New Thesis Office Updates

The Thesis Office has a new Manuscript Clearance Procedure for thesis & dissertation review, effective immediately.

Once approval signatures are received from the committee and department chair, the manuscript will move into the working queue. Approved manuscripts are reviewed by editors within 1 to 2 business days. They are processed in the order in which they are received.

Based on this review, students will either

• be approved to upload the manuscript to ProQuest for publication
• be given written guidance regarding changes required to address minor compliance issues with format specifications or required documentation (e.g., table of contents errors, missing permissions documents, ). The student will be required to resubmit the manuscript for another review once the minor formatting changes have been implemented
• be informed of major compliance issues (e.g., margin or spacing errors, incorrect table or figure placement, or extensive grammar and punctuation deficiencies). A more comprehensive review with specific recommendations will be returned to the student, the committee chair, and the department chair within 5 business days of the original receipt. This occurs only when the manuscript is dramatically out of compliance with formatting requirements and best practices. When a revised manuscript is re-submitted following this in-depth review, the process will begin again from step 1.

 

In addition, the Thesis Office is utilizing Target Dates instead of deadlines. Students are strongly encouraged to submit defended manuscripts well before the target date to ensure that any issues may be resolved by the end of the semester. Any manuscripts submitted after the target date will be processed based on capacity of the Thesis Office and are not guaranteed to be processed for graduation that semester.

Students can expect an initial review of their manuscript within 2 business days after a majority of approval signatures from the student’s committee and department chair have been received through OnBase. It is the student’s responsibility to track the signatures from their committee and the chair of their department to ensure a timely review of their manuscript. The thesis editors are unable to process manuscripts before a majority of approval signatures have been received.

Factors that can delay manuscript clearance include the following:

• Unavailability of the student to participate in the ongoing editing process
• Major formatting errors (see the Handbook: incorrect margins, inconsistent spacing, incorrect figure/table placement, etc.)
• Major problems with grammar, spelling, etc. (please run your manuscript through Grammarly)
• Manuscripts that have not been approved by the supervisory committee and department chair

Manuscripts submitted on the target date but that have any of these problems may require substantial rework by the student which may preclude graduation in the desired semester. Please take these factors into account when planning defense and graduation dates.

 

The Graduate School will also expand departmental training on format requirements and best practices, hosting seminars and workshops on the Handbook guidelines, and expand the number of technology options for writing dissertations. The Thesis Office is currently offering open office hours & workshops in October and November 2021.

 

Thesis Office Formatting Office Hours

For help with formatting your Word documents or to ask general formatting questions

Bring your computer. Masks required.

Mondays 12:00 PM-2:00 PM

Oct: 11, 18, 25

Nov: 1, 8, 15

 

Thesis Office Formatting in Word Workshops

Bring your computer. Masks required.

Marriott Library Room 1705A

Thursdays 1:00 PM-4:00 PM

Oct: 21, 28

Nov: 4, 11, 18