Your Thesis Committee must receive a completed draft of your thesis no later than six weeks prior to the date when you wish to schedule your Thesis Defense. There are no exceptions to this rule. This allows the committee four weeks to review the thesis, and two weeks to schedule the defense. You should schedule a tentative day and time for your defense when you deliver the completed draft to your Committee. It must be a day and time when all members of the Committee are available to attend. Notify the Academic Coordinator of the tentative day and time and a room will be reserved for you.
Scheduling the Thesis Defense: After the Thesis Committee has reviewed the draft and indicated that it is a defensible thesis, the Thesis Defense schedule is confirmed by completing the Request to Schedule Thesis/Dissertation Defense form. The form requires the signature of all members of the Committee to indicate they have reviewed the thesis and have determined it to be substantially complete and defensible. In the case of off-campus members an e-mail or FAX to the Academic Coordinator indicating approval will be accepted.
This form is
available on-line as an Acrobat PDF file. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader, it can be downloaded from the
Adobe web site.
Submit the Request to Schedule Thesis/Dissertation Defense form to the CSE Academic Coordinator at least 2 weeks prior to the defense date and attach an abstract that includes the title. Also email the Academic Coordinator an electronic version of the abstract and confirm the date and time of your defense. Announcements about the defense will be made for you.
If you require any special equipment for your defense, it is your responsibility to check the assigned room and make arrangements for the equipment as needed prior to the day of the defense. If you are arranging to have an off-site committee member participate via a conference call or other means, be sure to forward to the off-site committee member any charts, tables, or other graphics you will be using in advance.
The Thesis Defense: The defense is typically two hours long. The first hour is a formal presentation by you; the second hour is for you to answer questions posed by your Committee and others. Your Committee will meet immediately following the question period to discuss the results. The results will be given to you by your advisor and may include recommendations for revisions to your draft.
Following the Defense: You will need to continue to register for at least one credit of research each quarter during the time you are preparing the final copy and until it is deposited in the library.
