As you are preparing your thesis for deposit, there are a number of bigger tasks that you will want to plan for and explore. We’ll walk you through some of these things to consider here.
We also encourage you to visit our Deposit Checklist, which includes several quick and easy tasks that you’ll need to complete.
Make a Timeline for Submitting Your Thesis to the Graduate College
There are a number of steps that you will need to consider before you can submit your thesis to the Graduate College. For each graduation period, there is a deadline by which the thesis deposit with the Graduate College Thesis Office must be completed. But depending on your career plans and
For each graduation period, there is a deadline by which the thesis deposit with the Graduate College Thesis Office must be completed. All corrections and all required deposit materials must be received by the Graduate College Thesis Office no later than 5:00 p.m. on the day of the deadline.
The Thesis Office strongly recommends that students submit the departmentally approved thesis to the Graduate College at least one week prior to the deposit deadline.
If you need to deposit by a certain day that is not the deposit deadline, please plan ahead and submit your thesis to the Thesis Office at least two weeks prior to date that you would like to deposit.
Get Ready to Defend Your Thesis
Master's Students
For the master's thesis, the Graduate College does not require a defense. Master's students should check with their departments to find out what the program requirements are for a master's defense and committee.
Doctoral Students
Doctoral students should submit their committee appointment request through the Graduate College Student Portal at least 3 weeks before the scheduled date of the final examination (defense) to initiate the process of committee appointment. All doctoral examination committees must be appointed by the dean of the Graduate College. Each committee must meet the minimum requirements for doctoral committees established by the Graduate College. Departments may have additional requirements.
Doctoral students are required to be registered during the entire term in which the final examination is held. Further information about this registration requirement may be found in the Graduate College Handbook.
For each graduation period, there is a final examination deadline by which the doctoral defense must be held.
Review Thesis Release Options
The Release Options page details the options for making your thesis available. Review these options carefully early to allow time to make your decision, consider the visibility of your research and impact of disseminating your work, and consult with your adviser or research best practices in your discipline.
Obtain Departmental Approval
Departmental approval of the thesis or dissertation consists of two parts:
- Adviser/Committee
- Thesis Reviewer
Adviser/Committee approval
Adviser/committee approval is indicated by the signed Thesis/Dissertation Approval (TDA) form. Because revisions requested by your adviser or committee may cause a change in pagination or format, you should only submit your thesis to the departmental thesis reviewer after all revisions have been approved. Work with your department on completion and submission of the TDA form.
Departmental Thesis Reviewer Approval
After you have obtained adviser/committee approval, you will need to submit your thesis to your department's thesis reviewer, who will ensure that the format of your thesis meets any departmental requirements. All departments have an assigned thesis reviewer. If you are unsure who the thesis reviewer for your program is, you should check with your department or the Thesis Office.
Upon completion of the departmental format review, the thesis reviewer will notify the Graduate College that your thesis has been approved. The Thesis Office will not begin its review of your thesis until we have received notification of approval from your departmental thesis reviewer.
Note: Only after you have completed all revisions and corrections requested by your adviser/committee and your departmental thesis reviewer are you ready to proceed to Stage 3 of the Thesis Process: Graduate College Approval.