Action Thesis Advisors



During your first semester in the program, shop around for a thesis advisor you can work with.  Your advisor should be knowledgable about your area of inquiry, as well as someone you can work with.  Remember that the person's main role will be to guide your research, so you need an advisor who knows something about your area.

When you complete the research methods course, you will draft a proposal for the action thesis.  Work with your action thesis advisor on this.  Occasionally a student will have a thesis topic that does not fit any of our expertise, which can pose a problem for the student.  When this happens, we may ask a faculty member outside of Education to serve as a thesis advisor.

The role of the action thesis advisor is to help you:

Ultimately, the thesis advisor and the Capstone instructor will be the two individuals who read and sign off on the completed action thesis.  It is your best interest to work closely with your thesis advisor from the beginning.  This means checking in with the advisor, seeking advice (and following it), giving the advisor any drafts of material, and so forth.

Much of the thesis advisor's work will take place during Capstone when you are writing; seek feedback from both the thesis advisor and the Capstone instructor on every chapter.  The Capstone instructor will facilitate this process.  Occasionally a student has failed to work with his or her advisor, and this can result in the advisor not approving the thesis at the end.

For each thesis advisor, a section of MAE 690 (Action Thesis Advising) is created (occasionally individuals outside education may not get a section, although we are happy to create one if it is needed).  This is a 1 credit "course" that actually isn't a course.  Rather, it is a formal linkage between the student and the thesis advisor.  Students, for any semester in which you expect to work with your advisor, please register for the appropriate section!   This is the only way that the faculty get institutional credit toward their work for working with you, and in most cases, it won't cost you anything.  This is a Credit/No Credit course, and normally faculty will simply assign a grade of Credit at the end of the semester.

Both you and your thesis advisor are responsible for contacting each other, but the main responsibility lies with you.  If for some reason you cannot work with your advisor, or your student, please contact the Program Coordinator.