Thesis and Dissertation Information

Thesis and Dissertation Committees

Thesis and dissertation committees consist of at least three Graduate Faculty members, with one member serving as primary advisor and committee chair. See the policy on Graduate Faculty in the Graduate School section of the university catalog for descriptions of the three faculty types and their duties. Departments may have additional criteria for determining who can serve what role on a thesis committee.

The Thesis Topic Approval or Dissertation Topic Approval form should be completed as early in the graduate program as possible given department timelines and requirements.

Please note: if a committee includes an Affiliate Graduate Faculty member (a volunteer not employed by Western), that person will not be able to sign the topic approval esign form. They should email gradschool@wwu.edu with a statement agreeing to participate on the committee. The email should come from their professional email address and include a CV or enough information in the signature to determine whether the individual meets the criteria for Affiliate member.

Research Integrity and Compliance

Using humans or live vertebrates as research participants requires prior approval separate from the dissertation or thesis topic approval. Please see Research Integrity and Compliance for more information. Please contact researchintegrity@wwu.edu for more information.

Topic approval forms that indicate human participants, live vertebrate animals, or scientific diving activities will be forwarded to the appropriate offices for review.

Register for Thesis or Dissertation Credits

• Have a complete topic approval form on file.
• For thesis (690) credit, you need a registration override from the Graduate School each quarter you register.
• For EDAD 670, Doctoral Proposal Defense (dissertation credits), contact your department.

Track Your Registration

• Check the number of required and/or allowed thesis/dissertation credits for your program.
• Make sure that your registration over multiple quarters adds up to the total you need to meet program requirements. If the maximum allowed is 12, you can take 4 + 4 + 4, but not 4 + 4 + 5 (for example).

Thesis grades are reported as incomplete (K) each quarter, until the final thesis is submitted and approved. Faculty should not submit thesis grades at the end of the quarter like grades for other courses.

For thesis grading, after the final defense the faculty advisor should report the grade on the Degree Recommendation form. 

If you take more credits than are allowed in the catalog requirements for your program, those credits will not be assigned a grade. They will remain K on your transcript.

Writing a graduate-level thesis or dissertation is one of the most challenging things you may ever have to do. Even with support from your advisor, this monumental task can feel overwhelming. Why go at it alone when you don't have to?

If you sign up for a Studio Partner, you will be matched up with a Graduate Research-Writing Assistant who will aid you along in the process, meeting with you to discuss your progress whenever you're stuck. For more information and to sign up, visit the RWS Graduate Services page. 

Western has established a required, uniform format for thesis and dissertation submissions. Text-based master's projects may also use this format to maintain consistency across the Graduate School Collection held in Western Libraries. We provide a template in Microsoft Word format that contains all of the information you should need to set up, format, and submit your thesis or dissertation. Much of the template information is also included on this webpage for reference.

Thesis or Dissertation Template v2026

Style Guides

Confer with your committee chair to select the appropriate style guide for your manuscript. You may use any of the major style manuals or a style specific to an academic journal where you plan to submit your work in a paper. Regardless of which style you use, Western's thesis and dissertation format has elements that should be followed even if they differ from your style guide. This is most often the case for journal-specific styles, so you will need separate documents for your thesis/disseration and for your paper submission.

Headings and Accessibility

For accessibility and for convenience in creating an automatic table of contents, we suggest using a theme or document style with a heading hierarchy. Any standard style in your word processing application is acceptable, or your may create a custom style.

Because the final manuscript will be viewed primarily online, prepare your PDF document for optimal viewing on a screen. If your document includes landscape-oriented pages, save the PDF with mixed page orientation. Save your PDF with all fonts embedded.

Signature Pages

Hardcopy signature pages are not required.The degree recommendation esign form will serve as approval of the final thesis by all committee members. For doctoral dissertations, see your department for instructions.

Your document should begin with a committee page with typed names (no scanned signatures), formatted to match the first page of the provided template.

Library Authorization Page

The library authorization page gives permission for your thesis, project, or dissertation to be included in Western Libraries’ collections. It includes a statement of copyright. Choose the library authorization appropriate for your document type (dissertation, thesis, or project). Dissertation, project, and other alternative library authorization pages are included in the template and on Canvas. 

Title Page

Make sure that your title matches exactly on both pages where it appears, the Committee Signature Page and the Title Page. For printing and binding purposes, your title should fit on four lines of no more than 45 characters per line, including spaces.

Abstract

Format according to the style manual for your discipline.

Acknowledgements (optional)

The language used in the acknowledgement should be consistent with that used in acknowledgements in journal articles in your field. You may use this page to acknowledge those who contributed to the academic endeavors or research of your thesis. Limit the acknowledgements to a single page, either double or single spaced.

Table of Contents

The first three preliminary pages do not appear in your Table of Contents. The first item to appear should be your Abstract.

Do not include the Table of Contents page in the Table of Contents, but do include the Lists of Tables and Figures. Lists of Tables and Figures should include page numbers.

Supplementary Material

Additional material may be included in appendices or as separate files to be submitted with your PDF. CEDAR can take many file types. Maps, datasets, sound clips, short films, images, and other items can be included.

Margins

Margins should be a minimum of one inch on all sides. Use the same margin dimensions throughout the manuscript, except for indented lengthy quotes.

Page Numbers

Page numbers may be located according to the style commonly used in your discipline, or any standard word processor location except on the left side of the page. The pages of your printed thesis will be trimmed for binding, so numbering that is too close to the edges could be cut off, and numbering on the left side could be hidden in the binding. The numbers should appear alone, without any bracketing, dashes, etc. Refer to the chart above for numbering requirements.

Font

Western does not specify which font you should use, but choose a common, accessible font that is clearly legible on screen as well as in print. Font should be 10- to 12-point type, depending on font choice. Use the same font throughout the manuscript. You may bold, italicize or underline words where appropriate. Italicized type may not be used for the entire body of the text.

Spacing

Double space the text. Block quotes may be single spaced. Thesis projects in poetry, mathematics, and music may be spaced as appropriate to the discipline.

Headings

Section headings must correspond to the Table of Contents. Heading font and location on the page should be consistent throughout the document. Ensure that headings appear on the same page as the corresponding text (i.e. watch for headings orphaned at the bottom of pages). Do not use a running head, even if your style guide (such as APA) specifies one.

Captions

Captions should be in the same font as that used in the text. Locate captions according to the publication style you are using.

References and Citations

Be consistent in citation and reference style throughout the manuscript, according to the style manual you are following. There must be a reference for every citation in the text. The spelling of the author’s name and the publication year must match between the text and reference entry. Multiple citations between parentheses must be in either chronological or alphabetical order.

Western Libraries offers online quick guides to the most common citation styles and other helpful information.

You can use this template as a starting point for your document, or refer to it for instructions and tips on formatting.

The thesis/dissertation template is also available on Canvas along with alternate library authorizations and additional formatting help with sections, page numbering, and automatic tables of contents.

Defense Notification Requirements

• Schedule your defense with your department
• Submit an Oral Defense Schedule form at least two weeks prior to your defense
• If requested, submit a draft of your thesis or dissertation to the Graduate School one week before your defense date

If you or your advisor would like to request that a neutral observer from Graduate Faculty Governance Council attends the defense, please contact the Graduate School and we will arrange this. If a GFGC member volunteers to observe, you will need to include that person in your meeting, presentation, and/or video conference. We will ask you to provide a copy of your draft for the representative to review.

Winter 2026 Temporary Submission Steps

Western CEDAR is transitioning to a new platform and is not currently available for submissions. Please email your final PDF to Megan Spiegel in the Graduate School.

Thesis and Dissertation Approval and Publication

Graduate School staff will communicate with you about the status of your thesis or dissertation submission and any necessary format revisions. We will notify you once your submission has been approved by the Graduate School reviewer and the Dean. 

Your thesis or dissertation will be made available on CEDAR as soon as CEDAR is updated and ready. This is the library circulation copy of your manuscript. If you need to delay public posting of your document, or keep access to your content permanently limited, email the Graduate School for options.

Completion of your degree requires one hardbound copy of your thesis or dissertation for archiving in Special Collections. This order must be placed and paid before your degree can be awarded. Individual departments may have requirements for additional copies; check with your thesis chair or program adviser if you are unsure.

Instructions for placing your order will be included in your approval notice.

Occasionally a graduate student may need to delay the posting of their thesis or dissertation to CEDAR, or limit the audience to Western students and faculty. There are two options to choose from.

Embargos

An embargo delays the public release of the document while the author or faculty researcher pursues publication or copyright of the work in the thesis/dissertation. At the end of the embargo period, the document is posted.

To request an embargo, email the Graduate School with details. An embargo can be requested for six months or one year, and may be renewed if necessary.

If you might want to renew your embargo, set a reminder on your calendar around the time the embargo is set to expire. Let the Graduate School know if you need to renew.

Campus Only Access

Limiting access to the Western community is a good option for those wishing to preserve First North American Serial Rights (publication rights). A current WWU login is required to view the thesis, and the limited access status does not expire like an embargo does.

To choose this option, use the limited access library authorization form instead of the standard one, and include a note when you submit your thesis. Library authorization forms are available in the Templates section above, and on Canvas.