First Semester (prior to or during)

• Consult the graduate liaison of your academic unit for an advisor. Plan your program of study. Check the master’s degree requirements for your academic unit and review the Graduate College Bulletin for enrollment standards.

Preparing for Thesis Work

• No later than the semester in which you plan to start work on your thesis, select a thesis topic and the members of your thesis committee in conjunction with your advisor.
• RESEARCH SUBJECTS: For any research that includes human or vertebrate animal subject involvement of any kind, approval must be obtained from the appropriate office prior to beginning any research. This includes the administration of all surveys and the use of existing data collected on any human or animal subjects. For information about human subject involvement, the IRB web site can be accessed at http://research.ou.edu/irb/default.asp. For information about vertebrate animal subject involvement, the IACUC web site can be accessed at http://iacuc.ou.edu/.  A copy of the approval letter should be submitted to the Graduate College along with the Application for Approval of Master’s Thesis Topic and Committee Membership during the semester before you intend to graduate.

Semester Before Graduating

• Complete the Admission to Candidacy form and the Application for Approval of the Masters Thesis Topic and Committee Membership form.
  
  
  • Obtain both forms from either your academic unit/department or from the Graduate College website at http://gradweb.ou.edu.  Because most master’s degree programs have individualized Admission to Candidacy forms, be sure to locate the form specific to your degree since it will list all degree requirements.  If your master’s degree program does not have an individualized form, please complete the General Candidacy Form from the Graduate College website.
  • Obtain all required signatures from all members of your thesis committee and the graduate liaison of your academic unit/department.
    
    
• Staple the Admission to Candidacy form on top of the Application for Approval of the Masters Thesis Topic and Committee Membership form.  File both forms in the Graduate College at least one semester prior to your final/graduating semester.  See dates below.

• Following your initial enrollment in thesis research (5980), you must enroll in a minimum of two credit hours of thesis research (5980) each semester until your thesis is successfully defended and deposited.

Final Semester

• Complete the Application for Graduation (1/4 page, blue carbon-copy form found in your academic unit/department or in the Graduate College).  Submit it to the Office of Records before the deadline.  See dates below.

• Present a reading copy of your thesis to the members of your thesis committee.  Arrange a defense date, time and location.

• Present an unbound reading copy of your thesis to the Graduate College at least two days prior to the defense.  You will receive your thesis defense packet (Authority Report Form of the Thesis Defense & Graduate Exit Survey) from the Graduate College if all requirements have been met. 
  
  
• Defend your thesis.  NOTE: The Graduate College affords you only one attempt to defend the thesis.  Within 72 hours after the thesis defense, submit the Authority Report Form of the Thesis Defense which must be signed by all committee members. NO EXCEPTIONS for late submission.
  
• Within 60 days after passing the thesis defense, or by the semester deadline (which ever arrives sooner), submit three (3) copies of your thesis (all copies must be in the correct format and signed by all committee members; NO EXCEPTIONS) and the Graduate Exit Survey to the Graduate College.  You will be instructed to deposit the copies to the Bizzell Library Acquisitions Department, then return the signed deposit form to the Graduate College. (Deadlines to graduate in a specific semester are listed in the official class schedule.)

Congratulations!