Thesis
This page includes information and linked resources for completing your research and development for your thesis or directed project. There are several deadlines students must meet in order to graduate, please check the Graduate School's Calendar for important dates.
Thesis and Directed Project Format Checklist -- this is a link to a compilation of formatting requirements for a thesis or directed project report. Following this checklist can minimize the risk of the Purdue Graduate School rejecting your thesis for deposit (which would delay your graduation until at least the next semester).
Templates and Tools
When writing your thesis or direct project, you must follow very specific Purdue and SoET standards. Theses and directed projects follow the same structure and formatting rules. To help you conform to Purdue and SoET standards, use the following Word or LaTEX template.
Microsoft Word Templates for Theses (also to be used for Directed Project Reports) -- Please note that these Graduate School templates may or may not include two important front matter sections required in all theses and direct project reports. These sections are LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS and GLOSSARY, to immediately precede the ABSTRACT section. Depending on when you took TECH 64600, the GLOSSARY will replace what used to be a Definitions subsection in Chapter 1.
LaTeX Instructions for Theses -- Some students (and graduate faculty) prefer to use LaTeX to format their thesis or directed project (instead of Microsoft Word). It is STRONGLY suggested you use LaTeX. Engineering Technology students should NOT use the LaTeX template provided on the Graduate School's website. Instead, they should use the attached template.
APA Son of Citation Formatting App --this web application may prove useful for correctly formatting APA-style citations for your thesis or directed project. Please note that the application is not aware of proper nouns and acronyms. Thus, you will still need to capitalize the first letter of proper nouns, as well as full acronyms.
APA Style Tips -- Need a refresher on APA formatting and styles? This is a direct link to their web site.
Services for Research, Theses, and Directed Projects
Institutional Review Board (IRB) -- The IRB provides mandatory review of research protocols that involved humans. This includes surveys conducted by many graduate students as part of their research. Any graduate student research requiring the use of humans for data collection and reporting requires IRB pre-approval; before you conduct the survey.
Qualtrics -- Qualtrics is a web-based survey software available for use by all Purdue Faculty, Students and Staff to support teaching and research at Purdue. Surveys can be created and distributed by anyone with a career account. Be aware that surveys may require approval from the IRB because they implement research protocols that involve humans.
Statistical Consulting Service (SCS) -- The Department of Statistics provides statistical software and design consulting services for the University community – free of charge. The Statistical Consulting Service can help you with statistical software problems and data analysis issues. Statistical Software Consulting provides assistance with the set up and running of a wide variety of statistical computing programs, including SAS, SPSS, Minitab and S-Plus. Software consulting is available in MATH G175 on a drop-in basis. Experimental Design and Data Analysis Consulting is available during the Fall, Spring and Summer semesters. Services include assistance with all phases of research projects: proposal preparation, design of studies, survey design, data input strategies, data import/export, analysis of data, interpretation of results, presentation of results, and other statistics or probability problems.
Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) -- this is a link to Purdue's acclaimed Online Writing Lab (OWL) which can be very helpful to students with less than satisfactory writing skills. The web site also provides links into APA formatting expectations.
Google Scholar -- this is a link to a special Google search engine designed to find scholarly publications that have been appropriately reviewed or refereed by academic faculty. Such publications should be more credible than information discovered via Google's standard search engine.
Depositing Your Written Thesis
After you have successfully defended your thesis, and made any required changes to your written thesis, and received all required approvals, you must still officially deposit your thesis. You should familiarize yourself with the Purdue Thesis Deposit Process.