Graduate School

1
Graduate School

• More in-depth than at the undergraduate level
• Expectations of faculty are greater
• 1. More initiative
• 2. More reading
• 3. Use of journals
• 4. Being able to review the literature

2
Graduate school

• Carefully following all instructions
• Using APA style
• Purchase the APA Manual, 5th edition
• It is particularly important to use APA style for
  the internship or thesis
• Dressing appropriately for presentations

3
Required courses and Independent Studies

• No substitutions for required courses
• Limit on independent studies
• Remember that a course has 45 contact hours, and
  that a student should spend 2 hours for every
  hour in the classroom
• This means that an independent study should
  entail a MINIMUM of 135 hours, and likely more
  for a good grade

4
Independent studies

• A student doing an independent study should have
  a plan before getting permission to enroll, and
  be able to account for how those minimum 135
  hours are to be spent.

5
Initial Study Plans Applications for Candidacy

• A student should do an initial study plan during
  the first semester.
• After completing 9 hours he/she should fill out
  an application for candidacy
• A person may easily change the initial study plan
• If the student deviates from the application for
  candidacy form, other forms must be completed

6
Internships and Theses

• Which one?
• Your career goals influence your decision
• 1. If you have little work experience in the
  field, and do not ever plan to get a doctorate,
  an internship might be your choice
• 2. If you think you might go on for a doctorate,
  you should do a thesis

7
Guidelines for internships and theses

• The graduate school has developed guidelines for
  theses and internships, posted on their website.
  These must be carefully followed
• The department also has procedures and
  guidelines. These must be carefully followed
• http//www5.semo.edu/criminal
• Click on programs and then on M.S. in Criminal
  Justice

8
Guidelines

• There are procedures and guidelines for
  internships and thesis proposal and the thesis,
  as well as information about courses
• Generally these papers take about 2 semesters to
  complete
• DO NOT plan on graduating in a particular semester

9
Thesis Internship

• DO NOT make life-altering plans contingent on
  graduating in a particular semester
• DO NOT make promises to employers as to when you
  will graduate
• Graduate students everywhere routinely tend to
  underestimate the amount of time needed to
  complete these projects

10
Theses and internships

• The poorer the quality of the work, the longer it
  will take for faculty to make corrections
• If the guidelines are followed, then the process
  will go more quickly and smoothly
• Following committee suggestions to the letter
  will also make the process move more quickly

11
Theses Internships

• Do not pick and choose among the recommendations
  made by the committee
• Do all of them
• A few students have appealed to the Graduate
  Dean, trying to persuade him to override
  committee decisions
• This has not been successful

12
Theses Internships

• In fact, the Graduate School has sometimes
  rejected theses that have been approved by the
  committee