Department of Criminal Justice

Your decision to undertake the research and writing required for a thesis or a project should be guided by a number of factors.

Credit Hours Differences and Similarities:

Both thesis and project students complete 33 credits. However, of those 33 credits, Master’s students who complete a thesis are required to take 3 credits of electives (one course) and register for 6 thesis credits (equivalent of two courses). Students completing a project are required to take 6 credits of electives (two courses) and register for 3 project credits (equivalent of one course). Essentially, the student balances the three additional course work credits required for the project against the additional structure and depth demands of the thesis.  In addition, as indicated in the graduate catalog, if students have not completed the work for the project or thesis by the time they have completed their required project or thesis credits, they will need to enroll in at least one credit of project or thesis each semester until the work is completed, defended and accepted by their committee.

Thesis Requirements:

Thesis work typically requires the development and execution of original research or the analysis of existing data. An exhaustive literature review is expected, as a basis for testing of theory-generated hypotheses. A typical thesis will have some form of the following chapters: Introduction, Literature Review, Methods, Findings and Analysis, and Conclusion. A thesis will range in length from 75 to 300 pages.

A thesis should also be polished and of publishable quality. It must conform to the style requirements of the Graduate College at Boise State University (you can obtain a copy of the Standards for Preparation of Dissertations, Theses, and Projects in the Graduate College online at: http://www.boisestate.edu/gradcoll/). The citation and reference format that is appropriate for our discipline, and required for your thesis, is the one used by the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences in their two journals Justice Quarterly and The Journal of Criminal Justice Education. You may obtain a copy of the citation and reference format at the back of any issue of JCJE (available in the library or via your committee members).

Project Requirements:

Projects might encompass the development of a policy and procedure manual for agencies (minor revisions of existing manuals will not qualify); an organizational or personnel analysis that includes important written components; a well developed and exhaustive literature review; a research note piece that would be publishable in a journal; or being principal author on a major final report for an externally funded grant or another endeavor that will yield a comparable product. Typical project length will range from 50 to 200 pages.