Guidelines for (1) Academic, (2) Thesis and Final Oral Exam, and (3) Comprehensive Exam Procedures are given below.
Comprehensive Exam Procedure and Guidelines:
The guidelines for the written and oral portions of the Comprehensive Exam are provided here.
Academic Guidelines:
An incomplete list of the academic requirements and due dates are as follows
(see guidelines below for details and also the Forms website):
Core Course Requirement:
- MSE 505 Bonding and Structure of Materials
- MSE 508 Solid State Thermodynamics
- MSE 518 Phase Transformations and Kinetics
- PHYS 515 Solid State Physics
- PHYS 523 Physical Methods of Materials Characterization
Requirements & Due Dates:
1. At the beginning of the 2nd semester, the student must meet with their research advisor and complete Program Development Form (see: Forms webpage). The form must conform to the following format:
- Core Course (add credit subtotal)
- Elective courses (add credit subtotal)
- Thesis credit (only 6 credits)
- Total number of credits
2. Supervisory Committee Appointment form (MS students only; see: Forms webpage) – All MS graduate students should work with their advisor to fill out the Supervisory Committee Appointment form before, and certainly no later than, the Application for Admission to Candidacy for Graduate Degree is submitted.
Note: The supervisory committee will include a major advisor who serves as chair and at least two additional members appointed such that the committee contains a representative from the College of Engineering and from the College of Arts and Sciences. The role of the supervisory committee is to guide the student in all aspects of his or her graduate study.
3. Student must have submitted an Application for Admission to Candidacy form (see: Forms webpage). A student may apply for admission to candidacy after completion of all MSE core courses (MSE 505, MSE 508, MSE 518, PHYS 515, PHYS 523). The form must be submitted no later than the semester prior to the semester of graduation (see exact deadlines in the academic calendar). A student must first be admitted to candidacy before scheduling or participating in a final oral or written examination. A properly completed Admission to Candidacy form includes the exact final list of courses that are to be applied to meet the credit requirements of the graduate degree program and organized in the following manner.
- Core Course (add credit subtotal)
- Elective courses (add credit subtotal)
- Thesis credit (only 6 credits)
- Total number of credits
Note: If the student is substituting a course for one of the core courses, the student and the student’s advisor must submit a Request for Adjustment of Academic Requirements (see: Forms webpage) detailing the substitution and submit it with the Application for Admission to Candidacy form.
4. Successfully completed the core courses with appropriate grades
- MSE 505 Bonding and Structure of Materials
- MSE 508 Solid State Thermodynamics
- MSE 518 Phase Transformations and Kinetics
- PHYS 515 Solid State Physics
- PHYS 523 Physical Methods of Materials Characterization
5. Register for MSE 600 and request a permission number
6. The written exam will be given the Wednesday of the 5th week of each semester
7. The oral exam will be given the Wednesday of the 7th week of each semester
Again, please see the Forms webpage and the guidelines below for complete details.
Thesis and Final Oral Exam Guidelines:
A thesis documents original research or creative activity carried out by a student enrolled in a master’s program. A research thesis is characterized by a clearly stated proposition or hypothesis that is investigated using analysis and synthesis of data or other scholarly evidence; the thesis must include a discussion of the relevant literature and demonstrate the ability of the student to independently and successfully address a significant intellectual problem with concepts and methods that are accepted in the major field of study. A creative thesis includes works of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction and is associated with the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program.
Thesis Proposal: A thesis proposal must be approved in advance by the supervisory committee. The thesis proposal presents the background, objectives, scope, methods, and time lines of the thesis research. Substantive work done by the student prior to the appointment of the Supervisory Committee or work represented by credit other than 593 Thesis (such as 596 Independent Study and 696 Directed Research) is not acceptable for the thesis under any conditions.
Final Oral Examination (Thesis Defense):
1. A minimum of 2.5 weeks prior to the final oral examination, the student must submit following information to the Department Administrative Management Assistant (Brittany Archuleta) AND the Graduate Coordinator: title, date, time, location, student name, name of research advisor, name and affiliation of committee members, and 150 word abstract of the oral presentation. The Graduate Coordinator must submit this information to the Graduate College or the student cannot defend.
Include the following information:
Student:
Title:
Advisor: (please include title & affiliation)
Committee : (please include title & affiliation)
Graduate Program:
Date:
Time:
Location: (building & room number)
Abstract: (no more than 150 words)
Graduate College defense notices may be found at: http://gradcoll.boisestate.edu/defenses/
2. The Final Oral Exam is a public event. Hence, the student must ensure that a flyer with the student’s thesis defense title, date, time, location, student name, name of research advisor, name and affiliation of committee members, and 150 word abstract of the oral presentation is emailed as an announcement to the department faculty and staff hard copies are distributed about the buildings of the College of Engineering.
3. The student must reserve a room for the thesis defense well in advance and the room must hold at least 30 people.
Final Thesis Approvals and Procedures: The thesis in final form must conform to the standards of the Graduate College as determined by the thesis and dissertation editor. Because the thesis is expected to be available to other scholars and to the general public, the entire thesis must be archived in the university library. The student should refer to Preparation and Submission of Theses, Projects, and Dissertations in the Graduate Academic Regulations section.
Registration for Thesis Credit: A master’s student who is engaged in thesis activity during any semester or term, including the semester or term of the final oral examination and the semester or term in which the two archival copies of the thesis are submitted to the Graduate College, must register for at least one credit of 593 Thesis, regardless of the number of 593 Thesis credits already accumulated by the student.
Satisfactory Completion of Culminating Activity – Thesis Grading: Satisfactory completion of a culminating activity (or part of a culminating activity) is normally recorded by a grade in a graduate course set up specifically for that purpose (e.g., MSE 593 Thesis); hence, this action REPLACES the Culminating Activity Form which is no longer required. All 593 Thesis credits are graded in progress (IP) until a final grade of either pass (P) or fail (F) is assigned by the academic unit responsible for the program. A grade of pass (P) is assigned to all 593 credits if the final oral examination is passed, the thesis in final form is fully approved, and the student has met all procedural requirements related to the thesis. A grade of fail (F) is assigned to all 593 credits if the student fails the final oral examination.
Preparation and Submission of Thesis:
A student must follow the publication standards of the Graduate College for dissertations and theses as given in a manual entitled Standards for Preparation of Dissertations, Theses, and Projects in the Graduate College (available in the Boise State University Bookstore). Academic units may also choose these standards on a programmatic basis for the format and archival of master’s projects (see Project in the Regulations for Master’s Programs section). A student should consult with the chair of his or her supervisory committee or his or her advisor on matters of form and style such as abbreviations, figures, tables, footnotes, references, and bibliography. Many academic units have adopted a style manual that is appropriate to the major field of study. The final draft of a dissertation or thesis (or project if required to meet Graduate College standards by the academic unit) must be reviewed by the dissertation and thesis editor of the Graduate College. Documents that do not conform to the standards of the Graduate College will be returned to the student. When the document is fully approved by the editor, the student must provide two archival copies to be retained by the university that are printed on 25% cotton fiber paper. Receipt of these copies in the Graduate College must occur no later than the deadline published in the academic calendar (about five weeks before the expected date of graduation). The academic unit may also require the student to provide a fully approved archival copy on 25% cotton fiber paper.
Before the Graduate Student’s Last Semester:
- Apply for your degree via BroncoWeb
- late January for May graduation
- early June for August graduation
- or, late August for December graduation
(see catalog for exact date)
Note: Graduate students must be enrolled at Boise State during the semester they graduate.Typically, students address this obligation in several ways:
- one credit of Thesis, MSE 593, for an MS student defending their Thesis,
- Masters comprehensive exam, MSE 600, for an M.Engr. student, or
- one credit of dissertation, MSE 693, for doctoral students
Maximum Duration in Graduate School:
Students are allowed 7 years to complete MS/MEngr degree requirements. Coursework older than 7 years cannot be applied towards a Master’s degree unless there are special circumstances and a waiver of the rules is provided by the Graduate College (the student must petition the Graduate College).