• Will I get a course release for serving as thesis advisor? Will I get a course release for serving as advisor for multiple students?
  • No. Advising a thesis is an Auxiliary Teaching activity.
• How does the thesis committee structure function? How does the role of thesis advisor differ from the roles of other committee members? What, exactly, is the relationship between student and advisor? How does the relationship between student and advisor differ from the student’s relationships with other committee members? How much influence might other committee members have on the student’s project? Are the answers to these questions clearly articulated to the student? How?
  • While there is no one perfect way to arrange the committee, the advisor should have final approval of the committee’s membership. The initiative for forming the committee should come from the graduate student, but the advisor and student may determine between themselves who should approach the other potential committee members.
  • Committees are expected to vary in their working methods, but several overall guidelines should be followed: a) materials should be seen by the advisor before they are seen by the other committee members, b) committee members should not be seeing sections of the thesis for the first time in the defense draft, and c) in the case of disputes between committee members, the advisor has precedence as the instructor of record for ENG 6030. Should a dispute become unmanageable, the Program Director is available to mediate, with further recourse to the Department Chair if necessary.

• I need to get a thesis course listed on the department schedule; I also need to get my student or students enrolled in the course. What should I do?

  • You need to notify the Program Director, the Department Chair, and the Registrar. Be aware, however, that there are two separate issues.

    • To have the thesis course listed, the registrar needs to hear from the Chair that the course should be listed in Braveweb.

    • Once the course is listed in Braveweb, students may require an override to get into the course. If that is the case, provide the course and section number information and Banner ID information for the student to  the Department office.

• Must students take 6020 and 6030 in sequence?
  • Yes, and students should reenroll in either course if that course's primary product (bibliography or thesis) is not completed.
• What happens if a student does not complete the six-credit thesis in the semester during which she takes ENG 6030, or the three-credit thesis in a single semester?
  • ENG 6020 always receives a grade of "T." You may assign the student the grade of T for ENG 6010 or ENG 6030. As the Graduate Studies section of the UNCP Catalog explains, "A grade of 'T' indicates grade pending and is issued only for thesis research and capstone courses and for the year-long internship in school administration." If "T" is not an option on the drop-down menu, then e-mail the Registrar directly; if you provide her with the student’s name and ID number and apprise her of the situation, she can assign the grade manually. The "T" grade does not automatically convert to an "F" after one semester as does an "I" grade. The professor must complete a Change of Grade Form for ENG 6020 following the student’s completion of thesis and thesis defense, and will also need to do so for ENG 6030 if the defense takes place after grades are due for the semester in which the student is enrolled in ENG 6030. A successfully completed thesis receives a grade of "P" for both ENG 6020 and ENG 6030

• The Graduate School specifies that the student must submit to the Dean of the School of Graduate Studies a final copy of the thesis with corrections made “at least two weeks before the end of the semester in which the student expects to complete degree requirements.” Specifically when is the end of the semester?

  • The end of the semester refers to the last day of classes; schedule defenses accordingly.

Nota bene: Thesis binding costs $20 per copy, and students are required to submit only one final copy of the thesis with a binding offset on special paper for binding purposes. All copies (including extra copies) presented for binding should be printed on special paper with original signature pages. The graduate student must look closely over the requirements on the Graduate School webpage before printing on expensive paper.

Students are also requested to provide a copy of the thesis to the Graduate Director for our program archive, though those do not need to be printed on the special paper.

Any further questions about the Thesis advising process may be directed to the Program Director. You can also find the directions for students here (Graduate Program in English) and here (The Graduate School). Note in particular the collection of forms at the Graduate School's site.