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Thesis Digitization on Demand

• Digitization on demand The Library's Resource Sharing department can assist you in accessing University of Waterloo theses that were submitted only in print, and do not circulate outside of the library

Explore theses from the University of Waterloo

UWSpace is the University of Waterloo's institutional repository for the research and scholarship produced by its faculty, students, and staff. UWSpace contains all theses and dissertations published from October 2006 on, and a subset from 1996 through 2006, when electronic submission was optional. Older theses can be accessed by searching the  library catalogue  by title or author last name. 

• Biology collection, UWSpace Browse theses and dissertations from the Biology collection

Theses and dissertations

• Dissertations and Theses Global Full text of many North American, European, United Kingdom and Ireland graduate students theses and dissertations. Coverage: Indexing 1637-, Full Text 1997-
• Theses Canada Portal Access Canadian electronic and non-digital theses and dissertations. Coverage: index 1965 - present; full text 1998 - present more... less... Theses Canada is a program between Library and Archives Canada (LAC) and nearly 70 universities accredited by Universities Canada. For the full text of recent theses, also check Proquest's "Dissertations and Theses Global." Note: Access Theses Canada Portal is available free to the public How to search Consult the Theses Canada Portal help page for information on searching this site.
• UWSpace UWSpace is the University of Waterloo's institutional repository for the research and scholarship produced by its faculty, students, and staff. Coverage: mid 1990s - present more... less... Contains the research outputs of faculty and staff, dissertations, and undergraduate theses of 4th year honours students. This collection also includes a subset of Waterloo theses dated 1998-2002 that were scanned through the Theses Canada program.

Preparing for your thesis

• Preparing for your PhD thesis defence Planning strategies, timelines and defence tips from Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs at the University of Waterloo.

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• Last Updated: Sep 9, 2024 4:56 PM
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.css-1lrpez4{margin-top:unset;}.css-1lrpez4:hover > span,.css-1lrpez4:focus-within > span{opacity:1;-webkit-transform:none;-ms-transform:none;transform:none;-webkit-transform-duration:0.1s;-ms-transform-duration:0.1s;transform-duration:0.1s;} PhD Defense Guide .css-14vda7h{font-size:15px;margin-inline-start:0.5rem;opacity:0;position:absolute;-webkit-transform:translateX(-4px);-ms-transform:translateX(-4px);transform:translateX(-4px);-webkit-transition:opacity 0.2s ease-out 0s,-webkit-transform 0.2s ease-out 0s;-webkit-transition:opacity 0.2s ease-out 0s,transform 0.2s ease-out 0s;transition:opacity 0.2s ease-out 0s,transform 0.2s ease-out 0s;}

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WebEx virtual rooms can facilitate the thesis defense, including its participants and their roles: Chair, candidate, and committee members. This concept is not new, it has been used for hybrid defenses, with some participants online and others in person, so we have lessons to draw on.

WebEx platform is a good platform to use for this type event, the Meeting rooms are easy to create, and share and invite uWaterloo as well as external people.

Preparations

Perhaps most important is effective communication between stakeholders.

• The local coordinator (Faculty or department) is key to communications.
• the supervisor
• committee members
• external examiner
• IT support (UW and at any remote sites where the external examiner resides)
• Date, actual time of event, supervisor’s name, students name, external examiner’s name, IT support personnel’s name

Next is to iron out the technical detail. Some of the suggestions apply even if you are not using the WebEX platform, but anything above this line is very important in order to keep on track.

Let us look at what the scenario is and how WebEx fits in.

The group of people are all online somewhere in the world, and while in attendance want to hold conversations in public or in private among themselves, to have Q&A, and see the presentation by student.

WebEx platform has:

            Meetings is for holding meetings

            Events is for offering webinars

            Training is for having live classrooms

The best module for defense and examination sessions is WebEx Meetings. The following functions of WebEx Meeting room will serve a graduate exam well

• It provides two way audio and video, participants can mute or unmute their camera and mic
• The student can present their slides or documents

Note, given the nature of this event being online, some limitations exits and should be given some thought. I.e. annotation is not as natural(i.e maybe slides presentation should be such to minimize the need for annotation.  Or, sharing animation and videos may not be as smooth for viewers

• WebEx has this nice function called Move to lobby and Admit . This is very useful for when the committee asks the candidate to leave the room so they can hold a private discussion, and then have the candidate re-enter by using Admit
• You can pass the presenter and host role as needed, and assign privileges as needed
• You can invite someone on add a new participant, or someone who is late for the meeting
• You can transfer files. (Not the recommended way to share anything significantly important during the session)
• You can add polls, share multimedia(this is the best way to share online videos)

Next step - Testing  

An early test will prove invaluable in this process. Test what you think you are going to do on the day of event, and make a note what you did. On the day of event just execute what you tested.

Things to test and consider :

• Audio, video, presentation, and knowing the interface of WebEx.
• Bandwidth, test your audio when you are sharing a document, do an audio number count. I.e. each person counts 1 to 20
• During the test and the events day, ask others in household not use your shared internet connection for watching videos or playing network games.
• Make sure everyone knows what their role is and what they should do on the day of event. i.e. Is someone managing the session? Is that the host of Webex, or the supervisor, etc.
• Determine everyone’s role. I.e. who is the WebEx host, and who manages the session. Will there an IT person present during the session
• Make sure during this call you run only necessary applications to maximize performance of your computer. Make sure other people in the household are not using bandwidth heavy applications such as Netflix or online games.

Going over these steps and checking each one set you up with a code of practice that you should make note of and make sure everyone understands and notes.

On The day of event

The person with WebEx Host access right should start the advertised session at least 15-20min earlier, and as participants enter they should do a quick test as above to make sure everything is still in place according to the code of practice you established on the testing day.

The chair person starts the introduction according scheduled o fevent and directs the choreography and procedure of the event.

• It is your choice if want to use video or just use audio during the defense session. If your bandwidth is showing some weakness, maybe turn off your videos.
• A good practice is after introduction everyone mutes their microphones except the speaker.

Related articles

• Page: When to choose OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, or SharePoint Online
• Page: Tool comparison for remote meetings and conference calls
• Page: WebEx Teams guide
• Page: How to view recordings with transcriptions
• Page: How to post recording links in LEARN

Contact the IST Service Desk at  [email protected]  or 519-888-4567 ext. 44357.

Degree completion

Master's Degree Completion

Master's students who are close to completion can consult the  Math Completion Guide .

Completion paperwork should be be submitted to the CS Graduate Office in DC 2599. A request for public announcement of the thesis/research paper presentation and a room booking can be directed by completing the MMath Thesis Presentation web form. 

PhD Degree Completion

Information regarding selection and approval of the external examiner and defense committee, and arranging the thesis display and defense can be found below.

Please note the following deadlines:

• If you finish by April 30 you will attend convocation in June
• If you finish by August 31 you will attend convocation in October

PhD Thesis and Defense

Defense Procedures

University Regulations for PhD Defense (Graduate Calendar)

Guidelines for Defense Chair

Further inquiries about defense procedures and PhD completion can be directed to Nadine Zinger.

Convocation details

For details about the upcoming convocation please review the University of Waterloo's  convocation  page.  

Please also take the time to review the  Graduate Studies graduation checklist