Graduation Stream - Thesis

The standard journey for a Master’s Student in a thesis-based program is as follows:

Please keep in mind that the information below is a summary of more detailed information that can be found in the Thesis Booklet found on the Graduate Studies website.

Advising

Every graduate student is required to have a Graduate Program Advisor.  Generally, the Advisor will be selected and appointed as soon as the student arrives to begin his/her program of study.  The Graduate Program Committee Chair is responsible to approving the appointment of a thesis Supervisor and a Supervisory faculty member from the Department.  The Supervisor or Advisor may act as Chair of the Committee. Your thesis supervisor will be directly responsible for supervising and providing guidance on all aspects of a student’s thesis by staying informed on the student progress.  The supervisor will prepare annual reports summarizing progress and research.   Supervisors will also review and evaluate student theses in draft and final form and attend all supervisory committee meetings as well as examinations.  In general, the Master’s thesis should show that the student has mastery of the field and is fully conversant with the relevant literature.

Research must be conducted in as per the University of Winnipeg regulations and guidelines. Please visit the Research Website for more information.

Thesis Examining Committee

The Thesis Examining Committee shall consist of the student’s supervisor, and at least two other examiners, one of whom must be external to the student’s graduate department or program from the University of Winnipeg.  Supervisor shall recommend a suggested Thesis Examining Committee using the Thesis Title and Examiners form [PDF].  The form shall be forwarded to the Graduate Studies Committee.  Formal invitation to participate in a Thesis Examination Committee shall be issues by the Dean of Graduate studies.

The Thesis committee shall be responsible for examining and report on the student’s thesis.  The final decision shall be based both on the content of the thesis and the candidate’s ability to defend it.

The completion of the thesis shall be give to the Supervisor by the student for final assessment, after which the thesis work shall be forwarded to the student’s Supervisory committee for preliminary comments. Once an agreement is reached by the committee that the thesis is ready to be defended, upon the request of the Chair of the Graduate Department Committee, Graduate Studies will arrange a date and time for the defense of the master’s thesis.

The defense, or oral examination, is open to all members of the university community and guest invited by the candidate.  The structure of the defense is as follows:

• An oral presentation of no more than 30 minutes of prominent point of the research.
• Two or three rounds of questions from the Thesis Examining Committee, and then audience questions.

The evaluation of the thesis will be designated on the report as one of the following:

1. Accepted with distinction (minor editorial revisions).
2. Accepted (minor, non-substantive revisions required).
3. Accepted with revisions (some major or substantive revisions required)
4. Unsatisfactory in present form (major modifications required).
5. Rejected.
   

Graduation Deadline

To be eligible for Spring Convocation, all requirements, including the oral defense and submission of the final copy of the thesis, must be completed prior to May 15 of the same year.
To be eligible for Fall Convocation, all requirements, including the oral defense and submission of the final copy of the thesis, must be completed prior to September 15 of the same year.

More information about deadlines can be found in the Thesis Booklet found on the Graduate Studies website.