THESIS FORMAT
Guidelines For Masters of Science in Environmental Science Theses and Internship Reports
Department Requirements
Writing a high quality masters thesis or internship report represents the culmination of a great deal of hard
Thesis Preparation
Every student who writes a masters thesis will probably plan to submit that thesis to a journal for publication. We offer our students the option to use a thesis format that closely follows the format for a specific journal pertinent to the field. This will help with the ultimate submission of the manuscript for publication. To use this Journal-Format Thesis the student must first discuss this option with their entire committee, circulating a copy of the approved format to any faculty who will review the thesis including the Dean of Graduate Studies.
A number of students will chose a more conventional scientific format for their thesis. Following this the should represent a thorough account of the work done and include at least five sections: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Literature Cited. The introduction should contain a complete description of the reason the project was undertaken, including pertinent background information. The background information should include a thorough literature review of the topic. Specific objectives should be described in the introduction. The Methods section should include a thorough description of all methodology used to conduct the study. The level of description of the methods used should be adequate for a scientist with basic lab skills to repeat the exact study. The Results section should contain a precise listing of all important results, including statistical analyses used. Raw data, if necessary, should appear in an Appendix. In the Discussion section an extensive discussion of any relevant findings and conclusions, including consideration of the overall importance of the work to the field of study must be present. The Literature Cited section should include bibliographic listings of all literature cited in the text. The format for both the citations in the text, as well as in the Literature Cited section should follow that established in one of the more current editions of the Council of Biology Editors Style Manuals.
Before presenting any thesis to committee members at least two or three drafts of your thesis should have been scrutinized by your major professor. This will insure that the best possible draft of your thesis goes to your committee members. If your committee does not approve of your thesis as presented, additional re-writes and committee meetings may be required, possibly making you miss deadlines for graduating that semester.
Interdisciplinary Theses
Thesis projects concerning environmental education, economics, law, and policy may not involve scientific experiments and data collection. Generally, these interdisciplinary theses should address some unresolved issue or in someway contribute to the intellectual substance of the discipline. The interdisciplinary thesis is not merely a report, and instead must reflect considerable critical thinking and original analysis. The format may vary depending upon the specific discipline the thesis addresses, but in all cases the thesis format must be approved by the entire committee and Dean of Graduate Studies, as required for the Journal-Format Thesis.
The interdisciplinary thesis must be well researched and documented. Citations may be in the form described above for scientific theses, or footnotes or endnotes. The citation form must be approved by the committee and the Dean of Graduate Studies. Before presenting any thesis to committee members at least two or three drafts of your thesis should have been scrutinized by your major professor. This will insure that the best possible draft of your thesis goes to your committee members. If your committee does not approve of your thesis as presented, additional re-writes and committee meetings may be required, possibly making you miss deadlines for graduating that semester.
Internship Report
The internship report should be a detailed account of the experiences gained and the potential role these experiences are expected to play in the future career of the student. The internship report is structured differently from a thesis, mainly due to the lack of a focused research plan. However, the internship report should convey the objectives for doing the internship, the experiences gained during the internship, and discussion of the relevance to the future career of the student. The Literature Cited section should include bibliographic listings of all literature cited in the report. The format for both the citations in the text, as well as in the Literature Cited section should follow that established in one of the more recent editions of the Council of Biology Editors Style Manuals.
Before presenting any internship report to committee members at least two or three drafts of your internship report should have been scrutinized by your major professor. This will insure that the best possible draft of your internship report goes to your committee members. If your committee does not approve of your internship report as presented, additional re-writes and committee meetings may be required, possibly making you miss deadlines for graduating that semester.
