Thesis/Non-Thesis Options

The Capstone Thesis Option (6 hours)

Students who have completed all their course work in the areas of Foundational Seminars and at least fifteen hours in their Academic Concentration may select the capstone thesis option to fulfill the requirements for their degree. Students work under the supervision of three faculty advisors (from at least two different academic disciplines, one of whom must be designated the Thesis Chair), and may begin work on the thesis project only after a capstone thesis proposal has been formally approved. The thesis may take the form of academic or applied research, or it may be a creative work. The capstone thesis must be of a nature to warrant six hours of graduate credit. In general, the projects should yield a written piece of work, although products such as artistic/musical creations also may be acceptable.

The Capstone Non-Thesis Option (6 hours)

This non-thesis option requires that, after completing the Foundational Seminars and the Academic Concentration, the student complete an additional six semester hours in research problems which requires products such as submission for publication of a book review (or other publishable review), an application (with abstract) to present a paper at a local or regional conference, or a major revision of a previously-written essay/paper in the program which will be submitted for publication to a refereed journal. Students selecting this option must also pass a comprehensive exam of all course work.