Tag: Theses and Dissertations

How to review a dissertation, thesis, or report

Beginning in fall 2021, faculty advisors will be asked to review and approve dissertations, theses, and reports in Digital Commons. This will replace the Approval form, and will allow faculty to see the work their student has submitted and be notified when it is published. This process is similar to reviewing a journal article.

When your student submits their work to Digital Commons, the Graduate School will assign the work to the primary advisor to review. This is a manual process that will generally be completed on business days from 8am-5pm. You will receive an email requesting you review the submission – click on the link in your email. The email will be from “Michigan Tech Graduate Publications” and “@dcmtu.bepress.com”.

Nominations open for the 2021 CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award

Nominations are now open for the 2021 Council of Graduate Schools (CGS)/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award. Please submit nominations to the Graduate School no later than 4pm, June 16, 2021, following our online instructions. This year, nominations are being accepted from dissertations in the fields of:

  1. Biological and Life Sciences
  2. Humanities and Fine Arts

Michigan Tech may nominate one student in each field. PhD students who have completed all of their degree requirements between July 1, 2019, and June 30, 2021, are eligible. The fields of competition for 2022 will be Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering; and Social Sciences.

Nominations must be delivered to Debra Charlesworth in the Graduate School no later than 4 p.m. on June 16, 2021; e-mail nominations to gradschool@mtu.edu are preferred.  Contact Debra Charlesworth (gradschool@mtu.edu) if you have any questions about the competition.

Submission and Formatting 101 for Summer 2021

Students who are completing a dissertation, thesis, or report are invited to join the Graduate School to learn about the resources available to them to assist in scheduling their defense, formatting their documents, and submitting their documents.  In one afternoon, you can learn everything you need to be successful and complete your degree in a timely fashion!  Faculty and staff who assist students with submissions are also welcome to attend.  Attend the entire event, or stop in for the seminar that interests you.

  • When: Wednesday, May 19, 2021, 2 – 4pm (see detailed schedule below)
  • Who: Students completing a dissertation, thesis or report; faculty and staff who assist students with submission
  • Where: Zoom webinar; (register to attend online and receive participation instructions)

If you are unable to join us, the event will be taped and available online after the event. The previous semester’s seminars are always available online.

Information on submitting, formatting, and more can be found online for dissertations and theses or reports.

Detailed schedule

  • 2 – 3pm – Submission 101 Learn what is required to submit your document to the Graduate School and the deadlines for the upcoming semester.  Best for students who are completing their degree this semester or next semester.
  • 3 – 4pm – Formatting 101-103: Word, Acrobat and Copyright
    • Learn how to find what you need in the Guide and use a Word template to create a perfectly formatted document the first time. 
    • Learn how to use Adobe Acrobat to check your document to ensure it meets our formatting requirements and correct it without recreating the PDF.
    • Learn how to use copyrighted materials in your document, including papers you have published as well as materials created by someone else.
  • 4pm – ?: Final questions Have a question that hasn’t been answered yet? We’ll be available to answer any additional questions you have.

Degree completion timeline on MyMichiganTech

Graduate students can now see a personalized list of items they need to complete for each graduate degree on MyMichiganTech. A full description of items needed to complete each degree along with details about when, how, and why to complete them is found on the Graduate School’s web site.

Students can access their personalized list by:

  1. Logging into MyMichiganTech using their Michigan Tech ID and password
    • For example, if your email is blizzard@mtu.edu, you would log in with “blizzard” as your ID along with the same password used to check email
  2. Clicking on the “Current Students” link in the menu bar across the top of the page
    • The “Student Checklist” box in the left column will show items that are due now or recently completed
    • More help on accessing MyMichiganTech is found in our previous tutorial

For detailed information about the degrees you are seeking, look for the “Degree Completion Timeline” section in the center “My Status” column:

Screen shot of the Current Students section of MyMichiganTech that links to the Degree Completion Timeline.
The Degree completion timeline section in the My Status area.
  • The question mark icon will display a pop-up window with helpful information and links
  • If links to any of the forms aren’t working, the helpful link will direct you to technical information
  • Click on the “your degree completion timeline” link to display a new window described in the screenshots below
  • The “timeline details” link will take you to more information on the Graduate School’s web site

Check if your Dissertation, Thesis or Report is Complete

Students can check whether their dissertation, thesis, or report submission is complete on MyMichiganTech.  Additional details about the submission process can be found online for dissertations, theses, and reports.

First, log into MyMichiganTech using your Michigan Tech ID and password and click on the “Current Students” tab.

  • For example, if your email is blizzard@mtu.edu, you would log in with “blizzard” as your ID along with the same password used to check email
  • More help on accessing MyMichiganTech is found in our previous tutorial

In the center column, labeled “My Status,” find the Degree Completion Timeline section.  Click on the hyperlink “your degree completion timeline” – boxed in red below.

Screen shot of the Current Student tab on MyMichiganTech showing where you can find the Degree Completion Timeline.
Click on “your degree completion timeline” to see items required for each degree you are seeking.

Defense scheduling moved to MyMichiganTech

The Graduate School is pleased to announce that final oral examinations (“defenses”) can now be scheduled on MyMichiganTech. This applies to students scheduling a defense of their dissertation, thesis, or report.  

Students will log into MyMichiganTech to complete a scheduling request, and their advisor will log into the Workflow system to review that request and make a decision. Email notifications will be sent throughout the process. A student tutorial and advisor tutorial with screenshots is available on our blog, as well as a presentation in our seminar archive. A complete overview of the process to complete a dissertation, thesis, or report is available online.

A few things to note:

  • Students who have already completed their defense or have a defense already scheduled with the Graduate School do not need to repeat this process on MyMichiganTech.
  • Faculty will need to log into the Workflow system to approve defenses. Please refer to our advisor tutorial.
  • The Graduate School will continue to accept PDF forms this semester if a student has already started that process with their advisor.
  • Please delete any PDF forms that have been saved to use later. Always go to our website for the most current information and forms.
  • This process applies to the final oral examination, and not to other examinations such as a qualifying examination or research proposal examination. 
  • Graduate programs should remove references and links to the “pre-defense form” from their website and handbooks, as this process replaces the form.

The Graduate School would like to thank our colleagues in EAS for their hard work on this project. For any questions, please contact the Graduate School.

Dissertation, Report, and Thesis Updates for Spring 2021

Graduate faculty, graduate students, and graduate program assistants are invited to attend a seminar that will present updates to the process to schedule a final oral examination (“defense”) effective spring 2021:

Beginning in mid-March, the process to schedule a defense will move online to MyMichiganTech. At the seminar, we will describe the process and be available to answer any questions you have. 

For those who cannot attend, a recording will be available on our seminar archive and a student tutorial and advisor tutorial with screenshots is available now on our blog. Please contact the Graduate School (gradschool@mtu.edu) with any questions.

Reviewing a scheduling request for a final oral examination

Effective spring 2021, students will schedule their final oral examination (“defense”) by submitting information about their dissertation, thesis, or report and defense to MyMichiganTech.

When a defense request is submitted by the student, the committee will be notified of the details and the advisor will also be notified to review the request in Workflow. If the advisor is missing the appropriate roles to review the workflow, the Graduate School will be notified immediately and will initiate updating the faculty record. Banner access for advisors is described on our web page. Please contact the Graduate School if there are any technical issues.

The advisor will log into Banner Workflow and select the scheduling request to review from their worklist. It is expected that faculty will review these requests within two business days.

Advisors will review the information provided by the student.

A portion of the form to show the scheduling information submitted by the student for the defense.

After reviewing the information, select “Approve” or “Reject” at the bottom of the page.

At the bottom of the scheduling request, select “Approve” or “Reject”

Return to the top of the form and select “Complete” to save the approval decision.

At the top of the form, select “Complete” to save the approval decision.

The committee, advisor, and student will be notified of the advisor’s decision. If the decision is to approve the defense scheduling, the graduate program director and assistant will also be notified. Committee members who are not Michigan Tech employees may not be notified; please confirm details with them individually.

If the committee does not receive the dissertation, thesis, or report with sufficient time for review prior to the defense, the advisor may request that the defense be rescheduled. Please contact the Graduate School to reschedule the defense.

Scheduling a final oral examination

A final oral examination (“defense”) is a milestone for students completing a dissertation, thesis, or report. To schedule a defense, students must log into MyMichiganTech and navigate to the Current Students tab.

In the “Dissertation, Thesis, or Report” area in the center column, students will see a link to schedule their final oral examination. If this section is blank, please contact the Graduate School for assistance.

A link to schedule a final oral examination is on the Dissertation, Thesis, or Report status area.

Please review the information at the top of the form. If there are any errors, please contact the Graduate School for assistance. Screenshots are very helpful.

Please complete the form with the following information:

  • The title of the dissertation, thesis, or report (55 characters per line; 4 lines maximum)
  • The date of the defense (must be at least two weeks into the future)
  • Start time of the defense
  • Building (select “Virtual defense – online only” if there isn’t a physical location)
  • Room (only required if there is a physical location)
  • URL for virtual attendance – 60 character limit – be sure your entire URL is visible
    • Required for virtual defenses, optional for physical defenses
    • Passwords are not allowed as defenses must be public
    • Waiting rooms are recommended (Zoom waiting room support)

Click “Submit” when you have completed entering the information. A confirmation page will appear.

Confirmation page once a final oral examination scheduling request has been submitted.

The student, committee, and advisor will receive a confirmation email with the information provided by the student. The student should ensure that the required items listed in the email have been completed. Committee members who are not Michigan Tech employees may not be notified; please confirm details with them individually.

The advisor will receive an email from the Graduate School and can approve or reject the request online. All committee members with a Michigan Tech email address and the student will be notified of the decision. Committee members who are not Michigan Tech employees may not be notified; please confirm details with them individually. If the defense request is approved, the graduate program director and assistant will also be notified.

Submission and Formatting 101: Master the Dissertation, Thesis, and Report Process

Students who are completing a dissertation, thesis, or report are invited to join the Graduate School to learn about the resources available to them to assist in scheduling their defense, formatting their documents, and submitting their documents.  In one afternoon, you can learn everything you need to be successful and complete your degree in a timely fashion!  Faculty and staff who assist students with submissions are also welcome to attend.  Attend the entire event, or stop in for the seminar that interests you.

  • When: Wednesday, September 9, 2020, 2 – 4pm (see detailed schedule below)
  • Who: Students completing a dissertation, thesis or report; faculty and staff who assist students with submission
  • Where: Zoom webinar; (register to attend online and receive participation instructions)

If you are unable to join us, the event will be taped and available online after the event. The previous semester’s seminars are always available online.

Information on submitting, formatting, and more can be found online for dissertations and theses or reports.

Detailed schedule

  • 2 – 3pm – Submission 101
    Learn what is required to submit your document to the Graduate School and the deadlines for the upcoming semester.  Best for students who are completing their degree this semester or next semester.
  • 3 – 4pm – Formatting 101-103: Word, Acrobat and Copyright
    • Learn how to find what you need in the Guide and use a Word template to create a perfectly formatted document the first time. 
    • Learn how to use Adobe Acrobat to check your document to ensure it meets our formatting requirements and correct it without recreating the PDF.
    • Learn how to use copyrighted materials in your document, including papers you have published as well as materials created by someone else.
  • 4pm – ?: Final questions
    Have a question that hasn’t been answered yet? We’ll be available to answer any additional questions you have.