thesis submission ubc

Theses and Dissertations

Finding theses and dissertations.

• University of British Columbia
• British Columbia
• International
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This guide will assist you in finding theses and dissertations at UBC,as well as Canadian, American and international institutions. If you need additional assistance, please contact your subject librarian or visit an Information Desk at UBC Library .

Note on terminology: we normally refer to master's theses and doctoral dissertations . All are graduate theses. The generic term thesis is used here, unless it is necessary to distinguish between master's and doctoral theses. 

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• Last Updated: Feb 1, 2022 2:35 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.ubc.ca/theses

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Dissertation & thesis formatting: strategies for successful submission

Workshop description

Need help with formatting your thesis? The Research Commons provides a thesis template and how-to guides, plus in-person help during our workshops or one-on-one consultations . Please read the policy and guidelines for Thesis Formatting at the Research Commons prior to attending the workshop or consultation service.

As of June 30, 2021, UBC Library will no longer offer Thesis Formatting workshops or support. Students are encouraged to explore the many online resources that provide guidance on Thesis Formatting. For templates and FAQs, please visit the Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies website:  https://www.grad.ubc.ca/current-students/dissertation-thesis-preparation/style-guides-computer-tools

Topics covered

• Understanding the basic Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies requirements for  formatting  and  thesis submission
• Implementing the formatting requirements using Microsoft Word (PC or Mac)
• Using our  Microsoft Word thesis template  (PC or Mac)
• Troubleshooting formatting problems in Microsoft Word

Thesis Formatting Template

• Research Commons Thesis Formatting Template The Thesis Formatting Template has been pre-formatted to adhere to the G+PS requirements, and includes an automatic table of contents, as well as appropriately formatted headings, fonts, and page margins. Please note that using this template is not a guarantee that your thesis will be formatted properly, particularly if you make changes to any of the formatting. Make sure to review your final product carefully before submitting it to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.

Resources for preparing your thesis

• Thesis Formatting FAQs   This document provides answers to the most common questions UBC Graduate Students have when completing their theses.
• Resources for Dissertation Writing – This LibGuide has useful information to support your writing process.
• How-to Guide (PC)
• How-to Guide (MAC)
• Annotated Thesis Template (PC)
• Annotated Thesis Template (MAC)

Resources for checking and preparation

These lists are designed to help you check the formatting of your thesis. Review these documents early in the writing process, and use them to check your work before you submit your thesis to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.

• Research Commons Thesis Formatting Checklist A checklist of the key areas that Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies checks when reviewing theses for formatting correctness. (Updated April 2018 to reflect most recent requirement changes.)
• Tables and Figures Formatting Checklist   A checklist of the Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies requirements for table and figure formatting in theses and dissertations, as well as common problems with these items.

Workshop materials

• T hesis Formatting Resource Guide Handout
• Practice Thesis Template Note : This is not the real template; it is just for practice and contains errors.
• Dissertation and Thesis Formatting Workshop Slides
• Dissertation and Thesis Formatting Frequently Asked Questions

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• Copyright Requirements for UBC Faculty and Staff
• Copyright Guidelines for UBC Faculty, Staff and Students
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Theses and Dissertations

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Introduction

What is copyright, what is fair dealing and can i use it for my thesis, when to seek permission, how to obtain permission, what to include in permission requests, unable to get permission, citations & bibliographies, student responsibility, removing images, non-exclusive licences, circle submission, publishing your thesis, creative commons licensing.

All UBC graduate students are required to submit a copy of their thesis to UBC’s institutional repository ( cIRcle ), where it will be made available to the public. Submission into cIRcle requires that you sign a license that gives UBC the rights necessary to make the thesis available to the public. The specifics can be found at cIRcle’s  License & Copyright  page. You are personally responsible for ensuring that your thesis complies with Canadian copyright law, and the cIRcle license requires that you confirm that you have done so.

This guide is designed to provide you with a starting point for your understanding of and compliance with your responsibilities.

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Copyright is the sole and exclusive right of a copyright owner to produce, reproduce, perform, publish, adapt, translate and telecommunicate (e.g., post on the internet, email, etc.) a work, and to control the circumstances in which others may do any of these things.

Copyright law in Canada protects a wide range of works . Producing, reproducing, performing, publishing, adapting, translating and telecommunicating a “substantial” part of someone else’s copyrighted work is copyright infringement, unless (a) you fall within one of the exemptions set out in the Copyright Act , or (b) you have written permission from the copyright owner.

What is a “substantial” part of a work depends on numerous considerations, including:

• the quantity of what is being copied,
• whether what is being copied forms a material or essential part of the work, and
• what purpose the copied portion will be put to.

It is commonly understood that, for most purposes, copying more than a few sentences of a literary work, a few words of a short poem, a few bars of music, or a few seconds of a film is a “substantial” portion of the work. Also, copying any important part of a painting, graph or table, etc., is a “substantial” portion of a work.

Copyright protection comes into effect as soon as a work is created; there is no requirement that the work be registered or that the word “copyright” or the symbol © appear on the work. Accordingly, works that are publicly available on the Internet (such as images found via Google) are treated the same way under copyright law as materials distributed in any other way. In Canada, generally speaking, copyright expires 70 years after the death of the author, regardless of who holds the copyright.

This means that, if you have started writing your thesis, then your draft is already protected by copyright, which gives you control over the ways in which it can and cannot be legally used by others. At the same time, this also means that you need to think very carefully about how you are using the works of others, and about whether or not you will need permission to quote from or include these works in your thesis.

(For more information about copyright in general, please see the Basics FAQ and the Copyright Guidelines for UBC Faculty, Staff, and Students .)

Fair dealing is one of the user rights in the Copyright Act that allows any person to make a copy of a copyrighted work. In order for fair dealing to apply to your use of others’ works in your thesis, (a) the copying must be for one or more of the following purposes: research, private study, education, satire, parody, criticism, review, or news reporting, and (b) the copying must be fair.

When copying copyrighted works for use in a thesis, such copying is primarily for the purposes of research, criticism, and/or review. Any fair dealing for the purpose of criticism or review must mention the source and, if given in the source, the name of the author or creator of the work. Fair dealing should never be used merely for illustrative purposes or enhancing the content of the thesis without engaging with the third-party copyrighted materials for the fair dealing purposes listed above.

Sometimes you may hear that “copying for research or educational purposes is always fair” but this can be a misleading oversimplification. Ultimately, the fairness of the dealing is determined by a court of law if and when the rights holder makes a claim of infringement against the party that copied the work.

To determine whether a particular instance of copying may be considered “fair” for the purposes of fair dealing, the Supreme Court of Canada has stated that all relevant factors need to be considered, including the following, which comprise what is sometimes referred-to as the “six-factor” fair dealing test:

• the purpose of the proposed copying, including whether it is for research, private study, education, satire, parody, criticism, review or news reporting;
• the character of the proposed copying, including whether it involves single or multiple copies, and whether the copy is destroyed after it is used for its specific intended purpose;
• the amount of the dealing from the individual user’s perspective, including the proportion of the work that is copied and the importance of that excerpt in relation to the whole work; this is often referred to as a “short excerpt” and must contain no more of the work than is required in order to achieve the fair dealing purpose;
• alternatives to copying the work, including whether there is a non-copyrighted equivalent available;
• the nature of the work, including whether it is published or unpublished; and
• the effect of the copying on the work, including whether the copy will compete with the commercial market of the original work.

There is no specific Canadian case law on how the six-factor test would apply to use of third-party content in theses that are freely distributed on the Internet and what kind of copying would be permitted. The CAUT Guidelines for the Use of Copyrighted Materia l is a useful resource to learn about the six-factor test and to help determine if using others’ works in your thesis might be considered fair. For more information on fair dealing in general, including the University’s approach to determining whether something is a “short excerpt”, please see UBC’s Fair Dealing Requirements for UBC Faculty and Staff .

In summary, if your use of others’ work in your thesis is “fair”, then you do not need to ask for permission to use it. If your use of the work would not be “fair” then you do need to seek permission to use it. As a graduate student, you are responsible for the content of your thesis and, thus, for determining whether your proposed use of copyrighted works qualifies as fair dealing or whether you need to seek permission. The University is unable to provide you with legal advice in this regard.

UBC Library offers workshops and consultation to support graduate students in the application of these guidelines. Workshops are offered in collaboration with UBC Library Research Commons while consultations can be booked online or by emailing [email protected] .

Because the University requires you to submit your thesis to cIRcle (which means that it is published online) and also to submit your thesis to Library and Archives Canada, it is important for you to understand that any improper use of the fair dealing right by you may constitute copyright infringement and risks exposing you, and the University, to legal liability from copyright rightsholders.

In addition, you may wish to publish your thesis (or parts of it) in an academic journal. Please note some publishers may not be satisfied with copyright works used pursuant to fair dealing and may require authors to obtain permission for third-party copyrighted materials prior to publication.

You should seek permission if your thesis contains any of the following and you are unsure if the work can be used pursuant to fair dealing, as described in the previous section:

• Images of any form that have been obtained from copyrighted sources. This includes any tables, figures, maps, graphs, photographs, screenshots, drawings, logos, video screen captures, etc. that have been obtained from websites, newspapers, journals, books, brochures, professors’ lecture notes, etc.
• Since you will typically be using the whole of the copyrighted image (as opposed to a small portion of the image), you should be particularly careful in undertaking your fair dealing analysis or obtain permission before including it in your thesis.
• Altering an image does not necessarily remove the need to seek permission nor change the fair dealing analysis. Common alterations include cropping, re-sizing, modifying colours, and annotating with text, arrows, and other visual call-outs.
• Keep in mind that just because something is freely available on the web does not necessarily mean that you have permission to reproduce it. Always check the Terms of Use or copyright licence information on the website.
• Long quotations or excerpts from any one source. Common sources of quotations include books, academic journals, newspapers, magazines, short stories, plays, and poems.
• Articles or parts of articles that you wrote and previously published in a journal to which you assigned copyright. Academic publishing agreements commonly require authors to assign their copyright to the publisher. Refer to  Including Published Material in a Thesis or Dissertation  for additional requirements from Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.
• Material co-authored with others. Each co-author shares copyright and must consent to your use of the work if you are seeking permission to use it.
• Scripts and recordings of any performance.
• Translations of copyrighted work.
• Testing instruments such as standardized tests, questionnaires, forms, and surveys.

Important : The list above is not exhaustive. If your use of copyrighted material is not described above, that does not necessarily mean that you do not need undertake a fair dealing analysis or to seek permission.

Seeking permission is a straightforward process, but obtaining responses from copyright owners can take a long time. You are strongly encouraged to send out your permission requests as early as possible.

Identify the Copyright Owner

The first step in the process is to identify the copyright owner. Usually you will be able to identify the owner somewhere on the work by looking for the copyright symbol ©, which should have the copyright owner’s name next to it. You’ll often find this at the beginning of a book, at the side of a photograph or at the bottom of a web page.

Permission from Individuals

If the copyright owner is an individual, then the next step is to email or write to that individual, explaining how and why you want to use the work and requesting permission. The permission should be in writing; an email message will suffice. It’s also a good idea to keep a record of who gave the permission, what was permitted, the date, and how to contact the person who gave the permission. (For more information about what information to include in your permission requests, see the next section of this guide.)

Permission from Commercial Publishers

If the copyright owner is a commercial publisher, the fastest course of action is often to search for the work in question at the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC). The CCC handles permissions for a large number of publishers, and permission to include images in theses can often be obtained through the CCC website swiftly and at no cost.

If you cannot obtain permission through the CCC, then the next step is to check the publisher’s website. Many publishers will require that you submit your request directly to their permissions department, while others will require that you use an online form.

When you arrive at the website, look for a link that says “Rights and Permissions” (or something similar), then read through the available information to determine the correct method for requesting permission.

Permission from Journals

If the copyright owner is an academic journal (or an academic association/society that publishes a journal), then you may be able to obtain permission through the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC), as discussed above. If permission is not available through the CCC, then you should check the journal’s website, which may provide one or more of the following:

• Advance permission for specific uses. For example, The Journal of Biological Chemistry provides advance permission for non-commercial use.
• Advance permission to journal authors who have signed over copyright
• Information on how to request permission
• Information on uses that are specifically prohibited

If you can’t locate any information about copyright and permissions on the journal’s website, then visit the website of the company or organization that publishes the journal.

If permission to use copyrighted material is given on a website, then print out or save an electronic copy of the web page that states this and keep it for your records. Note, saving a link to the page is not sufficient, as the link may break or the content of the website may change.

Proof of Permission

You should keep copies of all letters and forms granting you permission to use copyrighted material. These copies are for your own records; do not include them in your thesis or dissertation.

As mentioned above, email permissions are acceptable. The best possible proof of permission is one of the following:

• a completed copy of the Permission to Use Copyrighted Material form, or
• an original signed letter on the copyright owner’s letterhead.

Originals are best, though scanned copies work well too.

For more information about seeking permission, see UBC Copyright Basics FAQ 1.16 .

Include the following information in your requests.

Introduce yourself clearly.

Tell the copyright owner that you are a graduate student preparing a thesis or dissertation for submission as part of the requirements for your degree at the University of British Columbia.

Identify the work you are seeking permission to use.

Give standard reference information for the work you wish to use, including figure/table number, if any, and page numbers. You should briefly describe the context in which you propose to use the work in your thesis.

Tell the copyright owner where their work will be distributed.

• that your thesis will be publicly available in UBC’s online digital repository, and
• that you will be granting non-exclusive licences to UBC and to Library and Archives Canada.

You, of course, will not know at the time you are asking permission, whether your thesis will be published in an academic journal. If you believe that it is a realistic possibility, you may wish to ask the copyright owner’s permission to use their work in the published version of your thesis.

Send the copyright owner information about and a copy of the cIRcle licence agreement:

• [cIRcle Licence Agreement – downloadable PDF http://hdl.handle.net/2429/59877 ]
• [cIRcle Licence Agreement – online submission form https://circle.ubc.ca/submissions/license-form ]

Ask for specific action.

• Request a reply by a given date.
• Offer to send the copyright owner a copy of your completed work.

Keep copies.

• Keep copies of request letters and all correspondence with the copyright owner.

When you are unable to obtain permission or there is a charge for obtaining permission, you must either (1) remove the copyrighted material and insert the text described below; or (2) replace the material with a different work for which permission is either obtainable or not required (such as works that are covered by Creative Commons licenses or that are in the public domain ).

If you have removed copyrighted material from your thesis and not replaced it, you must insert the following:

• A statement that the material has been removed because of copyright restrictions
• A description of the material and the information it contained, plus a link to an online source if one is available
• A full citation of the original source of the material

Example: Figure 3 has been removed due to copyright restrictions. It was a diagram of the apparatus used in performing the experiment, showing the changes made by the investigating team. Original source: Wu, G. and Thompson, J.R. (2008) Effect of Ketone Bodies on Dairy Cattle. Biochem J. 255:139-144.

The brief description of the removed figure is important, as it gives the reader a chance to follow the thesis argument without needing to look up the actual figures. If possible, including a link to an online source is also very useful.

You must include full citations for any copyrighted material in your thesis or dissertation regardless of source. Each citation must include the copyright symbol, name of the copyright owner (who may or may not be the author), and, if applicable, a statement that the use of the material or adaptation (in the case of adapted graphics) is by permission of the copyright owner.

Examples of direct citations to copyright owners:

• Image title (© 2001 Jane Doe, by permission)
• Graph Title (© 2003 John Smith, adapted with permission)
• Poem Title (© 2005 Jane Doe, by permission)
• Testing Instrument Title (© 2007 Company Name, by permission)

Citations from published works should follow your chosen citation style (e.g., APA, MLA, etc.) but include reference to the specific page. Examples of sources from published works:

• Table 1 from © Author, A., Author, B., & Author, C. (2007). Book Title. City: Publisher. Page 45. By permission from publisher.
• Figure 4.1 from © Author, A., Author, B., & Author, C (2009). Article Title. Journal Title, 38(2), 186-204. Page 191. Adapted with permission from publisher.
• Photo Title from © Author, A. & Author, B. (2012, May 5). Title of Web Article. Website Title. Retrieved from URL. By permission from author.

Sometimes copyright owners will ask you to use a specific wording in your citation. If so, it’s important to follow their instructions exactly, word for word.

Otherwise, craft your citations in accordance with your degree program’s preferred style guide. If you are unsure about which style guide to use, ask your supervisor. If you need help with using a particular style guide, check out the Library’s “How to Cite” guide or contact the subject librarian for your discipline. If you need help with citing images in particular, check out UBC’s Image Citation Guide .

If you have any questions about copyright or permissions, please begin by consulting the resources available on the Copyright at UBC website. You are also invited to send your copyright or permissions questions to [email protected] .

If you have questions related to the thesis-writing process, please review the following resources from Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies:

• Resources for Thesis Preparation and Checking
• Final Dissertation & Thesis Submission
• Graduate Pathways to Success (GPS) Program

My supervisor said that I don’t need permission to include copyrighted images in my thesis, so can I submit my thesis without seeking permission?

Information

As the author of your thesis, you are responsible for ensuring that your use of copyrighted images and other material is compliant with Canadian copyright law.

Indeed, when you submit the final copy of your thesis, you must sign the  cIRcle Non-Exclusive Distribution License  confirming that if you have copyrighted material in your thesis, you are either using that material under an exception available to you under the Copyright Act (such as fair dealing) or you have obtained permission to use it.

Can I just remove any copyrighted images from my thesis before submitting it, so I don’t need to worry about seeking permission?

For the reasons set out in the next paragraph, your thesis should be as complete as possible. Removal of material should only be an option if you are denied permission, if an unreasonable fee will be charged for use of the material, or if you receive no response from the copyright owner after making a reasonable effort at contact.

Theses are scholarly documents, and students are expected to complete them in accordance with scholarly best practices and their program’s requirements. Furthermore, by submitting your thesis to cIRcle , UBC’s digital repository, it will be publicly accessible online, so you want it to be as complete as possible to ensure that it appears professional, especially to future colleagues and employers. Your thesis is not only the culmination and crowning achievement of your graduate degree, but also the main surviving record of the work you completed during your degree. It is in your best interests to ensure that it is as complete as possible. By omitting images from your thesis, you run the risk of obfuscating the very arguments that you devoted so much time and effort to creating.

I know that I need to sign the cIRcle Non-Exclusive Distribution License before I can submit the final copy of my thesis, but I’m not entirely sure what I’m agreeing to. What exactly is a “non-exclusive licence,” and why do I need to grant such a licence to UBC in order to submit my thesis?

You own the copyright for your thesis, which means that you have the right to produce, reproduce, perform, publish, adapt, translate and telecommunicate your thesis, and you have the right to control the circumstances in which others may do any of these things.

By signing the UBC Thesis Licence Agreement, you are giving the University the permission to publish and archive your thesis in cIRcle.

Because this licence (or permission) is “non-exclusive,” you retain all of your rights as the copyright owner, and you may grant similar rights to others, at any time. This is in contrast to an “exclusive” licence, which would mean that the University alone would have the right publish and archive your thesis.

What is cIRcle, and where can I get help with submitting my thesis to cIRcle electronically?

cIRcle is an open access digital repository for research and teaching materials created by the UBC community and its partners. Its aim is to showcase and preserve UBC’s unique intellectual output by making content freely available to anyone, anywhere via the web.

Apart from theses and dissertations, cIRcle contains articles, conference and workshop papers, technical reports and working papers, books, datasets, learning objects, multimedia and audio-visual materials including podcasts, webcasts and more.

The University, via Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, requires you to submit your thesis to cIRcle electronically. For information on how to submit, please see the cIRcle instructions for electronic thesis submission.

As of September 2012, you can get in-person assistance with the thesis-submission process at the Koerner Library Research Commons .

If you have specific questions regarding cIRcle, please contact [email protected] . For questions related to your thesis submission, or to have your cIRcle login authorized for submission, please contact [email protected] .

You own the copyright to your thesis and are free to publish your thesis if you wish. However, if your thesis includes any copyrighted works (e.g. figures, tables, etc.) that you did not create and you are not able to use this work under an exception available to you under the Copyright Act (such as fair dealing), then you will likely need to obtain permission from the copyright owners in order to publish them.

This is true even if you have already obtained permission to use the works in your thesis, as the act of publishing your thesis would count as a different use of the works in question, and would therefore require separate permissions. With this in mind, as you make your initial requests for copyright permissions for your thesis, you may wish to think about asking for permission should you decide to revise your thesis for publication as a journal article or book at a later date.

The Scholarly Communications @ UBC website contains a wealth of information about scholarly publishing, including valuable resources for authors and information about how to make your work open access .

Also, you should be aware that students who have graduated may be contacted by publishing companies that have an interest in publishing their thesis. These companies often contact authors directly. You are free to grant permission, but you should research the company first to ensure that it is a reputable academic publisher. There are usually discussions among former students online that can give you an insight into the value of publishing with a particular company.

Creative Commons (CC) licences provide copyright owners with a simple and clear way to grant others permission to access and (depending on your preferences) to share and adapt your work for commercial or non-commercial purposes.

By applying a CC licence to your thesis, you can enhance the ease with which others can share and reuse your work. For more information about the various licences and what they allow, please see this useful overview .

To apply a CC licence to your thesis, you can simply select your desired licence when you submit your thesis to cIRcle (see: cIRcle’s submission instructions , step 3.7).

To apply a CC license to your other work, you can use the “Choose a License” form on the CC website. This form helps you choose a licence based on your preferences and then generates the appropriate text to apply to print works, as well as the HTML code to apply to online works.

In addition to information on the public domain available on the Copyright at UBC website, the Canadian Association of Research Libraries has published a FAQ on term extension that is available on their website. [Read More]

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Theses and Dissertations

What do i do if i need help submitting my thesis or dissertation.

Your Graduate Studies website is the first place to go for any questions about deadlines, preparation (including delay of publication & formatting), and submission (including account authorization).

If the website does not answer your questions, UBC Vancouver students may contact Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies ([email protected]), while UBC Okanagan students may contact the College of Graduate Studies ([email protected]).

Visit the cIRcle FAQ for more answers to common questions.

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UBC Theses and Dissertations

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The UBC Theses and Dissertations collection promotes open and comprehensive access to a significant body of unique knowledge created by graduate students to support further research and for private study. The authors retain copyright ownership and moral rights to their theses. The content of theses may not be re-purposed or exploited for commercial gain without the explicit permission of the authors.

UBC graduate students began submitting their theses online via cIRcle, UBC’s digital repository, in fall 2007, a practice that both simplified the submission process and also ensured the availability of this research to a global audience in a timely manner. As of March 2012, UBC Library has digitized and made openly accessible the full-text of more than 32,000 theses submitted by graduate students between 1919 and 2007. In addition to providing information about specific fields of study these theses also reveal important information about changes in pedagogy at the University and within academic disciplines. Authors concerned about having their pre-2007 theses included as part of this collection can notify [email protected] to have their thesis removed. Similarly, if copyrighted material appears in a thesis the copyright owner can request that material be removed.

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The APT thesis text approval form must be signed by each thesis supervisory committee member, including the supervisor, prior to finalizing the M.Sc. or Ph.D. thesis. Submission of thesis to the Faculty of Graduate and Postgraduate Studies through cIRcle office   will be arranged by the student with assistance from the Pharmacology Graduate Secretary.  See website for details:  https://www.grad.ubc.ca/current-students/final-dissertation-thesis-submission

APT thesis text approval form  

G+PS offers seminars in “Preparation and Submission of Theses and Dissertations” through  Graduate Pathways to Success . The Microsoft Word template developed by the Research Commons of Koerner Library  is now available on G+PS :

https://www.grad.ubc.ca/current-students/dissertation-thesis-preparation/style-guides-computer-tools

However, G+PS is not able to provide individual assistance or training on how to use this template or any other computer program students have chosen to use.

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UBC MA Thesis and Research Procedures

Ma research supervision.

As early as possible in their program of study, students should identify a faculty member from the department who is willing to act as their Research Supervisor and work with them to develop a thesis proposal. The Research Supervisor need not be the student’s program Advisor.

After the student has completed most of his/her coursework, and tentatively identified a research topic for the Thesis, the Research Supervisor and the student will establish a Thesis Research Committee. This Research Committee will supervise the student’s research and completion of the Thesis. The Research Committee is chaired by the Research Supervisor and consists of a least one other faculty member. A third faculty member joins the committee as an examiner just prior to the final oral examination. Under special circumstances approved by the Graduate Advisor and with permission of the Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, the Research Committee may include a person who is not a member of the UBC Faculty of Graduate Studies. See below for more details about the structure and function of the Research Committee.

A major part of the MA student’s work will consist of a Thesis summarizing the results of original research. The MA Thesis is intended to serve as a vehicle for developing the student’s research and scholarly capability. Ideally, the Thesis involves the student in all the rigors of critical reading, evaluation and analysis of research and theoretical literature, problem definition, research design and analysis, and the written and oral presentation of findings and conclusions. The nature of research may be theoretical, empirical, historical, qualitative, ethnographic, or analytical, according to what is appropriate to the student’s area of study.

The Behavioral Sciences Review Committee of the University must approve the acceptability of all studies (including theses) that involve human subjects. This approval is required when any human being is subjected to experimental procedures or when an invasion of privacy may be involved (e.g., by examination of records, by interview, or by administration of a questionnaire). Information and all necessary forms for securing human subjects approval are available from the Office of Research Services (Ethics Division) . Human Subjects (ethics) approval and approval of the Research Committee must be secured prior to embarking on a research project. The completed Thesis is submitted to the University Library and must in all ways comply with the University requirements. Students are referred to the document, “Instructions for Preparation of Graduate Theses”, for details regarding thesis requirements, available from the Library, the Faculty of Graduate Studies, or online at: http://www.grad.ubc.ca/current-students/dissertation-thesis-preparation .

Thesis Development and Supervision

A designated Research or Thesis Supervisor and Research Committee will supervise development and completion of the MA Thesis. The procedures for formation, membership, and changes in the Research Committee are as follows:

Thesis or Research Supervisor

At least one faculty member, acting in the capacity of Thesis Supervisor will oversee the development and completion of the Thesis. The Thesis Supervisor must be a member of the Department, normally one affiliated with the student’s area of specialization, with relevant substantive knowledge in the student’s area of study. Frequently, the Advisor can serve as the Thesis Supervisor. It is the responsibility of the student to approach relevant faculty members and discuss the possibility of service as Thesis Supervisor. Once a faculty member has agreed to serve as the student’s Thesis Supervisor, this agreement must be verified in writing to the Department Graduate Office in a memo, which is signed by the student, and the Thesis Supervisor. Identification of the Thesis Supervisor must also be indicated on the student’s Program of Graduate Studies (PGS).

It is important that the student identifies and consults with his/her Thesis Supervisor when he/she is prepared to begin to work on a Thesis, but prior to the development of a Thesis Proposal.

Research Committee

In consultation with the Thesis Supervisor, the student must also specify a Research Committee. This should be done as early as possible in the student’s program. Each student’s Research Committee consists of a minimum of one other faculty member (with a third person becoming involved at the time of the final oral examination). This person should be a faculty member with knowledge and expertise within the student’s chosen area of study and who can provide advice and assistance throughout the conduct of the Thesis project.

Normally, the Thesis Supervisor serves as Chair of the student’s Research Committee, but the Chair must be a member of the Department, and should be an individual with research and/or relevant substantive knowledge in the student’s program and Thesis area. This “expertise match” is an important part of the basis for successful completion of the degree, and neither students nor faculty should minimize its importance. Other members of the Research Committee should be selected to supplement the expertise and experience of the Chair. Although a full-time, senior member of faculty must chair each supervisory committee, the committee may include individuals who are not full-time faculty members. In particular, professors emeriti, honorary faculty, adjunct faculty and off-campus professionals who are academically qualified to advise graduate students may be members of the committee if approved by the Dean of Graduate Studies.

The student must notify the Department Graduate Office, usually by a memo to the Graduate Advisor, of the Research Committee membership. The membership of the Research Committee must also be noted on the student’s Program of Graduate Studies form. Students must also notify the Department Graduate Office regarding any changes that occur in the membership of his/her Research Committee, usually through a memo to the Graduate Advisor.

Much of the work of the Research Committee is typically accomplished by means of informal meetings between the candidate and members of his/her Research Committee. Other meetings or working sessions of the Research Committee may, of course, be held at the discretion of those involved.

Examination of the Thesis

Student performance on the MA Thesis is formally examined on two occasions: the defense of the proposal or Thesis Proposal Hearing and the Final Oral Examination or defense of the completed Thesis.

Thesis Proposal Hearing Guidelines and procedures for the Thesis Proposal Hearing are described below.

• The Thesis Proposal is viewed as a “Letter of Agreement” between the student and his/her Research Committee. As such, it is to be a written document containing a clear statement of the intended Thesis topic, justification of the intended topic by reference to and critical evaluation of related research and theory, and careful description of the procedures intended for use in the exposition of the Thesis project. Often, students choose to develop a proposal that will serve, with very little modification, as the initial three chapters of their Thesis, but this is not a formal requirement. The format of presentation of the proposal will vary, depending on the problem, the student’s style, and the character of the Research Committee, although proposals should follow APA (American Psychological Association) style.
• A completed Thesis Proposal should be submitted to the student’s Thesis Committee at least 3 weeks prior to the Proposal Hearing. The proposal is then formally presented and defended at a meeting of the Research Committee to which others may be invited if the student and his/her Committee deem it desirable. The student defends his/her selection of a problem and his/her intended procedures for evaluating this problem empirically. The Proposal Hearing is as important as the ultimate defense of the Thesis itself. Collecting the Thesis data, or otherwise proceeding with subsequent steps in the production of a Thesis, is contingent upon the acceptance of the Thesis Proposal by the Research Committee. Thus, students must not proceed with their proposed research project until after their Thesis Proposal has been successfully defended and approved.
• Normally, all other degree requirements must be completed prior to the Proposal Hearing.
• The cover sheet of the Thesis Proposal should contain space for the signatures of the student and the Committee members, signifying that all parties concerned have agreed to the terms of reference for the Thesis as outlined in the Thesis Proposal. It is acknowledged here that changes (especially in the ‘Procedures’ aspect) often are introduced during the operational phases and thus the proposal is not binding in any strict sense. Signatures of the student and the Research Committee members, however, do indicate that all parties have agreed in good faith to the problem and the general procedures described in the Thesis Proposal. Any subsequent changes are to be negotiated as the need arises between the student and the Research Committee.
• A copy of the signed proposal cover sheet is to be filed by the student in the student’s file in the Department Graduate Office following a successful Thesis Proposal Hearing.
• Intervening work may be, and often is accomplished by means of informal meetings between the student and members of his/her Research Committee. Other meetings—work sessions—of the Research Committee may, of course, be held at the discretion of those involved.

Final Oral Examination

Prior to the presentation of the completed Thesis and the Final Oral Examination, the candidate’s Research Committee must be satisfied that the Thesis has been satisfactorily completed. At this time, the Research Committee selects an appropriate Departmental or extra-departmental examiner to serve on the thesis examining committee and determines a date for the Final Oral Examination. The Committee responsible for evaluating the thesis must include a minimum of two people: the thesis supervisor or designate, and a person who is not involved in advising the student in his or her research. The Final Oral Examination is an open examination and is advertised at least two weeks prior to the defense, at which time a copy of the Thesis is made available for review in the Department Graduate Office. At the Final Oral Examination, the candidate makes an oral presentation, normally of 20–30 minutes duration, often supplemented with audio-visual material, and responds to questions related to the topic. Following the Final Oral Examination, some revisions to the thesis may be required and in some cases the Thesis may need to be re-examined.

The guidelines and procedures for the Final Oral Examination are described below.

• A student’s Thesis must be prepared according to the procedures and in the form described in the leaflet entitled, “Instructions for Preparation of Graduate Theses, and should also conform to APA (American Psychological Association) style requirements.
• The Departmental or extra-departmental examiner should be from within the UBC academic community and will be appointed by the Research Supervisor to join the Examination Committee, based on recommendations from the candidate’s Research Committee. The examiner will be a selected for his/her general expertise in the area of the thesis topic and related areas.
• The Thesis Supervisor arranges for a time and date for the Final Oral Examination through the Department Graduate Office. At this time and 2 weeks prior the proposed Final Oral examination the candidate must provide one copy of the Thesis as accepted by his/her committee the Department Graduate Office.
• At least four weeks before the Final Oral Examination the candidate must supply enough copies of the approved form of the Thesis for delivery to each member of the candidate’s examination committee.
• The candidate is to make arrangements for any audio-visual needs for the final oral at least one week before the Final Oral Defense.
• The Final Oral Examination is open to all members of the University. Notice of the examination will be given in the form of a printed program announcing the title of the candidate’s thesis, date and place of the examination and the members of the Examination Committee. The Research Supervisor is to forward the program information to the Department Graduate Office at least two weeks prior to the defense.
• The Examining Committee will consist of a quorum of the candidate’s Research Committee, including the Thesis supervisor, and the external examiner.
• The candidate will be required to make a 20- to 30-minute oral presentation summarizing the research completed. Following the presentation, members of the Examination Committee may ask questions of the candidate with reference to the thesis or to areas related to the thesis topic. After completion of this questioning, the candidate and visitors will be asked to leave the examination room so that the Committee may decide upon acceptance and percentage grade to be assigned to the thesis. After deliberations are completed, the candidate will be invited to meet the committee.
• The title page of an accepted thesis is to be signed by at least two members of the Examination Committee. In the instance of a pass with major or minor revision decisions, the signature of the Chairperson of the candidate’s Research Committee is withheld until final corrections are made. The Chairperson must also sign the abstract of the thesis.
• Upon receipt of a copy of the signed Thesis by the Special Collections Division of the Library, the candidate will have completed all MA degree requirements. Copies of the Special Collections Division receipt and a copy of the approved thesis are to be filed, by the candidate, with Department Graduate Office.

• Graduate School

Graduate Program Approval of Doctoral Dissertation for External Examination Form

The Graduate Program Advisor or Head (or designate) must confirm that the supervisory committee members have approved the dissertation for submission to the External Examiner; that all graduate program requirements for the degree have been met; and that the candidate is currently registered in good standing with fees paid in full.

The form must also include the UBC speed chart code for the account to which charges for courier delivery of the dissertation will be billed.

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