Dissertation

Dissertation

So, you’re ready to defend! Congratulations!

The dissertation should be defended in a student's fourth year. When a student has completed a defensible draft, they submit the abstract (in digital form) to the English Graduate Officer with the notification that they are ready to defend and send an electronic copy of the dissertation and abstract to the Support Services Coordinator.

Please note that your dissertation must be correctly formatted for scheduling to move forward. These are the formatting requirements. 

Simultaneously, the supervisor submits a list of five candidates each for the External and Internal-External members of the committee to the Graduate Officer.

The tool below shows the approximate timing from when your final dissertation is approved by your supervisory committee to degree completion.

PhD Thesis planning tool from submission of thesis to defence

Defence Guidelines

• The supervisory committee must approve a final version of the dissertation.
• The supervisor must contact the Graduate Officer to set up the defence committee.  The supervisor must provide the Graduate Officer with the following:
  • a list of 5 candidates for the role of internal/external examiner (including department, email address, a line or two on suitability, and a statement disclosing any professional or personal connection)
  • a list of 5 candidates for the role of external examiner (including institutional affiliation, email address, a line or two on suitability, and a statement disclosing any professional or personal connection)
  • the dissertation abstract
• The candidate must provide an electronic copy of the dissertation to the Support Services Coordinator.  
• Once the entire exam committee has been assembled (dissertation committee, internal/external examiner, and external examiner), the work begins to find a date and time for the defence. The defence will take place no earlier than five weeks after the dissertation goes on public display.
  • Please note that the five-week display period means 25 business days—not including University holidays, black-out periods, or weekends; the blackout periods generally consist of the Christmas break, the last week of August, and university reading breaks. 
  • Things to note during the black-out periods: 
    •  Dissertation defences are not scheduled during this time.
    • The mandatory five-week display period will not be affected by the black-out periods.
    • All administration and paperwork will continue to be processed during this time.

For more details, consult the PhD Regulations and Information.

Tuition Payment and Refund Deadlines

Students must pay tuition in the term the defence takes place.

Depending on the date of the defence students may be eligible for one of the tuition refunds.

The 100% refund deadline can be found here. The 50% refund deadline can be found here.

Before a refund can be submitted, there are many steps to complete after a successful defence.

• Any required revisions;
• Committee signs the Thesis Acceptance form and it’s uploaded;
• Dissertation is uploaded to UW Space;
• Student applies for graduation;
• Department approves student record for graduation;
• GSPA approves student record for graduation.

Publishing Instructions

Once completed and approved, the dissertation must be submitted to UWSpace for publishing.

Submission Information

• Review the instructions for submitting your dissertation to UWSpace.
• Dissertations submitted to UWSpace will be reviewed within 3 to 5 business days of the GSPA receiving your 'Thesis Acceptance' form from your Faculty/department.

Submission Process

• Submit 1 copy of your dissertation (.pdf format only) and any supplementary files to UWSpace for review by the GSPA.
• You will be contacted by email after a review has taken place to advise you of any revisions that must be made prior to final approval.
• If revisions are required, your dissertation must be resubmitted to UWSpace.
• You will be contacted by email once your dissertation submission is approved.
• Retain a copy of the GSPA/UWSpace approval email to submit to wPrint if paper copies of your dissertation are required. An alternate printing service is pageforpage.com.
• The department does not require hard copies of your dissertation. 

Other Resources

Graduate Studies offers many electronic dissertation resources, which are helpful for both students and supervisors.