Prepare to Graduate

To graduate from the MSTPC, you need to have satisfactorily completed your Program Plan coursework, including fulfilling your Independent Research requirement (ENGL-735 or ENGL-770). To fulfill the Independent Research requirement, you need to have passed 3 credits of 735 or 6 credits of 770, submit your project paper or thesis to the Graduate School, and receive approval of your paper from the Graduate School. Here are the steps you’ll need to be aware of as you move through this final stage.

  1. Email to the Graduate School your approved ENGL-735 Field Project or ENGL-770 Thesis. Information and deadlines about submission is available here.

  2. Schedule an oral defense of your ENGL-770 Thesis at least two to three weeks before you submit your Thesis to the Graduate School. Students completing an ENGL-735 Thesis do not need to schedule an oral defense. The purpose of the thesis oral defense is for you to provide an overview of your research project to the broader community of faculty and students (the university community is invited to attend) and for you to respond to questions about your research.

    To do so, you will be required to present a 15-20 minute talk overviewing your research and then you will take questions from your thesis committee members and from others in your audience. This question-and-answer period typically takes 30 minutes to one hour. If you are unable to visit campus for your defense, the MSTPC program will arrange for your virtual, synchronous presence at the defense, and we currently use Blackboard Collaborate to do this.

    Your thesis oral defense date typically needs to be scheduled three to four weeks prior to the Graduate School’s final thesis/paper submission deadline.

  3. Register to Graduate. All students who plan to graduate need to “register to graduate” during that semester, regardless of whether or not you plan to physically attend the commencement ceremony. Log into your Access Stout account and view these directions on how to register.