The Master’s Project Semester is anchored by the Master’s Project Seminar (LS 850), regular meetings with your supervisor, and a culminating conversation with a faculty committee in an event The Graduate School calls the “Master’s Examination.”  All of these activities must be completed for you to graduate.  Optional final semester activities include participating in the annual GLS Student Showcase and joining your colleagues for the GLS Hooding Ceremony on Commencement weekend.  

Every Other Week: Attend the Master's Project Seminar 

All students enrolled in LS850 meet together with one another and the director and assistant director every other week by Zoom.  At the beginning of the semester, you will need to submit your detailed work plan.  Later, you will share work samples and offer a brief slide presentation of your Master's Project work. You must fulfill all requirements for the Seminar in order to graduate. 

Every Other Week: Meet with Your Supervisor

Between LS850 meetings, each student should set meetings with their supervisor to discuss progress on the project. 

Apply to Graduate

In order to graduate, you must notify the Graduate School by submitting your Apply to Graduate form by the deadlines listed on the Graduate School’s graduation deadlines page.

This can be done online at Duke Hub.  Click on the “Services” tab.  At the next screen, you will see the “apply to graduate” tab.  Fill in the information and then submit.  Click “continue” and proceed with the remainder of the information requested.

You do not need to list your Master's Project title. In the box that says “If you are pursuing a non-thesis master’s program, please describe other academic exercise to be completed in lieu of master’s thesis,” write in “GLS Master's Project.”   Your master’s committee names will not appear on the form -- so don’t panic if you don’t see your supervisor’s name.

Note: If you have filed the form in a previous semester, you must do so again in order to graduate in a subsequent semester. There is no penalty for submitting the form in a semester in which you do not graduate.  However, you cannot graduate if you have not filled out this form before the deadline in the actual semester you do intend to graduate.

Select Your Third Reader and Schedule Your Master’s Examination

LS 850 will include instructions and reminders about these tasks, and staff in the GLS office will send specific instructions to assist you in getting your committee approved and master’s exam scheduled. 

Submit Your Draft Project 

​At least ten days before your master's examination, you must submit a copy of the project to all theree of your committee members.   This draft should conform to the GLS Master's Project format (including title page, abstract, etc.), meet all appropriate academic standards (including clearly citing all sources consulted), be easily accessible or readable, and need only minor corrections or enhancements to be complete. 

Supervisor’s Endorsement 

Ahead of your exam, your supervisor must send an email to the other two members of the master’s committee including the following:  

  • An affirmation that your project is ready for the master's exam; and 
  • A brief endorsement attesting to the project’s strengths as well as to the seriousness of the process through which you have engaged your topic.    

If your supervisor feels you have not yet successfully completed your project by the scheduled exam date, we will reschedule your master’s examination. 

International students, please note:  Because of visa requirements beyond GLS’s control, the amount of time possible for rescheduling examinations may be very limited; please therefore be sure to remain in contact with your supervisor and take special care to assure that your project is acceptably complete when submitted.  

Committee’s Determination 

At least 24 hours before the examination, the committee will confer by email to confirm that all feel it is appropriate to proceed with the examination, based upon the submitted version of the project.  If the committee finds that the project is not yet mature enough to have met its stated goals and to stimulate a meaningful conversation at the master’s exam, the examination will be rescheduled.  This process ensures that each project is passable before going forward with the master's examination.  

Ending Conversation: The “Master's Examination” 

The “master’s examination” is The Graduate School’s formal mechanism for approving your Master's Project.  At GLS, the “master’s examination” is not a “defense” or even an “exam,” but rather a conversation in which you have the opportunity to lead a discussion with your three-person project committee about all that you have learned while engaged in the Master's Project, and in the GLS program in general.  The master’s exam may be held in-person at GLS House, by Zoom, or at another campus location convenient for the committee members. 

This event is a crucial part of your Master’s Project semester.  It is an opportunity to engage three other scholars in a thoughtful exploration of your project and its subject matter.  It is a chance for you to reflect upon your intellectual journey and the growth and work that it has produced.  It is a moment to talk about the process of your project and to demonstrate the results of the “serious and sustained engagement” described above.  You should come prepared to open the “exam” with a 5-10-minute presentation summarizing your main insights from working on the project and some questions to launch the conversation.  

Optional: GLS Student Showcase

All graduating students are invited to do a short presentation about their project at the annual GLS Student Showcase held between the end of classes and May graduation.  We invite GLS alumni, faculty, current students, and graduating students’ family, mentors, and friends to join us to learn from each other at this celebratory conclusion to each year! 

GLS Hooding Ceremony (Graduation)

While Duke and GLS graduation ceremonies are held once a year in May, all those who graduate in the previous academic year (including September and December graduates) are welcome to participate in the Graduate Liberal Studies Hooding Ceremony (typically held on a Saturday) as well as the university-wide ceremonies held that same weekend.  

Submit Your Final, Completed Project

You will have at least two weeks after the master's examination/conversation to submit the final version of your project to dukegls@duke.edu.  Final versions should be submitted as PDFs with filename as follows: LastnameFirstname_GLSMastersProjectFinal_SemesterYear (for instance, WhisnantAnne_GLSMastersProjectFinal_Spring2024).  

To the degree possible, GLS Master's Projects are archived electronically in the GLS office.  (If your project is in a form that cannot be easily archived, please consult the GLS Director about alternative options.)  With the student’s permission, a title and abstract are published on the GLS website.  And at the invitation of the program and at the student’s discretion, projects may also be published on the Duke Libraries’ online repository, DukeSpace.