Thesis Requirements

Requirements for the Master's Thesis (Plan I)

In order to select Plan I (thesis option), the student must have completed at least 18 credit hours of graduate courses (toward degree) and have an overall grade point average of 3.50 or better.

Students must prepare a formal thesis while enrolled in CS 6990 for at least 3 credits. No more than 6 hours of CS 6990 may be included in the required total of 30 hours. The following procedure is used to register for CS 6990:

• The student must identify a computer science faculty member who is willing to serve as the thesis advisor.
• The student and the thesis advisor must select two other graduate faculty to serve on the thesis committee. If desired, one member of the committee can be from a department outside computer science.
• The student and the thesis committee must agree on a title for the thesis. All must sign the topic approval form. Instructions and a link to the form can be found on the graduate college forms website.
• If appropriate for the project, the student must obtain approval from the BGSU Human Subjects Review Board.
• The student completes the "Independent Project Registration Form" and has it signed by the thesis advisor. If the project requires departmental computing facilities, the form must also be signed by a member of the department's Facilities Committee.
• The Application/Report form of the Graduate College and the department's Independent Project Registration Form are given to the Graduate Coordinator, who will register the student and forward the Application/Report to the Graduate College.

The above should be done in the semester prior to beginning work on the thesis. (In general, the Application/Report Form should be submitted to the Graduate College approximately 4 1/2 months prior to commencement.)

The Graduate College sends the Thesis Handbook to the graduate student once his/her thesis has been approved. This handbook contains the format and style requirements of the Graduate College and additional hints for manuscript preparation.

The student should communicate with all members of the thesis committee on an ongoing basis while working on his/her thesis.

The thesis will be presented at an open meeting. The thesis advisor and at least one other member of thesis committee and a member of the Graduate Committee must be present at this presentation.

The official University copy of the thesis must be submitted to the Graduate College prior to the announced deadline. In addition, the following forms must be submitted to the Graduate College along with the completed manuscript:

• a copy of the "Thesis Checklist" completed and signed by the student;
• the Application/Report form signed by the thesis committee and the Graduate Coordinator (under "Manuscript Approval" heading)