Final Orals and Submission
The purpose of final orals is to obtain the approval of your committee on the content of your thesis. The meeting is scheduled after all members are satisfied that your thesis draft (including a 150-word Abstract – the 150-word limit comes from the university) is complete. You are encouraged to have orals on a final draft (not the perfect professionally or self typed end-product), since changes of some kind will probably be requested.
Announce final orals just as you did preliminary orals, except that you are now reporting results (in the past tense: “did”) rather than plans (in the future tense: “will”). If you’re hiring a typist (usually someone to format your manuscript, rather than “type”), have him or her produce the signature sheet so the printing matches. It is your responsibility to reserve a room for final orals (again, through the Psychology Dept. front office staff: 562-985-5001).
Usually the final oral/thesis defense meeting begins with a presentation by the student on the results of the study, with emphasis on findings and interpretation. This is followed by discussion among the committee members and the student. Committee members may make specific suggestions for changes in your thesis, even at this time. Be sure you agree with and understand these suggestions, because you will have to make them before final approval is granted. However, do not hesitate to discuss fully any changes you don’t understand or agree with.
The Signature Approvals are now submitted via DocuSign. Please follow the instructions provided by the Thesis Office, meeting the deadlines above. (The CLA Director of Graduate Studies must sign prior to submitting to the Thesis Office – please submit a electronic (PDF) final copy of your thesis via email to the College of Liberal Arts office at least ten days before the thesis submission deadline (see deadlines above): Sarah.Schrank@csulb.edu)
After you have final orals and have made any required changes to your thesis, you are ready to have it prepared for submission to the designated CLA Director of Graduate Studies by their deadline. You may either prepare the thesis yourself or have a professional typist prepare it for you (give to typist on disk). Thesis typists’ “advertising” is posted on the department web site. Remember, you are hiring this person — feel free to ask questions and shop around. You are the client.
If you choose to prepare the thesis yourself, it would be a good idea to contact the University Thesis Office or visit their web site prior to beginning to make sure you are sufficiently informed of the requirements. Most importantly, be sure to get the Format Manual for Theses and Dissertations and read it! It is available on-line via the campus library, as a PDF document.
A Title Page is a required part of the thesis; the thesis title, program name, Committee Members’ and Director of Graduate Studies’ names, student author’s name, college degree(s) earned, and the master’s degree’s graduation month and year comprise this page. A formatted PDF version is available through the University Thesis Guidelines; a Word document template is available by clicking here.
Please list your program using the following:
MAPR:
Master of Arts in Psychology
Psychological Research
MSHF:
Master of Science in Psychology
Human Factors Psychology
MSIO:
Master of Science in Psychology
Industrial/Organizational Psychology
The Thesis and Dissertation Office also has templates for the Title Page, Signature Page and Table of Contents, linked from this page. Also provided are formatting resources, including “Page Order” and “How to Set Up Table of Contents.”
The official master copy for submission is prepared. For more details on the actual preparation, please see the university Thesis and Dissertation Office’s Format Manual mentioned above. Submission and completion deadlines are announced in advance on the Thesis and Dissertation Office’s web site. However, the CLA Director of Graduate Studies' deadline will predate the Thesis Office's deadline, so this would be your target deadline.
After your Thesis Committee approves your thesis, have them sign the Signature sheet via DocuSign (you’ll need their email addresses to set this up).
Email the final, university-formatted version of your thesis manuscript, converted to PDF, to Dr. Schrank, by the deadlines listed on the CLA Thesis Information page.
The Thesis and Dissertation Office will send you an email within one day after your Approval/Signature sheet submission (after the CLA Director of Graduate Studies signs via DocuSign), with instructions on how to submit your thesis manuscript electronically (as PDF) – this must be done within business five days – a timeline for thesis submission may be found on the Thesis Office’s web site. You will be required to pay the associated thesis fee of $95 at the time your manuscript is uploaded. (This submission procedure has reduced the cost of thesis publication in half, or sometimes more.)
The Thesis and Dissertation Office will evaluate your manuscript and notify you of needed formatting corrections (if any, and there usually are some) within 4 weeks of uploading your thesis (up to 6 weeks during peak times). You will be given 2 weeks to make corrections and resubmit electronically.
You will be notified if additional corrections are needed. If none are needed at this point, your final PDF will be released to the database company for publication online. An email will be sent to you (copied to your thesis chair, your graduate advisor, and Enrollment Services) to confirm you have fulfilled all thesis requirements. The submission process is complete at that point. Please note: the graduation clearing and posting of degree process will not commence until the early part of the next semester/term. (The Thesis Office has a page with more details regarding the electronic submission procedure here.)