thesis iu

THESIS

OBJECTIVES AND PURPOSES OF UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
A thesis is an independent research project which a student carries out under the supervision of a full-time lecturer in the School of Languages. This written document presents the results of a research project aimed at addressing a practical problem or issue in the field of Linguistics, English Teaching or Translation – Interpretation. These results will be presented to a Thesis Committee set up by the School of Languages and authorized by the President of IU.

The purposes of the thesis are: (1) to develop the student’s skills and abilities to conduct research in different concentrations related to their academic interest; (2) to show their sufficient knowledge in terms of theory and application as well as their skills of writing a thesis, making presentation, presenting arguments, giving explanation and defending their claims; and (3) to prepare for students’ graduate studies.

Students are expected to work closely with their supervisors to identify research topics and secure financial support for a research project, if necessary.

PROCEDURE FOR REGISTRATION AND ESSENTIAL STEPS
This manual is designed to outline a procedure for graduation thesis and describe the required documents. Students should read and follow the instructions carefully in order to complete their enrolment of graduation thesis credits.
1. Enrolment and Prerequisites
Students must successfully accumulate at least 90% of over the total number of credits of the English Linguistics and Literature program (about 113 credits) and not subject to any academic warnings.
The research project begins in Semesters 1 and 2. The thesis is considered as a 10-credit course which must be completed within the same semester to qualify for graduation. Other important courses such as Research Writing and Research Methodology should be taken prior to the start of your thesis.
2. Thesis Process
The research project comprises a 10-credit module equivalent to three working months (12 weeks). The official starting date of a thesis project is indicated in a decision paper issued by the Rector’s Office. Students are expected to devote regular time in preparing the research proposal, commencing the research project, writing the thesis and presenting it before a Thesis Committee.
2.1. Planning your Thesis
All preparatory work in planning your thesis should have been concluded before the semester starts. Your final semester should be devoted to conducting your research, writing up the thesis, and editing your report. The planning steps include:
2.1.1 Choosing Thesis Topics
Thesis topics of interest can be found during students’ coursework in their previous years and their working experiences. It is advisable for students to approach their potential supervisors in determining research topics. The thesis supervisors should not have family relationship (parent, spouse, or sibling) with the students.
Students should submit Form 01 (Thesis Registration Form) to the office during the registration period in the preceding semester. Please ask your supervisors for signatures on the thesis registration form. If the supervisor is not IU teaching staff, students should provide a CV of your supervisor. If one student cannot find his/ her supervisor, the School of Languages will assign their supervisors based on students’ chosen topics.
Thesis supervision should be authorized by the DE. In one semester, the maximum number of undergraduate students one faculty member can supervise is as follows: Ph.D. holder: 5 students M.A. holder: 4 students
The Managerial board will grant approval for the registered topics that hold academic merits, based on the following criteria: practicality, manageability, and relevance of the research topics. No more than three students are allowed to share a common topic. Students are expected to conduct empirical studies. For replication studies, the extent to which a study has replicated the original research can lead to reduction in methodology scores. Studies which only analyze Vietnamese language data are considered irrelevant to English Linguistics program.
2.1.2 Preparing Thesis proposal & Proposal Review
Students are expected to identify a research topic and prepare a 1,000-word proposal (see details under Research Proposal Requirements).

Each student should submit his/her proposal to their supervisor and a proposal reviewer no later than three weeks after submitting the thesis registration form (Form 01).
Students should initiate a meeting with the supervisor and the proposal reviewer regarding comments and suggestions for the proposal. In the meeting, each student has 10 minutes to present their proposal, followed by a Q & A session. After the meeting, students should revise their proposal as suggested by the supervisor and the reviewer.

In order to obtain permission from the office to commence the research study, each student should submit the following required documents to their Supervisor:
● a revised proposal (with a signature of the supervisor)
● two copies of Form 02 (Thesis Proposal Review Form) (one from the supervisor, and one from the proposal reviewer)
● a report of changes/ modifications in the revised proposal based on feedback from the supervisor and the proposal reviewer
Deadline: At 4:00 p.m. on Monday in the scheduled week of the semester students enroll to complete their graduation thesis (see Appendix A). The Supervisor forwards the signed and provided documents the office.
The research proposal will neither be scored nor be counted toward final results. The main purpose of the research proposal is to approve your topic and your research plan. A graduation thesis officially commences since the final approval from the University Rector’s Office.
2.2. Conducting your Thesis
During the semester, students are expected to work closely with their supervisors. Students should meet their supervisor weekly (Supervisors should provide a weekly schedule to the DE) and discuss as the research progresses.
A Form 03 (Thesis Progress Report) should be submitted to the office at 4:00 p.m. on Monday in the scheduled week of the semester students enroll to complete their graduation thesis (see Appendix A).
Students who fail to submit a progress report or meet with their supervisor in two consecutive weeks without a reasonable excuse will have their thesis terminated and receive Grade F. In the course of research, any changes in research title and/or objectives, if well justified, are possible and should be officially approved by the School of Languages. Use Form 04 (Application for change of thesis topic) and attach a revised proposal of the new thesis topic with your supervisor’s approval. You should submit Form 04 as soon as you decide to change your registered thesis title. The office will process the paperwork to obtain a new approval from the University Rector’s Office. Any delay in submitting an application can result in delaying your graduation assessment.
Students who wish to extend the research duration should submit Form 05 (Application for extension to thesis (re)submission) and seek for the School of Languages’ approval. However, any delay in finishing the research project could possibly result in a significant setback in thesis defense and graduation. Therefore, students are strongly urged to maintain their schedule and work hard for the timely completion of their thesis projects.
If there are issues or concerns, please let the Managerial Board know in a timely manner.
2.3. Completing your Thesis
After students have completed their thesis, students request for thesis defense by submitting the following to the Supervisor:
● Form 04 (Application for change of thesis topic), if your thesis title is different from the approved title
● Form 06 (Request for thesis defense) should be approved and signed by their Supervisor
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● a report of plagiarism check
● e-copies (.docx and .pdf files) of the complete manuscript
● e-copies (.docx and .pdf files) of a summary of the graduate thesis
● Evidence of publication and prize (if any):
o Category A (journal article, book/ book chapter, proceeding paper): (a) A copy of acceptance for publication; and (b) A copy of the full-text publication
o Category B (Prize or award): a certificate of a given prize or award and/or other related evidence
Then, the Supervisor sign and forward the required documents to the School of Languages’ secretaries at least 2 weeks before the thesis defense day. Since the deadlines may change from one semester to the next, students are advised to refer to current deadlines at the final stages of the thesis process. The office will arrange and announce the thesis defense day in each semester. See Appendix A for a tentative timeline.
2.4. Defending your thesis
2.4.1. Before the Thesis Defense
The thesis will initially be evaluated by the supervisor and an anonymous thesis reviewer assigned by the School of Languages. The office will send the manuscript to the supervisor and the thesis reviewer at least one week before the defense day.
The thesis reviewer need not involve in the candidate’s proposal review process. The thesis reviewer should provide at least two questions directly related to different parts of the thesis. (A secretary of the Thesis Committee will read the questions by the thesis reviewer, and the candidate will address the questions during the Thesis Defense).
Requirements of thesis defense
A student is allowed to proceed to the thesis defense only if the average (correct to one decimal place) of scores given by both of the supervisor and the thesis reviewer is equal to or higher than 50/100. Students who fail to meet the requirements of thesis defense (the average score is less than 50/100) are required to register for their graduation thesis with new topics in the next semester.
The Thesis Committee
Upon the approval of the thesis defense request, the Dean of School of Languages will appoint the Thesis Committee. The Thesis Committee will consist of three members, including the Committee Chairperson, one Examiner, and one Committee Secretary. Committee members outside the IU should not be more than two. The Committee Chairperson should be a PhD-holder faculty with specific areas of expertise that complements the thesis research topic. Family members, including parent, spouse, or sibling, are not qualified to be appointed as a committee member of the candidate. In case a violation is detected, students must defend their thesis again.
2.4.2. During the Thesis Defense
The Thesis Defense schedule should be announced no later than one week before the presentation day.
Procedure of the Thesis Defense
1. The secretary announces the appointment decision of the Thesis Committee, student’s name, their supervisor and thesis reviewer.
2. The Committee Chairperson announces the regulations of thesis defense and thesis evaluation
3. Each student has 15 minutes to present the thesis. PPT slides should be prepared (no more than 30 slides)
4. The student has 30 minutes to answer questions from the supervisor, the thesis reviewer, the committee members, and the audience.
5. The Committee Secretary reads comments from the supervisor and the thesis reviewer. The student may clarify the related issues in the comments.
6. The Thesis Committee give scores in the thesis evaluation forms.
7. The Thesis Committee Chairperson announces the Results of Thesis Defense.
8. The student contact the office to receive a copy of the thesis defense report with detailed requests of the Committee for revision/correction of their thesis Notes: The related documents of the thesis defense are archived at the School of Languages for at least three years.
2.4.3. After the Thesis Defense
The final score is the average (correct to one decimal place) of scores given by: (a) the supervisor, (b) the thesis reviewer, (c) the Committee Chairperson, (d) the Examiner, and (e) the Committee Secretary. The Thesis Committee Chairperson will announce the Results of Thesis Defense. One of the
following decisions can be made:
● Unconditional Pass (90-100)
● Conditional Pass with minor revisions (70-89)
● Conditional Pass with major revisions (50-69)
● Failure (0-49)
2.5. Submitting your thesis
After students have passed their thesis defense, students are expected to make revision or correction of their thesis, if required by the Thesis Committee.
Notes: Students should contact the Secretary of the Thesis Committee to receive a copy of the thesis defense report with detailed requests of the Committee for revision/correction of their thesis.
● Unconditional Pass (90-100): Students meet the requirements. However, students may be asked to improve their thesis regarding thesis format before the final submission. Students have one week to improve their thesis before submitting their complete thesis.
● Conditional Pass with minor revisions (70-89): The student has two weeks to revise the contents of his/her thesis according to the comments and revision required by the Thesis Committee. The supervisor checks all of the revisions and allows students for their final submission.
● Conditional Pass with major revisions (50-69): The student has three weeks to revise the contents of their thesis as recommended by the committee. The supervisor will make sure that all corrections are strictly followed by the student and approve the revised thesis.
● Failure (0-49): Students who do not successfully defend their thesis are required to retake the course in the next semester.
A student with the Pass result is required to submit the following to the supervisor:
● A final copy of the revised thesis in .pdf
● A final copy of the revised thesis in .docx, or .doc
● Form 07 (A Report of Changes in The Revised Thesis)
● the presentation in PowerPoint
The revised thesis must be approved by the supervisor and submitted to the School of Languages Office by the deadline. The student should take full responsibility for not graduating on time due to any late submission of the revised thesis

Guidelines

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