Each student must complete a thesis or professional project involving original work in the student's area of interest. The student should have a thesis or professional project proposal written by the end of the semester in which the first 12 hours of course work are completed.
Each student is responsible for developing ideas for the thesis or project. Through consultations with members of the journalism faculty, the student determines faculty interests and areas of expertise, and ideas are refined to the point where the student has a significant and feasible idea in mind.
Advisory Committee
The student, with approval of the graduate studies committee, selects the journalism faculty member who would be best able to chair the advisory committee, subject to the agreement of the faculty member. If questions arise about a faculty member's interest or knowledge, the student directly asks the faculty member or consults the academic advisor or other members of the graduate studies committee. With the chairperson, the student further refines the idea to a "preliminary proposal" stage, in which ideas and appropriate methodology are on paper but not necessarily in formal proposal form.
After the student has written a preliminary proposal and selected a faculty chairperson, the student should select other members of the advisory committee, subject to their willingness to serve. The advisory committee must consist of not fewer than four members. One member must be from outside the School of Journalism and two persons must be members of the WVU graduate faculty.
Proposal
At this point, students in the professional track must submit their proposals to the graduate studies committee, which must approve all professional project topics (but not research methods, specific research questions, or hypotheses, etc.). Students must attend the meetings at which their proposals are discussed. After securing graduate studies committee approval, students in the professional track schedule hearings with their guidance committees. Hearings with the guidance committees are required of all students (including those in the teaching-research track).
Working under the guidance of the advisory committee, the student prepares a complete thesis or project proposal, extended from the preliminary proposal. Guidance for preparing a proposal is available from the director of graduate studies.
The student then has a consultative meeting, during which final revisions of and refinements in the proposal are discussed with the members of the advisory committee. Notices of the public meeting (to which students are invited) must be placed in the boxes of all faculty members of the School of Journalism and posted outside the dean's office at least two weeks before the meeting. One copy of the thesis or project proposal must be placed on reserve in the Journalism Reading Room.
Thesis/Project Approval
After the consultation, the committee votes to accept or reject the proposal. The student whose proposal is approved works closely with the committee in the completion of the thesis or project. All committee members should be kept informed and be consulted for advice (as needed and as desired by them) as the thesis or project develops.
After each member of the advisory committee is satisfied with the work, a public oral examination is scheduled. Two weeks notice must be given to all faculty members of the School of Journalism; notices should be placed in mailboxes and posted outside the dean's office. One copy of the final thesis or project must be placed on reserve in the Journalism Reading Room.
Only committee members may vote on acceptance or rejection of a thesis. A majority vote is sufficient to approve the thesis, although a dissenting vote may be recorded. Furthermore, at least three signatures (two of which must be signatures of graduate faculty members) must be on the approval sheet. If one committee member is outvoted and feels he/she cannot sign the approval sheet, he/she may resign from the committee.
Such action may force a reconstitution of the committee and repetition of earlier mentioned steps leading to the oral examination.
The chairperson of the advisory committee will decide whether final corrections (after the oral examination) have been made properly, and he/she will check the style and form of the final typed version. The approved stylebook should be carefully followed during preparation of a thesis or professional project. Four copies of the final thesis or two copies of a project should be delivered to the School of Journalism.