1. Students may elect to complete a Masters Thesis during the second year of the program. Students selecting this option will take 3 credits in an approved elective course and 6 thesis credits. Contact the program director, Dr. Caleb Siefert, or the Master's Thesis Coordinator, Dr. Michelle Leonard, for more information..
2. Browse Master's Theses or Honors Theses to see what approved theses look like.
3. Institutional Research Board (IRB) Application
You cannot collect data or run analyses without Institutional Research Board (IRB) approval for any planned research involving human subjects. Go to the eResearch Regulatory Management Human Subjects application page and click on the Human Subjects Study Application button in the upper left margin to start a new application.
Office Of Research Help Guides
For questions regarding IRB application requirements (e.g., policy, procedure, science), contact IRB Health Sciences and Behavioral Sciences, by email at irbhsbs@umich.edu or by phone at (734) 936-0933.
4. To graduate after successfully defending your Master's thesis:
The Graduate Studies Office requires you to have your thesis submitted to Deep Blue (the University of Michigan's institutional repository) in order to release your final grade.
To help you format your thesis, use:
Hover over the info "i" icon for the book's description
Print Books
Ebooks
A Student Guide to Writing an Undergraduate Psychology Honors Thesis by
Takes students through the entire process of creating a full-scale research project, from selecting a topic, choosing an experimental or correlational design, to writing and presenting their paper. The book offers valuable guidance on developing broader skills like communicating with your supervisor, time management and critical writing skills
Undertaking Capstone and Final Year Projects in Psychology: Practical Guide for Students by
Serves a seminal purpose in guiding its readers to create a capstone project. The text employs traditional and emerging methodologies and methods in order to posit an exhaustive approach that the psychology students can adopt to see their project to fruition. The text aims at fortifying the reader's skills through the structure of its chapters as they begin to work on their capstone or final year project. The chapters collectively explore the varied aspects that are involved in the completion of a final year project, that is, beginning from the inception of the idea to laying the foundation, designing the project, analysing the data, and, finally, presenting the findings. The text guides the reader through each step and provides further guidance on approaching the idea, coming up with the research question, positioning it within the epistemological and ontological context, and constructing the theoretical framework to arrive at the optimal design solutions. The text will be useful for psychology students who are currently completing a capstone or a final year project. It is further aimed at psychology students who will subsequently be working on a project and are looking forward to gaining cognisance regarding the approach and the methodology to be adopted for the same.
Writing in Psychology (2nd ed.) by
The second edition of Writing in Psychology by Scott A. Miller is a comprehensive guide to addressing the most challenging issues that students face while writing about psychology, including what to say and how to say it. It offers practical tools to overcome the challenges and create an engaging work. The book is a valuable resource for helping readers become better writers of psychology with the aid of various helpful learning tools, which provide detailed coverage of how to write empirical reviews, research proposals, literature reviews, term papers, and posters. It examines examples from journal articles that give readers a grasp of the content they will encounter in writing psychological reports. Furthermore, it includes exercises that provide an opportunity to apply the points conveyed in each chapter, examples of ways to avoid the most common mistakes made by students, and a guide to the best practices for improving one's writing. Readers will also develop a thorough understanding of how to write in an engaging yet accurate style, using grammatical and word use rules that govern writing in general, and the rules of seventh edition APA (American Psychological Association) Publication Manual that determine the expression of that content. Throughout, the book emphasizes inclusion, diversity, and fair treatment of those with whom psychologists deal, in research and writing. The book will benefit anyone looking for guidance on how to write about psychological content. It is ideal for research scholars and psychology students as a primary text for writing in psychology courses and a supplement for graduate or advanced undergraduate courses in research design or research methods.
Conducting Your Literature Review by
A step-by-step guide to writing a literature review, and includes tips for modifying the process as needed depending on your audience, purpose, and goals. The lessons in this book can be applied to writing the background section for a thesis or an original research publication. Literature reviews are now much more challenging to compile today than they used to be. You need a structured approach to handle the sheer volume of published research available. This book will help you formulate a strategy for making decisions about what to include and not include in your review, and produce a reliable and unbiased summary of the existing research. You will learn skills for defining research questions, using search tools and managing citations. This book is part of the American Psychological Association's Concise Guides to Conducting Behavioral, Health, and Social Science Research series.
Designing and Proposing Your Research Project by
Designing your own study and writing your research proposal takes time, often more so than conducting the study. This practical, accessible guide by the American Psychological Association walks you through the entire process. You will learn to identify and narrow your research topic, develop your research question, design your study, and choose appropriate sampling and measurement strategies. The figures, tables, and exhibits offer a wealth of relatable examples, and students can use the many activities and worksheets to explore and apply concepts, as individuals or in groups.
Dissertations and Theses from Start to Finish by
"For over twenty five years, Dissertations and Theses from Start to Finish: Psychology and Related Fields has guided student writers through the practical, logistical, and emotional struggles that come with writing dissertations and theses. It offers guidance to students through all the essential steps, including: Defining topics; Selecting faculty advisors; Scheduling time to work on the project, and; Conducting, analyzing, writing, presenting, and publishing research. This fully updated third edition includes guiding questions, checklists, diagrams, and sample research papers. It also reflects the most recent advances in online research and includes fully updated online resources.
Essential Guide to Doing Your Research Project by
The ultimate companion to successfully completing your research project, the author guides you through a step-by-step approach to research and provides all of the skills and momentum you need to excel. Each stage of a project is clearly set out with best practice highlighted alongside pragmatic advice for tackling research in the real world.
Writing Dissertations and Theses in Psychology by
Provides concrete assistance to the myriad tasks and requirements that students will encounter as they plan, conduct, and present their dissertation or thesis research. Takes students through the thesis process: drafting the proposal, the advisor-advisee relationship, interacting with committee members, the writing process, handling obstacles, and the final presentation.
Writing the Winning Thesis or Dissertation by
The classic step-by-step guide to thesis and dissertation success, fully updated for 2018. This revised and updated fourth edition is the most comprehensive guide yet to researching, writing, and publishing a successful thesis or dissertation. It includes: Insights on leveraging new technologies to maximize your efficiency. Current case studies demonstrating the book’s teachings in action. Tested principles of effective planning, an engaging writing style, defense preparation, and more.
From Numbers to Words by 
Introductory Statistics Using SPSS by 
Intermediate Statistics Using SPSS by 
Managing Your Research Data and Documentation by 
SPSS Statistics for Dummies by 1. Starting the dissertation: Experts offer tips on picking a topic, conducting a lit review, identifying your problem and questions, and staying on track
2. Choose your research methods wisely: Experts offer tips on balancing ambition and realism in your research design
3. Ready, set, collect! Experts offer tips on making your thesis proposal defense, IRB approval, participant recruitment, and data collection go smoothly
4. Writing up your results: Experts offer tips on analyzing your data, formatting and design the presentation of your results, and staying focused
5. Discussing your findings: Experts offer tips on writing your discussion section, including putting your research into context, striking a balance between telling the story of why people should care about your research without overstating your conclusions, and common discussion mistakes
6. Publishing your dissertation: Experts offer tips on editing your dissertation to make it publishable in a scholarly journal
