Microbiology and Immunology Master's Program (MIMS)
RESOURCES
MS THESIS DEFENSE
Written Thesis
The written thesis must follow the graduate school formatting guidelines attached, but generally the thesis should be divided into 5 chapters –
- Introduction,
- Methods,
- Results,
- Discussion/Conclusions, and
- References.
This follows the format of a typical research paper except that each section is an entire chapter. I have also included two examples from former BSBT-MIM students.
Your written thesis should be provided to your committee at least two weeks prior to the exam date so they may have plenty of time to critically review it. You will have to submit your thesis to the ProQuest database. If there is some thesis work that should not yet be visible to the general public (i.e. pending submission to academic journal or patent application), the “publication” can be embargoed. The decision of whether the thesis is copyrighted and/or embargoed is up to you and your PI. You should have this discussion as soon as possible before your defense.
COMMITTEE MEMBER GUIDANCE
Format:
The format for the defense is similar to that of our PhD programs. The student will present a public seminar (~40-45 minutes) on the thesis research, followed by questions from the audience. The audience will then be dismissed and there will be a private examination of the student by the Committee (~30-60 minutes).
Committee Members Role:
- The Committee may suggest changes needed for the thesis to be acceptable
as well as examining the student on the content of the research.
- Each member of the Committee must sign approval or disapprove of the thesis and the Oral Defense for submission to the Graduate School (Forms will be sent by the Graduate school for signatures using Docusign).
- There should also be the option to pass/approve with conditions, and this typically means that changes are requested in the written document and the committee would like to see these changes before officially passing the student. Often when changes are requested the committee will still pass the student and leave it up to the mentor to ensure the changes are made, but this is up to the committee.
- It is fine to dismiss the student from the room following the private examination to discuss and then bring the student back in to discuss the outcome with them.
Important Reminders:
Please keep in mind that our MS students have had 1-1.5 years in the lab. So expectations of knowledge base and what was accomplished should be commiserate with this time frame.
The thesis document should be set up like a research paper, with each chapter representing the important elements (Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, References). There is no official page requirement and no requirement to have an abundance of positive data. Often students will include negative data, as this provides learning opportunities in synthesizing the results, formulating alternative hypotheses, and generating discussion of next steps and future work.