Thesis & Dissertation Proposal Process

Students should prepare their thesis/dissertation proposal using the format guidelines specified in the
USU Publication Guide for Graduate Students and in the most recent version of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (style manual approved for the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and
Human Services). In preparing the proposal, students should use the Guidelines for M.S. Plan A Thesis
and Doctoral Dissertation Research Proposals.

Data collection is not to be started prior to formal committee approval of the proposal. After the proposal has been
approved by all members of the student's committee, a copy of the proposal, and an original cover sheet with
dated committee signatures must be submitted to the School of Graduate Studies.

For studies involving research with human subjects or animals, after the proposal has been successfully defended
and required revisions made, the student, under the direction of the Committee Chair, must submit an application
to either the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for the Protection of Human Subjects or the Institutional Animal
Care and Use Committee (IACUC). Research may not begin until appropriate approval has been obtained.

Further IRB information may be found at: http://irb.usu.edu/htm/getting-started and
http://irb.usu.edu/htm/applications-forms

Further IACUC information may be found at: http://iacuc.usu.edu/