These guidelines will help you to prepare and submit your master's thesis or doctoral dissertation and its abstract for final approval by the Office of Graduate Studies.
Procedures and Deadlines
Ensure timely submission of your documents by following the steps and deadlines for your intended graduation date on Master's Degree Milestones or Doctoral Degree Milestones. If you have questions regarding your graduate program or the preparation of your thesis or dissertation, contact Graduate Studies:
- Eva Bachman, Interim Doctoral Programs Coordinator
- Terri Eastin, Master's Programs Coordinator
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Submitting an electronic thesis or dissertation is the same as submitting one printed on paper; you prepare your document and figures using the same software you normally use. You benefit by filing electronically because you won’t need to print and submit multiple copies on paper and the academic community benefits because your work is more accessible via digital archiving and internet retrieval.
Academic Integrity
You’re responsible for adhering to the highest standards of academic integrity when submitting your thesis or dissertation. In support of those standards, the Office of Graduate Studies encourages any student with concerns or questions about plagiarism to discuss them with our Doctoral Programs Coordinator, a faculty advisor, or other qualified faculty or staff.
Plagiarism is defined as presenting the work of another as one's own (i.e., without proper acknowledgment of the source) and submitting examinations, theses, reports, speeches, drawings, laboratory notes or other academic work in whole or in part as one's own when such work has been prepared by another person or copied from another person. Although most obvious in cases where text is copied word for word, plagiarism also includes copying ideas or arguments from another source, including the Internet. Plagiarism can involve as little as copying a key phrase or sentence without acknowledging the source. For more information, see Academic Integrity: Plagiarism.