After you have submitted your thesis to the Library

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Requirements for graduation as they pertain to thesis submission

Your requirements for graduation (as they pertain to thesis submission) have been fulfilled once you have completed the following within the Thesis Registration System:

  • registered information online about your thesis
  • uploaded a PDF copy of your thesis
  • uploaded supplemental files, if applicable
  • uploaded scanned PDFs of the required forms
  • selected the checkbox that states, "I have completed ALL requirements listed above and am ready to submit my thesis to the Library for review".

After your thesis is submitted online in the Thesis Registration System, it is examined in two stages: the intake stage and the audit/approval stage. Any corrections that may be required will not delay your graduation.

Graduate program assistants and Graduate Studies are notified of thesis submissions.

Intake stage

It may take several weeks for your thesis to move through the intake stage. If problems are found with your thesis or accompanying forms at the intake stage, you will receive an "Alert" email detailing the problems and asking you to make the necessary changes within a reasonable time. 

Once you have made the changes, upload a new copy of the PDF version of your thesis to the Thesis Registration System and notify the Assistant for Theses that the changes have been completed.

While you must complete the requested changes, having to make changes to your thesis does not affect when you graduate.

Audit/approval stage

It may take several additional weeks for your thesis to move through this stage.

If problems are found with your thesis or accompanying forms at the audit stage, you will receive an email detailing the problems and asking you to make the necessary changes within a reasonable time.  

Once the changes have been made, you will need to upload a new copy of the PDF version of your thesis to the Thesis Registration System and notify the Assistant for Theses that the changes have been completed.

While you must complete the requested changes, having to make changes to your thesis does not affect when you graduate.

Once a thesis is audited, a record is added to the Library's catalogue and the thesis is deposited into SFU's Research Repository, Summit unless a postponement of publication was approved by Graduate Studies.

Upon completion of this stage, you will receive an email from the Assistant for Theses.

I found an error in my thesis.  Can I correct it?

The only changes you can make to your thesis are the ones that have been specified by the Assistant for Theses.

Changes not requested by the Assistant for Theses cannot be made to your thesis after your supervisor "signs-off" on your thesis or after you have submitted your thesis to the library. 

However, if you find a significant error that you feel must be changed, ask your supervisor to email the Associate Dean, Students, Graduate Studies requesting authorization to make the changes. The email must provide the following. 

  • specific details of the required changes
  • the justification for such changes
  • the page numbers that are affected.

If the change is approved, the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies will inform the Assistant for Theses that the changes can be made.

Obtaining a credential completion letter

A credential completion letter is a letter confirming the successful completion of all academic requirements for your program. Information on how to obtain your credential completion letter can be found here.

Early completion/submission tuition fee refund

You may qualify for early completion/submission tuition fee refund if you submit your thesis to the Library by the early submission deadline date.

Thesis binding

The SFU Library is no longer involved in thesis printing and binding.  For those who wish to print and bind a thesis, please do so only after receiving confirmation from the Library that the audit stage of processing has been completed. You will receive an email from the Assistant for Theses once this has happened.
 
Bound copies of a thesis can be purchased from printing and copying stores. Some departments print and bind theses on behalf of students.  Please contact your department to determine if this is the case.

One printing/binding solution available at SFU is Document Solutions.  For other recommendations, please consult your department.

Deposit your research data

It is a good practice to preserve your data with a trusted repository and to include any relevant documentation or code books with your datasets. Appropriate organization of your data includes such documentation, as well as consideration of file formats.

When you upload your thesis and indicate that you have supplementary research data files, consider contacting the Data Services team at data-services@sfu.ca to discuss managing your research data, including sharing and preserving these files appropriately through our institutional repository. Using this repository is entirely voluntary. You retain full ownership of your datasets even when you deposit your files with us.

Note that the SFU Library is not able to accept sensitive or non-anonymized data for deposit.

How can I direct others to find my thesis at the library?

See Finding SFU Theses and Projects.