New Deadlines for Drafts of MS Writing Requirement Papers

As you know, there is a writing requirement for the MS degree. A paper (there are several possible types) must be read and approved by two faculty members. We call this the Comprehensive Paper. There are alternative ways to satisfy this requirement, but this note applies only to the Comprehensive Paper.

We had some problems last year with graduating MS students who submitted the drafts to the readers very late in the semester, making it difficult to read the papers in time for the students to graduate. Therefore, we are instituting deadlines, effective this semester (spring 2008). The revised form CS-8 lists the deadlines, and has spaces for the two readers to sign to signify on-time receipt.

1. The draft for the primary reader must be submitted on or before 4 weeks prior to the last day of classes. This semester the deadline is March 28.

2. The draft must be submitted to the secondary reader on or before 2 weeks prior to the last day of classes. This semester the deadline is April 11.

I'd suggest that you allow more time than this, especially with the first reader, in order to enable multiple drafts. Also, make sure that you contact potential readers early in the semester to make sure that they schedule time for this.

By the way, a student who wrote a good paper for the PRP can use it to fulfill this requirement by just filing form CS-8. The student would typically just ask the adviser to sign as the primary reader, and one of the examiners to sign as the secondary.

The rules are on page

http://www.cs.unc.edu/Admin/AcademicPrograms/Masters/MastersReqOfficial.html

and the forms on

http://www.cs.unc.edu/Admin/Forms/

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.