The deposit requirements outlined on this page are applicable to the following research documents:
- Doctoral dissertation and Master’s thesis (all programs except M.F.A.), and Master’s creative writing project (English);
- Master’s major paper (all programs) and Master's internship paper (Political Science).
The "deposit" is the 3-step submission by the student of the final committee-approved document and required forms to the Graduate Studies office following the final oral defense.
Students are advised to plan ahead and allow at least a week to complete the three steps of the deposit outlined below. It is the student's responsibility to ensure they have initiated the deposit Step 1 within the posted deadlines on the Important Dates webpage. A student has not completed the degree requirements until ALL three steps outlined below have been completed.
Steps leading to the deposit:
Deposit Step 1 of 3 (submit for format checking) is normally initiated by the student after the final oral defense has been completed; however, documents will be accepted for format review prior to the defense, to assist students who are targeting completion for Spring/Fall convocation, end-of-term completion, or for Phase I/II tuition refund purposes. Documents must be formatted according to the posted format requirements.
It is the student's responsibility to ensure they have initiated the deposit within the posted deadlines on the Important Dates webpage.
Students must be registered in the semester in which they are completing the deposit - refer to the registration requirements for students who are defending and/or depositing.
Students should allow a minimum of 3 business days to receive format feedback after submitting their document for format checking. If students are targeting a specific submission deadline, they should ensure to initiate the format review (Step 1 of 3 of the deposit) at least a week before the intended completion of all three steps of the deposit as outlined below. Deadlines to Submit for Format-checking for graduation and tuition refund purposes (Phase I/II) are posted on the Important Dates webpage.
The format review is normally initiated after the final oral defense has been completed. To meet targeted deadlines, upon request documents may be submitted for format review prior to the defense, provided the document structure has been finalized and approved by the supervisory committee - refer to Requests for format review prior to the defense further below.
To submit for format review:
- ensure you are registered in the semester in which you are completing the deposit. Students depositing between May 4th and August 31st must be registered in Summer term 2023, as outlined in the registration requirements for students who are defending and/or depositing;
- review the format checklist and ensure your document is prepared in compliance with the format requirements;
- email your formatted thesis document as a PDF file attachment, along with the completed format checklist, to svetlana@uwindsor.ca, to be reviewed for compliance with the format requirements.
Please allow a minimum of 3 (three) business days to receive format feedback after submitting your document. Documents are reviewed in order of submission and you will be notified by email after your document has been reviewed. Format-checking submission deadlines for end-of-term completion, graduation and tuition refund purposes (Phase I/II) are posted on the Important Dates webpage.
Requests for format review prior to the defense: note that there will be only one format review, normally initiated after the defense. Upon request and in special circumstances (e.g. to meet targeted deposit deadlines such as for Spring/Fall convocation or for Phase I/II tuition refund purposes), documents may be submitted for format review prior to the final oral defense, provided the document structure has been finalized and approved by the supervisory committee and that no subsequent structural changes are expected to be made to the document. Format-checking submission deadlines for end-of-term completion, graduation, and tuition refund purposes (Phase I/II) are posted on the Important Dates webpage.
Any formatting issues must be resolved before proceeding to the next step.
Upon obtaining both format approval from Graduate Studies and final approval by your supervisory committee after the final oral defense, upload a soft copy of your final approved document in PDF format to the online submission portal. Note within the uploaded PDF document the Approval page must remain unsigned. Proceed to the next step.
Submit the following forms via email as a PDF file attachment to svetlana@uwindsor.ca:
- one copy of the signed Approval page, with signatures of all committee members. Review guidelines for obtaining electronic signatures on the Approval page.
- the "Thesis/dissertation non-exclusive license", completed and signed by the student - the license form is required for theses, dissertations, and creative writing projects but not for major papers and internship projects.
'Request for withholding' forms (if applicable) must also be submitted along with the required forms - refer to the instructions for submitting a request for withholding under "Additional Information" in the next section on this page.
The final submission (deposit) will be complete when the student has submitted ALL items outlined in the three steps above.
For information regarding graduation or obtaining an official letter to confirm degree completion, the Registrar's office have posted a number of graduation related instructions which can be found in the askUWindsor.ca graduation articles.
For additional questions regarding your thesis deposit you may refer to the post-deposit FAQs.
Note regarding hard copy binding: in addition to the online PDF submission, previously a few departments required a physical copy (for the department or for the advisor) to be submitted for binding to the Graduate Studies office - this requirement has been waived since March 2020. For binding options of thesis copies for personal use that may be available to students please refer to Binding options under "Additional Information" in the next section on this page.
The final submission (deposit) will be considered 'complete' after ALL three steps described below have been completed by the student.
Additional Information:
After a processing period (6-8 weeks), a digital copy of the deposited document will be available as open access in the University of Windsor Scholarship@UWindsor digital institutional repository as well as in ProQuest (theses and dissertations only). If a thesis, major paper, or dissertation contains material which needs to be withheld temporarily from the public or the community of scholars for a variety of valid reasons (e.g. publication pending, patent pending, etc.), the candidate and their research supervisor(s) may request a period of withholding from circulation as follows:
- six months without cause being given;
- up to 1 year with good cause, as determined by the Faculty of Graduate Studies;
- more than 1 year: requires explicit approval by the Dean of Graduate Studies - contact the Faculty of Graduate Studies if you believe you have reasons to request an initial withholding period for more than 1 year.
How to submit a request for withholding:
The request for withholding must be submitted at the time of completing the deposit with Graduate Studies as follows:
- The student downloads a "Request for Witholding a Major Paper/Thesis/Dissertation" form (available from the Students forms webpage under section "Thesis deposit forms - post-defense"), completes the form, and obtains signatures from their research advisor(s). Note if there are 2 co-advisors both must sign the form.
- When uploading the final PDF copy (as described above in Step 2 of the deposit), the student must select delayed release under access options for the same embargo period that is specified on the "Request for Withholding" form (6 months or 1 year). For theses and dissertations the delayed release option is under "Publishing option" of the online submission system; for major papers and internship papers - under "Embargo period".
- The student submits to Graduate Studies the completed and signed "Request for Withholding a Major Paper/Thesis/Dissertation" form along with the rest of the required deposit forms, as described above in Step 3 of the deposit.
Note that during the embargo period the full-text of your major paper, thesis or dissertation will not be publicly available, however, a brief record will be posted on the web including the abstract.
Hard-cover binding of thesis copies through the Graduate Studies office is no longer available (since March 2020). The following are some options available to students wishing to order bound copies for personal use:
- The University Print Shop is offering document printing, along with being the liaison for hard-cover binding of major papers, theses, and dissertations through Wallaceburg Bookbinding. Please email printshop@uwindsor.ca for assistance or review the information posted on the PrintShop website.
- Hard-cover binding via ProQuest (only available for theses and dissertations): students completing the online PDF submission of their thesis or dissertation (Step 2 of the deposit) will be offered during the submission steps to purchase (optionally) bound copies for personal use of their thesis/dissertation from ProQuest, as specified under "Instructions for uploading a thesis or dissertation" on the online submission webpage. Students who have already graduated wishing to order bound copies for personal use of their previously submitted thesis or dissertation may refer to ProQuest's options and pricing for ordering bound copies which includes discount pricing listed under "Author Prices". For questions or to place an order students should contact ProQuest directly via phone at 1-800-521-0600 or email disspub@proquest.com to request a purchase link for the discounted author pricing.
For questions regarding the deposit steps contact the Graduate Studies office.