Graduate Thesis Guidelines
General Information
Thesis Option
The graduate thesis is a report of original research and scholarly work that is shared with the academic community and made available to the public. Upon completion, the thesis and any related addenda become part of the student’s official academic record at Ouachita Baptist University, the library’s university archives and the Ouachita Scholarly Commons digital institutional repository.
These guidelines apply only to students who have selected the thesis option in their degree programs or whose programs require a thesis. They outline thesis responsibilities and provide thesis format standards. Thesis content standards are set by graduate programs.
The graduate thesis at Ouachita may count for up to nine hours of credit toward the master’s degree. View the Graduate Course Catalog for specific policies regarding individual programs.
Thesis Committee
The thesis committee shall consist of at least three faculty: (1) the student’s major professor, advisor or program/department chair who serves as chair of the thesis committee; (2) a Ouachita faculty member from another program/department; and (3) a faculty member in the student’s program or from another university. The student’s advisor or program/department chair must approve of including faculty from other universities.
Responsibilities
Major Office Responsibilities
The written presentation of the student’s research is a reflection on the major professor
as well as the student and the university. It is the major professor’s responsibility
to see that the quality of the written work meets the highest standards. Thesis advisors
also serve as editors for content, originality, style, spelling and grammar. The major
professor may enlist a proofreader and/or digital writing tools to assist with reviewing
these items.
Dean's Office Responsibilities
The dean’s office in the school in which the degree program is housed is responsible
for keeping signed copies of students’ Thesis Proposal Forms, Thesis Defense Forms
and the Theses Approval Forms on file. In addition, a dean’s office official shall
meet with students during their penultimate semester to review the Thesis Checklist
and confirm that the student has addressed or is in the process of addressing items
on the checklist.
Library's Responsibilities
Librarians are available to assist students with formatting problems, citation creation, originality issues, copyright questions and other preparation or submission concerns.
The Scholarly Commons librarian will process digital copies of theses and post them
to Ouachita Scholarly Commons, the university’s online institutional repository. The
Periodicals/Electronic Resources librarian will print and bind one copy of the thesis
for the library’s archives and one copy for the student. The university will assess
a thesis binding fee during a student’s final semester of the program.
Student Responsibilities
Students are responsible for submitting the appropriate forms, writing their theses in the given format with appropriate citations and references, and defending and submitting the final draft.
Required Forms
Use Thesis Checklist to ensure that all forms are completed thoroughly and in the appropriate sequence:
- Thesis Proposal Form
- Thesis Committee Selection Form
- IRB Request for Approval Form (if required)
- Thesis Defense Form
- Plagiarism Check Form
- Thesis Approval Form
- Thesis Embargo Form (if desired)
More Thesis Information
Preparing the Thesis
Format Standards
Submitting Your Thesis
