Graduate Thesis Research

Resources for Research

• Map Library
• Field Equipment
• Institute of Geographic Information Science

Thesis Proposals and Defenses

Students are encouraged to attend proposal presentations and thesis defenses.

• Thesis Guidelines at Grad Division
• Theses from Geography and Geographic Information Science

Guidelines for Thesis Proposal Presentations

All graduate students are required to present a proposal of their research for culminating experience to faculty and peers. The philosophy behind this requirement is to provide students with useful feedback in the critical developmental stage of the research experience. No grade is given, just advice and questions to help guide the student through the next step of their research. Students will present a 20 minute synopsis of their research ideas to faculty and fellow graduate students focusing particularly on linking the research to a broader theoretical framework and presenting a methodology design to achieve the specifically stated objectives. This will be followed by 10 minutes for questions and comments.

Proposal presentations take place at the end of each semester and should contain the group of students who have recently filed the Proposal for Culminating Experience (either that or the last semester). Preparation of proposal presentations should be conducted with the guidance of advisors although some guidance on content structure and presentation tips are provided below. A typical structure of the proposal includes:

1. Introduction and background 
   1. Introduction to the nature of the study
   2. Theoretical framework and literature review
   3. Specific research objectives of the proposed study. This may be stated as question(s) or hypothesis(es).
   4. Rationale for research (why is it important?)
2. Methods and materials
   1. Description of study area (pertinent to research objectives)
   2. Detailed description of methods proposed to resolve research objectives
      1. Sampling design (when, where, frequency etc.)
      2. Instruments used
      3. Method(s) of analysis
      4. Sources for error
3. Projected results
   1. What kind of information will your methodological design acquire?
   2. How will you use this information to reach your research objectives?
   3. How will the proposed research contribute to knowledge in the field of study?

General suggestions for a good proposal:

• Make no more than three points in any presentation. People cannot process a lot of information. Make your three points and give supporting evidence.
• Tell us what you tell us, tell us, and then tell us what you told us
• Do not read. Remember that if you do not read your presentation you will be able to include less information.
• Practice your talk and time yourself
• Use props – figures and maps.  They will move you along. Make sure that your props are readable from a distance. Limit handouts – people will read them and not listen to you.
• Have a note pad with you and note down suggestions and comments (whether or not you think they are relevant). This will give the impression that you care about what people say.
• While defending your point of view, be open to other interpretations, particularly at an early stage of your research. If after you have put up a good defense of you position you still find yourself in an attack situation, try to diffuse it by saying that you would like to discuss the matter further after the talk or by noting the point and moving on to the next question.
• Begin by stating the basic research problem and then your specific research question or objectives.
• Anticipate the "so what?" question by saying in a sentence or two why this research is important – not just that we will learn something but why we want to learn it. Are you engaging in a theoretical debate? Attempting to help with policy evaluation? Contributing a new case that will shed light on a little known process?
• Limit the background information in favor of what you will actually do.
• Tell us exactly what you will do and relate it to your questions. How will you answer the question(s) posed? Be careful about where you place emphasis. We do not need a lot of background information – just enough to understand the overall design. If regional context is important – say why in a few words. If your work is methodologically driven – emphasize that. 
• Summarize by bringing us back to the research problem. This could also be a place to answer the so what question. See where it fits best.

Guidelines for publishing thesis work

A good thesis should be publishable, and increasingly graduate students are getting published. But how does this relate to the thesis process? Traditionally, the process of going to journal publication has been done subsequent to defending the thesis, and this remains a suitable option. However, we have found higher rates of success if during the writing of the thesis the needs of the journal are incorporated. Most journal guidelines are compatible with thesis requirements; for example, the citation and reference requirements specified by a journal will almost always be acceptable for a thesis. Probably the biggest formatting difference is that figures are embedded in a thesis, while in a journal they come at the end of the document, with markers in the text to indicate where they will appear.

Whether it's done during or after thesis writing, the steps to follow include (a) identifying the appropriate journal by consultation with your adviser and thesis committee; (b) reviewing past issues of that journal to make sure that it's a good fit, and to get a sense of the kinds of works that journal typically accepts; (c) downloading the 'guide for authors' from the journal of choice; and (d) making the revisions to the document to make it appropriate for the journal. Often the longer literature review common in theses needs to boiled down to the most relevant sources. Sometimes the literature review completed for a thesis rises to the level of a separate review article, so two publications potentially can arise from a single piece of research. Figures must also be carefully chosen and may need modification for printing requirements; the necessity of color should also be considered. 

Co-authors: While not always the case, it's common for a submitted article to be a multi-author work, with the student as first author and the adviser and sometimes other committee members as co-authors. There is no consistent rule for this, as it depends on the nature of participation in the research. As part of developing a research plan, we recommend that a graduate student meet with the thesis committee early in the process to work out roles and develop publication goals. A good way to consider who might be a suitable co-author is to consider the extent to which the individual is involved significantly in at least two of the following parts of the research:

1. Conception of idea and design of study.
2. Actual execution of field work, lab work, or other work necessary to acquire data.
3. Analysis and interpretation of data (including data processing, statistical analysis, analytical map and figure design / production).
4. Actual writing of manuscript.

(Modified from Culliton, BJ (1988), Authorship, data ownership examined.  Science 242 (4879): 658.)