Thesis

1. During the fall and winter terms of the first year of the program, students and their supervisors, in conjunction with the graduate coordinator (GC), should select the committee members of the Thesis Advisory Committee (TAC). It is strongly suggested that the TAC is selected by January of the first year of entry into the program. The GC must approve the TAC in order to ensure an equitable distribution of workload across faculty members. Students need to complete Master's Student Committee Membership/Notice of Change form. 

2. Normally, there will be two or three members of the TAC. TACs must consist of a thesis advisor, who normally will be a full-time faculty member in the PCS department, and one or two other members. Should it be deemed desirable for a person from outside of Laurier to sit on the TAC, this person needs to be approved for graduate faculty status at Laurier by the Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.

3. In the winter term of the first year of study, it is strongly advised that each student will have a minimum of one meeting/term with their TAC, in order that:

• the TAC will be aware of the progress (or lack of progress) of the student; and
• the TAC can provide the student with feedback about their thesis.

These meetings will be recorded on the student’s progress reports that are completed in January and June. Should a TAC not meet with a student each term, an explanation must be provided on the progress report as to why the meeting did not occur. Additionally, in order to keep TAC members apprised of progress during the term, each student will have their TAC sign off on portions of their progress report prior to submission to the graduate administrative assistant (GAA). Note: It is important to note that selection of the TAC and subsequent meetings will be dependent on the progress of each individual student.

4. Ideally, all Master's students should propose their thesis by the end of the first year in the program (August).

5. Once a student is close to proposing, the supervisor should inform the GC and GAA of a range of possible dates. This should occur no less than three weeks prior to the suggested proposal time.

6. The GAA is responsible for:

• Coordinating schedules of the TAC.
• Setting a proposal date, time, and location.
• Booking the room and ensuring that the room has multi-media technology.

7. At least two weeks prior to the proposal, the student should ensure that all members of the TAC receive a copy of the proposal document. An electronic copy of the proposal document should also be sent to the GAA as an office copy. If members of the TAC request a hard copy of the proposal document, the student is responsible for photocopying or printing costs.  

8. Once the date, time, and location are set, the GAA should inform the entire department of the proposal via email. All relevant information should be forwarded in this email, including proposal title, student name, supervisor name, committee members, date, time, and location. 

9. The GC and student should complete Master’s Student – Proposal Approval form.The form is then given to the supervisor, who is responsible for obtaining the signatures of the TAC following the proposal. The form should then be given to the GAA.

10. The GAA is responsible for keeping a copy of the form and proposal for PCS (Physics and Computer Science Department) records.

The Purpose of the Proposal

• To ensure that you are prepared to undertake the work that you are proposing.
• To ensure that the work being proposed is of appropriate scope for MAC-Thesis degree.
• To help guarantee the quality of the MAC -Thesis students as a whole and thus the reputation of the department.

The thesis proposal should contain a detailed statement of the research problem and its significance in terms of its contribution to knowledge and/or practice, a precise account of the methodology or research techniques to be employed, plus an outline of the proposed data analysis procedures to be used. The candidate must present and defend the thesis proposal to their TAC. It is the purpose of the proposal defence to establish the student's level of understanding of the research topic and to ensure that:

• the proposed research design and methodology are consistent with standardized practice in the student's area of study, and
• the methods chosen will enable the student to develop a scholarly piece of research.

The proposal defence should also be seen as an opportunity for the student to receive feedback so that weaknesses can be identified and addressed in preparation for the submission to the appropriate Research Ethics Review Committee.

Key Components of the Thesis Proposal

• An abstract of the proposed work.
• Background information from the literature, including a critical evaluation of previous work.
• A clear statement of the objectives of the proposed research.
• A summary of the methodology to be used in the implementation of the proposal.
• A description of the anticipated results and why they are of interest to the field.
• A detailed quality bibliography/reference list of work related to the proposed thesis research.
• An indication of the contributions to knowledge that should result from the candidate's research.
• A glossary or appendix of terms.

Typical Length and Structure of the Proposal

The length of a proposal often varies depending upon the area of the proposed work and the topic itself. An acceptable guideline is an upper bound of 30 pages in length. It is strongly recommended that the format of the proposal follow the required thesis format style with respect to font, font size, pagination, etc. as outlined in the graduate calendar. Sections to include:

• A title page that includes your proposed thesis title, your name and student number, your advisor(s)’ name(s) and the date of submission.
• An abstract that in one or two paragraphs provides a concise summary of the proposed work.
• A concise statement of the problem that very briefly (one to three sentences) states the problem.
• An introduction that describes the problem area and motivates the need for the proposed work. Previous work related to the proposed study(ies) must also be included. The work that is referenced should be quite extensive, relevant, and recent. It is this section that helps determine whether the candidate is prepared to continue with the proposed work. The related work section should show the student’s breadth and depth of knowledge in the area(s) related to the thesis topic as well as provide the necessary background information for committee members outside the area of study.
• A methods section that indicates the variables to be studied, the particular device or techniques to be employed in such measurement, and a description of the participants.
• A section outlining the data treatment, if necessary (speak with your supervisor). This will include a short outline of how the data will be collected and analyzed. An adequate discussion of the proposed treatment will convince the reader that a valid answer to the stated problem may be forthcoming.
• A detailed quality bibliography or reference list.
• A glossary or appendix of terms.

Note: The written proposal will usually be equivalent to the first two chapters of the final thesis.

Oral Thesis Proposal

Students will present the background information, objectives, hypotheses, and methods of their thesis research in an open and public forum. The oral presentation should take no longer than 15 minutes. The supervisor and TAC must be present. Following the presentation, there will be a minimum of two rounds of questions from the thesis committee. Questions from the audience may be taken following the committee question period. At this point, all members of the audience and the graduate student will be asked to leave while the TAC deliberates.

Completion of the Proposal

Following the oral proposal, the TAC will meet to determine whether the graduate student has satisfactorily proposed their thesis. They will also discuss any changes that may be required. The TAC will complete the Proposal Approval Form if the proposal is deemed satisfactory. If the proposal is not satisfactory, the thesis advisory committee must decide what is the proper course of action for the student (i.e. rewrite of proposal paper, repeat of oral proposal or withdrawal from the program).

Ethical Considerations

It should be noted that graduate students who conduct research on humans or animals must have their research approved by the Wilfrid Laurier University Research Ethics Board (REB) prior to commencing the research.

1. The Thesis Examination Committee (TEC) must consist of all the members of the Thesis Advisory Committee (TAC) and an external examiner who is knowledgeable on the subject of the thesis. The external examiner must be approved by the Graduate Coordinator (GC). Normally, at least one member of the TEC must be from outside of the academic unit/program of the candidate, and this person is typically the external.

2. A minimum of four weeks prior to the defence the supervisor should provide the GC with the name of potential external examiners. The GC and the supervisor has to make sure that the external examiner meets the criteria as follows:

3. A minimum of four weeks* prior to the defence the candidate must provide the TAC with their thesis. The GAA MUST be informed by the candidate the day the TAC receives the document. Normally within 10 business days, the committee will decide whether the thesis is ready to go forward for defence. Students should communicate with their supervisor and internal committee members consistently to determine if any extenuating circumstances (e.g., vacation period, end of term grading) will delay this evaluation timeframe, and to determine a reasonable date for feedback.

*Note: The four week period is only a guideline. At any point during this period, the TAC or the external may determine that the thesis is not ready to go forward.

4. The “Master’s Thesis Defence – Request to schedule oral examination” report must be completed and submitted to the PCS (Physics and Computer Science Department) GC/GAA if the document is ready to go forward (to be obtained from the GAA). Once the form has been signed, the GC/GAA will contact the potential external examiner and determine their availability. If the external examiner is from outside the university, a copy of their CV is required and should be sent to the GC.

5. A minimum of two weeks prior to the defence, the candidate is responsible for ensuring that the supervisor, the defence chair and committee members, external examiner have received a current/updated copy of the thesis. The candidate must also submit an electronic copy of the thesis to the PCS office. If members of the TEC request a hard copy of the thesis, the student is responsible for all photocopying/printing costs.

6. The GC and the GAA ensure that the proposed external examiner receives administrative approval. The GAA arranges for a chairperson for the oral defence, and sets the date and time of the oral defence. The PCS office also ensures that the chairperson receives a copy of the thesis.

7. The GAA is responsible for:

• Coordinating schedules of the TEC.
• Setting a defence date, time and location.
• Booking the room and ensuring that the room has multi-media technology.

8. Within two weeks of sending the thesis document to the external, the GAA will contact the external to determine whether they feel the thesis is ready to move forward for defence. Once the date, time and location are set, and the external examiner has responded indicating the acceptability of the written document, the GAA should inform the entire department of the defence via email. All relevant information should be forwarded in this email, including thesis title, student name, supervisor name, committee members, date, time and location. A reminder of the defence should also be sent out one or two days prior to the defence. 

9. The chair of the defence should receive, prior to the defence, a copy of the Guidelines for Conducting the Thesis Oral Defence, the student’s grades, and the oral exam report. All forms/instructions can be found in the Graduate Academic Calendar.

Additionally the chair of the defence will receive the criteria for Gold Medal of Excellence, which include: normally a minimum overall GPA of 10.5 in coursework, a minimum of A- in any course, majority of TEC must agree that the thesis is outstanding, practicum work (where applicable) is categorized as outstanding by the supervisor.

Process for Gold Medal

1. The defence chair will ask the external to provide their comments/decision regarding the thesis and gold medal.
2. The chair will then ask the TAC members to provide their comments concerning the student.
3. Lastly the chair will ask the supervisor for their comments regarding the gold medal. Prior to this point in time, the supervisor should not provide their thoughts on the matter, unless they do not support the decision of the student being nominated for a gold medal.
4. At no point in time should the chair of the defence provide any recommendations concerning the gold medal. The chair must remain neutral.

After the defence, if the decision category identified a need for revisions of any sort, these will be discussed during the in camera session of the TEC. The chair will record the specific recommendations made by each of the TEC members at that time. Ideally, the chair will submit the changes as is OR type the recommendations made, and subsequently attach the changes to the form and give a copy to the GAA. In some circumstances the supervisor may hand in the changes if they prefer to do so. The chair will also provide a copy of the changes to the advisor (if coming from the Chair) and the student. The student will be required to provide a typed summary of how they addressed each of the changes and have the supervisor sign off on these changes. This summary must be submitted alongside the form and the revised thesis to the GAA. Should this process not be completed, the forms will not be sent to the Graduate Studies Office. The GC will review the submitted changes prior to the documentation being brought to the Graduate Studies Office.

10. Following the defence, the chair of the defence (not the advisor) should return the Master's Thesis/MRP Oral Examination Report to the GAA.

11. If the committee agrees the candidate is Gold Medal worthy, the supervisor writes a letter of support which must be submitted within two working days following the defence to the GAA. The TEC members, the chair, the GAA and the GC are also sent a copy of the letter by the supervisor. Prior to fall convocation (or spring convocation if applicable), one application will be selected by the graduate committee. This application will go forward from the PCS office to FGPS to be considered for the Gold Medal. 

12. The student must make changes to the thesis and then submit a copy to their supervisor for review. A copy of the changes must also be brought to the GAA for the GC to review once the supervisor has signed off on the changes.

13. The supervisor is responsible for ensuring all changes have been made, if the changes are minor. The supervisor will then sign the “Oral Exam Report” which the GAA will have. Once the changes to the thesis have been made and ALL the appropriate signatures have been obtained, the GAA sends a copy of the form (including the Gold Medal letter if applicable), a list of changes, and a copy of the summary of the changes (where applicable) to FGPS.

Thesis Submission Process

The GAA will provide the candidate with the following forms prior to the defence:

• Thesis Non-Exclusive Licence
• Electronic Embargo Request Form
• Scholars Commons Submission Agreement

The final approved document must be uploaded to Scholars Commons@Laurier. Students must not upload their thesis until their supervisor has approved the final document and all paperwork (oral examination report/graduate candidate record and four additional forms) has been sent to FGPS. Instructions on how to upload the thesis can be found on Scholars Commons.

Note: These guidelines are primarily intended for the chair of the defence committee. They are provided here for graduate students' reference.

Guidelines for Conducting the Thesis Oral Defence

The purpose of the oral defence of the master’s thesis is to demonstrate to the members of the TEC that the candidate fully understands the process and outcome of the work and the meaning and significance of the findings in relation to the relevant practice and/or literature of the discipline.

The defence is normally one and a half to two hours duration and is conducted by the chairperson. Any member of the university community is entitled to attend the defence, but the chair has the authority to exclude persons whose conduct disturbs the defence procedures. Non-members of the university community may attend but must receive the permission of the candidate, the thesis advisor, and the chair of the defence.

1. Once all members of the TEC are present and necessary introductions have been made, the chair will ask the candidate and all other attendees to leave the room. The chair will then conduct an in camera meeting to:

• Remind the members that the candidate is being examined on both the written thesis and the oral defence;
• Remind the members of the time frame for the defence (normally 1½ to 2 hours duration);
• Decide in which order members will ask questions--the external examiner is always the first to question the candidate, the committee member from outside the academic unit of the candidate (if there is one) is usually the second to question, and the thesis advisor is usually the last;
• Decide how many rounds of questions (normally, two) will be used before other attendees can ask questions, and decide a rough limit on the number of questions or the time allotted to each member for each round of questions (e.g., two to three questions or 10 minutes per person in each round);
• Agree on any other procedures that might be required for the defence. The chair will then invite the candidate and other attendees back into the room and inform them of the procedures that have been decided upon.

2. The chair will ask the candidate to present an oral summary of the thesis (approximately 20 minutes) to begin the defence.

3. The chair will ask the external examiner to commence the rounds of questioning (in the absence of the external examiner, the chair will ask his or her questions).

4. When the members of the TEC have no further questions, the chair will offer other attendees an opportunity to direct questions to the candidate.

5. Upon the conclusion of all questions, the chair will ask the candidate and others to leave the room. If present, the dean of Graduate Studies, the dean of the candidate’s faculty, the departmental chair, and the graduate coordinator/program director are permitted to stay and observe the “in camera” deliberations of the TEC; however, they may not participate in the discussion except by invitation and they have no vote.

6. The chair will conduct an in camera meeting of the TEC to:

• Summarize the decision categories (see below);
• Review the voting procedures (see below);
• Ask all members, beginning with the external examiner, to summarize their evaluation of the written and oral presentation, indicate their vote, and identify any major and/or minor modifications they would like the candidate to complete before the final draft is submitted;
• Assist the committee to reach consensus both on a final category, the changes that must be completed, who will review the changes, and the date by which the changes should be completed (this information must be noted on the Master's Thesis/MRP Oral Examination Report);
• If the candidate meets criteria for a Medal for Academic Excellence (see criteria, below), discuss whether the candidate is to be nominated (if nominated, the reasons for the recommendation must be recorded on the Master's Thesis/MRP Oral Examination Report).
• Have members of the TEC sign the Master's Thesis/MRP Oral Examination Report.

7. The chair will then invite the candidate back into the room and:

• Inform the candidate of the committee’s decision;
• Offer the TEC members the opportunity to provide feedback to the candidate on both the written thesis and the oral defence;
• Review the revisions that are to be made to the thesis and finalize the time frame for doing so;
• Remind the candidate to report to the Graduate Studies Office to fill out and/or sign the necessary forms (i.e., Theses Non-Exclusive License form, Partial Copyright License form) when submitting the revised final copies of the thesis.

8. The chair should return the Master's Thesis/MRP Oral Examination Report to the appropriate administrative office in the candidate’s academic unit/program. This office should then forward a copy of the form to the Graduate Studies Office.

Procedures for When a TEC Member Cannot Attend the Thesis Defence

It is expected that all members of the TEC will attend the thesis defence, either in person or via teleconference or videoconference. In the unusual event that one member of the TEC knows in advance that he or she cannot attend the defence, he or she must submit a written report, with questions and a preliminary vote (per the decision categories), to the appropriate administrative office within the academic unit/program at least one week before the defence. This office will arrange for the chair or a member of the TAC to read the questions of the absent member during the rounds of questioning in the defence and to share the preliminary vote of the absent member during the “in camera” committee deliberations. Only if the absent member is the external examiner will the preliminary vote count toward the decision. If two or more members of the TEC inform the appropriate administrative office in advance that they cannot attend the oral defence, it may be rescheduled.

In the case of an unexpected absence of the chair or a TEC member, the person who is going to be delayed or who cannot attend must, if possible, telephone the office of the chair of the department or of the program director. If any member of the TEC will be delayed not more than one hour, the department chair’s/program director’s office will inform the TEC chair, the candidate, and the other TEC members that the defence will be delayed for this period of time. If a TEC member is unable to attend, questions to be addressed to the candidate are to be dictated over the telephone, along with a confidential vote (per the decision categories).

If the TEC chair or a TEC member do not appear for the defence and do not contact the department chair’s/program director’s office within one-half hour, or when the department chair’s/program director’s office has been notified of the TEC chair’s or TEC member’s unexpected inability to attend, the following procedures are to be implemented:

1. A representative of the department chair’s/program director’s office will inform the candidate, the chair of the defence, and the TEC of the unexpected absence;
2. If the thesis advisor is unable to attend, another member of the TAC will be appointed as acting advisor by the chair, after an in-camera discussion with members of the TEC;
3. If the chair is unable to attend, the department chair’s/program director’s office will arrange for a replacement within one (1) hour;
4. If the external examiner is unable to attend, the questions and vote of the external examiner will be delivered to the chair, who will represent the external examiner, ask the questions dictated or provided in the report by the external examiner, and share the external examiner’s preliminary vote during the in-camera deliberations (and this vote will count in the determination of a decision);
5. If a member of the TAC is absent, but is able to dictate questions to be addressed to the candidate, the chair will be provided with and ask the member’s questions. The chair will share the absentee member’s preliminary vote during the in-camera deliberations, but this vote will not count in the determination of a decision.

The examination is to be postponed and re-scheduled as soon as possible only if the candidate or two or more members of the TEC do not appear.

Decision Categories for the Thesis Defence

The following are the decision categories that are available to the TEC:

1. Accepted: The thesis is accepted but may require minor typographical and/or minor editorial corrections to be made to the satisfaction of the thesis advisor.
2. Accepted with minor modifications: The thesis requires minor changes in substance or major editorial changes, which are to be made to the satisfaction of members of the examining committee designated by the committee. The examining committee’s report must include a brief outline of the nature of the changes required and must indicate the time by which the changes should be completed. Normally, such changes should be completed within four weeks of the date of the examination.
3. Accepted with major modifications: The thesis requires more substantive changes, but will be acceptable when these changes are made to the satisfaction of those members of the examining committee designated by the committee. The examining committee’s report must include a brief outline of the nature of the changes required, and the date by which the changes are to be completed.
4. Decision deferred: The thesis requires modifications of a substantial nature, the need for which makes the acceptability of the thesis questionable. The examining committee’s report must contain a brief outline of the modifications expected and should indicate the time by which the changes are to be completed. The revised thesis must be resubmitted for re-examination. Normally, the re-examination will follow the same procedures as for the initial submission. Normally, the same examining committee will serve. A decision to defer is open only once for each candidate.
5. Rejected: The thesis and/or defence are not acceptable. The committee must report the reasons for rejection. A candidate whose master’s thesis has been rejected may petition for readmission to write a new thesis or to complete a course work option.

Criteria for Nomination for a Medal for Academic Excellence

The criteria for nominating a candidate for a Medal for Academic Excellence are:

1. Normally, a minimum overall grade point average of 10.5 in course work;
2. Normally, a minimum of A- in any course;
3. The majority of the TEC members, which must include the external examiner, consider the thesis to be outstanding;
4. Practicum work (where applicable) is categorized as outstanding by the practicum supervisor.