Thesis and dissertation

Most graduate students will write and defend a thesis or dissertation as a requirement of their graduate degree. There are many resources in this section to help you with this important part of your graduate student experience. When it comes time to defending your thesis or dissertation and passing the oral examination, and ultimately graduating, there are many steps (and forms) you need to pay attention to. 

Your thesis or dissertation will be placed in the University of Victoria's electronic collection, UVicSpace. UVicSpace is like a virtual shelf of published theses and dissertations on the library website. Some students will have publishers interested in publishing their work, or have sensitive patent information in their thesis or dissertation, or even have a signed contract to write a book. If this is the case, you will likely want the Faculty of Graduate Studies to withhold your work from publication in UVicSpace. There is a special process for this.

Whether you're in the planning stages, preparing to defend or completing the submission process these pages will provide you with the information and resources you'll need to ensure you're successful each step of the way.

• Thesis and dissertation basics
• Ethical issues and copyright considerations
• Scope, structure and formatting
• Checking your thesis or dissertation
• Oral examinations
• Final submission of your thesis or dissertation

Workshops and support

There are a number of workshops to help you with your thesis preparation, writing and management.

Counselling Services

• Thesis completion group
• The Writing Centre

Workshops and resources

• Managing your thesis or dissertation

UVic Libraries

• Research and RefWorks workshops
• Thesis completion group research guide

Electronics theses and dissertations (ETDs)

Effective May 1 2011, all theses and dissertations are submitted electronically to UVicSpace. Users can view the electronic theses and dissertations (ETD) collection on UVicSpace in the Faculty of Graduate Studies section.

ETDs benefit the graduate student by:

1. teaching self-publishing skills
2. making their research available within weeks of completion
3. making their research available on the web

ETDs benefit the university by:

1. exposing our research on the web
2. cost saving in shelf space and binding

Find a list of frequent questions related to ETDs and the submission process on the UVic Libraries website.