Thesis or Alternative Plan Paper

Graduate students in Gender and Women’s Studies must complete one of the following capstone requirements for the completion of their master’s program.

Thesis

The Thesis option requires the completion of 30 graduate credit hours, with at least 15 hours in Gender & Women's Studies. The remaining 15 credits may be from program courses selected with the approval of your committee. In addition to the general requirements of the program, the thesis option requires the completion of and oral defense of a thesis. At least one-half of all credit hours must be at the 600 level, and no more than one-third of the credits can be on a pass/no pass credit basis.

Some past thesis topics include:

• How "Modern Family" and "Parenthood" Represent Equal Parenting: A Feminist Discourse
• The Emotionally Supportive Sister-Soldier: How the United States Military Values Normative Femininity and Devalues Nonconformist Servicewomen
• Deconstructing "Chappelle's Show": Race, masculinity, and comedy as resistance
• A Feminist Content Analysis of "Seventeen" Magazine
• "I Could Kill You Quite Easily, Bella, Simply by Accident."*: Violence and Romance in Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" Saga
• You can browse archived theses here

Alternate Plan Paper

The Alternate Plan Paper option requires the completion of 34 graduate credit hours, with at least 16 in Gender & Women's Studies, including 1 credit or more individual study. As with the thesis option, the Alternate Plan Paper requires the completion and oral defense of your paper. At least one-half of all credit hours must be at the 600 level, and no more than one-third of the credits can be on a pass/no pass credit basis.