M.A.

Thesis in Communication
Step by Step Guide
DRAFT: August 27, 2002
Part I: Committee Proposal
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Get a copy of the UNC Thesis Manual from the graduate school.
Select an area of study within the communication discipline.
Read the literature in the area you have chosen. Focus your reading on communication journals.
Develop a thesis statement or research purpose statement.
Schedule an appointment during with faculty who have expertise in your chosen area (during
office hours please).
After speaking to members of the faculty, select a thesis advisor who: (1) is a current member of
graduate faculty, (2) has expertise in the area you have selected, and (3) agrees to serve as your
thesis advisor.
With the guidance of your proposed thesis advisor, assemble your thesis committee. Thesis
committees consist of at least three people, two of which must be current members of the
graduate faculty (Note: Please check with the graduate school for policies regarding M.A. Thesis
committees). At least one member of your committee needs to be proficient in the method you
will use to investigate your thesis (e.g., critical, ethnographic, experimental, interaction analysis,
rhetorical criticism, survey-interview, survey-questionnaire, textual analysis, etc.).
Write a Committee Proposal and submit eight (8) copies to the Chair of the Speech Communication
department. The proposal will be discussed and voted on by the faculty. The proposal consists of
the following areas:
Thesis Statement, Purpose Statement, Research Question or Research Hypothesis.
Justification for the Thesis
Choice of Research Method
Committee Members and Rationale for Selecting Each Committee Member
Proposed Time-Line for Thesis Completion
Bibliography of seminal works in your area of study (see step 2).

Part II: Thesis Proposal

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Upon acceptance of the Committee Proposal begin writing the Introduction (Chapter 1) of the thesis.
Although the specific contents of Chapter 1 will change from thesis to thesis, most contain the
following four areas: (1) General background, (2) research purpose statement, (3) justification for
research, and (4) definitions of key concepts.
10. Once you have written Chapter 1 and gone through at least three revisions, send Chapter 1 to
your thesis advisor.
11. Revise Chapter 1 according to the council of your thesis advisor.
12. Write the Literature Review chapter. The objective of this chapter is to justify your research
questions or hypotheses by reviewing relevant literature (see step 2). The literature review
should be structured as a formal argument that culminates in the advancement of your questions
or hypotheses. At a minimum, Chapter 2 should answer the following questions:
a. What do we know from prior studies about your topic?

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b. How have past researchers studied your topic?

c. What are the limitations of past research?
d. How do the answers to questions a-c lead logically to your research?
Once you have written Chapter 2 and gone through at least three revisions, send Chapter 2 to
your thesis advisor.
Revise Chapter 2 according to the council of your thesis advisor.
Write the Method Chapter. The content this chapter will differ depending on the method you have
selected. To develop an outline of the Method chapter, review seminal research that employed
your choice of method. Regardless of method, your third chapter should have the following three
areas: (a) description of the population (people) or universe (texts), (b) procedures, and (c)
proposed data analysis procedure.
Once you have written Chapter 3 and gone through at least three revisions, send Chapter 3 to
your thesis advisor.
Revise Chapter 3 according to the council of your thesis advisor.
When your thesis advisor is satisfied with the first three chapters of the thesis (i.e., Introduction,
Literature Review, and Method) give the first three chapters of your thesis (which constitute a
Thesis Proposal) to the remaining members of your committee.
Schedule a 1 hour thesis proposal meeting. Note: Allow members of your committee at least one
week to read your thesis. Schedule your meeting during either the fall or spring semesters. Do
NOT schedule a thesis proposal meeting over break times (e.g., summer, winter, spring).
In preparation for the meeting, construct a ten minute presentation that summarizes your Thesis
Proposal. The remainder of the meeting consists of questions from the faculty regarding the
conceptual and methodological choices described in your proposal.
At the conclusion of your thesis proposal meeting, your committee will reach one of four
decisions: (1) accept thesis proposal without changes (extremely rare occurrence), (2) accept thesis
proposal with revisions to be supervised by your thesis advisor, (3) reject thesis proposal but
recommend a revise and resubmit, or (4) reject thesis proposal.
Depending on the committees decision you either will progress to Part III or return to a prior
step in the process.

Part III: Thesis Defense

23. Upon acceptance of the Thesis Proposal, employ the method described in Chapter 3 of your thesis
proposal.
24. As you progress, keep in contact with your thesis advisor for guidance in dealing with
unforeseen circumstances (an inevitable part of the research process).
25. When you have completed the procedures explain in your method chapter begin the analysis of
the data as described in chapter 3 of your thesis.
26. Begin writing the Results chapter, which describes your analysis. In this chapter, refrain from
drawing any conclusions, offering editorial comments or making reference to prior studies. The
sole purpose of this chapter is describing in detail your findings. The narrative you provide in
this chapter should guide the reader through your findings. Do not assume that the findings are
obvious. Instead, take the reader on a guided tour of your results, pointing out important
observations. If you choose to offer tables in this chapter, point out the highlights in the text
rather than describing in narrative what the table already shows.

27. Once you have written Chapter 4 and gone through at least three revisions, send Chapter 4 to
your thesis advisor.
28. Revise Chapter 4 according to the council of your thesis advisor.
29. Begin writing the Discussion chapter, which consists of three broad areas: (1) conclusions, (2)
limitations, and (3) directions for future research.
a. Conclusions: Relating findings to expectations, relating findings to previous research,
relating finding to existing theory and possibly offering theory revision or the creation of
a new theory, offering implications, both general and applied, for the findings.
b. Limitations: All research, without exception, has limitations. Areas to consider might be
limitations due to: (1) conceptual definitions, (2) measurements, (3) research procedures,
(4) populations or universe selection, (5) sampling procedure, (6) data analysis procedure,
etc., etc. In essence every choice you make as a researcher offers both advantages and
limitations.
c. Directions for Future Research: Research findings often raise more questions then they
answer and researchers tend to outline how to approach the new questions. Researchers
also might attempt to replicate their findings using different populations and/or different
situations.
30. Once you have written Chapter 5 and gone through at least three revisions, send Chapter 5 to
your thesis advisor.
31. Revise Chapter 5 according to the council of your thesis advisor.
32. When your thesis advisor is satisfied with the thesis (chapter 1-5) give the thesis to the remaining
members of your committee.
33. Schedule a 1 hour thesis defense meeting. Note: Allow members of your committee at least one
week to read your thesis. Schedule your meeting during either the fall or spring semesters. Do
NOT schedule a thesis proposal meeting over break times (e.g., summer, winter, spring).
34. In preparation for the meeting, construct a ten minute presentation that summarizes your thesis,
focusing on chapter 4 and 5. The remainder of the meeting consists of questions from the faculty
regarding the conceptual and methodological choices described in your proposal.
35. At the conclusion of your thesis defense meeting, your committee will reach one of four decisions:
(1) accept thesis without changes (extremely rare occurrence), (2) accept thesis with revisions to
be supervised by your thesis advisor, (3) reject thesis but recommend a revise and resubmit, or (4)
reject thesis.
36. Depending on the committees decision you either will progress to the next step or return to a
prior step in the process.
37. Make needed revisions under the guidance of your thesis advisor.
38. Check with the graduate school regarding the format of your thesis.
39. Follow the graduate school guidelines for completing an M.A. Thesis.
40. It is customary to give a bound copy of your thesis to members of your thesis committee.