Instructions for departments
Upon completion of the final oral defence, the department is to complete a "Defence Report Form" with the outcome of the defence and the final grade.
The Department will hold the completed and signed defence ‘Report Form’ until all committee-requested changes have been made by the student.
The Department will submit to grad. studies via email to thesis@uwindsor.ca the Report Form along with the signed post-defence Committee Approval form.
Detailed instructions are outlined below:
The graduate program secretary (or designate) downloads a copy of the Defence Report Form (.pdf) and fills in the information with input by the candidate's Master's/Doctoral Committee.
ALL fields on the form must be populated, including the final grade in the "GRADE" field.
Voting Outcome
Refer to page 2 of the Defence Report Form for details regarding voting outcome options. Note the following additional requirement for a voting outcome of "Pass with major changes":
"Pass with major changes:
In this case the committee shall decide how satisfactory completion is to be determined (e.g., full committee approval, a second opportunity to defend, or simply approval by the advisor). If the Committee recommends a Pass with major changes, a recommendation from the committee, by the Chair of the Defence, should be forwarded to the Dean of Graduate Studies (deanfgs@uwindsor.ca) outlining how satisfactory completion is to be determined. The Report Form should be retained by the advisor until all changes have been satisfactorily completed, after which time it may be forwarded to Graduate Studies (thesis@uwindsor.ca)."
Final Grade
Populate the final grade in the "GRADE" field as follows:
PhD Dissertation: to be graded "Satisfactory" (S), or "Unsatisfactory".
Thesis, Major Paper, Creative Writing Project or Sport Management Internship: to be graded either a percentage grade, or Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory, according to the procedures adopted by each program.
ALL necessary signatures must be obtained on the form:
The Defense Report Form must be signed by the student's advisor (or both co-advisors, if applicable), chair of defense, and AAU/program chair.
Departments may use any preferred method to obtain signatures on the form, such as digital signature, inserting a photo or scanned image of handwritten signatures, or having each person in turn manually sign the form and return a scanned signed copy of the form to the next person. Refer to the step by step instructions for inserting a digital signature to a PDF form.
If an individual is unable to insert a digital or scanned handwritten signature, an email from them confirming approval will be acceptable in lieu of a signature. The graduate program secretary will forward the email along with the Report Form to Graduate Studies.
The graduate program secretary will hold the completed and signed defense ‘Report Form’ until all committee-requested changes have been made by the student.
It is the student's responsibility to make any post-defense changes requested by their Master’s/Doctoral Committee and to obtain a signature from each committee member on the post-defense Committee "Approval form".
The student should be advised by the Department to submit the signed Approval form to the graduate program secretary upon obtaining all committee member signatures.
Upon receiving the signed post-defense Committee Approval form from the student, the Department will submit to grad. studies via email to thesis@uwindsor.ca the Report Form along with the signed Approval form.
After the student has completed the post-defense submission ("deposit") with the Graduate Studies office, the Report Form will be processed by Graduate Studies and the final grade submitted to Registrar's for posting on UWinsite.
For additional resources refer to the