Requirements, Specifications, and Recommendations

1. Specifications

• Both pages must be page ii
• Both pages must be single-sided
• As with other pages in a thesis, signatures and text cannot go over the margins, so please be sure text and signatures do not go over the right-hand side of the lines.

2. Requirements

• For the Library, the student requires 1 signed and 1 unsigned Approval Page (AP).
• The signed and unsigned APs should be the same (i.e., have the same information on them) with the following exceptions.
  ♦ Signed page. All committee signatures are required (at least one in blue ink please) OR see "Majority of Signatures Required" below.
  ♦ Unsigned page. All signature lines are blank and the date defended/approved is typed on the line (i.e., always the defence date or, if no defence, the date approved).
• Complete the Approval page in your Word document--see your graduate assistant for the correct committee information
  (professor's name, committee member designation, position in department)
  
• Be sure to add the Date Defended/Approved (as in 2 above) so it is included in the PDF as well.

3. We recommend having committee signatures on (at least) 6 Approval Pages—that is:

• 1 for the Library's ARCH copy of the thesis (must be an original), This gets bound and put in the Library's Archives for safe-keeping in case something happens to the cirulation copy.
• 2 copies (for the Senior Supervisor's and Department's) bound copies of the thesis and 
• 1 (or more) for the student's bound copies of the thesis
• 2 for the Department (1 for student's file and 1 accompanies Recommendation for Award of Degree to DGS' office--some departments use copies for these)
   

Content and Details

• Titles may be italicized as one would cite a book title within the text—please no quotations marks around the title or period at the end of the title. If there is a need for quotation marks within a title, this is ok. (The general rules is that quotation marks are reserved for quoting others.  Within the text, quotations marks are also used when referring to an article, a chapter title, or a section of the current document.  Periods end sentences.)
   
• Degree should fit on 1 line and read as below. Note. The Discipline is optional.
  Master of Arts (Discipline)
  Master of Science (Discipline)
  Master of Public Policy
  Master of Resource Management
  Master of Urban Studies
  Doctor of Education
  Doctop of Philosophy (Discipline)
  etc.--NB. Re abbreviating degrees: The only time degrees are abbreviated on a thesis or its related forms/documents is In the case of the student's previous degree (on the Title Page, B.A., M.A., B.Sc., M.Sc., etc.)--"Masters" and  "Doctorate" are unacceptable.
   
• There can be either:
  1. an Examining Committee (chair plus 2 to 6 members) or
  2. a Supervisory Committee (2 members and chair)
   
• Committee Members (for masters and doctoral degrees) must include:
  1. name,
  2. committee membership (as per bullets below),
  3. position in the university (Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor; University Professor, Professor Emeritus, Professor Emerita, Adjunct Professor, Senior Lecturer),
  4. Department or School appears only when member is from a department other than the one from which the degree is being awarded.
  Note. It is a given when committee members are from SFU--so only mention the institution when the member is from outside SFU
  
  ♦ In department--there is always a Chair which appears on the form differently than the committee members
  (give name, position in department, but no signature line)
  ♦ In department--there is always a Senior Supervisor (give name, membership, position in department)
  ♦ In department--there may be a Co-Supervisor (give name, membership, position in department)
  ♦ In department--the remaining members are Supervisors (give name, membership, position in department) 
  ♦ In department--there may be an Internal (give name, membership, position in department)
  ♦ There may be an Internal/External Examiner (give name, membership, position in department, department--only if another department)
  ♦ There may be an External Examiner (give name, position, department, institution)
  NB. There is not a "Committee Member" or "Member" designation.
  The only times departments are listed is when the member is not in your department.
   
• Date Defended / Approved:
  Always use only the defence date, unless there isn't a defence.  In these cases, use the approved date.
   
• Page number must be ii and page span 1 page.
   
• See sample pages at bottom of this webpage.

Signatures Required

1. Majority of Signatures

• greater than 50% signatures see table below and
• a statement on the line of the missing signature(s)--see 2 and below
   

 
The Dean of Graduate Studies Office requests that:

Senior Supervisors and other SFU members of the examining committee should be present. All signatures should also be attained. Assuming a defence is to take place in the next 4 to 6 weeks, obtaining a committee member’s signature by sending the pages for signing and returning in advance of the defence should not be a problem. However there are times when a member is unable to physically attend. (G. Agnes, personal communication, March 2011)

For example, when out-of-the-country on sabbatical (see below).
 

2. If for some unavoidable reason you cannot get a committee member's signature:

Type or print athe appropriate statement (see below for wording) on the absent committee member's signature line and, on the same line to the right of this, the appropriate initials or signature as noted below.

 1. In the case of a Senior Supervisor's absence always an authorized signature is required. 
    The format is as follows--all must fit on the line.

• by video conference (location) [signature of one of following: preferrably defence chair, then department chair, graduate program chair, or Dean of Graduate Studies]

 2. Other Committee Members.
     The format for these follows (in black) and all must fit on the line.

• by teleconference (location) [initials of defence chair or senior]
  (if not the defence chair or senior, the department chair, graduate program chair, or Dean of Graduate Studies).
• by video conference (location) [initials of defence chair or senior]
  (do not use a brand-name, such as Skype)
  (if not the defence chair or senior, the department chair, graduate program chair, or Dean of Graduate Studies).
• by written/email consultation (location) [initials of defence chair or senior].
  (if not the defence chair or senior, the department chair, graduate program chair, or Dean of Graduate Studies).
• on study leave, by teleconference (location) [initials of defence chair]
  (if not the defence chair, the department chair, graduate program chair, or Dean of Graduate Studies).
• on sabbatical, by teleconference (location) [initials of defence chair]
  (if not the defence chair, the department chair, graduate program chair, or Dean of Graduate Studies).

We highly recommend keeping an email from the absent member(s) in the student's department file giving revision requirements or approval.

3. Errors on an already signed Approval Page

• 1. Send via email a 1-page PDF of the Approval Page (AP) to the person who is out-of-town:
  (a) ask for a confirmation that they received the email, (b) explain the situation; (c) request he/she print the attached AP, sign, and send it back to the Department via courier--asap
  2. When the new AP with absentee committee member's signature arrives, obtain Lower Mainland and SFU signatures. 
  3. Please also inform theses@sfu.ca with a (guestimated) date of arrival at the Thesis Office. 

• If after 3 weeks the absent committee member has not confirmed receipt of the email, "attended in person" may be printed (preferrable typed) on the signature line and, to the right of these words, an authorized signature (i.e., the department chair, graduate program chair, or Dean of Graduate Studies)--which must not go past the end of the line. 

Sample Approval Pages 

Note. If you defended, your committee is referred to as an Examining Committee (chair plus 2 to 6 members);
no defence is a Supervisory Committee (2 members and chair)