ubc thesis cover sheet

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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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Structure and Style of Theses and Dissertations

Each student and their supervisory committee should work together to determine the scholarly scope and most appropriate structure of the thesis, keeping in mind scholarly standards within their fields and professional objectives of the student.

As forms of scholarship continue to evolve, so do the possibilities for how a body of scholarly work can be expressed. Theses at UBC can include many forms of knowledge production and scholarly representation. Some examples are:

• a fully unified textual volume, similar to a scholarly book
• a series of published or publication-ready manuscripts with synthesis
• inclusion of scholarly professional artefacts such as policy papers or curriculum plans, for example, along with description and analysis
• a compendium of multimedia works with written description and analysis

Within this flexibility of structure, there remain several elements that must be included in each thesis or dissertation, and specifications to be followed, in order to enable consistent standards and proper archiving.

In addition to the preliminary materials described below, all theses should include an introduction to the subject, a critical analysis of the relevant prior scholarly work, a description of the scholarly methods, a presentation of the results, and a discussion and summary of the results and their implications. Knowledge dissemination products or modes can be incorporated as appropriate.

As appropriate, representation of the research results or methodologies may take a variety of forms, including scholarly publications or submissions (manuscripts), scholarly text, creative text, graphics, audio/visual products, or web pages,  Additional knowledge translation or dissemination products or descriptions of activities can be incorporated, such as policy briefs, lay or professional publications, syllabi, or outlines of workshops or exhibits.

Every thesis will have a PDF component that includes at least the following elements:

• Committee page
• Lay summary
• Table of contents, and/or a List of all submitted files (if there are files in addition to the PDF)

1. Title page (required)

2. committee page (required).

The committee page:

• is the second page of the thesis and is numbered ii
• lists all examining committee members and supervisory committee members, along with their titles, departments, and universities or organizations
• does not include signatures
• is not listed in the table of contents

See Resources for Thesis Preparation and Checking for examples and templates.

Doctoral students: Please include this page in the copy for the External Examiner, with your supervisory committee entered. If you know which members of the committee will be on the Examining Committee you can include them there; otherwise, they can go under Additional Supervisory Committee Members.

Doctoral students post-defence: Please remember to update the committee page before final post-defence submission if necessary.

3. Abstract (required - maximum 350 words)

The abstract is a concise and accurate summary of the scholarly work described in the document. It states the problem, the methods of investigation, and the general conclusions, and should not contain tables, graphs, complex equations, or illustrations. There is a single scholarly abstract for the entire work, and it must not exceed 350 words in length.

4. Lay Summary (required - maximum 150 words)

The lay or public summary is a simplified version of the abstract that explains the key goals and contributions of the research/scholarly work in terms that can be understood by the general public. it does not use technical terms and discipline-specific language. It must not exceed 150 words in length.

5. Preface (required)

Sample Prefaces

The Preface includes a statement indicating the student's contribution to the following:

• Identification of the research question(s)
• Design of the research work
• Performance of the research
• Analysis of the research results

If any of the work was collaborative, the above statement must also detail the relative contributions of all collaborators, including the approximate proportion of the research, analysis, and writing/representation conducted by the student.

If any of the work has led to any publications, submissions, or other dissemination modes, all should be listed in the Preface. For publications, the title of the article, the names and order of all co-authors, and the journal details (if accepted or published) should be included, and linked to the related chapter or portion of the thesis. For further details, see “Including Published Material in a Thesis or Dissertation”.

If any of the work is intended for publication but has not yet been published, you may say whether or not it has been submitted. Do not say where it has been submitted, as if it is not accepted for publication that information will be misleading.

If the work includes other scholarly artifacts (such as film and other audio, visual, and graphic representations, and application-oriented documents such as policy briefs, curricula, business plans, computer and web tools, pages, and applications, etc.) that have been published or otherwise publicly disseminated or that have co-authors, they must be listed in the Preface (with bibliographical information, including information on co-creators, if applicable).

If ethics approval was required for the research, the Preface must list the Certificate Number(s) of the Ethics Certificate(s) applicable to the project.

In a thesis where the research was not subject to ethics review, produced no publications, and was designed, carried out, and analyzed by the student alone, the text of the Preface may be very brief. Samples are available on this website and in the University Library's online repository of accepted theses.

The content of the Preface must be verified by the student's supervisor, whose endorsement must appear on the final Thesis/Dissertation Approval form.

Acknowledgements, introductory material, and a list of publications do not belong in the Preface. Please put them respectively in the Acknowledgements section, the first section of the thesis, and the appendices.

6. Table of contents (required)

7. list of tables (required if document has tables), 8. list of figures (required if document has figures), 9. list of submitted files (required if additional files are submitted with the pdf), 10. list of illustrations (advisable if applicable).

If you remove copyrighted tables, figures, or illustrations from your thesis you must insert the following at the spot where the table, figure, or illustration previously appeared:

• 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

See the UBC Library Copyright Educational Resources: Theses and Dissertations Guide “ Unable to get Permission? ”

11. Lists of symbols, abbreviations or other (advisable if applicable)

12. glossary (optional), 13. acknowledgements (optional).

This may include statements acknowledging support and contributions from various sources, including the student’s research supervisor and committee, research participants, colleagues, friends, and family members. IMPORTANT : Please ensure that everyone you mention in your Acknowledgements understands and accepts that their name will be appearing online in an open-access document.

Any funding for the research should be listed here.

14. Dedication (optional)

15-17. thesis body: introduction, research chapters, conclusion (usually required unless the thesis consists only of multimedia).

This contains the comprehensive contextualization, methods, findings, analysis and implications of the scholarly work. These components can be organized and expressed in a manner that the student and their supervisory committee deems to be most appropriate to the work, to the student and their objectives, and to the relevant disciplines.

In many cases the thesis will be organized in chapters, while for others (especially those including creative and/or other modes of expression) it may take different forms. The different elements should be divided appropriately (and indicated as such in the Table of Contents) to enable ease of review. The thesis should be presented in a manner that enables a cohesive understanding of the work and which is credible within the field. In all cases, certain elements are required:

Introductory content.  This must clearly state its theme, topics, hypotheses and/or goals and provide sufficient background information to enable a non-specialist in the subject matter to understand them. It must contextualize the topic and questions within a thorough review of relevant literature and/or other foundational scholarship

Research/Scholarship methodologies, findings, products.  The account and products of the scholarly work should be complete and sufficiently detailed to enable a reader to understand how the work was carried out and analyzed, and how to apply similar methods in another study.

Analysis and summary content.  This should include a reflective analysis of the scholarly findings and/or products, integrated into the context of the thesis subject to demonstrate how the thesis leads to new understandings and contributions. The work’s potential (or actual) impact, its limitations, and its significance should be outlined.

18. Bibliography (mandatory except for MFA and MMUS)

There must be only one Bibliography or References section for the whole thesis.

19. Appendices (Optional)

These consist of supporting material that is not integral to the understanding of the work and/or easily incorporated into the thesis body, potentially including additional methodological details or data, copies of surveys used, etc. They must be referred to in the document.

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Theses and Dissertations

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UBC Theses Online

Finding theses by department, ubc theses and dissertations in print.

UBC's First 100 Theses

UBC Graduate Students

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• How to Cite
• cIRcle: UBC's Digital Repository UBC theses and dissertations from 1919 to the present are available in full text in cIRcle: UBC's Digital Repository. All theses and dissertations completed at UBC's Okanagan campus are available in cIRcle (2005-present).
• cIRcle: Electronic Theses and Dissertations in Creative Arts, 2017+ Creative Arts Theses Beginning October 21, 2017 (UBC-V) and March 1, 2018 (UBC-O), creative arts theses (creative writing; film; music; theatre - MFA and MMus only) are available electronically by campus wide login (CWL), via Indexes & Databases: cIRcle: Electronic Theses and Dissertations in Creative Arts, 2017+. Creative arts theses prior to this period are listed in the Library’s online catalogue, and available for physical circulation.
• ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global This link opens in a new window International searchable index of dissertations and theses. The full text of UBC doctoral dissertations from 1997 to 2007 (including many pre-1997 titles) are available to UBC users. To search for UBC doctoral dissertations type "University of British Columbia Canada" and select "University/institution - SCH" as the search field.

Search for UBC Theses in cIRcle

In cIRcle you can search UBC theses and dissertations by program. At the cIRcle home page , select Theses & Dissertations under Browse Collections and on the next page click on UBC Theses & Dissertations . On the right side of the page you can browse UBC theses by department, faculty and program. After clicking on your choice, you can refine your search by degree type and other filters (on the left column).

Printed Format (available to 1991 only)

Most printed copies of UBC theses from 1919 to 1991 are in storage or the appropriate branch library and a second printed copy is held in Rare Books & Special Collections, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. Check the UBC Library catalogue for detailed location information.

Microfiche Format

Doctoral Dissertations

• From 1978 to 1997, there are two microfiche copies of UBC doctoral dissertations: one in Rare Books & Special Collections, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and one in the appropriate branch library. From 1998 to 2007, one microfiche copy only is held in the appropriate branch library.

Master's Theses

• From 1974 to 2007, there are two microfiche copies of UBC master's theses: one in Rare Books & Special Collections and one in the appropriate branch library.

Although UBC opened its doors in 1915 it was not until 1919 that the University awarded the first graduate degrees. In that year two women, Ruth Fulton and Isobel Harvey, received masters degrees. In fact, six of the first ten masters degrees granted by the University went to women. The University awarded its first doctorates in 1950 when four students earned PhDs.

Submission instructions for current UBC graduate students are available from the Faculty of Graduate Studies (Vancouver Campus) and the College of Graduate Studies (Okanagan Campus).

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• URL: https://guides.library.ubc.ca/theses

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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.

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Post-Defence Submission

Students submit their final thesis documentation electronically to [email protected] . Once the College of Graduate Studies receives the required forms, students will be allowed to register and upload their thesis to cIRcle before the College of Graduate Studies reviews for formatting requirements.

It is strongly suggested that students review the Thesis Preparation Resources to ensure that their thesis meets formatting requirements before submission. Any delay caused by correcting and re-submitting the thesis is the student’s responsibility, and may cause the student to miss important deadlines. Students are also encouraged to proofread their thesis carefully before submitting the final version. Changes cannot be made to a thesis after it has been approved.

Students must submit their final, defended thesis electronically as a single PDF file to UBC’s online information repository, cIRcle.

The College of Graduate Studies is unable to offer pre or post formatting reviews nor is the College of Graduate Studies able to offer support and advice on how to use computer applications.

Master of Fine Arts Students Only: For MFA theses only, students may choose to submit to the collection in cIRcle “Electronic Theses and Dissertations in Creative Arts, 2017+ (CWL ACCESS)”. Access to this collection is permanently restricted to individuals who have a Campus-Wide Login (CWL). The collection is not available to the public. Please see MFA Submission information as outline below.

Graduate students who have questions about thesis and dissertation submission requirements that are not answered below, or who are in need of additional support, are encouraged to contact the office by email ( [email protected] ).

Final Submission Instructions

Ensure all required forms are submitted electronically to the College of Graduate Studies ( [email protected] ).

• Master’s Thesis Approval and Program Completion Form   OR Doctoral Dissertation Approval and Program Completion Form
• Thesis Dissertation Submission Cover Sheet

Once The College of Graduate Studies receives the mandatory forms, students will be allowed to register and upload the thesis to cIRcle for the final formatting review.The student should activate their cIRcle account by going to the UBC Library cIRcle User Registration page:

• On the registration page, enter your email address to register.
• Once a cIRcle account has been created, you will be sent an email prompting you to set a password.
• After setting a password, you must send an email to the College of Graduate Studies ( [email protected] ) to request the account be activated. You must include your name and email address in the body of the email.
• You will be notified to submit the thesis once the cIRcle account has been activated.

You can now submit the thesis:

• Convert your thesis to a single non-secured PDF file. The PDF file must be compatible with Adobe Acrobat version 5, and must not be in “secured” format or password-protected.
• Access the cIRcle Login page and use your email address and password to sign in to cIRcle.
• Under “My Account” in the left sidebar, click on “Submissions”.
• Click on “Start a New Submission”.
• Submit to the collection “Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) 2008+”.
• Add your thesis information in the appropriate boxes and menus. When typing your thesis name into the cIRcle Thesis Title field, type ‘Okanagan’ in front of the actual thesis name. Click the “Next” button when finished with each step. You can cancel or save your submission at any time. If you save an incomplete submission, you can login to continue it at any time.
• You can now upload your thesis. Name the file using the following format, all lower case: ubc_gradyear_gradmonth_lastname_firstname.pdf. A student’s grad month is the month in which their degree will be conferred by Senate .The College of Graduate Studies will notify you of your anticipated grad month via email once you have registered for your cIRcle account. Ensure characters are limited to Roman letters (a-z), numbers (0-9), and underscores (_). Please click on the “Browse” button and locate the file before clicking “Upload”.
• Additional Materials For subsequent files, you will number them according to the order in which you plan to upload them to cIRcle: ubc_gradyear_gradmonth_lastname_firstname_file[#]_filetype.xyz Ensure characters are limited to Roman letters (a-z), numbers (0-9), and underscores (_). Select the “Browse” button and locate the file(s) on your computer. Then, select “Upload file & add another”. You should upload all thesis files approved by your committee during this step.When uploading multi-file theses, the PDF file containing your title page and preliminary pages must be the first-listed file in your submission. Subsequent files should then be submitted in order of importance as determined by your Committee.
• Confirm that you have uploaded the correct file(s) and review your submission.
• The next page is a check for duplicate files. Click “Next”.
• Complete the Creative Commons License questions. Students are encouraged to review the options on the Creative Commons website before starting their final submission.
• Read and approve the UBC cIRcle License . Please read the license carefully.
• Once you have made the submission, the final screen will indicate that the submission was successful.
• The thesis will be reviewed within two to five business days and the student will be notified by email if any changes are required.
• After the student has made any required changes, the student should log back in to cIRcle and re-submit the corrected thesis. The student must be sure to remove the original file before uploading the corrected file. It may take up to two to five business days for the thesis to be reviewed again.
• When the College of Graduate Studies has reviewed and approved the thesis, the student will receive email notification.

Note: Students are encouraged to check their email after submission to ensure any required corrections are made. A submission is not complete and does not meet deadlines until the thesis has been approved, and the student has received an official email receipt. If the thesis does not meet the UBC required standards upon a student’s first submission, it will be sent back to the student, requesting the student to resubmit. If the thesis continues to fail to meet UBC standards, the thesis will be returned to the student upon each subsequent submission and placed in the queue in the order of date received. When the thesis meets the College of Graduate Studies’ requirements, the student will receive email notification that it has been added to the UBC Library’s cIRcle Institutional Repository.

Visit the Library’s wiki page for a detailed walkthrough of the registration and upload processes.

Additional Submission Information

Scholarly research and communication is enhanced when research inputs in addition to the final polished culmination (thesis, dissertation, or other manuscript or scholarly product) are made available and connected to the final scholarly product.  

MFA students may choose to submit to the “Electronic Theses and Dissertations in Creative Arts, 2017+ (CWL ACCESS)” collection in cIRcle. Access to this collection is permanently restricted to individuals who have a Campus-Wide Login (CWL). The collection is not available to the public.

To submit to this collection, follow the above “Register in cIRcle” and “Submit your thesis” instructions with the following exceptions:

• In step 3 (under Register in cIRcle), in your email to the College of Graduate Studies, state that you will be submitting to the “Electronic Theses and Dissertations in Creative Arts, 2017+ (CWL ACCESS)” collection.If you do not notify the College of Graduate Studies, you will not have access to this collection.
• In step 1 (under Submit your thesis), convert the text portion of your thesis to a single non-secured PDF. Ensure that multimedia files are in formats that are accepted by the UBC Library .
• In step 5 (under Submit your thesis), Submit to the collection “Electronic Theses and Dissertations in Creative Arts, 2017+ (CWL ACCESS)”.
• Before step 10 (under Submit your thesis), you will be required to review the terms of access for your thesis submission.

Note: MFA students can choose to upload to either the “Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) 2008+” collection or the “Electronic Theses and Dissertations in Creative Arts, 2017+ (CWL ACCESS)” collection, but once the thesis has been approved, the thesis cannot be switched to the other collection.

The College of Graduate Studies must be informed about reasons for delays in publication of theses and dissertations. If there is strong justification, the College of Graduate Studies may agree to delay publication of a thesis/dissertation for 12 months. Under special circumstances, and with substantive rationale, this delay in publication may be extended in 12-month increments. Students wanting to request a delay in publication of their thesis must do so before the thesis is submitted electronically.

A student might wish to request that publication be delayed if any of the following circumstances applies:

• Time is required for completion and submission of a significant manuscript or patent application for a device or idea that might emerge from the thesis research.
• The thesis describes something of considerable monetary potential which could, if the student were given an opportunity to develop it, benefit the student or the University.
• Funding for the research was provided by a commercial company which has requested a delay in publication.
• The thesis deals with a potentially dangerous product or process, or potential cure for a disease, for which more testing time is needed before public release of the information.

The Dean of College of Graduate Studies will approve the request only when there is a full and convincing justification for delaying publication of the thesis in the Library’s online repository.  If an embargo is requested and approved,  all  files are embargoed.  Students cannot embargo some files but not others.

To request a delay, please use the  Request for Approval to Withhold a Dissertation/Thesis from the Public Domain and submit the fully-signed form to the College of Graduate Studies along with your other final submission forms.

When submitting the thesis to cIRcle, students should:

• Type “EMBARGO” in front of the thesis title when entering the title into cIRcle. This alerts reviewers to the request for publication delay. Do not put “EMBARGO” on the title page of the thesis.
• Enter the full abstract in the “Abstract” field in cIRcle. Abstracts for embargoed theses are automatically hidden from public view. Instead, the following boilerplate abstract text appears in the abstract record: “The full abstract for this thesis is available in the body of the thesis, and will be available when the embargo expires.”
• On the page where the thesis file can be uploaded, go to “File Availability”, select “Embargo” and enter the date when the thesis will become publicly available.

Note: Unless you have submitted the Withhold Thesis from the Public Domain form and your request has been approved, your embargo date will be removed.

When the thesis is accepted, the title and boilerplate abstract text will appear in cIRcle, but the thesis itself and the actual abstract will not be available. During the embargo period, a request for access to view the thesis can be made through cIRcle. The request will go to the College of Graduate Studies and will be relayed to the student by email. The student can then grant or deny temporary access to the thesis.

When the embargo period ends, the thesis will be automatically released and will be available online. If an additional extension to the embargo period is required, it is the responsibility of the student to contact the College of Graduate Studies no less than one month before the release date.

Students are encouraged to proofread their thesis carefully before submitting the final version. Changes cannot be made to the thesis after it has been approved. Check for:

• consistent capitalization
• consistent, sequential section numbering
• consistent abbreviations and units of measure
• consistent line spacing and table formatting
• typographical errors
• grammatical errors

Proofreading is primarily the responsibility of the student, but supervisors and examiners should not sign off on theses until they are free of errors.

Review Deadlines

Finished Papers

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