학위논문 작성법(English)

Introduction

The master’s or doctoral thesis is required for the conferral of a graduate degree at Yonsei University. The manuscript is expected to be an original contribution to the student’s field of research and the result of sustained scholarship and research. The thesis will be held in the Yonsei University Library and made available to the public (on the Web as well as in printed forms). This booklet provides directions about the format of the thesis in order to help students write their master’s or doctoral theses in English at Yonsei University.

Students can choose, in consultation with their thesis supervisor, to write their theses in English. Once this decision has been made, students should follow the guidelines in this booklet, which provides the standard format requirements for theses in all departments. For field-specific differences in bibliography, citations, etc., students must consult with their thesis supervisor and refer to the style manuals given in the “References” section below. Note that this booklet supplements the Academic Regulations of Graduate School, 2014(대학원 학칙 및 내규, 2014; in Korean), and that the overall requirements of Graduate School for all theses and graduation requirements must be met. Further detailed information on researching, writing, and formatting of the thesis is available in the Guidelines for Writing Thesis at Graduate School, 2001(논문 작성법, 2011; in Korean).

Requirements

1. Writing Thesis in English
The language of the master’s or doctoral thesis at Yonsei University is generally Korean, but theses written in English are also encouraged. Students must consult with their thesis supervisor and obtain an advance approval for the thesis written in a language other than Korean, including English. Theses written in languages other than Korean or English are also permissible upon approval by the thesis supervisor if the foreign language is appropriate for the subject of the thesis.

2. Eligibility for Submission of Thesis
Students must meet certain conditions before they are eligible to submit theses. All students must have passed their qualifying examinations and have been under the guidance of a thesis supervisor for at least one semester for a master’s student, or for at least two semesters for a doctoral or combined master’s doctoral student. All students must finish their degree programs within a specified period four years for a master’s student, seven years for a doctoral student, and eight years for a combined master’s doctoral student. However, in cases when a student has been on leave or has other permissible reasons, the Dean of the Graduate School can grant the student up to two more years to complete the degree program.

3. Scope and Breadth of Thesis
The thesis must be an original contribution to the student’s field of scholarship. The master’s thesis must demonstrate a strong fundamental understanding of the student’s field of research, focus on a subject of scholarly relevance, and be clearly written and well organized.
A doctoral dissertation must demonstrate a capacity for original research, present a clear argument that demonstrates how the student’s research revises or expands existing boundaries of knowledge or technology. Both the master’s and doctoral theses should reflect not only mastery of research techniques but also an ability to select an important problem for investigation and to execute it competently. As long as the length of the thesis is concerned there are no restrictions. Master’s theses are usually under 150 pages with 1.5- or double-spacing, and doctoral dissertations are usually under 300 pages with 1.5- or double-spacing.

4. Thesis Supervisor
All students must select and be approved by a thesis supervisor (principal adviser) in their field of study before embarking on a thesis. The thesis supervisor must be a full-time faculty member at Yonsei University; professors, associate professors, and assistant professors with final degree in their field (usually a Ph.D.) are eligible. In order to ensure that the thesis supervisor will be able to finish supervising the thesis, the thesis supervisor must be a faculty member who has at least four semesters remaining for a master’s student or six semesters remaining for a doctoral student before retirement.

Submission of Thesis

1. Copies of Preliminary Manuscript
In order to facilitate preliminary review of the thesis, master’s students must submit three (3) copies, and doctoral students five (5) copies of their manuscript to their thesis committee. The final thesis must be submitted to the Graduate School office after obtaining an approval from the thesis supervisor and committee members.

2. Thesis Committee
The thesis committee which reviews and approves master’s and doctoral theses is appointed by the Dean of the Graduate School. Upon the request from the department chair, the Dean of the Graduate School appoints thesis committee members to review the thesis. Committee is composed of three faculty members for a master’s thesis and five for a doctoral dissertation, and up to one (master’s) or two (doctoral) of theses committee members can be from outside of the University. The thesis supervisor automatically becomes a committee member; the Dean of the Graduate School follows the recommendation of the department chair in appointing a Chair of the thesis committee. Any faculty member is eligible to be thesis supervisor (see “The Thesis Supervisor” above) as well as to serve on the thesis committee.

3. Preliminary Review of Thesis
The master’s and doctoral thesis must be carefully reviewed by all the members of the thesis committee, and approved by that committee before final submission.

A. Master’s theses must be carefully reviewed by members of the thesis committee. The degree candidate must give a public presentation of the thesis to the members of the thesis committee and his/her department, and must answer questions posed by thesis committee members and other audiences at the presentation. The thesis committee chair then submits the results of the evaluation of the candidate’s performance to the Dean of the Graduate School after consultation with other committee members.

B. Doctoral dissertations must be carefully reviewed by members of the thesis committee. The degree candidate must give a public presentation of the dissertation to the members of the thesis committee and his / her department, and must answer questions posed by thesis committee members and other audiences at the presentation. The candidate must pass an official preliminary examination for the dissertation within the designated period determined by the Dean of the Graduate School. The thesis committee chair then submits the evaluation of the candidate’s performance to the Dean of the Graduate School after consultation with other committee members.

4. Final Manuscript and Review
The final manuscript of the master’s and doctoral thesis must be faithfully revised/supplemented, under the direction of the thesis supervisor, according to the recommendations and suggestions made by the thesis committee. The final manuscript must follow the format specified below in “Format of Thesis,” and six (6) copies must be submitted to the Graduate School office by the specified deadline. This manuscript will then be subject to final review and approval by the thesis committee and by the Dean of the Graduate School. If needed, the thesis committee can request the candidate to submit materials, sources, and other references used in the thesis. The thesis committee must make the final approval that the thesis is a significant contribution to knowledge and an acceptable piece of scholarly writing. In the process of evaluating the manuscript, the master’s thesis must get at least 80 points (out of a maximum of 100) from at least two out of three thesis committee members, and the doctoral dissertation must get at least 80 points (out of a maximum of 100) from at least four out of five thesis committee members. If a candidate fails, a revised and improved thesis can be resubmitted one semester later.

Format of Thesis

The format of the final submitted manuscript must conform to the following requirements. Because this final volume will be stored in the University Library and made available to the public, the Graduate School will not accept any thesis not conforming to the following requirements.

1. Physical Requirements

A. Paper. Use white, standard A4 size paper.

B. Typeface and printing. The manuscript must be typed or machine-printed in a clear, readable font; the entire manuscript must be neat in appearance and free of mistakes. Use 10, 11 point size; 1.5- or double-spacing throughout the manuscript.

C. Margins(for Ms Word). Use a minimum of 3.5cm margins on the right and left side. Use 5.3cm margins for the top and bottom. For header, use 1.5cm and for footer, use 3.2cm margins.

D. Page Numbers. It must be numbered throughout the manuscript with page numbers bottom-centered to the text (not to the paper). Every sheet of paper in the manuscript must be numbered except for the title page (counted but not numbered). Use lower case Roman numerals (i, ii, iii, and so on) for the “preliminary pages” (see below in “Order of the Manuscript”; from the title page through to the last page of abstract). Since the title page is counted but not numbered, the first number used is “i" and appears on Table of Contents page. The page following the last page of the abstract is the first page of the “text” (see below in “Order of the Manuscript”) and is numbered “1” and this Arabian numerals (1, 2, 3, and so on) continues to the last page of the manuscript, including blank pages (if any).

E. Binding and Cover Board. A doctoral dissertation must be a clothbound (hardcover binding); a master’s thesis can be either a clothbound or a bound with a soft (paper) cover. The cover must be black for a doctoral dissertation. The cover must be in dark blue for a clothbound master’s thesis and light gray for a softbound master’s thesis. The outside cover of the thesis must follow the format in Appendix 1 (Sample Cover Page), and the lettering must be printed in gold letters.
For softbound master’s theses, the cover lettering must be printed in black.

2. Arrangement and Contents

The contents of the thesis and the internal arrangement of the text and reference sections are determined by the student in consultation with the thesis supervisor. Manuals for the style which governs the format of citations, bibliography, tables, etc., for different fields are provided in the “References” section below.
The order of the preliminary pages must be exactly same as follows. No exceptions are allowed. Sample pages follow in the “Appendices” section below. Sample pages allow differences in master’s and doctoral theses. For cases not addressed in the samples below, consult your thesis supervisor and the Guidelines for Writing Thesis at GraduateSchool, 2001.

Order of Manuscript

A. Preliminary Pages

1. Title page (counted but not numbered; see Appendix 2)
2. Signature page (see Appendix 3)
3. Dedication or acknowledgements (usually optional; any copyright permissions obtained must be listed in an “acknowledgements” section)
4. Table of contents
5. List of Figures, Tables (if applicable)
6. Abstract in English (two pages or less)

B. Text

1. Text: divided into Preface (if any), Introduction (if any), body of text(usually divided into chapters or sections)
2. Appendices (if any)
3. References/Bibliography/List of Works Cited
4. Abstract in Korean (two pages or less)

References

Consult the following references for more in-depth guidelines on form and bibliography. Consult your thesis supervisor for advice on which style is the most appropriate for your field or department.

The Chicago Manual of Style. 14th Ed. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1993.
Day, Robert A., Ed. How to Write & Publish a Scientific Paper. 5th Ed. Oryx P, 1998.
Day, Robert A. Scientific English: A Guide for Scientists and Other Professionals. 2nd Ed. Oryx P, 1995.
Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing. 2nd Ed. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1998.
Rudestam, Kjell E. and Rae R. Newton. Surviving Your Dissertation: A Comprehensive Guide to Content and Process. 2nd Ed. Sage Publications, 2001.
Strunk, William. The Elements of Style. 4th Ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1999.
Zerubavel, Eviatar. The Clockwork Muse: A Practical Guide to Writing Theses, Dissertations, and Books. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1999.

References

Below are sample pages for the Cover page (outside cover), Title page, and Signature page. Preliminary pages for all theses must follow these specifications exactly. Consult these sample pages as well as the section on “Format of Thesis” above.

Appendix 1. Sample Cover page
Appendix 2. Sample Title page
Appendix 3. Sample Signature page