Portal:Thesis
From Clemson Engineering Design Applications and Research
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[edit] Writing your Thesis/Dissertation
This is a written document which will fully describe the work involved with your project. It should be written clearly and professionally, providing support via experiments and references for all statements made. It should provide ample background information to allow the reader to become sufficiently aware of the context of the document and communicate clearly the goals, approach, results, and conclusions made throughout the work.
The content of this document is at the discretion of you (the author) and your advisers. They are the ones who must be satisfied in order to sign off on the document.
[edit] Defending your Thesis/Dissertation
Defending a Thesis or Dissertation is a formal presentation which is given by the student to explain publicly the work done and findings from the project. These presentations are typically 30 minutes in length, followed by a 15 minute question and answer session, where the public is free to ask the student about the work. Following that, a private question and answer session between the student and the committee members is had, and has no time limit. This is typically a very exhaustive questioning and discussion about the work that was done pertaining to quality, quantity, and comprehension of the topic. To graduate, the committee must fill out a GS-7 form from the graduate school, marking if the student passed, passed pending revisions, or failed.
[edit] Finishing your Thesis/Dissertation
Depending on the outcome of the Defense, students may need to edit the Thesis/Dissertation in order to satisfy the committee members. Additionally, the document must be in approved university format guidelines prior to uploading for publishing. Clemson University requires that the document be uniformly in 10-12 point font throughout. Consistent use of a single font in the document is also required. Re-formatting the thesis to satisfy both the university and the committee can be a challenging and time consuming task. Do not delay this step, and plan ahead to allow plenty of time for changes.
[edit] Delivering your Thesis/Dissertation
This step in the process is often confusing to students. At this point, the student should have completed all work required by the committee members. Additionally, all revisions to the manuscript need to be completed by this time. The final step towards graduation is to publish the manuscript with the university contracted dissertation publisher, UMI. At this point, the student is required to complete several steps along the way.
- Upload the manuscript
The student has a completed document, approved by the committee, and formatted to suit the university. Convert the final document to a .pdf format. Go to UMI to create an account and upload your document. You will be required to fill out personal information as well as information relating to the work done. Have a copy of the Abstract available as it is also required to be entered separately. UMI is the university contractor for publishing documents. Students must pay to have the document published, $45.00 for a Thesis and $55.00 for a Dissertation. Additionally, the student must decide which "type" of publishing is required. To make matters simple, the options are TR-1, OA-1, TR-2, and OA-2. Selecting either option ending in 2 will delay your graduation. DO NOT SELECT THESE! OA-1 consists of an additional $95.00 fee for access. TR-1 is the general standard and will get the job done nicely. Finally, upload the completed .pdf file of your document and wait for revisions or approval. This typically takes 2 days. You will be emailed with the required changes. Make them and then re-upload the document.
- Determine if copies are desired or required
The University does not require hard copies of the manuscript. However, some departments do require a bound copy. For reference, the Mechanical Engineering department DOES require a copy of the document. It is the responsibility of the student to get the copy, pay for the copy, and deliver it to the department. Additionally, it is customary to give a copy of the document to the advisers on the committee. Plan on purchasing the appropriate amount of copies. Students do not receive a copy of their work by default. It must be purchased. ***Take note***, UMI can provide bound copies, but are $47.00 a copy and are in Green hardback covers. Other means of obtaining physical copies of the document are available, therefore purchasing through UMI is not required, or recommended. Make selections for any copies required and pay via credit card on UMI website.
- Revise formatting to suit publisher
Make the appropriate changes to the format of the document when notified by the university editor. Content of the document cannot be changed at this point. Only format changes such as font, font size, spacing, and margins, etc. are appropriate. When revised, Upload the document again.
- Arrange for printing and binding of finished manuscript
If physical copies are required, several options exist. UMI can provide appropriate copies on the approved "Thesis Paper" and that are bound. Additionally, students can take the document to an independent printer, (Campus Copy Shop at 864-654-3863)and have it printed on the approved paper. Then the printed document must be bound. The printed document can be shipped or delivered to a binding service (National Library Bindery Company of Georgia 770-442-5490) to have it bound. Not using UMI takes more effort but can cost significantly less than their printing services. If independent sources are used, expect the added price of shipping the papers to and from the binder. Expect to spend around $15.00 for about 950 pages shipped, roughly. Also, include a "Cover Page" stating your name, phone number, return shipping address. They will contact you via phone to confirm the final bill before shipping.
For reference, Campus Copy Shop in Clemson, SC can print the pages on university approved "Thesis Paper" for $0.11/page. Additionally, National Library Bindery Company of Georgia can bind the document, in a Black hard cover with Title and author on cover and spine for $17.50/copy. If your document is less than 260 pages, it may be beneficial to allow UMI to print it. However, if the page count is low, doing the work yourself can save some money. Either of these options is suitable to the ME department for acceptance.
Get the document printed, bound, and delivered to the appropriate people. Congrats! You have finished!
