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Culminating (LIBR289)

LIBR 299. Thesis

The thesis is the other way (besides LIBR 289 e-Portfolios) in which a student may satisfy the University's graduation requirement for a "culminating experience." It is designed to provide an opportunity for those who genuinely enjoy both the discovery of new knowledge and the development of a thoughtfully drafted composition that communicates that knowledge to the information profession.

Only a research thesis (referred to as Plan A in the Graduate Studies and Research's guideline and the University Catalog) is acceptable to meet the School's graduation requirement. The thesis has to be either scholarly research on a topic of significance, action research, or evaluation research that assesses the effectiveness of an information organization/service/program. Plan B and Plan C are not acceptable.

The completion of a thesis is a major undertaking. It represents an organized research effort, where the student makes an original contribution to the field. It may take as many as two or more years, although most theses require about a year to complete and some students have been able to complete it in one term. The thesis typically involves the following steps: (1) developing a thesis proposal in LIBR 285, with possibly additional work done afterward, under the Thesis Chair's supervision, for one additional credit unit of LIBR 298; (2) forming a thesis committee; (3) conducting the investigation and gathering data/materials/evidence; (4) writing up the thesis to document the research and getting it approved by the committee; and (5) filing the thesis with Graduate Studies and Research.

See the LIBR 299 Thesis Student's Checklist [PDF icon PDF: 2 pages]. (Mac users: the links in the PDF require Safari or download the PDF and open with Adobe Reader.)

Graduate Studies and Research Requirements

From Graduate Studies and Research, the student must obtain the current University regulations and directions for thesis development as well as the University's biannual Graduate Bulletin. It is essential that these University procedures be followed.

Use of Human Subjects in Research and IRB

If you are doing human subjects research, you must review the policies and submit forms available at Institutional Review Board (IRB). Human subjects research is defined as "any research in which people are asked to either participate physically or where information is sought through interviews, surveys, or other observation."

Watch a video introduction to the Institutional Review Board

The following video explains the steps: SJSU Institutional Review Board.

SLIS Procedures for LIBR 299

In addition, the student must follow the School's procedures, outlined below.

  1. Students wishing to undertake the development of a thesis must have completed the course LIBR 285 - Research Methods in Library and Information Science. (This requirement may be waived, with the School's Graduate Advisor's approval of a petition, if a student has taken a research methods course and completed a thesis or dissertation prior to his or her admission into the SJSU SLIS program.)
  2. The student must have a fully developed thesis research proposal in place, with a solid literature review and a timetable of research implementation, before attempting to form a Thesis Committee.
  3. The student must identify a faculty member to be the Thesis Chair and secure the faculty member's agreement to serve in that role. The Thesis Chair must be a tenured or tenure-track fulltime faculty member of the School.
  4. Once the Thesis Chair has been selected, the rest of the Thesis Committee should be formed. The committee consists of at least three people (including the Thesis Chair). One of the three must be a tenured fulltime faculty member of the School, a second must be a tenured or a tenure-track fulltime faculty member of the School. The third member may be a faculty member of the School, from another department or university, or a member of the information profession.
  5. The committee's responsibilities are to advise the student regarding research design and methodology, to read drafts of the manuscript, and to eventually approve and sign off on the completed thesis.
  6. Once the committee has been assembled, the student will seek approval of the thesis proposal from the Thesis Committee. The student should expect to revise the proposal, perhaps several times. All suggested revisions of the proposal must be completed to the Committee's satisfaction before approval of the proposal can be granted. Most of the content of the proposal can be turned directly (or with minor revision) into beginning chapters of the thesis.
  7. When the Thesis Committee has approved the proposal, the student is required to file the School's Thesis Approval Form and the proposal with the Office of the Director.
  8. In the semester immediately following the filing of the form, the student will enroll in LIBR 299 Thesis for 3 semester units, to carry out the proposed research and to write up the thesis. Only one semester of enrollment is required, although the student may work on the thesis for more than one semester. A maximum of 6 semester units for LIBR 299 is possible.
  9. The student presents the thesis draft to the Thesis Chair for initial review, with the other committee members reading the draft only after the Thesis Chair's screening. The student should not attempt to submit a finished document before the Thesis Chair and other committee members have had an opportunity to evaluate the work. The student is advised to present each section of the thesis draft to the Thesis Chair as it is completed, instead of submitting the whole thesis draft in one bundle.
  10. If committee members have concerns about any segment of the draft, it is expected that those concerns will be clearly communicated to the student in a timely fashion. The student should expect that revisions will be required.
  11. Once all committee members have approved the content of thesis draft, the draft must be prepared in accordance with Graduate Studies and Research's requirement of style and format, by following its style sheet for manuscript preparation.
  12. At this point, the final thesis draft must be submitted to the Thesis Chair for final checking for consistency in formatting and style;
  13. The student secures approval signatures from the other two committee members first, and then from the Thesis Chair. Their signatures should be obtained on the Signature Page.
  14. The thesis, in its final typed format with signature page, must be presented to the Office of Graduate Studies and Research by a specific date, which varies from semester to semester.
  15. The following form must also be submitted to Graduate Studies and Research:
  16. It is the student's responsibility to follow the procedures and guidelines, and to know the dates and observe them by submitting the thesis, in acceptable format, by the appointed time, and to the appointed place.
  17. All theses must be submitted to the Graduate Studies and Research both in hard copy and in electronic format on a floppy disk, CD, or zip disk. The following file formats are acceptable: Microsoft Word for PC and Mac and WordPerfect. The electronic version does not have to be submitted until the final copies are sent for binding.
  18. A thesis reviewer at Graduate Studies and Research will examine the thesis draft and inform the student of revisions which need to be made.
  19. Once these revisions are completed, prepare the thesis for binding following the thesis checklist given to you by Graduate Studies and Research when your thesis has been approved.

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