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Master’s Capstone: Thesis Option
The master’s thesis provides an opportunity for students to
• Contextualize the thesis/research question by claiming its significance or centrality to the discipline.
• Provide a persuasive rationale for pursuing the thesis by demonstrating a research need or gap.
• Articulate how the paper will address the key question or issue and why the approach is unique or novel.
• Synthesize relevant, appropriate scholarly literature to establish a theoretical framework or central methodology.
• Create an argument that builds logically upon the thesis/hypothesis with research-based, discipline-appropriate supporting facts, evidence, and data.
• Explain the chosen methodology or theory and demonstrate mastery in implementing this method/theory to produce original research.
• Analyze data (whether textual, statistical, qualitative, or other) and demonstrate maturity and sophistication in interpreting, analyzing, and synthesizing information to advance the argument.
• Provide a conclusion that summarizes findings, discusses limitations, and addresses unanswered questions/future research directions.
Beginning the Thesis Project
The capstone thesis course is a 3-credit course that is typically 16 weeks long. The capstone course is intended to be taken only after completing all coursework because of its substantial workload. Students must be 80% complete in their program with a cumulative GPA of 3.000 in order to register for the final program requirement. Students must successfully complete this requirement before the award of a degree. A passing grade
for this course requires a B- (80%) or better on the thesis itself and in the thesis course overall.
The master’s capstone thesis option must have a substantial research component, present an original argument, use proper academic writing conventions, including carefully documented primary and/or secondary sources, and should be at least fifty pages in length.
This page count does NOT include the front and back matter (e.g., table of contents, lists of figures, illustrations and tables, acknowledgment and dedication pages, abstract, end notes pages, bibliography, appendices, etc.).
The thesis option is desirable for those students who wish to focus on specific subject matter or would like to continue their education at a higher level. Students enroll in the course available in the given session and work with the professor on defining a thesis. 15 Programs often encourage or require students to gain approval for their thesis topic before the capstone thesis course to begin preliminary research for the thesis. Students are encouraged to contact program faculty or their Department Chair to discuss thesis topics throughout the program. During the thesis proposal process, the supervising professor may determine that the proposal requires a human subject review by the APUS Institutional Review Board (IRB). If
IRB review is needed; the student will be advised by the professor to complete this process during the initial weeks of the class. The IRB process can take up to one month to complete or longer, depending on the risk level of the study. Note: All theses involving human subjects
must receive IRB approval. More information about the APUS IRB can be found at http://
www.apus.edu/community-scholars/institutional-review-board/.
Thesis Proposal
A formal thesis proposal is required and shall be prepared by the standards
of the academic discipline. The formal proposal must provide a clear and lucid descriiption of
a question or problem and a proposed method for answering it. Capstone thesis faculty
must approve the proposal before students move on to the next stage of the process.
The proposal should explain the question or problem to be investigated and convince the
thesis professor that the question or problem merits investigation. It should show that the
student has read the relevant and recent literature on the subject, and it should contain
citations for academically appropriate resources consulted during the preliminary stages of
research. In general, the thesis proposal should include background information related to
the research topic, purpose, methodology, and analytic procedures to be
used.
Proposal drafting is considered a learning process and helps students avoid oversights and
possible mistakes. The length of the formal proposal varies by discipline and is often 5-10
pages in length (title page not included). For further guidance on the format of the proposal,
see the requirements within the classroom.
Students are expected to work with their professors and must follow all guidance provided in
the course, including submitting all required components of the research process. Students
should not expect to submit a final product at the end of the course without having
completed each stage of the research process as outlined. Professors are not required to
accept theses that have not undergone this review process.
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Preparing the Thesis
Thesis preparation entails a partnership between the student and the professor. The student
and professor will coordinate the process for the student to submit and receive feedback on
drafts of thesis sections. The student is also encouraged to ask other APUS faculty
, professionals and leaders in their field of study to volunteer as thesis readers and provide
feedback on drafts of thesis sections where these faculty members and professionals may
have special expertise. For example, a student’s graduate research methods instructor may
be asked for feedback on the thesis research design.
Notes:
• Self-plagiarism. The student must be careful not to self-plagiarize in their thesis. Self-
plagiarism is “the presentation of one’s own previously published work as new
scholarship.”2 Evidence of academic dishonesty found in a comprehensive exam or
capstone paper will result in a grade of an F for the exam/course.
• Document formatting shall be in strict accordance with the End of Program
Assessment Manual for Research and Academic Excellence (EOP Manual) to ensure
uniformity across the university.
• The citation approach and manuscriipt formatting are established by the program or
school’s officially designated style manual; however, the following are required to
follow the formats shown in the Appendices.
o Title page (required) 3
o University publication license /Copyright Page (required)
o Dedication page (optional)
o Acknowledgements page (optional)
o Abstract of the thesis (required)
• The Table of Contents, List of Tables, and List of Figures should be formatted
according to the program’s or school’s designated style manual with the following
exceptions (see Appendices for examples).
o Dot leaders (periods between words and pages) are required.
o Pages should be left justified.
o Double space between entries.
o Note: Hyperlinking to sections within the thesis can add ease to navigation.
2 Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 2010. 6th ed. Washington, DC: American
Psychological Association, pg. 16. Section 1.10 Plagiarism and Self-Plagiarism elaborates.
3 Papers using APA formatting should not include the running head on the title page.
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• Style manual condensed guides are in the APUS Library in the Writing@APUS
website.
• The thesis must also follow appropriate APUS Library declarations (see
Chapter VII).
• Appropriate stylistic formatting and documentation are the student’s responsibility.
Student papers that do not follow the prescribed style rules will not be accepted and
may delay course grading as well as degree conferral.
Approval of Thesis
Once a final thesis manuscriipt is approved by the thesis professor, it will be graded based
on the standards in the program’s grading rubric on a categorical scale of A through F. A
grade of an A+ (or 96 percent and above) is the equivalent of the comprehensive exam
designation of Passed with Distinction (PWD). Thus, an A+ is only given to those papers that
demonstrate excellence in originality, research, argument, and expression. Any thesis that
receives this grade must be high quality that it is potentially publishable in a
discipline-appropriate scholarly academic journal. Any capstone project/paper awarded a
Passed with distinction must be reviewed and approved by the professor, second reader (if
applicable), Department Chair, school dean, and Research and Academic Excellence before
being included in the APUS University Archives website.
Due this week: Submit the following:
Topic
Thesis statement
Table of contents
This exercise will be worth 5% and is necessary for the you to continue onto the paper development phase of the course.
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