1. When beginning work on the dissertation all students are advised to refer to Trent's School of Graduate Studies formatting guidelines.
2. The final copy of the dissertation presented for defence must be carefully proofread and all errors corrected. A final copy with mistakes of fact, grammar, or spelling will not be approved for defence.
3. The student and Supervisor will identify a draft dissertation, as the one they wish to have considered by the committee for final approval prior to defence.
4. The Supervisor will notify the Program Assistant that a draft is ready and provide them with a copy.
5. The student will submit the draft to their Dissertation Advisory Committee. It should normally be read within 4-6 weeks of submission.
6. The Program Assistant will provide each Dissertation Advisory Committee member (including the Supervisor) with a Step 1 form to complete and return.
7. The Dissertation Advisory Committee’s approval will be indicated on their Step 1 forms. This form indicates that the committee accepts that the same, common final draft is ready for defence and is free from major or frequent flaws. This approval is required before the dissertation is distributed to the External Examiners for approval to proceed to defence. After the dissertation is submitted, there can be no changes in committee membership, without the approval of the Dean of Graduate Studies. The approval from the committee should be received at least six weeks before the intended date of the defence.
8. The Supervisor will provide the Program Assistant with some potential dates for the defence as well as some names for potential external examiners and internal examiners.
9. The Program Assistant will:
• Consult the Program Director to choose a Defence Chair.
• Reach out to the external and internal examiners and request their availability.
• Provide the external and internal examiners copies of the draft dissertation and a Step 2 form to complete and return 4-6 weeks after they have received the dissertation.
• Arrange for a defence date based on the availability of the examiners, Dissertation Advisory Committee members and the Defence Chair and then notify the student of this date.
11. The Examining Committee consists of the Dissertation Advisory Committee, one eligible member from another department and one External Examiner from outside Trent who is a recognized authority in the subject of the dissertation. The date, location, and composition of the examination committee are the internal departmental responsibilities and should be dealt with as the Director instructs. The date of the announcement must be at least 14 days in advance of the date of the defence. The Dean will require the submission of written comments from the External Examiner before allowing the defence to take place.
12. At the oral defence the student is asked to present an oral summary (no more than 20 minutes) of the major arguments in their dissertation.
13. The dissertation may be accepted as submitted, with minor revisions, with major revisions, or rejected. Time limits may be set for corrections or re-submission of a revised dissertation. The Chair of the Defence is expected to convey in writing to the student any modifications required by the Examining Committee. In the case of a split vote on the dissertation, it is permissible for the Chair to approve the defence as ‘satisfactory’ if the majority makes this recommendation. The External Examiner must be included in the majority.
14. If major revisions are required, the Chair of the Examining Committee will arrange a sub-committee from the Examining Committee, usually including the Dissertation Supervisor as Chair, to ensure that all the required revisions, specified in writing by the Defence Chair, are made. The Examining Committee may choose to require a second defence by the student before the sub-committee. Upon written certification by the sub-committee that the required revisions have been made to their satisfaction, the Chair of the Defence will then authorize acceptance of the dissertation.
15. The Chair will ensure that the members of the Examining Committee will sign the Thesis Approval Form and the “Ph.D. Dissertation Defence Final Report” and that it is submitted to the Program Assistant after the defence.
16. Minor revisions will be supervised by the Dissertation Supervisor who will certify in writing to the Director of the Indigenous Studies PhD Program that the required revisions have been made.
17. Any revisions must be completed and accepted within the time limits established by the Examining Committee.
18. The final approved copy of the dissertation will be submitted to graduaterecords@trentu.ca by the student and must be uploaded to the University's thesis repository.