uoft sgs phd thesis template

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Thesis and Project Guidelines

Masc and phd theses.

MASc and PhD students are required to submit:

• their thesis electronically to SGS ( instructions here ); and
• one bound copy of the thesis to the supervisor.

The format and binding requirements are as follows:

• double-spaced typescript on one side of good quality, standard letter-size paper. Pages should be properly numbered, and provided with adequate margins (left-hand margin at least 1-1/4″ and remaining three margins at least 3/4″). For more information, have a look at the SGS instructions for formatting a thesis.
• the binding of theses should be good quality buckram hard-cover, with gold lettering. The particular MIE format of the imprints on the front cover and spine (known at U of T Press as Jones-style) is portrayed here. Colour scheme: blue for PhD theses, red for MASc theses.

MEng Project Report

MEng students who have completed a project are required to submit:

• one bound copy of the project report to the supervisor.

The format and binding requirements for the report are the same as for MASc and PhD theses (above), except that the colour scheme is orange.

MEng Project Grading Form

Once you submit the report to the supervisor, please inform the graduate office ( gradoffice@mie.utoronto.ca ) that you will require a MEng Project Grading form sent to your supervisor. Please indicate the name of your supervisor and the project title in the email.

Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering University of Toronto 5 King’s College Road Toronto, Ontario • M5S 3G8 • Canada Phone: +1-416-978-3040

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Program completion for MSc and PhD

The requirements for completing LMP's research stream graduate programs.

MSc completion and thesis defence

If recommended by the thesis advisory committee , you may proceed to an MSc thesis defense. 

Use the MSc Completion Checklist to ensure you meet all the requirements. 

You will submit an  MSc Final Defense Request Form (online form) to the LMP Graduate Office at least four weeks before the planned date .

Prepare your thesis and distribute a hard copy to the members of your examination committee at least two weeks before the examination . 

You also need to send the MSc Examination Chair instructions (PDF) to the Defense Chair. 

Theses that do not conform to the guidelines specified by the SGS will not be accepted. See Producing your Thesis on the SGS website.

At the examination, you will give a 20 minute presentation of your research.

The committee will examine you on your research and general knowledge. You should be prepared to discuss the background knowledge and techniques, as well as defend the scientific aspects of the research. 

After the formal examination, you will leave the room. The Committee will then discuss your:

• examination
• written proposal
• academic record
• progress in research.

A recommendation to award the MSc degree will not pass if there is more than one negative vote or abstention. 

MSc Thesis format 

The thesis format should adhere to the School of Graduate Study (SGS) requirements .  

The major sections of the MSc thesis are:

• Introduction : provide background information required to understand the rationale, hypothesis and significance of the research. If material, such as model figures, is copied from other sources, the material must be credited and permission must be obtained from the publisher.  The introduction should be between 25 and 35 double-spaced pages. 
• Methods : provide enough experimental detail for the work to be independently reproduced. 
• Data chapter : An MSc thesis usually has one data chapter. The title page should provide a full citation if the chapter has been published or submitted for publication. Copyright permissions may need to be obtained from the publisher. If the chapter contains data that were not generated by you, then the title page must include a statement indicating the names of the collaborators and the figure panels that they generated. The data chapter does not have an introduction. It should be of publishable quality, but there is no requirement for the work to be published in a peer-reviewed journal. 
• Concluding chapter : concluding discussion and future directions. This should contain a brief overview of the main findings of the thesis and an explanation of how your research has advanced the field. It should also propose new hypotheses based on your data and suggest experiments that can address these hypotheses. 
• References : should include the title of the article and the entire author list. 
• The thesis should also contain an abstract (maximum of 150 words), acknowledgments, a table of contents, a list of figures, a list of tables and a list of abbreviations.

Examination Committee

You and your MSc supervisor can choose one of two options for the composition of the examination committee (in both options, the examination committee is composed of the advisory committee plus one additional faculty member): 

• The Defense Chair is a member of the LMP graduate faculty who is not a member of the advisory committee. You and your MSc supervisor are responsible for securing an LMP graduate faculty member as the Defense Chair. The remainder of the Examination Committee is composed of your advisory committee. 
• The Defense Chair is a member of the LMP graduate faculty AND a member of the advisory committee. In this case, you and your MSc supervisor are responsible for securing a graduate faculty member from any University Department (including LMP) to serve as a member of the Examination Committee. The remainder of the Examination Committee is composed of your advisory committee. 

Forms needed:

• Final Defense Request Form (online form)
• MSc Defence Report (word doc)
• Defence Chair Instructions (PDF)

Post-examination requirements

After completion of the final examination, you must deliver the MSc Thesis Defence Committee Report  (PDF) to the graduate office.

The committee may accept the thesis as it stands, subject to minor corrections, or subject to minor modifications. 

You will be allowed one week to complete minor corrections or three weeks to complete minor modifications. 

Your supervisor must notify the graduate office, in writing, once corrections to the thesis have been completed. The Department will then forward the Degree Recommendation to SGS. 

You must submit the thesis to SGS, following the instructions on Electronic Thesis Submission . 

Stipend and fees for MSc students in their final year 

You will continue to receive a stipend and receive Health and Wellness services until you have completed all program requirements. 

Final-year fees on the SGS website for more information. 

Once you complete your MSc

Stay in touch! Sign up to Temerty Medicine Connect to network with the LMP community and alumni.

Make sure you keep your contact details up to date and explore what benefits you will receive as a University of Toronto alumni on the main alumni page and the Temerty Faculty of Medicine alumni page .

PhD completion and Final Oral Examination

You need to prepare a thesis outline and schedule a final committee meeting to receive permission to write the thesis. 

Once you receive permission, you will write a draft of the thesis and submit it to your supervisor for review. 

Once you have edited the thesis to the satisfaction of your supervisor, you send the thesis to the supervisory committee members for review and then incorporate their suggestions. Some members of the supervisory committee may choose to raise the corrections and concerns at the Final Oral Examination (FOE). 

While you are completing your revisions, you should:

• identify an external appraiser
• set up the FOE committee
• determine the FOE date and time
• complete a  PhD Final Oral Examination Booking Request (online form) eight weeks before the date of the FOE - this will notify the graduate office.

Once your request has been approved and you have completed the revisions to the thesis, you will send the thesis to the external appraiser and members of the FOE committee (at least six weeks before the examination). 

Then you can concentrate on preparing for the oral examination. 

Use the PhD Completion Checklist to ensure you meet all requirements. 

• Standard PhD Completion Checklist (word doc)
• Remote PhD Completion Checklist during COVID (word doc)

Approximate time limits

• Writing the first draft of the thesis: 8 weeks 
• Review by supervisor: 3 weeks; and subsequent edits: 2 weeks 
• Review by the remainder of the supervisory committee: 2 weeks; and subsequent edits: 1 week 
• Submission of FOE booking request to day of exam: 8 weeks 

Timeline (diagram below)

• Month 1 and 2: write these after gaining permission
• End of month 2: submit draft to your supervisor
• Month 3: your supervisor reviews the thesis and you complete the edits.
• Month 4: submit to the supervisory committee and then complete edits.
• End of month 4: submit your oral examination booking request.
• Month 5: submit the final thesis to the  Final Oral Examination (FOE) committee.
• Month 6: receive the external appraisal, hold public seminar and complete final oral examination.

If you or the supervisory committee greatly exceed these time limits without a reasonable justification (such as illness), you need to let the graduate coordinators know. 

Final committee meeting  

You must prepare a thesis outline for the final committee meeting. 

It should contain:

• a table of contents and list sub-headings of the introductory chapter
• titles of the data chapters
• lists of figure/table titles for each data chapter. 

The outline will help the supervisory committee decide whether you are ready to write the thesis. 

Research content of the PhD thesis 

There are no rules that dictate how much original research is sufficient for a PhD thesis. This is because it is difficult to devise a set of rules that can account for the wide variety of research that is performed in the department. 

You should draw on the experience and expertise of the supervisory committee to determine how much original data would be adequate for a PhD thesis and when to start writing the thesis. 

In general, most PhD theses have two to three data chapters.

• Each chapter should address a research question and contain well-controlled experiments that support a conclusion to the question. 
• A chapter should be of similar scope and quality as a first-author publication in a peer-reviewed journal, but it is not necessary, although encouraged, for data chapters to be published. 
• Data chapters may contain work from collaborators, but you must clearly identify this work at the beginning of the chapter. 
• The data chapter should not refer to ‘data not shown’ – there are no page limits, so all the data referred to in the chapter should be presented. 

PhD thesis format 

The thesis format should adhere to the School of Graduate Study (SGS)  requirements.  

The major sections of the PhD thesis are:

• Introduction : a focused review of published research that is relevant to the data chapters. It is meant to allow the reader to understand the research field and to appreciate the significance of your work. If you use material, such as model figures, from other sources, you must credit the material and obtain permission from the publisher. The final page of the introduction provides a clear rationale for your research and the major hypotheses of the thesis. The length of the introduction should be between 30 and 50 double-spaced pages.
• Methods : details experimental design for the entire thesis and may be included as a stand-alone chapter. Alternatively, you can include methods sections in each data chapter. 
• Data chapters : if the chapter has been published or submitted for publication, you should provide a full citation on the title page of each data chapter. You need to obtain copyright permissions from the publisher. If the chapter contains data you did not generate, then the title page should have a statement that indicates the names of the collaborators and the figures or figure panels that they generated. The introduction of a data chapter should not repeat at length information that was provided in the thesis introduction, this may require you to condense the introduction from a published manuscript. You should incorporate figures and tables into the text, rather than at the end of the chapter. If the chapter is based on a manuscript that contains supplementary data, you may place the supplemental figures at the end of the chapter. Keep figure legends on the same page as the figures, where possible.   
• Concluding chapter : a brief overview of the main findings of the thesis and an explanation of how your research has advanced the field, including discussion and future directions. You may include a small amount of new data that extends the findings of the data chapters and that forms the basis of future work. It should propose new hypotheses based on the original data presented in the thesis and suggest experiments that can address these hypotheses. 
• References :  you may include these at the end of each data chapter, or a combined set of references at the end of the thesis. You can decide on the style of referencing used, as long as the entire author list and title are included in the reference. 
• Abstract (maximum of 350 words), acknowledgments , a table of contents , a list of figures , a list of tables and a list of abbreviations . 
• does not reach a defensible conclusion;
• leads to a negative result;
• details the development of a novel method; or
• does not fit thematically with the rest of the thesis. 

The external appraiser 

Send an email to the graduate office giving your choice of external appraiser and the title of yourthesis. The graduate coordinators will ensure the nominated external appraiser meets SGS guidelines.

Once the department has approved your choice, the graduate office will contact the appraiser to determine whether he or she is willing to appraise the thesis. The graduate office will send the external appraiser's CV to SGS and let you and your superviser know once SGS has approved the appariser. 

According to SGS guidelines, an external appraiser must be: 

• external to the University as well as to its affiliated teaching hospitals and their research institutes.  
• a recognized expert on the subject of the thesis, and an Associate or Full Professor at his/her home institution, and experienced as a successful supervisor of doctoral candidates through to defense. An appraiser from outside the academic sector must possess the qualifications to be appointed to an academic position at this level.  
• at arm’s length from both you and your supervisor. Normally, this will exclude anyone who has, for you or your supervisor, been: a Masters or PhD Supervisor / Supervisee; a departmental colleague (within the last six years); or has collaborated on a research project, scholarly work or publication. The Vice Dean (Programs) will assess whether the nominee is at arm’s length. 

The appraiser will send their written appraisal of the thesis to you and the examination committee at least two weeks before the examination.

You must not communicate with the External Appraiser until the examination begins. 

The department will cover travel and accommodation costs for the external appraiser to attend the FOE (up to $600). 

FOE Committee 

You, in consultation with your supervisor, decide on the composition of the FOE committee. 

We require a quorum of four voting members for the examination to take place, but we recommend five to six members to ensure the examination takes place in the case of a last-minute cancellation. No more than two members of the FOE committee may participate by teleconference. 

The FOE committee includes a minimum of: 

• one, and up to three, members of the supervisory committee; and
• two examiners who are external to the supervisory committee (one of whom may be the external appraiser, although the external appraiser is not required to be a member of the FOE committee). Three external examiners are recommended. 

All University of Toronto Faculty serving on your FOE Committee must have an active Graduate Faculty Membership.  

SGS will appoint the Chair of the FOE. The Chair is not a voting member. 

PhD Final Oral Examination booking request 

Once the FOE committee has been chosen, you should consult with the committee members to finalize a date and time for the FOE. 

You have the option to hold your public seminar and defence in person, or virtually via Zoom. 

If you decide to hold the public seminar and examination in the Medical Sciences Building, you need to inform the graduate office who will book the rooms. If you want to hold the FOE off-campus, it is your responsibility to book the rooms.  

Submit a  PhD Final Oral Examination Booking Request form (online form) at least 8 weeks before the FOE . 

It is your responsibility to ensure all members of the committee receive a copy of your pre-defence thesis at least six weeks before the FOE .  Please send your thesis to the graduate office to distribute to your FOE committee and external appraiser.

You have two options for your defence:

The Final Oral Examination (Public Seminar followed by Closed Defence)

You will give a ~45-minute public seminar that describes the thesis research. 

Audience members may ask questions after the seminar (members of the FOE committee will not ask questions at this time). 

Following the public seminar, you and the FOE committee members will proceed to the oral examination. The examination covers both the thesis and the oral defence of the thesis. 

You will pass the examination if there is no more than one negative vote or abstention. 

The Final Oral Examination (Closed Presentation and Defence)

You will give a 20-minute presentation directly to your FOE committee. The examination covers both the thesis and the oral defence of the thesis. 

Post-examination requirements 

SGS will send you the “Post Exam Instruction Form” and “Examination Results and Graduation Information Form”. 

Completing Degree Requirements for Thesis Programs on the SGS website outlines the full requirements.

Before you submit your thesis to the School of Graduate Studies, your supervisor must notify the Graduate Department, in writing, that you have completed the corrections or modifications recommended for the thesis.

Stipend and Fees for PhD students in their final year 

You will continue to receive a stipend and Health and Wellness services until all program requirements have been completed. 

Final-year fees information on the SGS website. 

Once you have completed your PhD

Congratulations on completing your PhD!

See what information you need about graduation and convocation . 

After you graduate on the SGS website on preparing for the future.

Make sure you keep you contact details up to date and explore what benefits you will receive as a University of Toronto alumni on the main alumni page and the Temerty Faculty of Medicine alumni page .

Thesis submission guidelines

You submit your final thesis online to SGS  with the appropriate forms and according to the SGS Guidelines before the specified convocation deadline (October, January or April).

(The LMP Department does not require a copy of the final thesis.)

You may request to Restrict Thesis Release for up to two years after convocation. 

Besides simplifications, some slight adjustments were made to fulfill the University of Toronto School of Graduate Studies style requirements . It also includes some adjustments for better integration with the ams packages and for letter sized paper.

Have fun with the template!

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ut-thesis – University of Toronto thesis style

This L a T e X document class implements the formatting requirements of the University of Toronto School of Graduate Studies (SGS), as of Fall 2020 ( https://www.sgs.utoronto.ca/academic-progress/program-completion/formatting ).

For example usage, see the GitHub repository .

Download the contents of this package in one zip archive (137.1k).

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Graduate Studies

Completing your masters degree – thesis.

Your first step regarding any questions with respect to writing your thesis is to  consult the  School of Graduate Studies’ Guide for the Preparation of Master’s and Doctoral Theses . All graduate theses must conform to the style and form requirements as detailed in the Guide.

Step 1. Write

Need help? If you have any questions or need assistance, please email [email protected].

1. Sample formats

Please consult the Guide for the Preparation of Theses for samples on how to format your thesis.

2. Referencing

Per the Guide for the Preparation of Theses: The text of the standard graduate thesis consists of the Introduction section or chapter, followed by several well-defined sections or chapters, which contain the research results, finishing with a Conclusion and Discussion section or chapter, or a summary statement of the results of the investigation. The List of References section (or bibliography) follows the text, and any appendices follow this.

Please consult the Guide for the Preparation of Theses for more detailed information on references and further resources that you can consult for referencing help.

3. Sandwich theses

If some of the research undertaken expressly for the degree has previously been published or prepared by the student as one or more journal articles, or parts of books, those items may be included within the thesis subject to the School of Graduate Studies’ regulations and to obtaining permission from the supervisory committee.

Please consult the Guide for the Preparation Theses – download via Quick Links to the right – for more detailed information on Sandwich Theses.

4. E-Thesis file name conventions

For your e-thesis to be published via MacSphere, the final version of your thesis should be named using the following file naming convention:

familyname_firstname_middleinitial_finalsubmissionyearmonth_degree

5. iThenticate - Plagiarism Checking Software

Effective December 1, 2023, all graduate students who initiate their defence on or after this date, are required to have their thesis run through McMaster’s plagiarism checking software, iThenticate.

iThenticate is a similarity detection tool meant to be used by researchers to check any original works that will be publicly released and who are concerned about potential plagiarism.

According to McMaster’s Research Plagiarism Checking Policy , it is expected that all graduate theses, shall be checked for plagiarism in compliance with this policy. Plagiarism checking is expected to occur prior to the coordination of the defence. Supervisors of Master’s students will need to sign a separate attestation sheet indicating that this has occurred and the document is satisfactory for public disclosure.

Your pre-defence thesis must be uploaded to iThenticate by your primary supervisor before you can initiate your Masters defence.

To protect graduate students’ privacy, only academic supervisors will have access to this software and will be responsible for uploading their student’s theses. It should not be used to check documents submitted to instructors as course assignments.

Step 2. Defend

Before initiating your defence, you should confirm with your supervisor and committee members if applicable, that you are ready to initiate. Your supervisor must also sign a separate attestation sheet prior to initiation, indicating that they have run your thesis through iThenticate and it is satisfactory for public disclosure. Once this is done, contact your department to confirm the program’s defence process. After a successful defence, the chair of the examination committee will inform you of thesis changes required by examiners. After all changes have been made, you must submit this completed form to the School of Graduate Studies for your final submission to be published to MacSphere.

Thesis Defence Submission

You can now check supervisor(s) and academic plan(s)

If any of this information is incorrect, you should contact to your program office before proceeding.

Date and time

For dates and deadlines for defence and upcoming convocation ceremonies please refer to the Dates and Deadlines .

This step allows you to propose a date, time and location. This information will be confirmed by your program office, as they will receive notification after you have completed this process.

Please note your thesis title is required, but you can also add an abstract at this stage.

Please be aware after submission, your program office will assist you with the rest of the process and you should contact them to ensure that all arrangements have been put in place for your defence.

Review and submit

You will be given an opportunity to review before submission. Once you have submitted you will receive a confirmation email that you have successfully initiated the process.

Initiation of Masters defence process

Select My Academics in the Academic tab.

Submission of Intent to initiate a Masters defence

Please consult with your department to see if they require that you initiate a Master’s Defence in Mosaic. All departments will need you to contact your Graduate Administrator to let them know you plan on defending your Master’s thesis. SGS does not require that you initiate a Master’s Defence in Mosaic but your department may have a different requirement. All PhD Defences MUST be initiated in Mosaic.

If your department requires that you initiate

You should select – Thesis Intent – Defend Thesis

This selection is only possible if you are enrolled a research plan type. If the student needs to switch to a research plan type, you should submit a service request for a plan change before initiating the thesis defence process.

Step 3. Submit

Please note that your degree requirements are considered complete when one electronic copy of the thesis, revised as directed by your defence examining committee, is submitted to the School of Graduate Studies through the E-Thesis Submission module in MacSphere.

Final thesis checklist

• ONE electronic copy of the thesis, revised as recommended by the Thesis Examining Committee and approved by the Supervisor/Examining Committee
• A standard 10-12 point font has been used
• TOP and LEFT margins should be 3.8 cm, and RIGHT and BOTTOM margins should be 2.5 cm
• Half-title page
• Descriptive note
• Abstract of 300 words or less
• All preliminary pages are numbered in lower case Roman numerals
• All pages must be numbered. The main body of the thesis, including text, bibliography and appendices, must be numbered continuously using Arabic numerals.

If you have not already done so, please submit the following forms to your department’s graduate administrator. They will submit them to the School of Graduate Studies on your behalf. Your final submission will not be considered complete without this documentation.

• Final Thesis Submission Sheet
• Copyright Permission Form
• Library and Archives Canada Licence (PhD only)
• McMaster University Licence

If you have completed all of the above requirements, you are ready to submit to your thesis.

E-thesis process

• Submit your electronic thesis to MacSphere . Please follow the link and click on ‘Sign on to my MacSphere’ to deposit your thesis. Ensure your thesis is uploaded as a pdf document. Any supporting material can be uploaded in various formats.
• E-thesis file name conventions. For your e-thesis to be published via MacSphere, the final version of your thesis should be named using the following file naming convention:

familyname_firstname_middleinitial_finalsubmissionyearmonth_degree.pdf

How to submit a thesis to MacSphere

• Go to MacSphere.
• On top/right corner click on Sign onto My MacSphere and log in with your MAC ID.
• Click on Start a New Submission .
• Select Collection: Open Access Dissertations and Theses , and click on Manual Submission to begin submitting your dissertation.
• Complete the submission screens as prompted. Once you click on I Grant The License your dissertation will be submitted to SGS for processing.

Links to e-theses in MacSphere are available through a variety of tools. The contents of MacSphere are Google indexed, bringing McMaster scholarship to the attention of a broad range of users. Automated tools will continue to integrate e-theses with other print and electronic library resources in both the local catalogue and integrated catalogues, such as WorldCat.

Theses in physical formats have historically been low-use library materials, however digitized theses are receiving higher usage. Site statistics for theses currently available in McMaster’s MacSphere show several each month are downloaded more than 100 times and many others have multiple downloads.

Embargoed or withheld theses

Embargoed status is intended to protect rights for immediate commercial publication, to obtain a patent which may rise from the research, or as a result of any contract made with a third party. The student may request a postponement of digital publication for up to one year at the time of thesis submission to MacSphere – all such requests are automatically granted. Students who would like to extend this initial period of postponement must apply to the thesis coordinator who will forward the request to the Vice-Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies for determination of whether further publication postponement is warranted. This request must include a full description of why the additional delay is requested and what steps have been taken to address the issues that required the initial delay. No delay of publication more than two years from the initial submission will be permitted.

Please note that you and your supervisor must both sign the delay of publication area on your Final Thesis Submission Sheet. For more information, consult the School of Graduate Studies Calendar .

E-thesis binding

If you choose to have your thesis bound, binding service is available through  pageforpage.com . Via their website, you can print, bind and send your thesis where you wish. However, this is only an option; you may use any binding service that you prefer.

Optional Bound Copies – Should the supervisor and/or department require one or more bound paper copies of your thesis, it is the student’s responsibility to obtain and distribute these bound copies.

Apart from these considerations, the general guidelines for thesis production should be followed.

Research Guides

Theses & dissertations, uoft theses online, uoft theses in print.

• Thesis from Other Institutions
• Borrowing or Reqesting Theses
• Writing & Submitting Your Thesis
• University of Toronto TSpace This link opens in a new window The University of Toronto's research bank. Showcases and preserves the scholarly work of the U of T community, and makes theses and dissertations publicly accessible online.
• Proquest Dissertations & Theses Global The most comprehensive worldwide collection of dissertations and theses. Full text for many dissertations added since 1997+.
• Theses Canada This link opens in a new window Comprehensive collection of Canadian theses at Library and Archives Canada. Covers U of T dissertations from 1950+ and master's theses from 1989+.
• School of Graduate Studies - Theses University of Toronto's Open Access repository (TSpace)
• Engineering & Computer Science
• UofT Archives

Many print U of T doctoral dissertations and masters' theses are listed in LibrarySearch . Older print theses may be listed in a card catalogue at the particular library in which it is held.

Theses from 2009+ are submitted online only to TSpace .

For information on print theses at different U of T libraries please click on the tabs above.

Doctoral dissertations and masters' theses submitted between 1989 and 2009 are listed in LibrarySearch .

Search by author, title or subject.

Browse theses and dissertations by doing an advanced search  and selecting 'Thesis' from the format dropdown menu.

Doctoral dissertations and master's theses from  1972-1989  are also available on  microform  in the  Media Commons , 3rd floor, Robarts Library.

Search for doctoral dissertations and theses submitted between  1930 to 1997 in the card catalogue in the Reference Department, 4th floor, Robarts Library.

Search by author, department, or subject.

For University of Toronto masters and doctoral theses in the sciences consult the library catalogue . Theses can be searched in the catalogue by author, title, or department .

Ask at the Gerstein Information Desk for assistance.

Where do I find a paper copy in Gerstein?

microfiche copies of U of T masters theses in the sciences are held in the Media Commons (4th Floor), Robarts Library

All theses are shelved by author name on 2-Below at the end of the Z call number range.

Please note that the Engineering & Computer Science Library no longer keeps print theses in the library.  Some theses are located at Gerstein Science Information Centre and others at Downsview. For information on a thesis is located see below .

If you have the citation information for a print thesis, you can search the UTL catalogue :

• By the title of the thesis
• By the author of the thesis

If you would like to browse UofT's theses holdings, use the following instructions:

• Go to the UTL Catalogue .
• Select Call number from the drop-down list.
• Type in the appropriate code (i.e. AEROS for aerospace science and engineering).
• Optional: Type in the year , if you know the year you are looking for
• Example: AEROS 1985  

List of Engineering and Computer Science Theses Codes:

• AEROS (aerospace science and engineering)
• IBMEN (biomedical engineering/biomaterials and biomedical engineering)
• CHENG & CHEMG (chemical engineering)
• CIENG (civil engineering)
• COMPS (computer science)
• ELENG (electrical engineering/electrical and computer engineering)
• INENG (industrial engineering)
• METAL (metallurgy, materials science and engineering)
• MEENG (mechanical engineering/mechanical and industrial engineering)

Finding theses from OISE

All OISE theses & dissertations submitted after November 2009 are available on TSpace

Pre 2009 theses are located on the 2nd floor of the OISE library  and are filed alphabetically by author's last name

Theses are searchable in the library catalogue

• The  University of Toronto Archives holds master's theses from 1897 to 1989 & doctoral theses from 1900 to 1985
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• Last Updated: May 30, 2023 9:44 AM
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School of Graduate Studies

• Faculty and staff
• Theses and reports

Master’s and Doctoral Theses and Reports

Thesis examinations for master’s and doctoral students are proceeding as normal, and we have not seen any interruptions in this process. We want to ensure you that your academic unit, SGS, and the examiners involved are all committed to a fair and timely review of your work. We also realize that, for many graduate students, covid-19 has require changes in research plans. You and your supervisor are invited to draft and submit a covid-19 impact statement along with your thesis , so your examiners are aware of significant changes that were required.

The information below is intended to help you draft and submit your thesis/report to fulfill your program requirements.

Before you submit:

Thesis and Report Guidelines (full document)

• Read this first: introduction to writing your thesis
• How to structure your thesis and which style to use
• How to format your thesis
• Order of thesis content
• Authorship and acknowledgements (including co-authorship )

Additional resources and tools you might need or use :

• samples of a Title Page , Table of Contents , List of Tables
• o nline tutorials for writing and editing from Memorial's Dr. Cecile Badenhorst
• an excellent article on "what examiners do" when assessing theses

Preparing for submission:

• Here are all the steps involved in a Master's Thesis Examination Procedures and a Doctoral Thesis Examination and Oral Defence Procedures . You should discuss specific timelines with your supervisors.
• Aim to submit your thesis for examination at least four months before the convocation you hope to atend. SGS does not accept any responsibility for completing the prescribed procedure in time for the nearest convocation date unless the thesis is submitted by the prescribed date.
• If you are expecting to graduate, then you must apply through Memorial Self-Service at least by the time of submission of the thesis/report. Please consult the University Diary for the precise deadline.

Submitting for examination:

• When you and your supervisor agree your thesis is ready to submit, ensure you send a word and a pdf version of the work to your graduate officer or academic unit head.
• All theses submitted to SGS by the academic unit must be accompanied by a Supervisory Approval Form and either an Appointment of Examiners Form Master's Degrees or an Appointment of Examiners Form Doctoral Degrees . Although it is expected that, on the successful completion of all academic requirements, the student will submit a thesis to the Dean for examination with the approval of the supervisor and Head, the absence of such approval cannot prevent submission.
• Information on the possible outcomes of a thesis examination, time limits for revisions, and re-examination procedures can be found in the University Calendar . Required revisions and corrections are made by you in consultation with the supervisory committee.  
• The thesis examination is an arm’s-length process, therefore, there must be no contact between you or your supervisor and the examiners while a thesis or report is under examination.
• You must maintain your graduate registration until all academic requirements for your degree including thesis corrections have been met.

Oral defence (doctoral students only):

• In addition to a written thesis deemed acceptable to the University, doctoral students must demonstrate their ability to defend their work in a public oral examination. For this reason, the final decision on whether a student will be recommended for the award of the degree is made at the conclusion of the oral examination.
• A formal oral defence will normally take place only with the recommendation of the majority of examiners.
• The written examiners’ reports are discussed at the pre-oral meeting. The pre-meeting will last roughly 30 minutes and include the Chair, internal and external examiners, as well as supervisor(s) and committee members. The Chair will go over the defence procedure, examiner recommendation options, as well as answer any questions or inquiries by the attendees.
• The subsequent examination is public and chaired by the Dean of Graduate Studies or delegate. In addition to the examining board, the supervisor(s) will participate in a non-voting capacity.
• All oral defences are conducted as eDefences. Requests to fly external examiners to Memorial University are decided on a case-by-case basis.
• Doctoral students should be prepared to give a 15-25 minute presentation outlining the major contributions made by the thesis. Following the student’s presentation, the Chair will direct at least two rounds of questions from the members of the examination board. After each round of questioning, the supervisor(s) will be asked if they want to contribute any questions/comments. The Chair will not permit questions or comments from anyone other than the members of the examining board and supervisor(s).
• The Chair must be satisfied that the doctoral student has been thoroughly examined.
• Doctoral students should be prepared to defend the contents of the thesis in its entirety. Questions relating to the detailed content of the thesis and/or the relation of the general body of knowledge of the discipline to the body of material presented in the thesis are permitted.
• There will not be any time limits regarding questioning (minimum or maximum).
• At the conclusion of the public portion of the examination, the members of the examination board hold an in camera meeting to evaluate the performance of the student. Only the voting members of the examining board may vote on the outcome of the thesis and oral defence.
• Details on the oral defence and possible outcomes can be found in the University Calendar .
• Students must maintain their graduate registration until all academic requirements for their degree including thesis corrections have been met.

Final submission:

• The final version of a thesis found acceptable with or without corrections shall be submitted to the University within six months of the date on which the thesis and examiners’ reports are returned to the student’s academic unit.
• For final submission, all graduate students are required to produce one electronic copy of their thesis to the Head of their academic unit.
• The final version of your thesis should be in PDF/A (or PDF/A-1a) format (needed for the long-term archiving of electronic theses) and use the following naming convention: lastname_firstname_middlename_finalsubmissionmonthandyear_degree.pdf (e.g., Smith_John_James_122013_PhD.pdf).
• Click here for instructions on how to convert files to PDF/A format. For further help, you may wish to contact Memorial’s Digital Media Centre .
• Upon approval by the Head of the academic unit, please send the electronic copy of your thesis, along with any associated supplementary files, and a metadata file detailing your thesis information to [email protected] . We will confirm by email once you have successfully submitted your thesis.
• All graduate students are required to consult with their supervisory committee and Head of their academic unit regarding any restrictions to publication of the thesis before final submission.
• If required, a completed should be uploaded along with the thesis as a supplementary file.
• In cases where file size exceeds 500MB files may be submitted on DVD or CD. The disc sleeve should note student name, student number, degree program, and the academic unit. A completed Thesis Deposit Form must be included with CD/DVD submissions.
• At the time of e-thesis submission, a completed Recommendation for the Award of a Graduate Degree form should be submitted to SGS by the Head of the academic unit.

Publication:

• Graduate student theses are stored and preserved electronically through Memorial University Libraries’ Research Repository . A graduate student’s thesis is deposited only after a degree is conferred at Convocation in May or October. Documents in the Research Repository are searchable by the general public directly or via search engines like Google.
• Memorial University also participates in the Theses Canada program . Library and Archives Canada routinely harvests graduate student theses for storage in a central, publically searchable database.
• Graduate students interested in obtaining personal bound copies of their final thesis may order directly from Lehmann Bookbinding .
• Guidelines and policies
• Forms for faculty and staff
• Resources for Graduate Supervisors
• Special funding initiatives
• Dean's Awards for Service Excellence
• eDefence Departmental Procedures
• Tools and workshops
• SGS ROCKStar Supervisor Award

Related Content

School of Graduate Studies

Doctoral examinations & schedule.

The Final Oral Examination ( FOE ) is the capstone experience of your doctoral studies. General information about the FOE is outlined in the SGS Calendar . The Final Oral Examination schedule (see calendar below) lists current thesis defenses, and is updated periodically.

Additionally, you may find helpful the Guidelines for the Doctoral Final Oral Examination (FOE) , a document that outlines the responsibilities of the graduate unit, SGS , the Examination Committee, and the Chair of the Committee in the planning and conduct of a Final Oral Examination. Faculty and Staff can access additional resources on the SGS Final Examinations webpage .

Academic fees for continuously registered Ph.D. candidates in the final year of the program are pro-rated over the 12–month academic year, based on the date of the final approved thesis submission to SGS . Incidental fees are charged on a sessional (term) basis. More information on the pro-rated fees and schedules can be found in Graduate Fees and on the Student Accounts website under Current Fall–Winter Fee & Refund Schedules.

In-Person Examinations at the School of Graduate Studies

Requests to book the rooms at 63 St. George Street are covered by the following guidelines.

• Exam rooms are available for blocks of up to three (3) hours between 9:30 AM and 4:30 PM ET, Monday to Friday.
• Exam rooms have maximum capacities as indicated on the Book a Meeting Room website.
• All participants should bring their laptop or tablet with them; the computer, camera, and microphone in the room can be used to provide a full room view for remote participants. The computer is currently configured for anyone to sign into their Zoom or Microsoft Teams account. Teleconference is also available for a maximum of two participants.
• All signature files and forms will be administered electronically.
• Please avoid the use of perfume, cologne, hairspray and other scented products when you visit the School of Graduate Studies. Refer to the University’s Guidelines on the Use of Perfumes and Scented Products .

Doctoral Examination Schedule