Department of Psychology
Florida State University
REQUIREMENTS CHECKLIST FOR MASTER'S DEGREE
All students obtaining a thesis-type master's degree must complete the following requirements and procedures.
A. Departmental Core Curriculum: Required GPA of 2.75 or better
One statistics course (see departmental Graduate Guidelines for options).
B. Research Apprenticeship: 10 hours/week during the first year of study (register for Supervised Research (PSY 5917) or DIS (PSY 5908) each semester of the first year, as your schedule permits. Note that you may not register for more than 5 credits of PSY 5917 for each degree, i.e., a maximum of 5 for the master’s and 5 for the doctorate).
C. Credit Hours: A minimum of 30 credit hours must be completed with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0. At least 18 of these hours must be taken on a letter grade basis and at least six of these hours must be PSY 5973 (Thesis). Register for at least two credits of PSY 5973 (Thesis) and one credit of PSY 8976 (Thesis Defense) during the term of graduation. Do not register for PSY 8976 a second time if the defense does not occur in the semester in which it was initially planned.
D. Master's Thesis
1. Registration: Register for a minimum of two hours of thesis credits (PSY 5973) each term in which a substantial amount of work is being done on the thesis. A minimum of 6 credits of PSY 5973 is required for the degree. You must register for a minimum of 2 hours of thesis the term in which you graduate (this helps cover the university’s costs for processing the manuscript).
2. Obtain a copy of Guidelines & Requirements for Electronic Theses, Treatises, and Dissertations from http://www.gradstudies.fsu.edu/forms/guidelinesETD.pdf and carefully review it prior to writing the thesis proposal and the final defense manuscript. The FSU Office of Graduate Studies offers workshops; call 644-3500 for a schedule.
3. Thesis Proposal
a. Prior to defense
· Master's Supervisory Committee Form. Submit this form to the department’s Graduate Office (A203G PDB). The supervisory committee is comprised of a minimum of three members; at least one member must be from the student's program area and one from another departmental program area (this member may not be formally affiliated with the student's home program). The committee should be formed no later than the first semester of the second year of study and needs to be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies before the defense.
b. At the end of the proposal defense have the committee sign the following forms that you completed prior to the defense. Submit forms to the department’s Graduate Office.
· Thesis Prospectus/Topic Approval Form, found under "Theses, Treatises & Dissertations" submenu, found on the left-hand side of the screen. Students should access the "GradSpace" webpage and Faculty and Staff should access the "Office of Graduate Studies - Faculty/Staff" webpage.
4. Final thesis defense:
A. At least 14 days prior to the defense
· give all members of the Supervisory Committee a copy of the thesis.
· submit the Defense Announcement Form to the department’s Graduate Office. At that time the Graduate Secretary will announce the defense to the department and will send a copy of the defense announcement to the Office of the Dean of Graduate Studies (408 Westcott).
B. At the end of the defense, have committee members sign the following forms that
you completed prior to the defense. Submit forms to the department’s Graduate Office.
· Signature page using black ink. The department chair and college dean are not required to sign. Submit to the FSU Office of Graduate Studies.
· Admission to Doctoral Program Form
E. Graduation
1. Apply for graduation at the Graduation Section of the Registrar's Office during the first two weeks of the term (see FSU Registration Guide at http://registrar.fsu.edu/ for deadline) in which you expect to receive your degree. If you previously filed for graduation but did not receive the degree, you need to remove your name from the graduation list and apply for next semester’s graduation.
2. Have thesis approved by the Manuscript and Final Clearance Advisor in 408 Westcott.
3. Electronically submit the thesis manuscript and required additional paperwork to the Office of the Dean of Graduate Studies. See http://www.gradstudies.fsu.edu/thesis.html for instructions.
4. Obtain a Final Term Degree Clearance Form found under Theses, Treatises, and Dissertation Forms & Important Documentation (subdirectory final clearance forms) in the "Theses, Treatises & Dissertations" submenu, found on the left-hand side of the screen. Students should access the "GradSpace" webpage and Faculty and Staff should access the "Office of Graduate Studies - Faculty/Staff" webpage and have it approved in the following order: signature of major professor, signature of department's Director of Graduate Studies, stamp from Cashier's office showing all fees (i.e., outstanding fees owed to the university, binding fees for the manuscript, a microfilming fee and, if desired, a copyright fee) have been paid, and the signature of the Office of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (010 LON). Submit the completed form to the FSU Office of Graduate Studies in 408 WES.
NOTES:
Please see the department's Guidelines for the Operation of the Graduate Program, the FSU Graduate Bulletin, and the Guidelines & Requirements for Electronic Theses, Treatises, and Dissertations for further details about requirements. This document is not meant as a replacement for those materials.
7/06