• “Detecting Electronic Cigarette User Disparity Behaviors: An Infovelliance Study on Twitter” - Cortni Bardier (Class of 2020)
• “Healthcare Worker Preparedness Among Clinicians Treating the Forced Migrant Population” - Tianna McMann (Class of 2020)
• "For and by Communities: An Assessment of Feasibility for a Novel International Healthcare Program in Rural Ghana and Nigeria"  - Rebecca Donham (Class of 2021)
• "What Medical Schools Don't Teach You" - Rachel Yim (Class of 2021)
• “Pediatric Trauma in the California-Mexico Border Region: Injury Disparities by Area Deprivation Index” - Alicia Gaidry Sykes (Class of 2021)
• "Structural Gender-Based Violence and Unresolved Trauma: Power Structures and Social Dynamics that Influence the Migration of Women Fleeing the Northern Triangle Countries of Central America" - Frances Rivera (Class of 2021)
• "Osteoarthritis in Asia: A Literature Review" - Nhi Nguyen (Class of 2021)

Students must receive approval from the Program Director to complete the thesis track. The application must be submitted by the end of Fall quarter.

Students must have the following information:

• Proposed thesis topic
• Project Description
• Identify one thesis advisor who has agreed to serve on your committee (chair)
• Proposed plan to complete thesis 
• Proposed timeline

The application will be sent out during fall quarer.

Required: You must identify one advisor (chair) that has agreed to work with you at the time of applying. You must have all three of your advisors identified by week 5 of Winter quarter to continue on the thesis track. Please notify your graduate advisor once you have identified all advisors.

Your thesis committee must consist of three faculty members, one member will serve as the chair and two members who will serve as readers.

Additionally, please review the list of Global Health Affiliated Faculty.

To see which faculty are eligible to serve on your committee, please review the thesis committee membership guidelines.

* Please note the Global Health Program does not allow lecturers to serve as a committee member.

Students may request to work with faculty outside this list as long as it is relevant to your research interests and approved by the program director. Email your grad advisor with your request and include details on the faculty member and how it is relevant to your research.

*If possible, it’s best to ask a faculty member you have worked with before, especially if that faculty member has a project they are already working on or a data set you can work with for the thesis.

Role of Faculty Advisors:

• Help you determine an appropriate topic for your research paper or project

• Formally approve the proposed topic

• Respond to questions and recommend appropriate academic reference materials

• Provide feedback on your research/writing process, including how to effectively analyze the topic and develop your paper or project

• Provide feedback on final draft of thesis paper prior to defense
• Attend Thesis Defense during finals week

Please review the MA thesis writing page.

The Preparation and Submission Manual for Doctoral Dissertations and Master’s Theses “Bluebook”, from the UC San Diego Graduate Division, outlines the requirements for "the preparation, submission and dissemination of doctoral dissertations and master’s theses at UCSD." It includes sections on layout and organization, copyright, handling special materials, using published materials (including material submitted or being prepared for publication), electronic filing of dissertations and theses, and lists of necessary filing documents (including the release form where you can set a one or two-year embargo period).

Subject librarian: Sarah Buck Kachaluba

Master's students apply to advance to candidacy after completing all required course work for the degree requirements specified. GHP MA students will file while enrolled in their final coursework during Spring quarter.

The Application for Candidacy must be filed with the Graduate Division within the first 2 weeks of the quarter in which the degree requirements are to be completed.

Your Graduate Coordinator will intiate this paperwork vis Docusign.

Students are required to attend a thesis formatting workshop. These workshops are offered quarterly by the graduate division. Your graduate coordinator will keep you informed of the dates.

See additional details here.

• Preparation and Submission Manual for Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses. 

You will need to schedule a date to defend your thesis based on availability of committee. Once you have asked your committee for their availbility, email your grad coordinator to reserve space.

The last day to defend is finals week.

On the day of the defense, you will need to bring the final report signature page for your committee to sign off on. Members of your cohort will be invited to attend your defense and show support.

Thesis Defense Format:

• 15-20 minute presentation of thesis (powerpoint recommended)
• 15- 20 minute Q&A
• Commitee meets to discuss outcome and returns to share decision with student
• Commitee signs final form (sent out via docusign by graduate coordinator)

Please note: The preferred means to conduct the defense is when all committee members are physically present. Graduate Council, however, has determined that a master's committee member can participate in one of three ways: 1) physically present (meaning they are in the room), 2) telepresent (meaning they participate by live video teleconference), or 3) in advance (if they must be absent on the exam date, it is permissible to examine the candidate in advance of the exam date).

• More than half of the master's committee must be physically present. No more than one member may be telepresent.
• The committee chair, or one co-chair, must be physically present
• If an emergency situation arises that affects the number of committee members present, the committee chair (or co-chairs) may decide how to proceed. There must be sufficient expertise among present members (either physically or telepresent) to examine the student.

Final Report Signature page: The Final Report  must have the original signatures of all members of the thesis committee, the program’s graduate advisor, and the program’s chair. The form for Plan I must also indicate if the student will continue at UC San Diego or will terminate. Proxy signatures are not accepted.

Pre-liminary appointment (2-4 weeks prior to defense)

A student must make an appointment with the Graduate Division for a preliminary check of his/her thesis .

At that appointment the format is checked and instructions on the final preparation and submission of the thesis are given.

The thesis must be formatted according to the requirements explained in the Preparation and Submission Manual for Doctoral Dissertations and Masters' Theses.

At the Preliminary Appointment, students can choose to have their review done in one of two ways:

 1) Upload the complete fully formatted dissertation or thesis to http://www.etdadmin.com the morning of the preliminary appointment. Print and bring hard copies of all preliminary pages (title page through abstract). If this option is chosen, the entire dissertation or thesis does not need to be printed. This will not be the definitive version. Students will have the opportunity to make changes and resubmit prior to their final appointment. 

OR 

2) Bring in a complete, unbound, single-sided, fully formatted printed copy of the dissertation or thesis.

Final Graduate Division Appointment (once committee as approved)

• The student submits the final approved thesis along with the Final Report of the Thesis to the Graduate Division at the final appointment
• The thesis submission fee of $25 must be paid at the cashier’s office prior to the student’s final appointment with the Graduate Division. 
• Final approval and acceptance of the thesis by the Dean of the Graduate Division (on behalf of the University Archivist and Graduate Council) represents the final step in the completion of all requirements for the Master's degree.

The deadline to submit final degree paperwork to the Graduate Division is the 11^th Friday of each quarter or early September for summer graduation (see general deadlines and the Registrar’s Enrollment and Registration Calendar for more information on deadlines and specific dates). If the deadline is missed the degree will be awarded in the next quarter.

• Academic Senate regulations for the MA/MS Thesis (Plan I) 

How do I choose a topic?

Think of your career goals and the substantive area you want to pursue.  The topic should be something in which you are interested and about which you are passionate.  It should also be something that is realistic to address and about which there is already literature you can draw on. 

When should you start writing?

Winter Quarter

Can I write on the same topic as my undergraduate thesis?  You can write on a related topic but not on the same topic, and the thesis must be altogether different from your senior thesis.