There are two changes that will affect students’ theses and dissertations:
Committee page: The addition of a page that lists the supervisory committee and examination committee members (effective May 1 2018). Approved by the Graduate Policy Committee on January 10 2018.
Embargoes: Extended embargo times and clarification of responsibilities for extending embargoes (effective immediately).
This email also includes a reminder and clarification of responsibilities for proofreading theses.
Committee Page
This change will be effective May 1 2018.
Some years ago, for security reasons, UBC discontinued the practice of requiring examining committee members to sign the title pages of theses and dissertations to confirm their approval of the document. We will be partly restoring this practice by requiring the inclusion of a committee page that will immediately follow the title page of each thesis/dissertation. Our UBCO campus already does this.
The page will list the following:
· Supervisor or Co-Supervisors
· Examining / supervisory committee members
· University Examiners, if applicable
There are templates available for this page at Resources for Thesis Preparation and Checking:
https://www.grad.ubc.ca/current-students/dissertation-thesis-preparation/resources-thesis-preparation-checking
As of May 1 2018, theses and dissertations will be required to include this page.
Embargoes
These changes are effective immediately.
Length of embargo: The minimum embargo time will increase from six months to twelve months. Approval for the 12-month embargo will be obtained using the criteria we currently use for 6-month embargoes: the student/supervisor must tick one box on the form with the reason for requesting the embargo. No further details will be required.
Notification of embargo period ending: Students and supervisors will be responsible for tracking their own embargo expiry dates, and for contacting G+PS no later than two months before of the expiry date if they would like to request an extension. If an extension is not requested, cIRcle will automatically release the thesis on the set release date.
As is the case now, written justification is required for an embargo to be extended.
Thesis Review – Reminder
From time to time we are contacted by graduates who have noticed typographical errors in their theses in cIRcle, the Library’s electronic repository, and wish to correct them. Could you please draw your students’ attention to the information on our website about proofreading, available at the link below and copied here:
https://www.grad.ubc.ca/current-students/final-dissertation-thesis-submission
Proofreading
Important: It is your responsibility to proofread your thesis carefully before submitting the final version. You cannot make changes to your thesis after it has been accepted into cIRcle, so you will not be able to correct any errors after your final submission. Check for:
· consistent, sequential numbering of sections
· consistent abbreviations and units of measure
· correct symbols and special characters
· consistent headings and capitalization
· consistent line spacing and table formatting
· typographical errors
· grammatical errors
Proofreading is primarily your responsibility, but supervisors and examiners should not sign off on theses until they are free of errors.
The thesis team checks theses to ensure they meet the formatting requirements, focusing on the preliminary pages. If staff notice egregious mistakes elsewhere in a thesis they may require them to be corrected in the interest of ensuring a professional presentation of the work.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have questions.
Max
Max Read
Associate Director, Student Academic Services
Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies | Office of the Dean and Vice-Provost
The University of British Columbia | Vancouver Campus
170-6371 Crescent Road | Vancouver BC | V6T 1Z2 Canada
Phone 604 822 0283
max.read@ubc.ca | http://www.grad.ubc.ca
