My thesis submission paperwork is piling up
Get the official checklist, work backwards from the deadlines, and stop forms from catching you out.
In short
Start here, today. Download your graduate school's thesis submission checklist and formatting guidelines. Write your target convocation date at the top of a page, then list every item with its deadline. This takes about 30 minutes.
After that, work through these steps. Choose one to jump to it.
Step by step
Tick each step as you finish it. Open a step for the how.
0 of 7 steps done
Get the official checklist and work backwards
Start from the convocation deadline or your funding end date and count back through each stage: final deposit, corrections, the defence, examiner reading time (often several weeks), scheduling the exam, the intent-to-submit form, examiner nominations. Put every date in your Milestone Map. Wherever a step depends on someone else, add a buffer.
Sort out examiner nominations early
In many programs your supervisor or committee nominates examiners, and an external examiner needs time to agree and then be approved. You may not be allowed to suggest names or contact examiners yourself, so check the rules. Ask your supervisor where this stands well before you plan to submit.
Apply the formatting rules as you go
Use the official template if one exists. Check margins, the order of front matter, page numbering, heading styles, captions, and how references and appendices must appear. Fixing formatting across a long document at the last minute takes far longer than it seems it should.
Clear copyright permissions
If you use figures, images or long extracts from other people's work, you may need permission from the copyright holder, especially because theses are usually made public. If chapters are published papers, check the publisher's policy on reuse in a thesis and your graduate school's rules on co-authored work. Your librarian or copyright office can advise, and permissions can take weeks to arrive.
Decide on deposit and embargo
Most universities place the final thesis in an open online repository. If you have a patent application, a book contract, sensitive data or a partner agreement, you may be able to delay public release with an embargo. Find out the options and who has to approve one before your final submission, not after.
Expect a similarity check
Many institutions run theses through plagiarism detection software. Text from your own published papers may be flagged, which is normally expected when it is acknowledged the way your institution requires, so check those rules. Make sure every source is cited and any declaration of prior publication is complete.
Keep one admin log
Keep a single list of forms, who has each one and what you're waiting for. Use the Waiting-For List for signatures and approvals and follow up when a date passes. Save every confirmation email in one folder, because you may need to prove something was sent.
Words you can use
Is this you? Signs to look for
- You've just found out about a form you were meant to submit months before the thesis.
- You don't know whether you can include your published papers or other people's figures.
- The formatting rules for margins, front matter and page numbering seem endless.
- You want to graduate at a particular convocation and aren't sure the dates work.
Why this happens
Submitting a thesis involves more administration than most people expect, and much of it has to happen weeks or months before the thesis is finished: a notice of intent to submit, examiner nominations, scheduling the exam, committee approvals. These steps usually sit with different offices, and nobody pulls them together for you.
The rules also differ between universities, and sometimes between departments in the same university. Advice from friends elsewhere, or from a student who finished three years ago, may be out of date. The reliable source is your own graduate school's current checklist and regulations.
Worth a look (3)
- Think. Check. Submit.Simple checklists to help you judge whether a journal or book publisher can be trusted before you submit. They're available in many languages.
- Open policy finderCheck a journal's open access policies, including which version of your paper you can share and where. It replaced Sherpa Romeo, so older guides may still use that name.
- DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals)A curated list of peer-reviewed open access journals in every field. Use it to find journals to read and to check that a journal you're considering is legitimate.
When to bring someone in
Your graduate coordinator or the graduate school's thesis office has the final word on forms and deadlines. Librarians and the copyright office help with permissions and repository deposit. If an embargo involves a patent or an industry partner, bring in your university's research or technology transfer office. If your visa, funding or a job offer depends on a completion date, check with the international student office or financial aid office before you fix your timeline.
Find the right person, or talk to Ify