Thesis, Scholarly Research Project and Dissertation Checklist

Important Reminders

• All UNC communication regarding your degree must come through your UNC Bear Mail account.
• Please check the graduate graduation deadlines.
• If you are planning to leave UNC before graduation, please make sure to finish any Graduate School business before you leave.
• All graduation applications need to be fully completed. Incomplete applications will not be processed.
• Doctoral students and educational specialists: Please make sure your Plan of Study is filed with the Graduate School by the end of the first semester of enrollment after admission.
• If you need to fill out a form, please visit the Graduate School forms page.

Non-Thesis Master’s

• Submit the graduation application.
• Make sure your program has submitted results of comps to the Graduate School by the published deadline.

Thesis Master’s

• Submit the graduation application.
• Thesis format check: You may schedule an appointment with Carol.Steward@unco.edu. Please allow 15-30 minutes.
• Confirm that your thesis committee chair has reported results of comps and/or defense of thesis in lieu of comps or equivalent to the Graduate School by the published deadline.
• Final review: Prior to the deadline, email the following documents to Carol.Steward@unco.edu from your UNC email. All committee signatures must be obtained prior to submission of thesis.
  • Verification of Research Subject Compliance form with signatures from you and your research advisor
  • IRB or IACUC Approval
  • Thesis, Scholarly Project or Dissertation Processing Form
  • Signed signature pages: Two originals with hand-written signatures for the Graduate School.
  • After all documents are received, it will be 2-3 weeks to complete your review. There is a limit of three reviews per student per semester.
• After Graduate School approval, you will receive final instructions from Carol Steward.

Doctoral Scholarly Project: Audiology and Doctor of Nursing Practice

• Submit the graduation application.
• Format check: You may schedule an appointment with Carol.Steward@unco.edu. Please allow 15-30 minutes.
• Confirm that your committee Research Advisor has reported results of the defense of your Doctoral Scholarly Project to the Graduate School by the published deadline.
• Final review: Prior to the deadline, email the following documents to Carol.Steward@unco.edu from your UNC email. All committee signatures must be obtained prior to submission of your scholarly research project.
  • Verification of Research Subject Compliance form with signatures from you and your research advisor
• IRB or IACUC Approval
• Thesis, Scholarly Project or Dissertation Processing Form
• Signed signature pages: Two originals with hand-written signatures for the Graduate School.
• After all documents are received, it will be 2-3 weeks to complete your review. There is a limit of three reviews per student per semester.

After Graduate School approval, you will receive final instructions from Carol Steward.

Doctoral Dissertation

• Submit a Request to Appoint a Doctoral Committee to the Graduate School. Once it has been appointed, the student and committee members will receive a letter through UNC email.
• Required Steps in Doctoral Candidacy:
  • Pass the Written Comprehensive Exam. The program generates a form to send results to the Graduate School.
  • Oral Comprehensive Exam: Schedule using the Request to Schedule a Doctoral Examination form at least two weeks prior to the requested date (allow time to make changes or address committee concerns).
  • The Graduate School will send the results form to the committee research advisor.
  • Pass oral comprehensive exam. Committee Research Advisor sends results to the Graduate School within one semester. (Results form must originate from the Graduate School.)
  • Discuss with the Research Advisor which publication style manual you are going to use to write your dissertation.
  • Proposal: Submit a committee-approved proposal to the Graduate School from your UNC email address along with the following Dissertation Proposal Requirements:
    • A digital copy of your proposal in a MS Word or PDF file may be turned in by email or on a flash drive.
    • Verification of Research Subject Compliance form signed by you and Research Advisor (even if you do not need to go through the IRB or IACUC, we need this form).
    • IRB or IACUC Approval
    • Signed signature page
  • Candidacy Letter will be emailed to student's Bear Mail and a copy will be sent to the committee Research Advisor.
• Upon being admitted to candidacy, the Graduate School will complete and email a Grad Check to the student through student's Bear Mail.
• Submit the graduation application.
• Dissertation Defense is scheduled using the Request to Schedule a Doctoral Examination form at least two weeks prior to the requested date. Once approved, it will be scheduled on the Graduate School Calendar.
  • Format check: You may schedule an appointment with Carol.Steward@unco.edu. Please allow 15-30 minutes.
  • Confirm that your committee Research Advisor has reported the results of the defense of your Dissertation Defense to the Graduate School by the published deadline.
  • Final review: Prior to the deadline, email the following documents to Carol.Steward@unco.edu from your UNC email. All committee signatures must be obtained prior to submission of dissertation.
  • Verification of Research Subject Compliance form with signatures from you and your research advisor
  • IRB or IACUC Approval
  • Thesis, Scholarly Project or Dissertation Processing Form
  • After all documents are received, it will be 2-3 weeks to complete your review. There is a limit of three reviews per student per semester.
  • After Graduate School approval of your dissertation, you will receive final instructions from Carol Steward that include uploading your final document to ProQuest and UNCOpen (formerly Digital UNC).

Educational Specialist

• Submit the Application for Graduation.