kevin L. Smith and Katherine A. Dickson, eds.: Rowman and Littlefield, 2017).

5 William Germano. 2013. From Dissertation to Book, 2d. ed. : University of Chicago Press.

6 Beth Luey (ed.). 2008. Revising Your Dissertation: Advice from Leading Editors. University of California Press.

Publishing Agreements

When you submit your ETD for review and publication, you will be required to read and accept two separate publishing agreements. You will also have to decide whether to publish your work right away or to delay its release. Additional pages within this section will outline all the considerations to keep in mind, when deciding how to make your work available to the scholarly community.

All students writing a thesis or dissertation should review the UW Libraries Copyright Research Guide . Understanding copyright law is another critical aspect as you write your thesis or dissertation.  As you compose your work, ask yourself the following questions:

• Have you referenced others’ work? If so, you either need to get explicit permission from the rights holder or to determine that your use is Fair.
• Have you previously published any part of the work? If you’ve signed your copyright over to your publisher, you will need permission to use your material in your thesis.

Ordering Paper Copies

There are no required fees , although you have the option to register your copyright via ProQuest for a fee. If you want to order bound (paper) copies of your document, you may do so through the UW Copy Centers or through ProQuest. Questions should be directed to the UW Copy Centers or to ProQuest at 1.800.521.0600 ext. 77020 — available 8 a.m.–5 p.m. EST, Monday through Friday (excluding U.S. holidays).

Frequently Asked Questions

I created an account in the etd administrator site, but i’m not ready to submit my etd. can i come back to my account later.

Yes. If you need to finish your submission later (for instance, if you need to update your PDF file before uploading it), you can save your information and come back to finish. No information will be lost.

I submitted my ETD but would like to make an edit to the document. How can I edit my submission?

Once your thesis/dissertation is submitted, no additional changes to the document are allowed with the exception of a major data error in the document. In this circumstance, a letter outlining the necessary changes is required from your supervisory committee chair.

What will the Graduate School be reviewing after I submit my ETD?

Submissions are reviewed by GEMS advisors for formatting requirements for the three required sections — title page, copyright page, abstract — before they are delivered to ProQuest for publication. We are checking for accuracy and consistency. Refer to the Formatting Guidelines section on this page for detailed information.

I submitted my ETD and haven't heard anything yet. When will it be reviewed?

We try to review all ETDs as they are received, but if you submit early in the quarter it may not be acted on immediately. If you need to confirm completion of your degree requirements to an external agency or employer, please access the request for letter of certification in the forms section of our Additional Resources page (once your degree has posted to your UW transcript, we can no longer issue this letter). In general, ETDs are reviewed in the last two to three weeks before the quarter ends and after the last day of the quarter. When your submission has been accepted by a GEMS advisor, you will receive email confirmation.

How can I tell if my ETD was submitted and received by the Graduate School?

When your ETD is successfully submitted and pending review, the status will read “submission in review.”

When will my ETD be made available for access?

This depends on the type of access restrictions you selected when creating your account. However, your submission will be delivered to ProQuest for publishing four to six weeks after graduation and you will receive email confirmation when this has occurred. It should be available in UW ResearchWorks around the same time.

When will the printed dissertation / thesis copies I ordered from ProQuest be ready?

After you receive the email confirmation that UW has “delivered” your submission (ETD) to ProQuest, you should please refer to the ProQuest customer service guidelines for the expected delivery date of your order.

What if I am missing a faculty signature for my thesis or dissertation, or I have encountered difficulties in uploading my ETD? Must I pay the graduate registration waiver fee and graduate in the following quarter?

If you encounter these types of situations, contact Graduate Enrollment Management Services (206.685.2630 or  [email protected] ) as early as possible and no later than the last day of the quarter in which you intend to graduate.

Additional Resources

• Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) Guide  (start here!)
• Copyright and Fair Use
• Open Access
• Scholarly Publishing
• ProQuest/UMI Agreement — Traditional Publishing Agreement
• University Agreement — UW Libraries Thesis and Dissertation Submission Agreement
• UW Human Subjects Division (HSD)
• UW CoMotion

Theses and Capstone Projects: Writing your thesis or capstone project report

When a final project includes a written document of some sort, students are expected to follow the appropriate MSOE style guide. There are separate style guides for undergraduate and graduate work.

The applicable style guide can be found here:

• MSOE Graduate Student Documentation and Style Guide For Technical Documents
• MSOE Undergraduate Documentation and Style Guide

Thesis and Capstone Reports

MSOE librarians work closely with graduate students and their advisers during the thesis and capstone report phase of their education. The following resources, documents and information will help you complete your final project.

Graduate Thesis and Capstone Report Format Checks

In compliance with Graduate Programs Council (GPC) Policy 4.3.009, the library is responsible for verifying that all MSOE Graduate Thesis and Capstone Report documents comply with MSOE’s format requirements.

Graduate Thesis and Capstone Report Completion

• Graduate Thesis and Capstone Document Process This document walks through the process of completing a masters thesis or capstone document, including the library publication approval check and other considerations.
• Graduate Thesis and Capstone Publication Approval Form Complete this form and submit it to the library along with the thesis or capstone project to be reviewed.
• MSOE Electronic Thesis and Capstone Project Report Permission Form Use this Form to grant MSOE permission to electronically publish a graduate degree thesis or a graduate degree capstone project report or other independent graduate degree final report or essay.
• Library “Non-Circulation Status” Request Form Complete this from to request access restrictions for a thesis or capstone report.

Personal Thesis/Capstone Bindery Request

The library offers a bindery service for graduate students interested in having copies of their thesis or capstone report bound in a durable, sturdy, and attractive hardcover binding. Students are charged a fee per volume for the service. To request binding of a thesis or capstone report, please send an email to [email protected] .

Electronic Publications at MSOE

• Electronic Publications at MSOE A selection of theses and final capstone project reports completed by graduate students at MSOE that have been approved for electronic dissemination.

MSOE electronic publication provides the broadest possible method of disseminating your work. With electronic publication, the full text of your electronic thesis, capstone project report, or final independent report or essay is freely accessible world-wide on the Internet. Electronic publication of your document typically results in more recognition of your research work, wider dissemination of scholarly information, and acceleration of research.

The MSOE Library invites MSOE graduate students who have completed an approved master's thesis, capstone project report, or other independent final report or essay to submit their work to the MSOE Institutional Repository. In order to participate, graduate students must complete and submit a Permission Form in order to enable MSOE to electronically publish their work.

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Dissertation Advisory Committee; Thesis Acceptance Certificate

The Dissertation Advisory Committee formally approves the dissertation by signing the Thesis Acceptance Certificate . In PhD programs that are not lab-based, this committee also guides the student in writing the dissertation. The committee should work cohesively in supporting the student to produce their best work. The signatures of these faculty members on the Thesis Acceptance Certificate indicate formal acceptance of the student’s scholarly contribution to the field.  

In some fields, especially in the sciences, the Dissertation Advisory Committee described below is known locally as the “Dissertation Defense Committee.” In these programs, a separate additional committee (also called the Dissertation Advisory Committee) that includes the student’s primary advisor, will guide the student’s progress until submission for formal review by the DAC/defense committee. The members of the DAC/defense committee give formal approval to the finished work, but the student’s work will be understood to have occurred under the guidance of the primary advisor. The changes to the DAC/defense committee as described below do not in any way affect the essential structure of dissertation advising that already exists in lab-based PhD programs. 

The following policy applies to every Harvard Griffin GSAS Dissertation Advisory Committee formed on or after July 1, 2024. Any Dissertation Advisory Committee approved before July 1, 2024 is subject to the rules outlined below, see “Grandfathering.”  

Effective July 1, 2024:  

•  The graduate thesis for the PhD shall be accepted, and the Thesis Acceptance Certificate signed, by at least three advisors, who will form the Dissertation Advisory Committee (DAC). At least two members of the committee shall be on-ladder faculty members. 
• In FAS-based programs, the Director of Graduate Studies or Department Chair or Area Chair shall sign off on the proposed committee.  
• For programs based outside the FAS, the Program Head shall sign off. 
• A program may petition the Dean of Harvard Griffin GSAS to consider a variation to the above requirement. 
• A Professor in Residence or Professor of the Practice may serve as a non-chairing member of the DAC, as long as the committee composition is consistent with “1.”  
•  Senior Lecturers and other non-ladder faculty may serve on the DAC as the third member when appropriate, as approved by the Director of Graduate Studies, Department Chair, Area Chair, or Program Head, as long as the committee composition is consistent with “1.” 
• Tenured emeriti faculty members (including research professors) may serve on the DAC. They may co-chair the DAC with a current on-ladder faculty member from the student’s department or program but may not serve as the sole chair. 
• Non-Harvard faculty of equivalent appointment rank to on-ladder faculty at Harvard may serve as one of the non-chairing members of the DAC.  
• A committee with co-chairs shall require a third member, consistent with ”1.” 
• Additional members may be appointed to the DAC, as long as the core three-member committee is consistent with ”1.” 
• They may continue to serve as a committee member if they have moved to another institution with an appointment rank equivalent to on-ladder at Harvard.  
• Or, if they are no longer serving on the DAC (by choice of the student, the student’s program, and/or the departing faculty member), the advisor must be replaced in accordance with ”1.” 
• If the departing faculty member will remain as chair on the DAC, a co-chair must be designated in accordance with “1.” The co-chair may, in this instance, be the Director of Graduate Studies in the student’s program if a faculty member with field expertise is not available to serve in this capacity. 

Please note:

• “On ladder” refers to faculty members with tenure or who are tenure-track. The phrase “on ladder” is generally not used at HMS, but all HMS and HCSPH assistant, associate, and full professors are considered to be “on ladder” according to HMS Faculty Affairs, and, for the purposes of this legislation, may serve on the DAC/defense committee. 
• With regard to paragraph 3.b.ii, and in keeping with the spirit of this legislation, ordinarily a scholar appointed as a College Fellow would not be ready to serve as one of the three core members of the committee. 
• With regard to paragraph 3.b.iv, individuals who do not fit this category (e.g., a scholar holding a non-ladder faculty position at another institution) may sit on the committee as a fourth member, in accordance with paragraph 3.d.  
• On the rare occasion that a situation requires special consideration, programs are advised to consult with the Dean of Harvard Griffin GSAS.  

Grandfathering

Grandfathering, and rules applying to all dissertation advisory committees, regardless of status prior to July 1, 2024:  

For dissertation advisory committees approved before July 1, 2024 under the former policy ( Two signatories must be members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS); FAS emeriti (including research professors) and faculty members from other Schools at Harvard who hold appointments on Harvard Griffin GSAS degree committees are authorized to sign DACs as FAS members. Harvard Griffin GSAS strongly recommends that the chair of the dissertation committee be a member of the FAS. If approved by the department, it is possible to have co-chairs of the dissertation committee as long as one is a member of FAS) , the following rules apply:   

Dissertation Advisory Committees approved prior to July 1, 2024 will be grandfathered, except in two situations:  

• An existing DAC chaired by an individual whose faculty appointment does not meet the requirements of the new rules will need to be adjusted. A co-chair should be designated, with the option of appointing the DGS to serve as co-chair, as allowed in paragraph 3.e.iii;  
• An existing DAC with fewer than three members should be updated, and the new member(s) should be consistent with the new policy.   

Thesis Acceptance Certificate

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Department of Natural Resources Management

M.s. thesis, master of science (ms) in wildlife, aquatic, and wildlands science and management.

We offer two kinds of M.S. programs: thesis and non-thesis .

Thesis M.S.

Thesis Master's students take a preliminary assessment examination (oral or written or both) as early as possible upon beginning graduate work. This examination will serve as the basis for further counseling of the applicant and for the development of the student's program for the M.S. thesis degree plan. Within their first semester, M.S. thesis students must choose, with advice and mutual consent of their major professor, a graduate committee. Thesis students will develop a research proposal for review and approval by their graduate committee and outline a degree plan of proposed coursework that will meet committee, Departmental Graduate Advisor, and Graduate School requirements.

Under supervision of their major professors, thesis M.S. students will define a research problem and write a detailed proposal, including a title, a statement of the problem and rationale for gathering original research data, a statement of objectives including hypotheses to be tested, a review of the literature, and a detailed description of the design, data analysis, and procedures of the study.

Thesis M.S. students must have at least 24 hours of coursework as part of the 36 total hours required for the Master's degree. Course lists are subject to review and approval by the graduate committee and advisor.

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BRET Career Development ASPIRE Program

Graduate leadership institute dissertation enhancement grants.

Posted by Kate Stuart on Thursday, May 9, 2024 in Announcements .

The Russell G. Hamilton Graduate Leadership Institute  provides awards of up to $2000 for research expenses related to student’s dissertation  (previous awardees) .  These grants are designed for PhD Students with outstanding potential to accelerate progress on their research, adding depth or breadth to their work. They are granted on a competitive basis. See full information on their site.

*Due to the gap around the end of the Fiscal Year, applications that include June & July expenses that can be pre-paid (hotels, airfare, registration fees, etc.) will be considers, but recipients must expense those costs by June 14th.

Eligibility

• Preference will be given to Ph.D. candidates engaged in full-time dissertation research.  However, all Ph.D. students in good academic standing are eligible to apply .
• Student must have authorization from their department.
• Students are allowed one GLI Dissertation Enhancement Grant per academic year and they may receive this award no more than twice during their career at Vanderbilt .
• Grants are limited to $2000 and all charges must comply with Vanderbilt  reimbursement policies .
• The GLI reserves the right to award less than the full sum requested by successful applicants, based on the degree of need demonstrated by the proposal and budget, the number of successful applications, and the total available funds.
• These awards are not a substitute for, nor a supplement to, graduate stipends, and they may not be used to fund credit-bearing coursework.
• Award funds will either be provided directly to vendors via the Oracle procurement system, or will be provided to award recipients in the form of reimbursement for  eligible expenses .
• Awards cannot be applied retroactively. No expense incurred before the date the award is issued can be reimbursed.
• Funds may only be used as proposed in the application.
• Proposed research activities must be completed, and expense reports submitted, within the funding period outlined above.
• Applicants MUST be prepared to move forward with the proposed work if awarded a grant.  
• We ask that students be responsible stewards of GLI resources. If the awardee cannot move forward with the proposed work, they must notify the GLI immediately. Recipients who fail to use their funding, barring extenuating circumstances, will be ineligible for future GLI DEGs.

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Beyond the Lab: Data Science

RIT graduate pursues Ph.D. across time zones

Nastaran Nagshineh, center, defended her Ph.D. thesis at RIT in April. Faculty from RIT’s Rochester and Dubai campuses served on her thesis committee and include, from left to right, Kathleen Lamkin-Kennard, Steven Weinstein, Nathaniel Barlow, and David Kofke (a professor at the University at Buffalo). Mohamed Samaha participated remotely and appears on the video screen behind the group and alongside Nagshineh’s picture.

Nastaran Nagshineh is one of the first Ph.D. candidates to bridge RIT’s Rochester and Dubai campuses. Her accomplishment creates a path for future students at the university’s international campuses.

Nagshineh completed her Ph.D. in mathematical modeling while working full time as a mathematics lecturer at RIT Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, teaching as many as five classes a semester. She described her Ph.D. journey as “an exercise in perseverance” due to competing demands and long days. Rochester is eight hours behind Dubai, and the time difference meant many late-night classes and meetings.

“I saw this collaboration as an opportunity, rather than as a challenge, because my primary adviser, Dr. Steven Weinstein (RIT professor of chemical engineering), and my co-adviser, Dr. Mohamed Samaha (RIT Dubai associate professor of mechanical engineering), both have the same area of research interest,” she said. “They both worked toward my success.”

Nagshineh is one of 67 RIT Ph.D. students who defended their thesis this academic year and who will earn their doctorate. RIT awarded 63 Ph.D. degrees in 2023.

In 2020-2021, RIT’s Graduate School met and surpassed the university’s goal of conferring 50 Ph.D. degrees during an academic year. That number will continue to grow as students cycle through the seven new Ph.D. programs that RIT has added since 2017, said Diane Slusarski , dean of RIT’s Graduate School.

Meeting these goals puts RIT on a path toward achieving an “R1,” or research-intensive designation, from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Learning. RIT is currently ranked as an R2 institution . Many factors go into changing a university’s status, including research investment and maintaining a three-year average of 70 Ph.D. degrees awarded per year, according to Slusarski.

“We have met the goals of the strategic plan, and now we look forward to contributing to the research innovation in the future,” Slusarski said. “We want to help the new programs thrive and win national research awards.”

RIT’s emphasis on high-level research is seen in Nagshineh’s Ph.D. work. She applies mathematical modeling to the field of fluid dynamics. Her research has been published in top-tier journals and has gained notice, said Weinstein, her thesis adviser.

Weinstein describes Nagshineh’s accomplishments as “a testament to a fantastic work ethic and commitment” and is inspirational to younger students at Rochester and Dubai.

“The collaboration between RIT Dubai/Rochester has continued,” he said. “Another paper was submitted a few weeks ago with Mohamed Samaha and Nate Barlow (RIT associate professor in the School of Mathematics and Statistics) as co-authors, as well as Cade Reinberger, a younger Ph.D. student in my research group.”

Mathematical modeling is one of RIT’s newer Ph.D. degree programs, and Nagshineh is among its earliest graduates. The program has doubled in size since it began accepting students in 2017, Slusarski said. This past fall, the mathematical modeling program had 35 students, with two graduating this year.

Altogether, RIT has 13 Ph.D. degree programs currently enrolling 438 students, with computing and information sciences accounting for the largest with 117 students. RIT’s other Ph.D. programs include astrophysical sciences and technology , biomedical and chemical engineering , business administration , color science , electrical and computer engineering, imaging science , mechanical and industrial engineering , microsystems engineering , and sustainability .

New programs in cognitive science and physics will launch in the fall.

The growth in RIT graduate education—with more than 3,000 master’s and doctoral students—reflects a demographic change in the student population, Slusarski said. “We have a higher percentage of women in the graduate programs than we have for RIT undergraduate programs.”

RIT’s graduate programs enroll 42 percent women, according to Christie Leone , assistant dean for the Graduate School.

Nagshineh, who also holds an MS in electrical engineering from RIT Dubai, welcomes her role as a mentor to other women students on both campuses.

“As a young woman in an Arabic country, the power of women is often underestimated and undervalued, and I hope to serve as a role model to female students, especially those that question their path,” Nagshineh said.

She plans to continue in her career as a professor and a researcher. “I would like to pursue a research program where I can advise my own students and teach them more deeply.”

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