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Psychology
Mailing Address: Porter 200

Psychology Master's Checklist

Thesis Proposal

Register for thesis hours (PSY 6950).

  • Keep in mind, you cannot go above 35 hours of thesis hours.

Fill out and submit the "Application for Update of Graduate Academic Program [PDF]" form to add the master's degree to your record (DARS) (college-level form).

  • Degree code for clinical students seeking Master's on the way to Ph.D. is "MS4104."
  • Degree code for experimental students seeking Master's on the way to Ph.D. is "MS4103."
    Degree code for Master's of Psychological Science students is "MS4103."
  • Submit this form to Assistant Chair for Graduate Studies.

Fill out the "Request for Master's Thesis Committee [PDF]". Submit this form to the Assistant Chair for Graduate Studies.

  • Department Requirements: Thesis committees must include three members. At least two of the three members must be Tenure-Track psychology faculty, one of whom must be the chair. The third member of the committee may be a Tenure-Track or Instructional faculty member from the Psychology Department or a Tenure-Track faculty member from another department at Ohio University. Exceptions are permitted with the pre-approval of the Assistant Chair of Graduate Studies. Additional committee members (beyond the required three) are also permitted. Once the committee has been formed, its membership should not change. If some need arises for changing the membership, see the Assistant Chair for Graduate Studies. All members of a thesis committee must approve the thesis proposal as well as the completed thesis.

Schedule a date and time that works for you and all Committee members so you can propose your thesis.

  • Submit a copy of your thesis to your committee members at least 14 days prior to your scheduled oral thesis proposal.
  • Take the "Department of Psychology Report of the Thesis Proposal Meeting [PDF]" form with you to your meeting, and have the committee members sign the form after you successfully propose your thesis. And congratulations!
  • Submit this form to Assistant Chair for Graduate Studies..

Note: If forms are approved by appropriate parties, you will not receive word about this approval unless you email Arts & Sciences to verify. You will receive word if there is an issue with any of the forms.

Thesis Defense

Apply for Graduation in the semester you expect to defend your thesis.

  • Go to the Registrar's Graduation site to find the application deadline and information.
  • The deadline to defend the thesis to graduate in a certain semester is usually at the beginning of April of that semester (if spring) or mid-November of that semester (if fall).
  • The deadline to apply for graduation to graduate in a certain semester is usually late February of that semester (if spring) or late September of that semester (if fall).

If you apply for graduation on time, but then miss the defense deadline or another university-related deadline, you will need to reapply for graduation the next semester or the semester you plan to graduate. (There is a reapplication fee.) In addition, you will need to be taking at least one thesis (PSY 6950) hour the semester you actually graduate.

Fill out and submit the TAD Submission Form to TAD services (tad@ohio.edu) at some point before you defend your thesis.

  • Find the form and information at the TAD Services Forms and Templates website. Or retrieve the form from the Advising Center in Porter 206.

At some point before you defend your thesis, email your updated thesis in Word format to TAD services for the "Pre-oral defense document format review."

Fill out and submit the "Arrangements for the Oral Thesis Examination/Dissertation Defense [PDF]" form at least 14 days prior to your scheduled oral thesis defense (college-level form).

  • Submit this form to Assistant Chair for Graduate Studies..
  • Submit a copy of your thesis to your committee members at least 14 days prior to your scheduled oral thesis defense!

Experimental Only: Bring the "Approval of Scholarly Tool" [PDF] (department-level form) to your thesis defense to assure your committee approves the content of your scholarly tool.

  • Submit this form to Assistant Chair for Graduate Studies.

Fill out and submit the "Report on the Oral Thesis Examination/Dissertation Defense [PDF]" form after successfully defending your thesis orally (department & university-level form).

  • Submit this form to Assistant Chair for Graduate Studies.

Email the FINAL post-defense Word file to TAD services.

  • You may need to go back-and-forth with TAD a couple of times to perfect your formatting.

Complete the OhioLINK ETD Center process for submitting your thesis electronically.

  • A TAD email should arrive with instructions.
  • Note: Keep in mind the "Publication Delay Request Form" is an option.

Why request a publication delay? Publication delays are generally requested if students are concerned that placing theses or dissertations online at the Ohio University Libraries or with ProQuest/UMI may restrict their ability to publish derived or exact text from theses or dissertations (in the form of books, articles, poems, or short stories) after graduation. Publication delays are also used if a patent regarding the project is pending.

Confirm that the TAD process is complete. (TAD email should arrive with confirmation.)

Congratulations!