Undergraduate thesis

Agreement form
Formatting guidelines

Introduction

The Undergraduate Thesis course provides an opportunity for students to gain experience independently by undertaking research in her or his area of interest. It allows students to integrate the abilities, skills, and knowledge acquired during undergraduate studies. It is open to students with 90 credit hours who are declared majors in mathematics and statistics with a minimum cumulative GPA 3.00 and who have identified a thesis supervisor. Working under the guidance of a faculty member (the thesis supervisor) students design, execute, and analyze research on an issue, problem or concept within the area of mathematics, statistics, or with a primary focus on mathematical or statistical techniques. This thesis option is primarily intended for students contemplating graduate studies or pursuing a career in research. As undergraduate theses are highly individual, the time commitment to the undergraduate thesis cannot be precisely defined. Students bring different levels of experience, knowledge, and abilities to problems that can vary widely in difficulty. However, depending on the phase of the project, students should expect to spend up to 12-15 hours per week on this course. Similarly, the amount of time thesis supervisors need to spend with each student will also fluctuate based on the individual student, thesis topic, and the phase of the thesis, with between 2-4 hours per week often necessary to provide the student with direction, deadlines, supervision, and constructive criticism. Some undergraduate theses may be of such high quality that the student may wish to submit a paper for publication. A high grade does not necessarily depend upon the successful completion of the thesis proposal, but comes from a thorough intellectual involvement in the thesis. The undergraduate thesis in mathematics will be worth six credit hours.

Topic selection

Students are responsible for contacting one or more potential supervisors to act as a thesis
supervisor. It is anticipated that students should contact potential thesis supervisors before the end of the term in which they expect to complete 90 credit hours. Contact with potential supervisors must be made by the add/drop date of that academic term. The thesis supervisor will normally come from the department of mathematics and statistics and the choice is subject to the approval of the chair of mathematics and statistics. After discussions with various faculty members, an arrangement with one faculty member to serve as a thesis supervisor should be made. The student, thesis supervisor, and the chair of the mathematics department must sign a form which names the student, proposed thesis topic, and thesis supervisor. It may be feasible, or even desirable for some topics, for students to begin preliminary reading and planning through the summer months if the thesis topic can be adequately defined by this time.

Thesis supervision

The thesis supervisor is responsible for the direction and instruction of the student, and will ensure that adequate time is spent with the student to allow for the successful completion of the thesis. However, as in all other courses, the student is ultimately responsible for the completion of course requirements. The thesis supervisor is responsible for evaluating the: a) thesis proposal; b) thesis; and c) student presentation. Additionally, a thesis examiner will be required for all undergraduate theses. The student and the thesis supervisor will share joint responsibility for selecting the thesis examiner. The thesis examiner will normally be a UNBC faculty member, and will probably come from the mathematics and statistics department or from a science department or program. Occasionally it may be best to have a member of the community as a thesis examiner (e.g., a statistician or applied mathematician employed by the public or private sector). If the thesis examiner is not a member of the UNBC faculty, then they are required to have a minimum of a Master's degree in the same or a closely related field as the thesis. The thesis examiner will be primarily responsible for reading and grading the final draft of the thesis. Half of the final grade for the thesis and half of the grade for the thesis presentation will be provided by the thesis examiner. The thesis examiner may also aid in the grading of the thesis proposal, but this is not required. If any problems arise between the student, thesis supervisor, or thesis examiner the chair of the department of mathematics and statistics (or the Dean of CSAM if the thesis supervisor is a chair) will act as a mediator, ensuring that any differences are settled to allow the student to complete the thesis requirements.

Grading criteria

As noted above, the thesis supervisor is responsible for evaluating the thesis proposal and the implementation of the research, the thesis, and the student presentation. However, the thesis examiner will provide 40% of the final grade. The grading criterion will be the following: a) 20% of the total grade will derive from the thesis proposal and the implementation of the research (evaluated by the thesis supervisor); b) 70% of the total grade will derive from the thesis (50% of which is evaluated by the thesis supervisor, and 50% by the thesis examiner) c) 10% of the total grade will derive from the student’s presentation of his or her thesis (50% from the thesis supervisor and 50% from the thesis examiner). Before credit is awarded for the thesis course, the student must make all changes to the thesis required by the thesis supervisor or the thesis examiner.

Agreement form

All final arrangements should be mutually agreed upon by the student, thesis supervisor and the thesis examiner. This agreement should be signed by the student, thesis supervisor, thesis examiner, and chair. This form must be signed as soon as possible, but at least by the end of the first term that the student started the thesis (normally the fall term of the fourth year). A basic time line for the completion of the thesis should also be included in this agreement (see Appendix I for a proposed copy of this form).

Format and timelines for thesis

The specific formatting of the undergraduate thesis, which includes citation style, font style, and size, margins, title page, table and figures style, etc., is found in the Mathematics and Statistics Undergraduate Thesis Formatting Guide. The course Undergraduate Thesis will normally begin, either in the fall or winter term immediately following the term in which the student completes 90 credit hours, or in the summer term following the term in which the student completes 90 credit hours if that term be the winter term, and be completed within twelve calendar months of the beginning of the term in which the thesis work commenced. Alternate arrangements as to starting and completion dates may be possible with the support of the Chair (or Dean if the thesis supervisor is the Chair).