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Agenda
What to Expect:
o Before You Initiate
o Initiating the Defence
o Thesis Defence Timeline
• Standard (Traditional)
• Accelerated
o Preparing for the Defence
o The Day of the Defence
o Becoming Cleared to
Graduate
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• Does your Supervisory Committee
agree that you are ready to defend?
o Circulate dissertation
• Work backward from a proposed
defence date to target your initiation
date
o Decide if you are targeting a
particular convocation
o Sessional dates:
https://graduate.mcmaster.ca/sites
/default/files/images/sessional_dat
es_-_clean_copy.pdf
• Attend other defences
• Know your subject matter
Before You Initiate
Are You
Ready?
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Initiating the Thesis Defense Process
Process is initiated online in the Mosaic. Log into Student Centre and under
‘Academics’ select ‘other academics’:
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Initiating the Thesis Defense Process
Select Thesis Intent -> Defend my Thesis:
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Initiating the Thesis Defense Process
Select Degree and Program before selecting “Next” button:
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Initiating the Thesis Defense Process
Review your Supervisory Committee (names, roles, emails). If incorrect or
incomplete, please contact your program Graduate Administrator. If correct,
select “Next”:
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Initiating the Thesis Defense Process
Enter the intended date
for submission of your
pre-defence thesis to
SGS (via
gthesis@mcmaster.ca).
You must select a date
no less than 2 weeks
away from the date of
initiation. Enter your
thesis title as well
abstract (optional)
before selecting
“Submit”:
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Initiating the Thesis Defense Process
Mosaic will prompt you to review your entered details to ensure accuracy
before selecting “Submit” one final time:
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Initiating the Thesis Defense Process
Once you have initiated the defence online:
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• 3 Emails are sent:
o One to you to confirm the initiation
o One to your Supervisor for their input
o One to your Grad Admin to check your committee in Mosaic
• Your Supervisor will have to select either:
o Standard (Traditional) Stream
o Accelerated Stream
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Thesis Defence Timelines
Standard Stream
• After initiation, Supervisor
nominates Externals, to be
approved by Committee and Dept.
Chair
• SGS reaches out to approved
Externals (randomly selected)
• Student proposes date and time
as well as uploads thesis
• Committee approves date
• SGS selects External, sends
thesis with corresponding report
• SGS finds a room and a Chair for
the defence
• After initiation, Supervisor
nominates External, to be
approved by Committee and Dept.
Chair
• Once approved, Supervisor
selects External, identifies the
date, time, room, Chair for the
defence and uploads thesis
• Committee approves date
• External is sent thesis with
corresponding report
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Accelerated Stream
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Preparing for the Defence
In order for the defence to proceed, it
needs to have the following:
• A positive report from the External a
week in advance
• A Chair for the defence
o A faculty member who has
supervised a student to
completion
• A minimum of 3 members from the
Supervisory Committee
o Supervisor and 2 Committee
Members
• The External Examiner
o Can be represented by an
Internal Examiner if they are
unable to attend
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The Day of the Defence
It has
finally
come!
• You will receive a set of instructions from SGS to
set expectations for the defence along side the
announcement
o We will confirm External participation and
remote connection (if applicable)
• You begin with a brief statement, typically 15-20
mins
o Stress the main points of your contribution and
any difficulties you overcame
• This will be followed by rounds of questions by the
Committee and External
o The Chair will moderate
• You, and any audience members, will be asked to
leave the room so that they can discuss and
complete the Report of the Examining Committee
• You will be welcomed back to hear the results and
sign any necessary paperwork
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Becoming Cleared to Graduate
The final steps to be completed:
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• Complete your Final Thesis Submission Sheet
o Decide whether or not you need to Embargo your thesis
o Get sign off on the completion of changes (if required)
o Hand it in to your Grad Admin so they can submit a Service Request
• Upload your thesis to MacSphere https://macsphere.mcmaster.ca/
o You cannot make changes after it has been uploaded
o The date of your upload will be used as your cleared to graduate date
• Verify that all of your program’s milestones have been met by running
your advisement report
o Your final thesis will be added as a milestone
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Resources
To help with your preparations:
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• School of Graduate Studies website:
https://gs.mcmaster.ca/doctoral-degree
• Guide for the Preparation of Master’s and Doctoral Theses:
https://gs.mcmaster.ca/sites/default/files/resources/guide_for
_the_preparation_of_masters_and_doctoral_theses-
_december_2016.pdf
• Graduate Calendar - Section 4.3 Thesis:
https://academiccalendars.romcmaster.ca/content.php?catoi
d=39&navoid=8156#4-3_thesis_
• Thesis Completion Boot Camps:
https://gs.mcmaster.ca/thesis-completion-boot-camps
A committee member can halt the process if they say ‘No’
We will work through the possible timelines in the coming slides but the key is to work backward from the deadlines of a particular convocation or proposed defence date that works with your committee
Learn more about the defence itself by watching your colleagues or other PhD candidates defend their thesis
When earning a PhD, the course material, comprehensive exam and other key milestones tests your breadth of knowledge and the thesis is where you are tested on the depth of your knowledge, it is expected that you are a subject matter expert in your research topic
Primary difference is who is doing the initial leg work
In Accelerated, the expectation is that the External has agreed to participate as well as read the thesis
1) This is a visual of the Standard Thesis Defence to illustrate where time is shaved off in the Accelerated Stream
1) If you do follow the Standard Stream, this is how it will appear when selecting the date
Negative reports are rare
If we receive the report with less than a week before the defence date, SGS will reach out to confirm you want to proceed
The Supervisory Committee will receive the report and the expectation is that the Supervisor shares the comments to help you prepare for the defence
The Chair can be from any department, the importance is that they understand the process and can represent the students interests impartially
We send an announcement to all of the participants and also loop in your Grad Admin
We work with the External and Supervisor to confirm if the External will participate
Remote participation is allowed but ask for a back-up phone
There are contingencies should there be issues with the connection
You shouldn’t be aiming to simply summarize but rather draw attention to key attributes of your thesis
An delay of publication or Embargo is often used when you are awaiting publication, the typical duration is one year
The Supervisor is signing to confirm if changes have been made
Please make sure you are uploading the correct version and have checked formatting, references and tables
Review the policies of your publishers in advances so there are no surprisesACTUAL LANGUAGE ON FORM:
Once you have submitted both your final thesis on mac sphere and this form to sgs you will be cleared to graduate, provided all other program requirements are complete. From that date on, you are no longer considered an active graduate student and the tuition for the balance of the month remaining in the academic year will be refunded.
An delay of publication or Embargo is often used when you are awaiting publication, the typical duration is one year
The Supervisor is signing to confirm if changes have been made, if major changes are recommended, the entire committee signs
Please make sure you are uploading the correct version and have checked formatting, references and tables
Review the policies of your publishers in advances so there are no surprises
Seriously consider buddying up with others going through this at a Boot Camp