The degree requirements are NOT considered complete until the student has completed the Deposit as outlined below.
The "Deposit" is the submission by the student of their final post-defence Committee-approved document to the Graduate Studies office. The Deposit with the Graduate Studies office is the last step in completing the requirements for the following research documents:
- Doctoral dissertation and Master’s thesis (all programs except M.F.A.), and Master’s creative writing project (English);
- Master’s major paper (all programs) and Political Science Internship paper.
Note: prior to the Deposit, each document must have been reviewed and approved by Graduate Studies for compliance with the format requirements. Starting in November 2024, instead of after the defence, students will be required to submit to Graduate Studies for format checking BEFORE the defense, at the same time when the student submits the pre-defence copy to their Master’s or Doctoral committee:
- at least two weeks prior to the oral defence date - for Master’s thesis or major research paper
- at least four weeks prior to the oral defence date - for a Doctoral dissertation.
To obtain pre-defence format approval, follow the pre-defence Format Checking instructions.
Deposit steps
The post-defence Deposit requirement will be considered complete after all steps outlined below have been completed by the student as follows:
- Follow the guidelines for obtaining committee signatures on the post-Defence Committee Approval form.
- Submit the fully signed Approval form to your Department (graduate program secretary).
Upon submitting the signed Approval form to your Department, proceed with Deposit step #1 of 2: uploading a soft copy of your document to the online repository portal.
Follow the instructions to upload to the online repository a soft copy (PDF) of your final committee-approved and format-approved document.
After uploading proceed to the last Deposit step #2 of 2.
Submit the following forms via email as a PDF file attachment to thesis@uwindsor.ca:
- one copy of the signed Approval form - the form must be fully signed as outlined in the guidelines for obtaining committee signatures on the post-defence Committee Approval form.
- the "Thesis/dissertation non-exclusive license", completed and signed by the student - the license form is required for theses, dissertations, and creative writing projects but not for major papers and internship projects.
- if requesting an initial embargo: the completed 'Request for withholding' form must also be submitted at the time of the deposit - refer to the instructions for submitting a request for withholding under "Additional Information" in the next section on this page.
The graduate studies office will review the full post-defence submission (uploaded thesis and forms) and will send an email to confirm the Deposit requirement is complete. All deposit related corresponsdence will be sent to the student's UWindsor email.
The Deposit requirement is considered complete upon recept of the deposit confirmation email from graduate studies.
Students who complete the deposit after the posted Phase I grace period of the term must be registered for that term, as outlined in the Phase I policy.
For information regarding graduation or obtaining an official letter to confirm degree completion, the Registrar's office have posted a number of graduation related instructions which can be found in the askUWindsor.ca graduation articles.
For additional questions regarding the deposit students may review the post-deposit FAQs.
No printed/hard copies are required to be submitted to graduate studies for the deposit. Students wishing to have thesis copies printed and bound for personal use may refer to 'Thesis binding options' under "Additional Information" in the next section on this page.
Additional Information:
It is the student's responsibility to submit their "Requests for withholding" form to the graduate studies office at the time they complete deposit step #2 of 2. Refer to the instructions below:
After a processing period (6-8 weeks), a digital copy of the deposited document will be available as open access in the University of Windsor Scholarship@UWindsor digital institutional repository as well as in ProQuest (theses and dissertations only). If a thesis, major paper, or dissertation contains material which needs to be withheld temporarily from the public or the community of scholars for a variety of valid reasons (e.g. publication pending, patent pending, etc.), the candidate and their research supervisor(s) may request a period of withholding from circulation as follows:
- six months without cause being given;
- up to 1 year with good cause, as determined by the Faculty of Graduate Studies;
- more than 1 year: requires explicit pre-approval by the Dean of Graduate Studies. The standard initial withholding period is up to 1 year, with the option of requesting an extension of the original embargo close to expiry, as specified on the "Request for withholding" form. If students believe they have reasons to request a longer initial withholding period that exceeds 1 year, they are to discuss with their thesis supervisor(s) who can submit a request to the Dean of Graduate Studies on their behalf outlining the extenuating circumstances for the request.
How to submit a request for withholding:
The request for withholding must be submitted by the student at the time of completing the deposit with Graduate Studies as follows:
- The student downloads a "Request for Withholding a Major Paper/Thesis/Dissertation" form, completes the form, and obtains signatures from their research advisor(s). Note if there are 2 co-advisors both must sign the form.
- When uploading the final PDF copy (as described above in Step 1 of the deposit), the student must select delayed release under access options for the same embargo period that is specified on the "Request for Withholding" form (6 months or 1 year). For theses and dissertations the delayed release option is under "Publishing option" of the online submission system; for major papers and internship papers - under "Embargo period".
- The student submits to Graduate Studies the completed and signed "Request for Withholding a Major Paper/Thesis/Dissertation" form along with the rest of the required deposit forms, as described above in Step 2 of the deposit.
Note that during the embargo period the full-text of your major paper, thesis or dissertation will not be publicly available, however, a brief record will be posted on the web including the abstract.
Hard-cover binding of thesis copies is not available through the Graduate Studies office. The following are some options available to students wishing to order bound copies for personal use:
- The University Print Shop is offering document printing, along with being the liaison for hard-cover binding of major papers, theses, and dissertations through Wallaceburg Bookbinding. Please email printshop@uwindsor.ca for assistance or review the information posted on the PrintShop website.
- Hard-cover binding via ProQuest (only available for theses and dissertations): students completing the online PDF submission of their thesis or dissertation (Step 2 of the deposit) will be offered during the submission steps to purchase (optionally) bound copies for personal use of their thesis/dissertation from ProQuest, as specified under "Instructions for uploading a thesis or dissertation" on the online submission webpage. Students who have already graduated wishing to order bound copies for personal use of their previously submitted thesis or dissertation may refer to ProQuest's options and pricing for ordering bound copies which includes discount pricing listed under "Author Prices". For questions or to place an order students should contact ProQuest directly via phone at 1-800-521-0600 or email disspub@proquest.com to request a purchase link for the discounted author pricing.
Students must be registered in the current term if completing the defense or deposit after the Phase I period, as outlined in the Phase I policy and registration for students who are defending and/or depositing.
For questions regarding the deposit steps contact the Graduate Studies office at thesis@uwindsor.ca.
Phase I and Phase II tuition refund deadlines each term are posted on the Important Dates webpage.