Submission deadlines

Students should check on deadlines for defence, submission of theses, and the application to graduate well in advance - consult the Academic Calendar or contact the graduate administrative support staff of the academic unit.

Before you submit

It is the responsibility of the student to make all revisions and corrections of the thesis required by the Examining Committee. The research supervisor is expected to advise the student in making these changes and to verify that they have been made.

If members of the Examining Committee have withheld their signature on certification pages at the time of the oral defence, it is the responsibility of the research supervisor to ensure that they see the changes and indicate on behalf of the Examining Committee that he or she deems the changes to be complete and appropriate.

Candidates for Master’s and Ph.D. degrees, who have successfully completed their thesis oral examination and made all the revisions and corrections required by the Examining Committee, must submit the final approved version to the ETD site. Master’s project-based students may upload the complete and approved project paper, although this is not a degree requirement.

Copyright and Subsequent Use of the Thesis

The author of a thesis claims copyright on the title page by using the appropriate notation.  As a condition for the award of the degree the author is required to give permission to the University Library to make the thesis available for inspection and to permit copying of the thesis in any manner, in whole or in part, for scholarly purposes only.  It is understood that any copying or publication of the thesis in any manner in whole or in part for financial gain requires the permission of the author. 

Students hold copyright to their thesis even when agreements have been reached with other parties regarding ownership of some parts of the research material.  Careful attention must be paid to any previous agreements signed regarding ownership of research findings.  Consultation with the Office of Research Services and the CGPS is recommended if there are any questions regarding patentable or commercializable material. 

Students are reminded that they are required to respect standards of academic integrity and intellectual property in the case of all material used in the thesis.  In order to do this, it is usually sufficient to use notes and bibliographical references.  When use is made of a substantial part of a source work, it is necessary to obtain prior permission from the author.  Definition of a "substantial part of a work" depends on several factors, principally the quantity and quality of the portion taken and the economic impact of the ability of the copyright owner to profit from the exploitation of the work.  In some instances, copying even a short excerpt may be sufficient to constitute infringement. 

Remember at all times that plagiarism is a serious offence and could jeopardize an entire academic career.  Plagiarism is the presentation of the work or idea of another in such a way as to give others the impression that it is the work or idea of the presenter. 

Bound copy of thesis

A bound copy is not required by either the Graduate Studies office or the University Library, but one may be required by the student’s department.

The thesis bindery used by the University of Saskatchewan is Universal Bindery. Call ahead for current price and time estimates. Allow at least two to three weeks for binding.

On-Campus Access

The U of S Learning Commons provides students with access to work stations with current versions of Adobe Acrobat that can be used for exporting your word processing documents to PDF format. There are on-site IT Help Desks in the Main (Murray) Library and Health Sciences Library Learning Commons locations if assistance is required.

Steps of the ETD Submission Process

Before submitting

Before you begin, read the information found in General Form and Style for Theses and Dissertations.

After you have passed your defence, make a single PDF file of the final revised and approved version of your thesis. The Learning Commons in the Main Library has computers with Adobe and other programs and are able to assist you in converting to Adobe PDF.

Review your PDF file carefully for missing pages, poor font translation, and other anomalies.

  • Is page numbering correct and consistently placed throughout the document?
  • Have page numbers for landscape-oriented pages been adjusted?
  • Have you included a Table of Contents?
  • Are any pages missing? Have any blank pages been included in the final document?
  • Are the margins set appropriately and consistently throughout the document?
  • For those students who have multimedia objects, has a list of each multimedia objects’ type been included?
  • Are all internal and external multimedia objects and files present for submission?
  • Total file submission must not exceed 4 GB.
  • Submit final revised and approved version of the thesis or dissertation to the ETD site by the posted deadlines. This site can be accessed from anywhere in the world.
  • For technical support for your account contact harvest@library.usask.ca.

Submitting

  • The submission will begin by logging in with your NSID and password.
  • You must provide verifying information, including date of birth, program and unit affiliation.
  • Students must agree to the terms of the Licence Agreement in order to continue the submission process. 
  • After entering the thesis title, abstract, and appropriate keywords, students are prompted to identify his or her Advisory Committee. You will then be able to upload the PDF of the thesis or dissertation. 
  • The last step will have students review and confirm information and submit the document(s).

Thesis Confidentiality

A thesis is a public document and once submitted for the degree, exists in the public domain unless the candidate and the thesis supervisor request to withhold a thesis from circulation temporarily (reasons for the request must be specifically indicated). Supervisors and academic units have the option to delay publication of a thesis/dissertation for copyright or other reasons. Students can request limited access to their ETD when uploading their ETD. Requests to withhold an ETD from publication may be indicated in the ETD upload process. Periods of one year, two years, and three years will be the available options.

After Submission

You will receive an automated email once your ETD has been submitted. A CGPS Graduate Programs Advisor will review the document. If corrections are required, instructions will be sent to your PAWS email account. Once any adjustments or corrections have been completed, you must log back into the ETD account and replace the primary document. Please allow 7-10 business days for your ETD to be reviewed before contacting the CGPS.