Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies MA Thesis Option

The MA thesis committee consists of a thesis advisor from the REES faculty and two additional faculty members, one of whom may be from an outside discipline (with permission of the Associate Chair of Graduate Studies, two members may be from an outside department).   The thesis advisor should be a tenured/tenure-track faculty member in the REES program (program can petition the graduate school to have an instructor serve as the thesis advisor).  All committees must be approved in advance by the Associate Chair of Graduate Studies.

Students should begin to write their thesis no later than the beginning of their final semester. Students should work closely with their thesis advisor and committee members as they are writing their thesis. Students are advised to submit draft copies of each chapter to all members of their committee. The thesis should be a a minimum of 30 pages long (block quotes and bibliography should not be considered when calculating the length).  The thesis should have a bibliography of at least 15 works, of which 5 are primary works in Russian. Primary works must be quoted in Russian and English in the thesis.

A final draft of the thesis should be submitted to committee members at least two weeks before the defense. See the Graduate School website for thesis specifications.

A one hour thesis defense will take place near the end of the final semester (follow graduate school deadlines for thesis defense/final exam).  You should schedule your thesis defense with your committee members early in your final semester (exam defenses are generally held in the committee chair’s office).

The last day for the thesis defense is in late-November (fall graduation) and in mid-April (spring graduation). A preliminary draft of your thesis must be submitted to your thesis committee at least two weeks before your defense. Students should have a copy of the signature page available at the thesis defense (see graduate school thesis specifications). The student’s thesis advisor will submit the signature page, along with the exam report to the Program Assistant for submission to the Graduate School. Your thesis must be electronically submitted by the deadline (usually early December/ the third week of April), and a hard copy of the signature page with original signatures of two of the student’s committee members (including the thesis advisor) must also be submitted to the Graduate School by this deadline. It is recommended that the student have an advisor in the Graduate School check their thesis before submitting it electronically.