Preparing the Thesis
Students must successfully complete a research proposal and thesis defense in order to fulfill the thesis requirement. Upon completion of the thesis proposal, students are responsible for obtaining appropriate signatures on the Thesis Proposal Form and submitting the form to their committee chair.
When the thesis defense has been successfully completed, students are responsible
for obtaining appropriate signatures on the Thesis Defense Form and submitting all
related documents and forms to their dean’s office.
Seeking Institutional Review Board Approval
Students who conduct thesis research involving human subjects and/or animal subjects must seek prior approval from the university’s Institutional Review Board (IRB). The appendix of the thesis must include an IRB letter of determination or exemption.
Avoiding Plagiarism and Copyright Infringement
Plagiarism is the use of another person’s work, ideas, results, or words without giving them appropriate credit. Using a quotation, figure, table, photo, graph, or image without a proper citation is plagiarism. Summarizing or paraphrasing a text by changing a few words or altering a sentence without citing the source is plagiarism. Reusing the work you’ve published previously without appropriate citations is also plagiarism. “Additionally, even with proper citations, quoting extensively, using a photo or other digital media, altering a table or figure, or using a survey from a previously published source may be copyright infringement. Copyright infringement is any reproduction, distribution, modification, or public display of a copyrighted work without the permission of the rights holder, usually the publisher.
To avoid plagiarism and copyright infringement, you must use copyrighted material ethically. This means you should use only the amount of copyrighted material necessary to support your argument or research; you must consistently conform to the citation rules of your discipline’s style guide (i.e., APA, Chicago, MLA, Turabian, etc.); and you must seek permission to use copyrighted material as necessary. Your thesis director and librarians are available to assist you with checking copyright permissions and seeking permission to use material. The Speer Writing Center assistants are also available to assist in using your style guide and creating appropriate citations.
Your thesis director, committee members, and/or the Scholarly Commons Librarian reserves the right to check any thesis for plagiarism and copyright infringement.”
Purdue University's Online Writing Lab
Using Copyrighted Material
A thesis includes materials created by others. In some cases, the Fair Use Exception (Section 107 of the Copyright Act) may allow you to include quotes and paraphrasing of text with appropriate citations without permission depending on the purpose of your use, the nature of the work, the amount you use in relation to the work’s whole, and the effect of the use on the value of the work. However, the distinction between fair use and copyright infringement is not clearly defined. In addition to using appropriate citations, students must obtain permission from the author or publisher to quote extensively from copyrighted material or to use copyrighted illustrative material, such as charts, photos, maps, figures, tables, rubrics, or surveys. Contact the publisher of the material to request permission for use. Additionally, retain all documentation, including email, related to these permissions.
Permission for use of copyrighted material is usually granted on condition that special acknowledgment is made. If permission has been granted to use a previously published work within your thesis, it should be disclosed in the Acknowledgments Page and in a “A Note to Reader,” a footnote, or endnote where the work is utilized. The documents granting permission from the publisher must be included as part of the Appendices. If payment is required, students are responsible for compensating the author or publisher.
Whether permission is required or not, you must attribute and cite all sources using your discipline’s style guide (i.e., APA, Chicago, MLA, Turabian, etc.). All illustrative materials, including charts, maps, tables, graphs, and images, directly used from other work must be cited in the figure caption. Photos must include the name of the photographer in the figure caption along with the statement “used with permission,” unless the photo is taken by the thesis author.
Your thesis director and/or Librarians are available to assist you with checking copyright permissions and seeking permission to use material. The Speer Writing Center assistants are also available to assist in using your style guide and creating appropriate citations.
Using Creative Commons Licensed Resources
Students who use resources that have a Creative Commons license should review and
adhere to the license permissions. If you have questions about Creative Commons license agreements, please contact
your advisor or the Scholarly Commons librarian.
Using Restricted Material
The primary intent of the thesis is to communicate the results of students’ research to the scholarly community. For this reason, students’ thesis research should not include any information that is restricted (i.e., any confidential or personal information protected by law or policy). If you have questions about using restricted materials, contact your advisor or Bryan McKinney, associate professor of business law, dean of the Hickingbotham School of Business and Ouachita's general counsel at [email protected].
More Thesis Information
General Information
Format Standards
Submitting Your Thesis
