M.A. Thesis
Registration
Students must take a total of 6 thesis hours. Students must submit a complete and signed supervisory committee form before requesting hours. Students must be signed up for a minimum of two thesis hours in the term in which they receive their degrees. Students must continue to register for the minimum number of credit hours each semester if receiving a tuition waiver. In the Department of Religion not all tracks of study require an MA thesis. Please consult the description of the tracks for more information.
Major Professors
At the earliest opportunity, the student should follow the convention of the major department or college to identify the major professor, who will serve as the student’s advisor and supervisor. If nine or more semester hours of work are taken in any department other than the major one, these hours may be considered a minor if so desired by the student and by the major department. Designation of the major professor requires the mutual consent of the student, department chair, and professor involved.
Supervisory Committee
A master’s degree supervisory committee must be designated for all thesis students and may be designated for non-thesis or project master’s students at the option of the department. The supervisory committee must consist of a minimum of three members of the faculty who have Graduate Faculty Status, one of whom is designated as the major professor. All additional members of the committee must hold Graduate Faculty Status or (in the case of specialized or non-tenure track faculty) co-doctoral or co-master’s Directive Status. Under special circumstances, persons external to the University may be appointed as Courtesy Faculty with co-doctoral or co-master’s Directive Status and serve on a student’s supervisory committee as an additional member or cochair. The department or college must enter the composition of the supervisory committee into the online Graduate Student Tracking system in a timely manner, but no later than the second week of classes in the semester that the student intends to defend. Only official members of the supervisory committee (i.e., those listed on a student’s committee in the Graduate Student Tracking/GST database) may vote and sign the online Manuscript Signature Form indicating approval of the thesis.
A supervisory committee’s judgments on the quality of a student’s thesis or dissertation should be independent, unbiased, and based solely on the academic merits of the work before them. Any other standard risks a breach of professional ethics or law and undermines the integrity of the process and those involved. Any personal, professional, or financial relationships (e.g. involving the major professor, supervisory committee members, and/or student) that may create the perception of bias in that process must be avoided. Immediate family members, domestic partners and married couples are restricted from serving together on the same supervisory committee in any capacity as this could potentially lead to a perception of bias. For the purposes of this policy, immediate family members are defined as a parent, grandparent, spouse, sibling, child or grandchild by blood, adoption or marriage. Exception requests for extenuating circumstances can be submitted by the unit’s academic dean to the Dean of The Graduate School for consideration. However, for doctoral supervisory committees, under no circumstances can a Committee Chair (or Co-Chair) and University Representative be immediate family members, domestic partners, or a married couple. The University Representative must be drawn from outside the student’s department (as well as outside the student’s degree program for interdisciplinary programs) must be a fully-tenured member of the faculty with Graduate Faculty Status (GFS) and should be free of conflicts of interest with other members of the supervisory committee. Financial conflicts of interest would not include the typical practice of hiring a student on a university assistantship in the home unit but would include the student being hired by the major professor’s private company.
If any such conflict of interest exists, it should be reported by the department chair to the academic dean’s office of the student’s academic unit, who will evaluate the situation for potential harm and take appropriate action. If questions or irregularities arise that cannot be resolved within the academic unit, the dean’s office should contact the Dean of The Graduate School or designee for resolution by submitting an exception request to The Graduate School.
Prospectus
There are no departmental requirements that an M.A. thesis must include a prospectus. The advisor of the thesis may decide that the student should write a prospectus for an M.A. thesis.
Writing a Thesis
The major professor will supervise the student’s thesis. He or she will review drafts as they are completed, will make comments or suggestions, and will approve revisions or request additional changes. It is recommended that students meet with their major professor at least twice a semester to discuss their progress. The major professor will let the student know when the thesis is ready to be shown to the other members of the supervisory committee. For the defense, the student will need to present each committee member with a clean “semi-final” draft of the thesis, usually revised one more time after the committee’s response and defense. It is not considered bad form to consult with committee members after submitting the thesis and before the formal defense.
Thesis
The subject of the thesis must be within the major field and must reveal independent investigation and knowledge of the methods of scholarship. It is the responsibility of the major professor to supervise the preparation of the prospectus and the thesis. The manuscript must be prepared according to the style and form prescribed by the department and must conform to the University requirements regarding format.
A student who enrolls in thesis hours need not be enrolled continuously thereafter in thesis hours if they meet the minimum University requirement for full-time or part-time enrollment through other coursework. A student must be enrolled in a minimum of two thesis hours in the
semester of graduation. The minimum number of thesis hours required for the master’s degree is six. Those with underload permission must register for at least two credit hours of thesis per semester. Underloads must be approved by the student’s academic dean. Before registering for thesis hours, the student must consult the major professor as to the proportion of time to be devoted to thesis work. For thesis-seeking master’s students, after completion of the required coursework and six credit hours of thesis, master’s students must be enrolled for a minimum of three credit hours per semester (of which at least two must be thesis hours) until completion of the degree.
Before writing the thesis, the student should become familiar with the University’s manuscript formatting and clearance requirements. The thesis should be in the hands of the major professor and the examining committee at least two weeks before the date of the oral examination. At the same time, the thesis should be submitted electronically to the Manuscript Clearance Advisor in The Graduate School so that the clearance advisor can provide the student with a critique of the manuscript with respect to The Graduate School’s formatting requirements. Electronic submission instructions can be found on The Graduate School’s website under Thesis, Treatise and Dissertation. At least two weeks prior to the date of the examination, the student will submit an announcement of the thesis title, date, and place of the examination to The Graduate School. The announcement must be submitted electronically on The Graduate School’s Manuscript Clearance Portal and will be posted on the Defense Calendar on The Graduate School’s Web site. Electronic submission instructions can be found on The Graduate School’s website under Thesis, Treatise, and Dissertation.
After approval by the oral examining committee, which includes or may be the same as the supervisory committee, the student should electronically submit the final version of the thesis to the Manuscript Clearance Advisor. The post-defense, final content-approved version of the thesis must be submitted electronically to the Manuscript Clearance Advisor in The Graduate School within sixty days of the defense date or by the semester deadline (whichever is earliest). If the appropriate deadline is missed, the student must be re-examined. Consult the Registration Guide for the manuscript submittal and forms deadline dates.
As a condition of undertaking a thesis master’s program, the student agrees that the completed thesis will be archived in the University Libraries system. The student will make the electronic thesis available for review by other scholars and the general public by selecting an access condition provided by The Graduate School. The electronic thesis also will be archived by ProQuest; the student will select an access condition that concurs with the access condition in the University Libraries system. If the student wishes ProQuest to register the copyright, an additional fee must be paid.
Publication of the thesis through standard media for scholarly work is encouraged.
Examination in Defense of Thesis
The defense of the thesis will be oral. Responsibility for suggesting the time, designating the place, and presiding at the examination rests with the major professor. It is recommended that students defend no later than the eighth week of classes in the semester of intent to graduate. Students must meet all manuscript and online forms deadlines set by The Graduate School in the semester of graduation. Consult the Registration Guide for the manuscript submittal and online forms deadline dates.
Academic courtesy requires that the thesis be submitted to each member of the supervisory committee at least two weeks before the date of the oral examination. At the same time, the thesis should be submitted electronically to the Manuscript Clearance Advisor in The Graduate School so that the clearance advisor can provide the student with a critique of the manuscript with respect to The Graduate School’s formatting requirements.
The supervisory committee, the chair of the major department, and such other members of the faculty as may be appointed by the academic dean will conduct the examination. All members of the graduate faculty are invited to attend. At least two weeks prior to the date of the examination, the student will submit an announcement of the thesis title, date, and place of the examination to The Graduate School. The announcement must be submitted electronically on The Graduate School’s Manuscript Clearance Portal and will be posted on the Defense Calendar on The Graduate School’s website. Electronic submission instructions can be found on The Graduate School’s website under Thesis, Treatise, and Dissertation. All committee members and the student must attend the entire defense in real time, either by being physically present or participating via distance technology. Individual departments may impose stricter requirements on physical attendance, e.g. all members must be physically present. Departments and other degree-granting programs must publicize their policy on defense attendance in their Graduate Student Handbook and in the relevant section of the Graduate Bulletin. If exceptional emergency circumstances, e.g. medical or other emergency situations, prevent the participation of a committee member, then it may be necessary to arrange for an additional appropriately qualified colleague to attend the defense. A minimum of three members with Graduate Faculty Status must participate.
The oral examining committee will certify the results of the examination: passed, failed, or to be reexamined. The report of results following a re-examination must indicate the student either passed or failed. To receive a passing grade, the written thesis must be in the final form or require only minor revisions at the time of the defense. A grade of PASS for the defense of thesis requires at least a majority approval of the committee. Individual departments may impose stricter requirements for what constitutes a grade of PASS. Departments and other degree-granting programs must publicize their policy on this issue in their Graduate Student Handbook and in the relevant section of the Graduate Bulletin. If the student passes, each member must sign the online Manuscript Signature Form to substantiate the results of the defense. The degree cannot be awarded until the required forms have been completed on The Graduate School’s Manuscript Clearance Portal and the final version of the manuscript has been submitted to and approved by the Manuscript Clearance Advisor.
After approval by the oral examining committee and completion of the Final Content Approval Form by their major professor(s), the student should electronically submit the final content-approved version of the thesis to the Manuscript Clearance Advisor. Electronic submission instructions can be found on The Graduate School’s website under Thesis, Treatise and Dissertation. The post-defense, final content-approved version of the thesis must be submitted to the Manuscript Clearance Advisor in The Graduate School within sixty days after the defense date or by the semester deadline (whichever is earliest). If the appropriate deadline is missed, the student must be re-examined. Consult the Registration Guide for the manuscript submission and forms deadline dates.
Special Master of Arts (MA) Requirements
In addition to the requirements listed above, candidates for the Master of Arts (MA) degree must meet the following requirements.
- Proficiency in a foreign language demonstrated by certification by the appropriate language department, or completion of twelve semester hours in a foreign language with an average grade of at least 3.0 (“B”), or four years of a single language in high school.
- Six or more semester hours of graduate credit in one or more of the following fields: art; classical language, literature, and civilization; communication (not to include speech correction); English; history; humanities; modern languages and linguistics; music; philosophy; religion; and theatre.
Dissertation
Major Professor
In the first year of their doctoral program, the student should consult with the professors under whom the student may be interested in working and from whose areas of competency a dissertation topic could be selected. The determination of a PhD student’s dissertation supervisor will be made by the faculty members in their track of study. The dissertation supervisor must have Graduate Faculty Status (GFS) no later than at the time of the thesis defense. The track should establish who a PhD student’s dissertation advisor is no later than the student’s completion of their comprehensive exams. Designation of the major professor requires the mutual consent of the student, department chair, and professor involved. If a doctoral student would like to change their dissertation supervisor, the student should consult with the department’s Director of Graduate Studies to determine the best course of action.
Supervisory Committee
Upon the request of the major professor, the departmental chair will appoint the supervisory committee that will be in charge of the work of the student until the completion of all requirements for the degree. The supervisory committee will consist of a minimum of four members of the faculty who have Graduate Faculty Status, one of whom is the university representative of the faculty. Programs may establish a more stringent policy on supervisory committee membership, but such policies may not conflict with the University policy. For example, a program may choose to stipulate that more than the minimum number of committee members hold Graduate Faculty Status in the program or must be members of the tenure-track faculty. If deemed desirable and not established by policy, it may also be appropriate to include additional members to provide necessary expertise. All additional members of the committee must hold Graduate Faculty Status or (in the case of specialized or non-tenure track faculty) co-doctoral or co-master’s Directive Status. Under special circumstances persons external to the University may be appointed as Courtesy Faculty with co-doctoral or co-master’s Directive Status and serve on a student’s supervisory committee as either an additional member or co-chair. The department or college must enter the composition of the supervisory committee into the online Graduate Student Tracking system in a timely manner, but no later than the second week of classes in the semester that the student intends to defend. Each year, the supervisory committee, the major professor, or the student’s advisor prior to selection of a major professor will assess the progress of the student in writing and will make available copies of the annual review to the student, the departmental chair, and the academic dean. The Dean of The Graduate School, the academic dean, and the chair of the major department may attend committee meetings as nonvoting members. Only official members of the supervisory committee (i.e., those listed on a student’s committee in the Graduate Student Tracking/GST database) may vote and sign the online Manuscript Signature Form indicating approval of the dissertation.
A supervisory committee’s judgments on the quality of a student’s thesis or dissertation should be independent, unbiased, and based solely on the academic merits of the work before them. Any other standard risks a breach of professional ethics or law and undermines the integrity of the process and those involved. Any personal, professional, or financial relationships (e.g. involving the major professor, supervisory committee members, and/or student) that may create the perception of bias in that process must be avoided. Immediate family members, domestic partners and married couples are restricted from serving together on the same supervisory committee in any capacity as this could potentially lead to a perception of bias. For the purposes of this policy, immediate family members are defined as a parent, grandparent, spouse, sibling, child or grandchild by blood, adoption or marriage. Exception requests for extenuating circumstances can be submitted by the unit’s academic dean to the Dean of The Graduate School for consideration. However, for doctoral supervisory committees, under no circumstances can a Committee Chair (or Co-Chair) and University Representative be immediate family members, domestic partners, or a married couple. Financial conflicts of interest would not include the typical practice of hiring a student on a university assistantship in the home unit but would include the student being hired by the major professor’s private company.
If any such conflict of interest exists, it should be reported by the department chair to the academic dean’s office of the student’s academic unit, who will evaluate the situation for potential harm and take appropriate action. If questions or irregularities arise that cannot be resolved within the academic unit, the dean’s office should contact the Dean of The Graduate School or designee for resolution by submitting an exception request to The Graduate School.
University Representative
The University Representative is drawn from outside the student’s department, as well as outside the student’s degree program for interdisciplinary programs. The University representative must be a tenured member of the faculty with Graduate Faculty status and should be free of conflicts of interest with other members of the supervisory committee (see above Supervisory Committee Section). The University representative is responsible for ensuring that the student is treated fairly and equitably in accordance with University, College, and Departmental guidelines and policies, and that decisions made by the supervisory committee reflect the collective judgment of the committee. This responsibility begins with appointment to the supervisory committee and ends with the defense of the dissertation. The University representative should verify that the defense is conducted appropriately, and then submit the online Defense Report to The Graduate School’s Manuscript Clearance Portal within one week of the defense. Content knowledge in the subject of the dissertation is valuable for the University representative, but not required. In addition, the University representative represents the University’s interest and is responsible for ensuring that our doctoral graduates are of high quality. If questions or irregularities arise that cannot be resolved within the college, the University representative should contact the Dean of The Graduate School for resolution.
Time Limit for Completion of Degree Requirements
All requirements for the doctoral degree must be completed within five calendar years from the time the student passes the preliminary examination and is admitted to candidacy. At that point if the student has not finished, they must file for an extension. If the student’s major professor and/or Department Chair does not choose to either approve an Extension Request form or require the student to take the preliminary exam and/or coursework again for readmission to candidacy, then the student may no longer be enrolled in that program or at Florida State University. The Extension Request form may be found at The Graduate School website.
Admission to Candidacy
A student who has passed the preliminary examination and has been certified by the Office of the University Registrar (with an admission to candidacy form) is considered a candidate for the doctoral degree and is eligible to register for dissertation credits.
A student must be admitted to candidacy at least six months prior to the granting of the degree. The purpose of this requirement is to ensure a minimal lapse of time for effective work on the dissertation after acquisition of the basic competence and after delineation of the problem and method of attack. More realistically, the student should expect to spend a year or more of work on the dissertation.
Hours
Students must take a total of 24 dissertation hours. No more than 12 hours may be taken in any one semester; however, students must pass prelims before signing up for dissertation hours. They may retroactively add dissertation hours to the term in which they passed preliminary exams but only if they have passed both parts of the preliminary exam by the seventh week of that semester. After having passed preliminaries, students must sign up for a minimum of two dissertation hours every term until submitting the dissertation. Students must be signed up for a minimum of two hours in the term in which they receive their degrees. Students must continue to register for a minimum of 9 credit hours each semester they receive a tuition waiver.
All requirements for the doctoral degree must be completed within five calendar years from the time in which the student passes the prelim exam or the student’s supervisory committee will require that a new preliminary exam be passed, unless the committee unanimously agrees to extend the time.
Preparing a Prospectus
The prospectus should be a carefully considered statement of the nature and purpose of the intended dissertation. It should lay out the basic project of the dissertation and include an outline of chapters, methodology, and explanation how the dissertation constitutes a new and compelling contribution to research. It should also have a bibliography. The individual tracks will have their own norms and standards regarding the prospectus. This may include a prospectus defense. The student’s major professor and the committee should be convinced by the prospectus that the project is viable. Consult with your major professor for more information.
Dissertation
It is the responsibility of the major professor to supervise the preparation of the prospectus and the dissertation. The manuscript must be prepared according to the style and form prescribed by the department and must conform to the University requirements regarding format. Before writing the dissertation, the student should become familiar with the University’s manuscript formatting and clearance requirements. The dissertation should be in the hands of the major professor and the examining committee at least four weeks before the date of the oral examination. At the same time, the dissertation should be submitted electronically to the Manuscript Clearance Advisor in The Graduate School so that the clearance advisor can provide the student with a critique of the manuscript with respect to the Graduate School’s formatting requirements. Electronic submission instructions can be found on The Graduate School’s website under Thesis, Treatise and Dissertation.
A student who has completed the required coursework, passed the Preliminary Examination and submitted an Admission to Candidacy form to the Office of the Registrar, and continues to use campus facilities and/or receives faculty supervision, but has not been cleared by the Manuscript Clearance office shall include in the required full-time load a minimum of two credit hours of dissertation per semester, including Summer term, until completion of the degree. A student must be enrolled in a minimum of two hours of dissertation in the semester of graduation. Those with underload permission must register for at least two credit hours of dissertation per semester (or term). Underloads must be approved by the student’s academic dean. Before registering for dissertation hours, the student must consult the major professor as to the proportion of time to be devoted to dissertation work.
Prior to degree conferral, all doctoral students must have completed a minimum of twenty-four credit hours of dissertation. Doctoral students, after completion of the preliminary exam and twenty-four credit hours of dissertation, must be enrolled for a minimum of three credit hours per semester (of which at least two must be dissertation hours) until completion of the degree. For more information on the full-time load for doctoral students, see the “Student Course Load” section of this Graduate Bulletin.
For more specific information on final-semester registration, see the section “Registration for Final Term.”
As a condition of undertaking a dissertation program, the student agrees that the completed dissertation will be archived in the University Libraries system. The student will make the electronic dissertation available for review by other scholars and the general public by selecting an access condition provided by The Graduate School.
The Doctoral Defense
Setting up the Defense: Responsibility for suggesting the time, designating the place, and presiding at the examination rests with the major professor. It is recommended that students defend no later than the eighth week of classes in the semester of intent to graduate. Students must meet all manuscript and forms deadlines set by The Graduate School in the semester of graduation. Consult the Registration Guide for the manuscript submittal and forms deadline dates. These dates also are posted on The Graduate School’s site GradSpace under the Manuscript Clearance submenu.
Registration: Students should register at the beginning of their final term for RLG 8985, Dissertation Defense. The reference number is available from the Religion Dept. Graduate Program Assistant, who will also assist with scheduling a room and time for the defense. The defense is a one-time registration. If the student does not defend, he/she will receive an “I” until the dissertation is successfully defended; there is no need to sign up for the defense a second time.
It is the student’s responsibility, in coordination with his/her major professor, to ensure that the defense is scheduled appropriately, so that the student will have enough time to submit the final dissertation before the submission deadline for the semester in which the defense is conducted. The forms required by committee members to sign will be sent to them via email by the Graduate School, if the student has successfully registered for their defense.
Academic courtesy requires that the dissertation be submitted to each member of the supervisory committee at least four weeks before the date of the oral examination. At the same time, the dissertation should be submitted electronically to the Manuscript Clearance Advisor in The Graduate School so that the clearance advisor can provide the student with a critique of the manuscript with respect to The Graduate School’s formatting requirements. Electronic submission instructions can be found on The Graduate School’s website under Thesis, Treatise and Dissertation.
The supervisory committee, the chair of the major department, and such other members of the faculty as may be appointed by the academic dean will conduct the examination. All members of the graduate faculty are invited to attend. At least two weeks prior to the date of the examination, the student will submit an announcement of the dissertation title, date, and place of the examination to The Graduate School. The announcement must be submitted electronically on The Graduate School’s Manuscript Clearance Portal and will be posted on the Defense Calendar on The Graduate School’s Web site. Electronic submission instructions can be found on The Graduate School’s Web site under Thesis, Treatise, and Dissertation.
All committee members and the student must attend the entire defense in real time, either by being physically present or participating via distance technology. Individual departments may impose stricter requirements on physical attendance, e.g., all members must be physically present. Departments and other degree-granting programs must publicize their policy on defense attendance in their Graduate Student Handbook and in the relevant section of the Graduate Bulletin. If exceptional emergency circumstances, e.g. medical or other emergency situations, prevent the participation of a committee member, then it may be necessary to arrange for an additional appropriately qualified colleague to attend the defense. If the University representative is unable to attend in real-time, then a new, appropriately qualified University representative must be selected to attend the defense. A minimum of four members with Graduate Faculty Status must participate.
The oral examining committee will certify the results of the examination: passed, failed, or to be reexamined. The report of results following a re-examination must indicate the student either passed or failed. To receive a passing grade, the written dissertation must be in final form or require only minor revisions at the time of the defense. A grade of PASS for the defense of dissertation requires at least a majority approval of the committee. Individual departments may impose stricter requirements for what constitutes a grade of PASS. Departments and other degree-granting programs must publicize their policy on this issue in their Graduate Student Handbook and in the relevant section of the Graduate Bulletin. If the student passes, each member must sign the online Manuscript Signature Form to substantiate the results of the defense. A written critique of the conduct of the examination in defense of the dissertation should be submitted by the University representative from the graduate faculty to The Graduate School’s Manuscript Clearance Portal within one week after the date of defense.
After approval by the oral examining committee and completion of the Final Content Approval Form by their major professor(s), the student should electronically submit the final content- approved version of the dissertation to the Manuscript Clearance Advisor. Electronic submission instructions can be found on The Graduate School’s Web site under Thesis, Treatise, and Dissertation. The postdefense, final content-approved version of the dissertation must be submitted to the Manuscript Clearance Advisor in The Graduate School within sixty days after the defense date or by the semester deadline (whichever is earliest). If the appropriate deadline is missed, the student must be reexamined. Consult the Registration Guide for the manuscript submission and forms deadline dates.
Publication of Dissertation
As a condition of undertaking a PhD program, the student agrees that the completed dissertation will be archived in the University Libraries system. The student will make the electronic dissertation available for review by other scholars and the general public by selecting an access condition provided by The Graduate School. The electronic dissertation will also be archived by ProQuest; the student will select an access condition that concurs with the access condition in the University Libraries system.
Publication of the dissertation through standard media for scholarly work is encouraged.
Guidelines for Restrictions on the Release of Theses, Dissertations, and Treatises
The free and open dissemination of the results of research conducted at Florida State University is required if the University is to contribute effectively to the education of its students and to the body of human knowledge. Conflicts can develop among the interests of research sponsors, research directors, and the students doing the research. To ensure that the interests of all parties are protected, the following guidelines should be observed.
Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) as well as treatises must be made available in their complete and original format. They cannot be subdivided into chapters and disseminated under different distribution options.
Worldwide Access. Recommended to all of our students. This option makes the ETD freely available worldwide via the FSU ETD Digital Library Repository. It should be noted that some publishers may see a conflict with this level of distribution prior to publication.
Embargoed Access (Twenty–four Months). Recommended to students who have a patent application in process or who want to restrict access to the ETD for a limited amount of time in order to pursue commercial interests or other publication. After the restricted time period, the document will be made freely available through worldwide access (option above).
The maximum delay in the release of a thesis, treatise, or dissertation to the FSU Digital Library Repository and ProQuest shall not exceed twenty-four months from the date the thesis, treatise, or dissertation is approved by The Graduate School. In special circumstance, the Dean of The Graduate School may grant an additional delay of forty-eight months in twenty-four month increments, if the case is made that the delay is in the best interest of all parties or if publication or commercial interest in the document is still ongoing. Such a request must be submitted at least one month prior to the expiration of the original period of delay.
A request for such a delay must be submitted to the Manuscript Clearance Portal by completing the Embargo Request section of the Manuscript Access Agreement Form. This request must be approved in the Manuscript Clearance Portal by the major professor (or co-major professors, if applicable), the Manuscript Clearance Advisor, and the Dean of The Graduate School. The department or program chair, or dean of the relevant college may endorse the request if the major professor is retired, deceased, etc.
It should be recognized that adherence to this policy does not constitute a guarantee that information in the sequestered thesis, treatise, or dissertation will not be disseminated by means other than the written manuscript.
Information about particular access issues related to electronic theses, treatises, and dissertations may be obtained from The Graduate School.
Note: Students should not suffer delays in their normal academic progress, including the final defense of the thesis or dissertation, as a result of a desire to delay release of the thesis or dissertation to the library.
The FSU Digital Library Repository, in cooperation with The Graduate School, may provide restricted access to ETDs at FSU (i.e., Campus Community-Only Access). Students may request that full access to their ETD be limited to people connected to FSU’s network.
Please note that approval for Campus Community-Only Access is not automatic. Students must provide “reasonable justification” for their request. Also, in order to be granted Campus Community-Only Access, students must receive approval from their major professor (or co-major professors, if applicable) on the online Manuscript Access Agreement Form.
Final approval may be granted by the Dean of The Graduate School only after the online Manuscript Access Agreement Form is submitted to The Graduate School’s Manuscript Clearance Portal with appropriate approvals and justification. This online form is reviewed by the Manuscript Clearance Advisor at The Graduate School before being reviewed by the Dean.
Clearance for Degrees
A student should apply for graduation online at my.fsu.edu (under the “Academics” tab) in the term that the student anticipates completing the degree. The application window is available in the academic calendar for the applicable term. If a candidate applied for graduation in a previous term but did not complete the degree, the application for graduation will be carried forward to the subsequent term.
A student’s manuscript must be cleared in order to graduate; however, students also must meet departmental and University requirements before they can graduate. A manuscript is considered cleared if the Manuscript Clearance Advisor has approved the formatting of the manuscript AND all online forms have been completed in the Manuscript Clearance Portal. Students should become familiar with the University’s manuscript formatting and clearance requirements before writing their thesis, dissertation, or treatise. Manuscript Clearance Workshops are also held during each semester. Workshop dates are posted to the Thesis, Treatise, and Dissertation section of The Graduate School Web site, as well as to the University’s calendar of events.
All theses, dissertations, and treatises must be electronically submitted to The Graduate School via the ProQuest ETD Administrator Web site; hard copies or submissions via e-mail or any other electronic method will not be accepted. Students should submit their manuscript to The Graduate School at the same time that the manuscript is submitted to the committee prior to the defense. This initial submission is reviewed by the Manuscript Clearance Advisor, who then provides the student with a reviewed, marked-up copy of the manuscript that shows formatting corrections to be made before submitting the post-defense version of the manuscript. After the defense, students submit the final content-approved version of their manuscript, incorporating changes requested by their committee as well as those requested by the Manuscript Clearance Advisor. Students not meeting these deadlines will be considered graduates of the following semester.
Manuscript clearance deadlines change every semester, and can be found at gradschool.fsu.edu. It is students’ responsibility to abide by all university deadlines in the dissertation process.
Semester Deadlines. Four deadlines are posted per semester as follows:
- Last day to submit doctoral dissertation or treatise for pre-defense (initial) format review
- Last day to submit master’s thesis for pre-defense (initial) format review
- Last day for submission of successfully defended, final content-approved thesis, dissertation, or treatise and completion of all required online forms
- Last day for thesis, dissertation and treatise students to receive an e-mail from Manuscript Clearance confirming final clearance
The relevant pre-defense (initial) format review deadline is the date by which students must submit their manuscript to the Manuscript Clearance Advisor for an initial formatting review. Manuscripts will not be reviewed and counted as an initial submission under the following conditions: not submitted via the ETD Web site; poorly formatted based on The Graduate School guidelines, or otherwise appears “sloppy”; sections omitted; page numbers omitted. While it is understood that content will likely change after the defense, it is expected that manuscripts submitted for the initial format review are at least 90% complete and have been formatted in full accordance with the criteria in the most recent version of The Graduate School’s formatting guidelines.
The final deadline indicates the date by which students must submit the post-defense, final content approved version of their manuscript to ProQuest ETD and ensure completion of all required manuscript clearance forms in The Graduate School’s Manuscript Clearance Portal by 11:59 p.m. ET. Although students cannot complete all forms in the Manuscript Clearance Portal directly, they are ultimately responsible for ensuring their committee has completed the needed approvals. Please note: Additional formatting revisions are often required after this date in order for final manuscript clearance to be completed.
Contact the Manuscript Clearance Advisor (clearance@fsu.edu) for any questions regarding the clearance process.
Policy for Awarding Degrees
Florida State University helps students meet their academic goals by monitoring academic progress toward their degree. If a graduate student has completed their respective degree requirements, the academic dean of the student’s program confirms this, and the student is eligible to be awarded the degree, the University reserves the right to award the degree. Once the degree is awarded, the student must be readmitted to Florida State University in order to enroll in any courses.
Graduate students pursuing dual degrees in different disciplines must obtain formal approval of their academic dean, following established University procedures for such approvals. The student’s degree program, not the major, will appear on the diploma. A list of degree programs is available in the “Academic Degree and Certificate Programs” chapter of this Graduate Bulletin.
Should the University invoke its prerogative to award a degree once a student has completed all stated degree requirements, the student may appeal this decision. If the student can demonstrate that continued enrollment is necessary to achieve his or her academic goals, the appeal may be granted. Reasons such as, but not limited to, desire to continue financial aid, participate in student activities, and access student services do not constitute legitimate academic reasons for appeal. The student’s transcript will reflect both the degree program and the major when degrees are posted.
Any graduate student who wishes to appeal for continued enrollment, thereby postponing graduation, must submit a written request to the student’s academic dean no later than ten class days after being notified that the University is invoking its right to award the degree. This appeal will be reviewed by a committee composed of the student’s primary academic dean the Dean of The Graduate School, and the University Registrar. The committee must find evidence to support the student’s claim of a legitimate academic need in order to grant permission to continue taking courses.
Once a degree has been awarded, all coursework leading to that degree is considered final and not subject to change. “Incomplete” grade changes or any other grade changes should be submitted prior to the posting of the degree. Grade changes or withdrawals for coursework that applies to the awarded degree may be considered only in cases of documented University error or in cases where the courses in question are documented as applying to a degree that is still in progress.
Further information regarding the dissertation, including guidelines on proper formatting of the thesis, can be found on The Graduate School website.