ÌÇÐÄÔ­´´

The thesis route consists of five (5) three-credit courses and two (2) zero-credit courses that enable the student to apply knowledge and skills gained through coursework to conduct independent research and produce a substantial piece of scholarly work. The thesis is completed under the guidance of a supervisory committee and is expected to make an original contribution to knowledge in Earth system science (ESS).

Before registering in the thesis courses, the student must prepare a mini-proposal outlining the research question, proposed methodology, and supervisory arrangements. The mini-proposal must be approved by the supervisor and the program director.

The thesis process involves two major evaluation milestones: a thesis proposal examination at the end of ESSC 675 and a final thesis examination that takes place following completion of the research and submission of the thesis at the end of ESSC 679. The final examination takes place during the ESSC 700 course. Both examinations include evaluation of a written submission and an oral defence by an examination committee.

Research work formally begins after the student has completed the required core and elective courses. However, the student is encouraged to begin identifying a research focus area, topic, and prospective supervisor upon entering the program. A research topic may arise from the workplace, experience, personal interests, interactions with Faculty of Science and Technology (FST) faculty members, or the program’s . The student should prepare a mini-proposal using the MSc ESS Thesis Mini-Proposal Template (see Appendix A). The mini-proposal may build upon work completed in ENSC 680.

The student should submit this mini-proposal to a prospective supervisor, if identified. If no prospective supervisor has been identified, the mini-proposal should be submitted to the program director. The prospective supervisor reviews the submission and decides whether to supervise the thesis. If the supervisor agrees and approves the mini-proposal, it is forwarded, together with the agreement to supervise, to fstgrad@athabascau.ca. Following approval by the program director, the student may register in ESSC 600.

If the prospective supervisor declines, the student may revise the mini-proposal based on feedback (if resubmission is invited), submit it to another potential supervisor, or prepare a new mini-proposal. If the student is unable to identify a supervisor, the program director will assist in identifying an appropriate supervisor.

Notes:

1. The effort involved in preparing and presenting the mini-proposal—including literature review, consultations with the program director, and submission to prospective supervisors—does not influence its acceptance or rejection.
2. The mini-proposal, and all subsequent stages of the thesis, are the responsibility of the student, who must demonstrate the merit, feasibility, and scholarly value of the proposed research.
3. After approval, the content of the mini-proposal—including research objectives, methods, tasks, and timelines—may be revised with the mutual agreement of the student and the supervisor.
4. A prospective supervisor is not obligated to accept a mini-proposal or agree to supervise a thesis. Decisions may be based on factors such as alignment of expertise, the quality and feasibility of the proposal, or existing supervisory commitments.

Upon approval of the mini-proposal, the student should complete the and obtain the required approvals from the supervisor, the program director, and the dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies.

To complete the thesis requirements, the student must successfully complete ESSC 600, ESSC 675, ESSC 676, ESSC 677, ESSC 678, ESSC 679, and ESSC 700. Although these courses are administered as academic courses, they primarily support the development, implementation, and completion of the thesis.

If the student receives a failing grade in any of these courses, they may be required to discontinue the thesis route and pursue an alternative completion route, subject to approval by the program director and applicable university regulations.

ESSC 600 is the first thesis course. This zero-credit course provides an introduction to the research process and an opportunity for the student to complete preliminary research activities and make an early start on the thesis proposal.

The scope of work completed during ESSC 600 is determined jointly by the student and the supervisor. Before proceeding to the next course (ESSC 675), the student should have clearly defined the research problem, assessed the feasibility of the proposed research, and developed a plan for completing the thesis. This process typically involves refining the research question and, where appropriate, defining a research hypothesis. It also includes identifying the research methodology, required resources, anticipated deliverables, and research schedule; conducting an initial literature review; and addressing any applicable research ethics requirements.

The student should also become familiar with applicable university policies and regulations, including the Graduate Handbook, graduate policies and procedures, research ethics requirements, and the Student Academic Misconduct Policy.

The literature review is a key component of this phase because it helps refine the research scope, establish the context for the study, and identify relevant scholarly work. The student is encouraged to review the literature as comprehensively as possible.

ESSC 675 is the first three-credit thesis course. During this course, the student is expected to complete the literature review, develop the thesis proposal, and obtain any required ethics or access approvals. Research involving human participants, animals, or human biological remains may require approval from the ÌÇÐÄÔ­´´ Research Ethics Board (REB). The student should consult the university’s ethics policies, procedures, and guidelines to determine whether approval is required.

During ESSC 675, the student and supervisor work together to establish the supervisory committee. Information about the roles and responsibilities of the student, supervisor, and supervisory committee is available in the Graduate Handbook.

The supervisor is responsible for completing the and obtaining the required approvals and signatures from the committee members, program director, and dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies.

By the end of ESSC 675, the student is expected to submit a thesis proposal for examination by the supervisory committee. Proposal requirements and guidelines are provided in Appendix B, and a proposal template is provided in Appendix C. The assessment of the thesis proposal consists of a review of the written proposal and an oral examination conducted by the supervisory committee. Additional details regarding the examination process are available in the Graduate Handbook. Assessment of the written proposal may result in one of the following outcomes: Pass, Pass Subject to Minor Revisions, Pass Subject to Major Revisions, or Fail. The oral examination may result in a Pass, Fail, or Adjournment. Following completion of the examination, the supervisor completes the Master’s Thesis Proposal and Oral Examination Report.

The thesis proposal should be developed and reviewed early in the research process. Early examination helps ensure that the proposed research is academically sound, feasible, and aligned with the expectations of the supervisory committee before substantial research work is undertaken. It also provides an opportunity to receive feedback and guidance that can strengthen the research and improve the efficiency of thesis completion. Delaying proposal review may result in significant work being completed on a research direction that is ultimately not approved by the supervisory committee.

A strong thesis proposal clearly defines the research problem, objectives, and proposed methodology, and demonstrates how the proposed work builds upon and contributes to the existing literature. The proposal should be organized logically, supported by relevant and current scholarly sources, and written for a multidisciplinary audience. Clear writing, accurate citations and references, and careful proofreading contribute significantly to the quality of the proposal and facilitate its review by the supervisory committee.

Following successful completion of ESSC 675, the student registers in ESSC 676 and begins the implementation phase of the thesis. By the end of ESSC 676, approximately 30% of the research should be completed, including data collection and/or solution design, as appropriate to the nature of the research.

Upon successful completion of ESSC 676, the student may register in ESSC 677. By the end of this course, approximately 60% of the research should be completed, including data analysis and/or solution implementation.

Upon successful completion of ESSC 677, the student may register in ESSC 678. By the end of this course, at least 90% of the research should be completed, including experimental evaluation and interpretation of results, where applicable.

Throughout this phase, the student normally continues to work with the same supervisor and supervisory committee established during ESSC 675.

The student should register in ESSC 679 after successfully completing ESSC 678 and when they anticipate completing the thesis work.During this course, the student is expected to complete the thesis and submit it to the supervisory committee for review. Normally, the student continues to work with the same supervisor and supervisory committee established in the earlier phases of the thesis.

The primary objective of ESSC 679 is to produce a thesis that satisfies the requirements of both the MSc ESS program and ÌÇÐÄÔ­´´. The thesis must conform to the university’s format for theses and dissertations.

During the thesis-writing process, the student, with guidance from the supervisor, should ensure that all copyright and intellectual property requirements have been addressed. Information regarding copyright permissions is provided in Appendix D. Additional guidance is available through the FGS intellectual property guidelines.

Once the written thesis is complete, it should be submitted to the supervisory committee for review. If the committee is satisfied that the thesis is ready to be reviewed by the examination committee, it will provide a Preliminary Acceptance of Thesis Prior to Final Examination form and the student can proceed to the final examination stage and register in ESSC 700.

Important: Once the thesis has been submitted for examination, no changes may be made to the thesis unless requested by the examination committee.

Following preliminary approval of the thesis by the supervisory committee, the supervisor works with FGS to establish the examination committee and arrange the final thesis examination. The student then registers in ESSC 700, a zero-credit course dedicated to the thesis review, examination, and defence process.

Information about the formation of the examination committee and the final thesis examination process is available in the Graduate Handbook.

Where applicable, the student is responsible for revising the thesis to address changes requested by the examination committee. The revised thesis must be submitted to the supervisor for validation before final submission of the thesis. Information regarding thesis submission requirements is available in the Graduate Handbook. The student will not be recommended for graduation at Academic Council until any required revisions have been completed and approved.

Once the program requirements have been met, the student must apply to graduate through the Office of the Registrar. Questions regarding graduation procedures should be directed to the Office of the Registrar.

The purpose of having thesis proposals is twofold:

• First, it helps ensure that students are prepared to undertake the work they are proposing.
• Second, it helps ensure that the work being proposed is of appropriate scope and depth for an MSc degree and has value to the community.

The proposal must ensure that these two points are clearly addressed so that the committee can approve the thesis proposal.

The proposal must be a complete, self-contained description of the proposed research work. Any important details omitted will suggest that the student lacks mastery of the area. Having said that, the committee realizes that, at the stage of a thesis proposal, it is not possible for the student to have reviewed all background material (and thus have perfect mastery), nor is it possible to present all the details of the proposed work. The committee will, however, look to see that the student has covered reasonable breadth in their review of the area and that their solution methodology is clear and well thought out. These criteria will give the committee confidence that the student will have mastery by the time the thesis is complete.

Required components

Key components of the thesis proposal include

• an abstract of the proposed work.
• a clearly specified problem statement (where problem is taken in the broadest sense).
• an introduction to the problem and a proposed solution.
• a review of related work describing how it relates to the proposed work (this review is not intended to be exhaustive but rather representative of existing work in the area).
• a statement of how the student proposes to solve the problem, including sufficient methodology to convince the committee that the proposed solution is likely to be successful.
• a description of precisely how the student will evaluate the success of their work.
• a statement of the resources required to complete the work and how they will gain access to them.
• a description of the results they expect to obtain and why these results are of interest to the field.
• a timeline for the completion of the thesis, providing realistic dates for finishing milestone events.
• if appropriate, a statement of how they will manage any sensitive data (i.e., information of a personal nature) that they might have access to or create during the course of their research.
• a brief summary of what they have just proposed.
• a detailed, quality bibliography of work related to the proposed thesis research.

Length and structure

The length of a proposal often varies somewhat depending on the area of the proposed work and the topic itself. In general, a proposal is normally between 10 and 20 letter-size pages, single column, with 1.5 line spacing, 12-point font, and 2.54-centimetre margins. This page count includes figures and references. Be aware, however, that excessively lengthy documents may be sent back unread for revision to provide better focus. An upper bound of close to 20 pages is a good limit in practice.

Appendix C provides a template for the thesis proposal. While the exact structure and organization of a thesis proposal may vary from the following suggested structure, all the material discussed in each item described below should be included somewhere in the proposal and should be presented in a logical order.

• MSc ESS Thesis Proposal Template

Copyright permission is required when you want to include a substantial amount of someone else’s work in your MSc thesis.

Copyright permission is required for a chapter or substantial excerpt from a book or journal, material copied from a website, screen captures from a website, charts and tables, images, and audio or video clips.

Copyright permission is NOT required for anything you write or create, short passages or quotes, items in the public domain, website links, ideas, and titles. For a more comprehensive description of what copyrighted material is and when permission should be sought, see the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) resource .

Note: Open-access materials, such as items licensed under a or a , are usually less restrictive and can often be reproduced for non-commercial purposes, provided you acknowledge the source. Carefully review any such license or agreement attached to the works, as copyright requirements can vary. If in doubt, contact the rights holder of the work.

Expediting copyright permission requests

• For works from published books, journals, online journals, or e-books, submit your permission request to the publisher. Publisher contact information can be found using an online search or a print directory.
• For materials taken from a website, submit your permission request to the website administrator.
• For unpublished works, submit your request to the author.
• For photographs, submit your request to the photographer.
• For artistic works, submit your request to the museum or archive that houses it. You may need to obtain permission from the artist as well.
• For video clips or audio clips, submit your request to the producer or distributor of the work.

If you have difficulty locating a rights holder, contact a Copyright Collective or the .

Requesting copyright permission

If available, complete and submit the copyright permission form provided on the publisher’s website. Fill out the form as completely as possible; incomplete forms or missing information will delay your request. If you are submitting a copyright permission form online, remember to make and keep a copy for your files. If no online form is available, use the following copyright permission form as your template:

Pending copyright permission requests

Before you can include the requested material in your thesis, you must receive written consent from the rights holder via fax, mail, or email. Obtaining rights holder permission can be a lengthy process. Ensure that you allow sufficient time to complete your thesis with or without the material you want to reproduce. Following up on your initial request often helps to expedite a response from the rights holder. Keep in mind that many publishing houses may not respond to requests for several weeks.

Note: If you are adapting the rights holder’s material in any way, your permission request form must describe how you intend to modify the material.

If you are denied permission to reproduce the requested material, you may want to follow up with the rights holder by requesting further details, elaborating your intended use, or offering to provide a draft for review. If the denial is absolute, you must remove the item from your thesis.

Inserting copyright acknowledgments

All copyright permission statements (credit lines) must appear on the first page where the reproduced material appears in your thesis. If the rights holder has not provided a preferred acknowledgement statement (credit line), then include a complete bibliographic citation, plus the phrase, “Reproduced with permission.”

Submitting copyright agreements

All written responses from copyright holders granting permission for the inclusion of their materials in your thesis must be submitted to the MSc ESS administrative assistant along with the final version of your thesis. Ensure that you make and keep copies of all permission agreements for your files.