It is important that students and faculty check this website each semester for the latest instructions and guidelines. Failure to submit the thesis as instructed is likely to result in a delay in graduation.
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Required Reading
- SJSU Thesis Guidelines (pdf)
Must be read by all students who plan on submitting a master’s thesis to the Office of Graduate Studies & Research (GS&R). These guidelines are effective Spring 2012. Previous versions of the guidelines no longer apply. The SJSU thesis guidelines also include templates for the introductory pages of your thesis that must be followed.
- Initial Submission Checklist (pdf)
Must be read by all students prior to emailing their thesis to GS&R for initial review.
- Final Submission Checklist (pdf)
Must be read by all students whose thesis has been approved by GS&R and who are ready to upload their final copy to the ETD Administrator.
Required Forms
- Thesis Information Packet (pdf)
Last updated for Spring 2012. All pages must be filled out and included when you initially submit your thesis to GS&R for review. The packet includes the following:
- Thesis Information Form (pdf)
- Thesis Committee Approval Form (pdf) (Must be signed by all your committee members at the time you send your thesis to GS&R)
- SJSU License Agreement
Please fill out the thesis information packet completely. The thesis information packet must be included as a separate attachment when you email your thesis for initial review to GS&R (i.e., do not incorporate the forms into your thesis document), and all committee signatures must be present on the Thesis Committee Approval Form. The Thesis Committee Approval Form serves as evidence that your committee members have all approved your thesis. The thesis itself should only contain a thesis committee page that lists your committee members and follows the template provided in Appendix C of the thesis guidelines.
Digital signatures are accepted from faculty members on the Thesis Committee Approval Form and from the student on the SJSU License Agreement. If you or your committee members do not know how to create a digital signature, hand-written signatures will also be accepted on the forms.
Required Supplementary Documents (when applicable)
- IRB or IACUC Approval Letter (if applicable)
If research for your thesis involves either human or animal subjects, you must provide evidence that you have obtained the appropriate permission before conducting your research and collecting any data. This means getting approval from either:
The SJSU Human Subjects - Institutional Review Board (IRB)
The SJSU Institutional Animal Care & Use Committee (IACUC)
IRB or IACUC approval letters should be included as a separate attachment when you email your thesis for initial review to GS&R.
- Copyright Permissions (if applicable)
If copyrighted material is included in your thesis, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner and provide evidence that such permission was obtained at the time that you submit your thesis to GS&R. Examples of copyrighted material may include any images that are not your own - tables, figures, graphs, photographs, maps - as well as extensive portions of text, such as the reproduction of journal articles. See the following link - Copyright Information - for further guidance.
Sample Permission Letter for Use of Copyrighted Material (pdf)
Template for obtaining permission to reproduce copyrighted material within a thesis.
Copyright permissions should be included as a separate attachment when you email your thesis for initial review to GS&R.
- Style Manual (if applicable)
If the style manual used for preparing your thesis is NOT one of the common style manuals available (MLA, APA, Chicago, Turabian), GS&R requires that you provide a link to the style guide that you used on your thesis information form. If the link cannot be accessed by GS&R reviewers, we will contact you and ask you to provide the style guide in PDF format.
If departmental guidelines were used, they should address all of the stylistic and formatting considerations of a formal paper, including guidance on the proper method for in-text citations; the formatting of bibliographic entries for books, periodicals, and internet sources; and the pertinent elements of document design such as the format of headings vs. subheadings, and the placement and format of visuals within the text.
If you used a journal format to prepare your thesis, please include a link to the instructions for authors along with a link to a sample article on the thesis information form. If a journal format is selected, the thesis should be formatted as journal-ready, as it would appear if published in the journal. Figures and tables, for example, are incorporated into the body of the document after reference is made to them rather than being submitted separately or at the end of the document. Please review theThesis Guidelines for more information about journal formats.
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