As you are preparing your thesis for deposit, there are a number of bigger tasks that you will want to plan for and explore. We’ll walk you through some of these things to consider here.
We also encourage you to visit our Deposit Checklist, which includes several quick and easy tasks that you’ll need to complete.
Plan a Deposit Timeline
There are a number of steps that you will need to consider before you can submit your thesis to the Graduate College. For each graduation period, there is a deadline by which the thesis deposit with the Graduate College Thesis Office must be completed.
During non-peak deposit periods, it typically takes 3-5 business days to review your dissertation. If you need to deposit by a certain day, please plan to submit your thesis to the Thesis Office at least two weeks prior to date that you would like to deposit and reach out to us at thesis@illinois.edu to discuss your plans.
For each graduation period, there is a deadline by which the thesis deposit with the Graduate College Thesis Office must be completed. All corrections and all required deposit materials must be received by the Graduate College Thesis Office no later than 5:00 p.m. on the day of the deadline.
The Thesis Office strongly recommends that students submit the departmentally approved thesis to the Graduate College at least one week prior to the deposit deadline. During the deposit period, it normally takes the Thesis Office 1-2 business days to review your thesis. Please note that during the week of the dissertation deposit deadline, we will prioritize reviewing doctoral dissertations.
Fellowship and Assistantship Appointments
Students with assistantship appointments (RA, TA, GA, PPGA) are eligible to hold their assistantships through the end of the semester in which they deposit as long as the end date of the assistantship appointment, when offered and accepted, is later than the thesis deposit date (see Graduate College Handbook, page 59).
For students who hold fellowship appointments, the fellowship will likely end when the deposit is complete. Please reach out to the Graduate College at grad@illinois.edu for questions regarding your fellowship end date.
Students who plan to resign their assistantship appointment early can maintain their tuition and fee waivers by resigning from their assistantship and completing all degree requirements within seven calendar days of the resignation. Questions about this policy should be directed to grad@illinois.edu.
Defend Your Thesis
Master's Students
For the master's thesis, the Graduate College does not require a defense. Master's students should check with their departments to find out what the program requirements are for a master's defense and committee.
Doctoral Students
Doctoral students should submit their committee appointment request through the Graduate College Student Portal at least 3 weeks before the scheduled date of the final examination (defense) to initiate the process of committee appointment. All doctoral examination committees must be appointed by the dean of the Graduate College. Each committee must meet the minimum requirements for doctoral committees established by the Graduate College. Departments may have additional requirements.
Doctoral students are required to be registered during the entire term in which the final examination is held. Further information about this registration requirement may be found in the Graduate College Handbook.
For each graduation period, there is a final examination deadline by which the doctoral defense must be held.
Review Thesis Release Options
The Release Options page details the options for making your thesis available. Review these options carefully early to allow time to make your decision, consider the visibility of your research and impact of disseminating your work, and consult with your adviser or research best practices in your discipline.
Obtain Departmental Approval
Your thesis will receive multiple approvals from individuals in your department before it can be submitted to the Graduate College. Your adviser/committee will sign off on the content of your document. The Executive Officer or Director of Graduate Studies will also review the document on behalf of the department. Your department may require that the format of your thesis be reviewed. Reach out to your department’s office early to understand this process.
When the department has completed its review of your thesis, department staff will notify you and submit your Thesis/Dissertation Approval (TDA) form. The Thesis Office will not review your thesis until the TDA form has been received.