X. Thesis Regulations

10.1 Ethical Review

All research undertaken at Dalhousie University must comply with current institutional policies regarding responsible conduct of research, academic integrity, human ethics, and animal ethics. The policies on human and animal ethics are accessible through the Office of Research Services Ethical Conduct webpage.

10.2 Preparation of Manuscript and Submission of Theses

Thesis manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with Faculty of Graduate Studies guidelines available on the website.

10.2.1 Preparation of Graduate Theses

All graduate theses, whether for Master’s or Doctoral degrees, must be completed according to the formal Faculty of Graduate Studies regulations for thesis preparation and submission. Failure to do so may cause delays in completion and may even result in the cancellation of a scheduled defence or examination.

10.2.2 Thesis Originality and Editing

The thesis must represent a coherent body of original work by the student. It must display a scholarly approach and thorough knowledge of the subject.

Plagiarism in any form is unacceptable (see Academic Integrity website). Students suspected of plagiarising any materials will be subject to Senate disciplinary processes.

In some disciplines, it may be appropriate for the thesis to include published or submitted manuscripts, papers, or reports authored or co-authored by the student. Students who wish to pursue this option must have the prior consent of their supervisory committee and must obtain appropriate copyright permission.

It is expected that the student has made a substantial contribution to any such manuscripts. Where co-authored manuscript(s) are included in the thesis, the student’s contribution must be clearly indicated (see forms and documents for current students). The publication or acceptance of such manuscripts before the thesis defence in no way supersedes the examination committee’s evaluation of the work, including requesting revisions.

The thesis is the primary and permanent record of the student’s work. As such, it is important that it both be written by the student (with appropriate editorial advice as needed) and conforms to normal academic standards. Assistance in improving writing skills is available at both the Faculty and University levels (e.g., Writing Centre www.dal.ca/writingcentre).

10.2.3 Submission and Registration Deadlines

All thesis students must refer to the Academic Dates in this Calendar for submission deadlines and registration deadlines.

Students must be registered for the term in which they present their approved electronic theses to the Faculty of Graduate Studies, as well as for the term in which they have their defence. Students will not be permitted to submit their thesis or proceed to defence unless they are appropriately registered and all fees have been paid.

Deadlines for the submission of fully completed and approved theses (following examination and revision) are final in all cases. Failure to meet the deadlines will result in additional registration fees.

Students must apply to graduate through dalonline.dal.ca by the published deadlines.

For thesis students, the published deadlines for the final approved theses to be submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies office in order to be eligible to graduate in May or October are final in all cases.

It is the responsibility of the student to ensure that all regulations have been met. Failure to comply with the regulations can result in delay in graduation.

10.3 Master’s Theses

Completed theses for the Master’s degree must be submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies no later than the published deadlines (see Academic Dates).

10.3.1 Master's Examination

The mode of supervision and examination of Master’s theses varies among academic units. This diversity recognizes differences in the nature of theses within Master’s programs and differences in the culture of thesis examination within different disciplines at the Master’s level. The Faculty of Graduate Studies requires the following minimum arrangements for the examination of Master’s theses.

10.3.2 Master’s Thesis Examining Committee

Each Master's thesis shall be examined by an examining committee, following the criteria given below:

1. There shall be a Chair, usually the Graduate Coordinator or designate, who is not a participating member of the Supervisory Committee, and whose duty is to ensure that the exam is appropriate and fair and to submit a report as noted below. The Chair is not an examiner.
2. The table below summarizes these minimum requirements and the examiners statuses with the Faculty of Graduate Studies. Additional examiners, who may or may not be members of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, are permitted beyond these minima.

	Single Supervisor	Co-supervised
Chair (independent)	1 (Grad. Co-ordinator or designate with Regular FGS membership)	1 (Grad. Co-ordinator or designate with Regular FGS membership)
Minimum Examiners	1 Supervisor with Regular FGS* Membership 1 Reader with Regular FGS Membership* 1 Reader with FGS Membership*	1 Co-supervisor with Regular FGS* Membership 1 Co-supervisor with FGS Membership* 1 Reader with Regular FGS Membership* 1 Reader with FGS Membership*
Minimum Total	4	5

*See section 1 and section 9.1 for further clarification. Regular members should constitute no less than 50% of the membership of a supervisory committee.

3. Defence format: Master's theses may be examined either through oral or written defence.
   Oral Defence: In the case of an oral defence, it shall be public and the defending student must be in attendance at the examination. The standard procedure for an oral defence shall be a short presentation by the student, questions from the examining committee (one or more rounds) and in camera deliberation by the committee. The results of the exam will be communicated to the student. If time permits, questions from the audience may be allowed before the in camera session. Written Defence: Examination by written submission must provide for the candidate to be able to respond to the comments, criticisms and recommendations of the examining committee through the exchange of written commentary.
4. Outcomes: Theses are either approved or rejected. The categories are: (a) approved as submitted; (b) approved upon specific corrections with a clear timetable for completion, normally within one month; or (c) rejected. If rejected, the committee may recommend that the student be allowed to re-submit a revised thesis for re-examination.
5. Reporting: The examination Chair shall submit a written report to the Chair and Graduate Coordinator of the academic unit. In the case of failure, the Graduate Coordinator must send an additional written notification of failure to the Faculty of Graduate Studies.
6. Electronic Submission: See Electronic Submission of Final Thesis (see section 10.7).
7. The Faculty of Graduate Studies regulations on the examination of Master's theses constitute minimum requirements.

10.4 Doctoral Theses

Doctoral theses must display original scholarly work, expressed in satisfactory literary form, consistent with the discipline concerned, and be of such value as to merit publication.

10.5 Regulations for the Defence of a Doctoral Thesis

All Doctoral theses must be examined in a public oral defence, to be conducted by an examining committee, recommended by the academic unit and approved by the Faculty of Graduate Studies. A candidate shall not be permitted to proceed with the oral defence and examination until all of the following requirements have been met: (a) all required coursework completed successfully; (b) comprehensive examination passed; (c) thesis title approved; (d) examining committee established; (e) the style and format of the thesis meets the requirements of the University and appropriate copies of the thesis have been submitted as per regulations and deadlines in section 10.6.1 below. A candidate proceeds to oral defence with the approval of the supervisor and supervisory committee. In exceptional circumstances, a candidate may proceed without the consent of the supervisor and committee, but a signed declaration included on the PhD Thesis Submission Form is required by the Faculty of Graduate Studies.

10.5.1 Doctoral Defence Procedures

1. Appointment of External Examiner:
   On the Request to Arrange Oral Defence of a Doctoral Thesis form, the head of the academic unit (or graduate coordinator where appropriate) shall recommend to the Associate Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies the name of the proposed external examiner that was approved by the supervisory committee. Usually, the appointment of an external examiner occurs three months before the anticipated date of defence. The person suggested should be an acknowledged expert in the field or discipline of the research being examined in the thesis; must not have been directly involved in the student’s research in any way; must not have collaborated, been a co-applicant for external funding, or published with the student, supervisor, lab members, etc. within the last five years; should possess a Doctoral degree or equivalent; and should have demonstrated experience of Doctoral supervision to degree completion and examination. Evidence of these qualifications must be explicit in the CV submitted for the proposed external examiner. The choice of the external examiner must be approved by the Faculty of Graduate Studies. If the first choice external examiner is unacceptable to the Faculty of Graduate Studies or if that person is unavailable, the Faculty of Graduate Studies will contact the academic unit and request information for an alternate external examiner. Once an external examiner has been appointed, the graduate coordinator may then confirm the availability of the external examiner and propose dates and times for the defence. Once the date and time have been confirmed by the academic unit then the formal invitation to the external examiner is issued by the Faculty of Graduate Studies.
2. Thesis Required for External Examiner: At least six weeks prior to the scheduled defence, the candidate shall send a PDF copy of both the thesis and their current CV to the Faculty of Graduate Studies (thesis@dal.ca). The PhD Thesis Submission Form and PhD Examination Information Form with all signatures must be sent to the Faculty of Graduate Studies. The Faculty of Graduate Studies will send the thesis to the external examiner once the PhD Thesis Submission Form has been received and the date and time of the defence has been determined. The candidate shall also send the abstract from their thesis for publication in a public notice of defence (the abstract must be submitted in Word compatible format to thesis@dal.ca. If the external examiner requests a hard copy of the thesis, Faculty of Graduate Studies will send it via courier.
3. Thesis Required for Committee and Academic Unit: The candidate will provide the thesis to the examining committee (excluding the external examiner) and the graduate secretary for use by other interested faculty and students. Interdisciplinary PhD students must submit this final copy to the director of the Interdisciplinary PhD program.
4. No arrangements will be made for the oral examination until all these requirements are fulfilled. The examination will be held no earlier than four weeks after submission of the thesis, thereby allowing adequate time for the thesis to be read by the external examiner.
5. The Faculty of Graduate Studies will establish the place for the examination. Wherever possible the Coburg Board Room in the Mona Campbell building will be used.
6. The Faculty of Graduate Studies will send a copy of the thesis to the external examiner at least four weeks before the examination, with a request to submit the Examiner’s Report of the thesis no later than one week prior to the tentative defence date.
7. The external examiner will submit, a constructively critical and analytical report (the External Examiner’s Report) to the Faculty of Graduate Studies at least one week prior to the scheduled date of the defence. The Examiner’s Report must include a recommendation on whether or not the thesis should proceed to defence. Where the recommendation is not to proceed, the report should indicate what, if anything, would be required to make the thesis acceptable. Note that a decision to proceed to defence does not imply that the thesis is approved, only that it is acceptable for defence. The external examiner and the examining committee will have questions that must be answered to their satisfaction, and a thesis can be rejected as a result of the defence. The Examiner’s Report must not be disclosed to the candidate or the supervisory committee prior to the defence. If participation by the external examiner is not possible, the defence should be rescheduled.
8. If the external examiner does not recommend that the thesis proceeds to examination, the thesis is considered rejected. The candiate then has 12 months to submit a revised thesis for examination. The revised thesis may be sent to either the original external examiner or to a new external examiner, as deemed appropriate by the Faculty of Graduate Studies. A Doctoral thesis may be submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies for examination no more than twice. If the thesis is rejected a second time or the candidate fails the oral defence, they will be dismissed from their program.
9. If the external examiner recommends that the thesis proceed to defence, notice of the public defence of the thesis will be published and sent to all relevant academic units by the Faculty of Graduate Studies. All interested faculty, students, and members of the public will be welcome to attend the defence.
10. Variation of the regulations outlined above may be permitted only with the written permission of the Faculty of Graduate Studies.

PhD Examination Committee Minimum Composition:

	Single Supervisor	Co-supervised
Chair (independent)	1 (appointed by FGS)	1 (appointed by FGS)
External Examiner	1 (External to Dalhousie, appointed by FGS)	1 (External to Dalhousie, appointed by FGS)
Minimum Examiners	1 Supervisor with Regular FGS* Membership 1 Reader with Regular FGS Membership* 1 Reader with FGS Membership*	1 Co-supervisor with Regular FGS* Membership 1 Co-supervisor with FGS Membership* 1 Reader with Regular FGS Membership* 1 Reader with FGS Membership*
Departmental Representative	1 (Regular Membership)	1 (Regular Membership)
Minimum Total	6	7

*See section 1 and section 9.1 for further clarification. Regular members should constitute no less than 50% of the membership of a supervisory committee.

Voting: Neither the Chair nor the departmental representative may vote on the outcome. The thesis cannot be approved without the agreement of the external examiner. Only the external examiner and examiners who hold Faculty of Graduate Studies membership may vote. They and the departmental representative will sign the PhD Thesis Approval Form.

10.5.2 Oral Examination

The oral examination of a Doctoral thesis is the culmination of the candidate’s research program. It exposes the work to scholarly criticism and gives to the candidate the opportunity to defend the thesis in public. The roles of the committee members are as follows:

1. Chair of the Defence: The examination is chaired by a member of the panel of PhD Defence Chairs.
2. Examining Committee: The examining committee consists of the research supervisor or co-supervisors, at least two additional members, and the external examiner who shall be from outside the University. A departmental representative (the Chair of the academic unit or a designate) is included as a non-voting and non-examining member of the committee.
3. The departmental representative attends the public and in camera sessions of the defence. The role of the departmental representative is to ensure the academic unit expectations are adhered to and reports such to the defence chair.
4. Order of Examination Proceedings: a) the Chair of the defence opens the proceeding with a brief description of the protocol; b) the candidate is questioned on the thesis following a summary presentation no longer than 20 minutes; c) the Chair will give priority to questions from the external examiner and then from the other members of the examining committee in some pre-arranged order; d) the audience will then be invited to ask questions; e) the Chair adjourns the examination when the examining committee decides that further questioning is unnecessary, and the candidate and all members of the audience are required to leave the room; f) the Chair then presides over the examining committee during its deliberations in camera; g) following the in camera session, the candidate is invited back into the room and is informed of the decision of the committee; h) the Chair oversees the completion of the PhD Thesis Approval Form as appropriate and completes the Defence Report and returns it immediately to the Faculty of Graduate Studies.
5. In camera Deliberations and Grading: The decision of the examining committee is based both on the thesis and on the candidate’s ability to defend it. The thesis is graded approved or rejected. A thesis can be a) accepted by the examining committee as submitted; b) accepted on condition that specific corrections with a clear timetable for completion normally within one month are made or c) rejected. The thesis can be rejected on grounds of form as well as content. If specific corrections are required, the thesis will be returned to the candidate with a time limit for the completion of all corrections, normally no more than one month. Specific corrections will usually be left to the satisfaction of the research supervisor.
6. Proceedings in the Case of Rejection: If the thesis is rejected, the committee can recommend that the student be encouraged to re-submit a revised thesis. The revised thesis will be re-read by an examining committee, at least two of whose members were on the original committee. The thesis shall be submitted to an external examiner who may be the original external examiner if the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies considers this to be desirable. The candidate shall defend the thesis before an examining committee in the usual way. If the thesis is rejected again, there will be no third examination. Such a student will be academically dismissed without the possibility of reinstatement.
7. Variation of the procedures stipulated above may be permitted only with the written permission of the Faculty of Graduate Studies.

Anomalies or deviations from the procedures or actions detailed above will be dealt with solely by the Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies.The Dean(s) of the Faculty in which the student is enrolled cannot intercede in matters related to the defence of a thesis (Master's or PhD).  

10.6 Electronic Submission of Final Approved Theses

All theses are submitted electronically to the Dalhousie Institutional Repository (DalSpace), where they are searchable and available online to the public.

All final, approved Master’s and PhD theses, that is, after examination and approval of any required changes, are submitted directly to the Faculty of Graduate Studies as PDF/A files via DalSpace. These files are termed “electronic theses” or “E-theses”. The procedures for E-theses approval and submission can be found on the Faculty of Graduate Studies website. It is the student’s responsibility to meet Faculty of Graduate Studies formatting requirements for the thesis and to ensure that the thesis has been converted into a compatible PDF/A version. Electronic submission of the thesis must be accompanied by required forms, which are retained on file at the Faculty of Graduate Studies. These include: Thesis Approval Form; Dalhousie Thesis Licence Agreement; and Student Contribution to Manuscripts form (if applicable).

Within one week of submitting the E-thesis to the Dalhousie Institutional Repository (DalSpace), it is reviewed by the Faculty of Graduate Studies. If it is not approved as complete, it will be returned to the student for corrections. Once it is approved as complete, it is then committed to the institutional repository and harvested by Library and Archives Canada who circulates copies according to the International Inter-Library Loan Code and with full copyright protection for the author. Similarly, E-theses are also stored by DalSpace where they are searchable and available online to the public.

10.7 Thesis Embargo

When a thesis has been uploaded to DalSpace, it will normally be included in the institutional repository and the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) collection unless there is a compelling reason for withholding it. Students who wish to have their theses withheld from DalSpace and Library and Archives Canada may request an embargo for a one-year period by filling out the Application to Embargo a Thesis Form found on the Faculty of Graduat Studies website under Forms and Documents/Theses and Defences. Applications to embargo a thesis must be submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies before the student's defence.

When the submission is approved, the student and supervisor will be notified in writing of the thesis approval. This notification will include an expiration date for the embargo upon which the thesis will automatically be released. The Faculty of Graduate Studies does not send reminders regarding this date.

In certain cases, a one-year extension can be requested. Requests must be in writing to the Faculty of Graduate Studies (thesis@dal.ca) at least one month before the expiry of the initial one-year embargo. The request must include a detailed explanation of the reason for the additional one-year hold.