Thesis and Dissertation Information

The research that is proposed and written as a thesis or dissertation is the thoughtful and thorough culmination of a research idea that developed throughout your graduate career. This page provides information about guidelines and resources to complete this document.

The mission of the Thesis and Publications Office is to support students, faculty, and staff throughout the thesis/dissertation process and facilitate effective scholarly communications.

Thesis and dissertation guidelines, formatting requirements, semester deadlines, and final submission information are outlined in the thesis and dissertation section of the Graduate College’s website.  It not only includes all of the information that you would need to complete your thesis or dissertation, it also provides templates for page layout and format. Also available from this site is a final semester checklist, which details everything you need to do in your final semester.

Thesis Publication Office
editor@mail.ucf.edu
(407) 823-2739

Enrolling into Thesis or Dissertation Hours

Thesis and Dissertation students must have their advisory committees selected and approved prior to enrollment into thesis (XXX6971) or dissertation (XXX7980). For doctoral students, this is in addition to passing candidacy. The required committee approval forms are found on the Graudate College’s website.

Committee requirements are outlined in the Graduate Catalog under “Policies” for the Masters and Doctoral Programs, and a listing of approved graduate faculty for your program is found in the UCF Graduate Catalog.

Especially important for thesis and dissertation completion are:

Does your research include the involvement of human subjects? (survey or otherwise). For important information regarding approval for use human subjects, please see the UCF Office of Research and Commercialization website for information regarding the Institutional Review Board.

 

ETD WORKSHOPS

Workshop Schedule
Workshops are offered in person and online.

The Thesis and Dissertation Office offering several ETD workshops every semester. These workshops are great opportunities for students to gain insight and ask questions. The above website offers information about beginning and completing your thesis or dissertation. Topics include: Available ETD campus resources, process milestones and document design, final semester processes, ETD formatting, and final submission guidelines and hints.

FORMAT REVIEW AND APPROVAL

Please refer to the Academic Calendar for deadlines.

The Thesis and Dissertation Office must grant format approval for all ETDs. Submission for an initial format review does not equate to final approval. In fact, most students require more than one format review to receive university approval.

Students who require a follow-up format review should re-submit drafts to the Thesis and Dissertation Office at least a week in advance of the final submission deadline to allow time for review and required changes. Drafts re-submitted for format approval in the last week before the final submission deadline may not be reviewed in time for spring graduation.

ITHENTICATE.COM

In the academic calendar, you will find a suggested deadline by which you need to have your iThenticate.com review completed. While it is suggested fairly early in the semester, ideally you will want to have this review conducted when your document is most complete so the feedback will be the most useful.

Your thesis advisor is responsible for reviewing your document through iThenticate.com. You may have to upload it to the website, or your advisor may ask for it electronically so s/he can upload it. Your advisor receives training through the Office of Research and Commercialization to gain access to iThenticate.com. If your advisor has any concerns about iThenticate.com, there are resources available at the Office of Research and Commercialization for him/her.

No results of the review are reported to the Graduate College; however, what is revealed should be reviewed by you, your advisor, and your committee. When your advisor and committee sign off on you final thesis/dissertation approval form, they are also indicating that they have conducted this review.

iThenticate Q&A:

How does iThenticate work?

  • The review is an automated process that allows the uploading of documents (including among others, proposals, manuscripts, thesis, journals, etc.), and screens them against millions of published documents available through the Internet and multiple web-based databases. The results will reveal any text matches to be reviewed by your advisor for proper citation.

I’m concerned that my document becomes “property” of iThenticate, and if I try to submit it for publication it’s already considered “published”?

  • That is not the case, and here is why:
    iThenticate does not add your manuscript to ANY databases. Unlike many free plagiarism checker services, iThenticate does not store, share or resell uploaded files.

When my master’s thesis is developed into a dissertation, iThenticate flags the majority of the dissertation as “copied” material. Will I risk action for plagiarism?

  • Students should know that the faculty doing the dissertation review will be able to see that the previous/duplicate work was a part of the student’s thesis. The same information is available when a student submits a draft version of their document that is followed by a final version.

Any Questions?

  • For information about iThenticate at UCF, please see iThenticate on the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) website, Office of Research and Commercialization. For iThenticate’s login (set-up) actions and/or system-related questions, thesis and dissertation chairs should contact RCR at rcr-ucf@ucf.edu. The UCF Thesis and Dissertation editor and Patricia MacKown of the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities are also available to answer questions.

DEFENSE

Don’t know what to expect at your thesis or dissertation defense? Your best resource to find out what to expect at a defense is your thesis or dissertation advisor. They can tell you how to prepare, what you should bring, what any norms or protocol are with respect to defenses, and answer any other questions you may have.

Did you know that you can also attend one of your classmate’s defense? As stated in the defense announcement, these are open to the public. This is a great opportunity to also find out exactly what happens in a defense.

Defense Announcements

Please refer to the Academic Calendar for defense deadlines. The template for the defense announcement (Appendix E) is found in the Thesis/Dissertation Manual.

All thesis and dissertation defenses should be announced at least a week in advance of the defense. Contact your program’s graduate director or graduate program assistant for information about having your announcement made public.

Signature Page

You should take a copy of your final signature page to the defense. The Thesis and Dissertation Approval Form is availble electronically from the Thesis and Dissertation Services site. After you successfully defend, your committee, your department’s chair, and the college dean will sign this form.

FINAL STEPS

Dean’s Signature

To obtain the dean’s signature, please bring your signature page to CSB 201 (the College of Sciences Dean’s Office). At this time, your approved committee will be verified – so if you make changes to your committee, be certain to officially file these changes with the COS Graduate Office.

If the dean is available, he will want to meet with you to sign your approval page.

If the dean is not immediately available for a signature, please leave your approval page with a staff person at the front office. You must also provide contact information so that you can be called to pick up your signed form. Given the importance of this document and the time constraints generally associated with this process, WE CANNOT DELIVER YOUR SIGNATURE PAGE TO GRADUATE STUDIES.

Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies’ Signature

Once all departmental and college signatures have been obtained, the signature page can either be hand delivered to the Graduate College or scanned and e-mailed to the thesis editor (editor@mail.ucf.edu) for final approval by the Dean and Vice Provost of the College of Graduate Studies. You should only submit one final signature page for approval. This is the final location of the signature page (it will not be returned to you).

Final Upload

If your format review received final approval, the editor will send you an e-mail with final upload instructions. This must be done by the posted deadline. If your format review indicated that updates and another submission are needed, make certain that you resolve any issues well in advance of the final upload deadline.

Non-Thesis Option

Master’s programs that do not offer the thesis as a culminating experience will have some other final requirement that must be completed in order for the degree to be awarded. This will vary by program, and may include comprehensive exams, a research report and presentation, a capstone course, the production of publishable research, etc. If you are in a non-thesis program, please be certain to discuss with your program’s director the specific expectations and requirements to which you are held for completing the program.