RESPONSIBILITY FOR PREPARATION AND EVALUATION OF THESES AND DISSERTATIONS

Responsibilities and Evaluation

Preparing and evaluating every thesis is the joint responsibility of the graduate student, the major professor, other members of the graduate advisory committee and the thesis editor of the Graduate School. Communication and interaction among all of these participants is the key to producing a thesis or dissertation of the highest possible quality. All theses and dissertations are to be written in English unless the advisory committee obtains explicit permission of the Graduate Dean, certifies its competence to judge the quality of the thesis and demonstrates that a foreign language is more relevant than English for the purpose of the work.

The Graduate Student's Responsibility

The graduate student is responsible for all aspects of the preparation of the thesis or dissertation and publications based on the thesis or dissertation research, including the following:

1. subject matter and content;
2. organization and format;
3. editorial, linguistic and bibliographic quality;
4. quality of text, illustrations and duplication;
5. quality of data, evidence and logical reasoning presented;
6. preparation of manuscripts based on the thesis or dissertation research for publication in the scholarly literature of the appropriate field.

The Advisory Committee's Responsibility

The chair/co-chair and, to a lesser extent, the other members of the advisory committee are responsible for the following aspects of the thesis or dissertation and the related or associated research experience:

1. approval of the subject matter and methodology of the thesis or dissertation research;
2. approval of the organization, content and format of the thesis or dissertation;
3. review of and comment on drafts of various sections of the thesis or dissertation, including (a) the quality of data and evidence, (b) logical reasoning and (c) the editorial, linguistic and bibliographic quality;
4. evaluation of the thesis or dissertation as a basis for certification that the student has fulfilled the requirements of the degree for which he or she is a candidate;
5. encouragement of and advice to the student and review of manuscripts based on the thesis or dissertation research for publication in the scholarly literature of his or her field.

The Thesis Editor's Responsibility

The thesis editor of the Graduate School is responsible for the following:

1. providing counsel and advice upon request by students and members of advisory committees about the editorial and NCSU required format aspects of thesis and dissertation preparation;
2. checking the final draft of each thesis or dissertation to insure that it has been prepared in conformity with the requirements prescribed in this Guide.

GENERAL PREPARATION AND ORGANIZATION

Although the Graduate School and the advisory committee are a part of the evaluation process, the ultimate responsibility for all aspects of thesis or dissertation preparation remains with the student. The general organization, specific subdivision of the text and the method of documentation must be determined by the student in consultation with the chair/co-chair and other members of the advisory committee. These matters should be addressed in the early stages of the student's consultation. An early decision is especially vital concerning the particular journal, book or style manual to be used as a model or guide in the preparation of the thesis. Selecting a particular journal or book as a model is especially useful when the whole thesis or dissertation or portions of it are planned for publication. It may also be helpful for a student to look at other theses or dissertations that have been prepared in the student's own program area within the last two to three years in order to gain some basic understanding of the organization and placement of the various components.

SOME SUGGESTED MANUALS OF STYLE

The following manuals of style are among those readily available to graduate students and advisory committees at NCSU:

Achtert, Walter S. and Joseph Gibaldi. MLA Style Manual. New York: Modern Language Association, 1985.

AIP Style Manual. Fourth edition. New York: American Institute of Physics, 1990.

Barzun, Jacques and Henry F. Graff. Modern Researcher. Fifth edition. Florida: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1992.

Becker, Howard S. Writing for Social Scientists. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986.

CBE Style Manual. Fifth edition. Bethesda, Maryland: Council of Biology Editors, Inc., 1983.

The Chicago Manual of Style. Thirteenth edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982.

Day, Robert A. How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper. Third edition. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press, 1988.

Dodd, Janet S., Editor.  The ACS Style Guide.  Second Edition.  Washington, D.C:  The American Chemical Society, 1998.

Gibaldi, Joseph and Walter A. Achtert. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. Third edition. New York: Modern Language Association, 1988.

MLA, Editor. System for Checking Usage, Mechanics, Vocabulary and Structure. Raleigh, NC: Academic Software Library (IBM PC Software).

Publication Manual of the APA. Fifth edition. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2001.

Publications Handbook and Style Manual.  Madison, WI:  American Society of Agronomy/Crop Science Society of America, Soil Science Society of America, 1998.

Strunk, William, Jr. and E. B. White. Elements of Style. Third edition. New York: Macmillan, 1979.

Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. Fifth edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.

van Leunen, Mary-Claire. Handbook for Scholars. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

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