During his time as the Director of the Office of Thesis & Dissertation Services, Dr. Paul Zelhart created what he called the "Baker's Dozen" of things students should consider at various points in the thesis or dissertation process. His Baker's Dozen is provided below.

A "Baker's Dozen" of Issues Concerning Theses & Dissertations

PREPARATION PHASE

1.  Doable projects do not spring from a student’s personal experience or imagination. Thesis and dissertation topics must be based in and developed from the research literature. However, experience determines personal preferences which often direct the search for interesting topics in the research literature.

2.  Students should not choose a topic of marginal interest. A topic must be interesting to sustain the student through the rigors of a thesis or dissertation.

3.  Too often students’ literature reviews are not exhaustive. Follow the trail to the beginning; your study may have already been done.

4.  Too often the literature review is made up of conclusions of the authors of cited studies rather than a critical analysis of the complete documents.  An annotated bibliography is not a literature review.

5.  The literature review should be a balanced presentation of the current state of the literature on and controversies about the phenomenon of interest.

6.  The experimental designs and analytic methods of all cited studies should be carefully and critically reviewed. Students should understand that the introduction to a research paper is the author’s interpretation of the cited literature, and the discussions and conclusions are the author’s interpretations of his/her findings. Only the research design and methods sections of research papers are relatively objective in their presentation.

METHODOLOGY PHASE

7.  Students should understand the history of development and assumptions of the methods they use. They should be experts on the methods used in their thesis or dissertation.

8.  Students should understand that every theory and method has a range of application, and within that range they may be most appropriately applied to a narrower range of phenomena.  Intelligence tests were designed to predict future learning based upon prior learning. For example, the Wechsler might be a good predictor for middle class persons from the USA, but it would not be as useful in predicting future learning for persons from cultures on which it has not been normed. There is much discussion on cultural bias and standardized testing.

9.  The methods used in a research project should be justified as the most appropriate approach to answer the question under examination and should be informed by the designs and methods  used in prior research on the subject of interest.

10.  Research design and statistical tests are different aspects of a research project. Proper design permits valid interpretation. Statistical analysis provides a way to make decisions about effects.

11.  The words “proof” or “prove” are not part of the research vocabulary. Research questions are studied, examined or explored.  Hypotheses are supported, accepted, or rejected. Statistical results are significant or not. There is neither the logic nor sufficient evidence to declare a hypothesis proved or a research question answered.  

COMPLETION PHASE

12.  Overstating an effect is an ethical violation. Interpretation of results should be conservative.

13.  Good science is self-correcting and knowledge is cumulative. The processes of research are such that no matter how able the researcher, in the long run he or she will be shown to be wrong.

Paul Zelhart, PhD  9/16/15

Whether you are writing a Thesis or a Dissertation, your paper must accomplish the following 3 things:

1. The study must be justified and informed by a critical review of the research literature that focuses on methods and results concerning the topic of interest.
2. The methods used (research design and analysis) must permit a valid interpretation of the results.
3. Sufficient detail must be provided to allow replication of empirical studies and to communicate the author's analytic approach in interpretive studies. 

Other resources, forms, and information are available throughout the website. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact our office at TDS@tamuc.edu or by phone 903-886-5968, or you can stop by BA 140A!

Additional guidance is provided by University Rules and Procedures 11.04099.R0.23 (doctoral) and 11.99.99.R0.06 (master).

The following templates and guides will assist you in organizing and formatting your manuscript according to Graduate School guidelines. Please remember, the templates are meant to be examples! Work with your advisor and your department to determine what headings and organization best serve the purpose of your paper.

The guides will indicate which sections must match the templates and you only need to give pertinent information in the relevant section(s). *Redundancy is confusing to readers and unnecessary. Please try to limit repetition of ideas and/or information to keep your writing clear, precise, and interesting.

Thesis Template & Thesis Guide

Dissertation Template & Dissertation Guide

LaTex (template for scientific studies)

Biology Thesis Guidelines

For questions or concerns regarding formatting, please contact Thesis and Dissertation Services in the Graduate School, (903)886-5968 or TDS@tamuc.edu 

The following checklists will help you ensure your proposal or final paper is free from common mistakes related to your chosen style manual. These forms are offered as a resource for you to review and edit your own paper. While TDS provides feedback regarding the style-related issues present in your paper, TDS is not an editing service and the responsibility for making the document comply with your style's guidelines and formatting ultimately lies with you, the student. 

APA Editing Checklist

MLA Editing Checklist

ASHS Editing Checklist

ACS Editing Checklist

APSA Editing Checklist

Turabian Editing Checklist

PLEASE NOTE: This is not a complete list of potential style guides. You are more than welcome to use a different style manual, but it is your responsibility to provide TDS with a link to the style manual (if the style manual is accessible to the public) or with a copy of the manual. TDS can order its own copy of the manual if the student or advisor provides ample time with which to do so. 

The following books have been recommended by the faculty of the Department of Literature and Languages as appropriate for their doctoral students:

• Destination Dissertation: A Traveler’s Guide to a Done Dissertation by Sonja Foss and William Waters (Rowman and Littlefied, Publishers, Inc. 2007)
• Research Methods for English Studies, 2nd Edition,  Edited by Gabriele Griffin (Edinburgh University Press Ltd, 2013)
• Research Methods for Cultural Studies, Edited by Michael Pickering (Edinburgh University Press Ltd, 2008)
• Currently under review by the Department of Literature and Languages is: Research Methods in Linguistics, Edited by Robert Podesva and Devyani Sharma (Cambridge University Press, 2014)

Frequently cited in dissertations in education is the research methods text by Creswell:

• Qualitative Inquiry & Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches, 3rd, by John Creswell (Sage Publications, Inc., 2013)

To be reviewed by appropriate departments:

• Art Practice as Research: Inquiry in Visual Arts, 2nd Edition, by Graeme Sullivan (Sage Publications, Inc., 2010)
• Research Methods in Theatre and Performance, Edited by Baz Kershaw and Helen Nicholson (Edinburgh University Press Ltd, 2011)

The classic nonparametric statistics text:

• Nonparametric Statistics by Sidney Siegel and N.John Castellan, Jr., 2nd Edition (McGraw Hill, 1988)

Currently used statistics text books:

• Using Multivariate Statistics, 6th Edition, by Barbara Tabachnick and Linda Fidell (Pearson, 2012)
• Discovering Statistics Using IBM SPSS Statistics, 4th Edition, by Andy Field (Sage, 2013)

For a comparison of EdD to PhD programs, the University of Vermont offers a comprehensive table comparing the two.

During the 2016-2017 Academic Year, faculty members from various departments participated in a committee to provide students with rubrics to guide the development of the dissertation proposal. While the rubrics are not used in any official capacity, students are strongly encouraged to take advantage of the resource to ensure the dissertation is as strong as possible. Though the rubrics were developed with dissertation students in mind, thesis students are more than welcome to use the rubrics as well.

Quantitative Dissertation Proposal Rubric

Qualitative Dissertation Proposal Rubric

Interpretive Dissertation Proposal Rubric

Mixed-Method Dissertation Proposal Rubric

Please contact TDS with any questions or concerns, TDS@tamuc.edu or (903)886-5968.