university of guelph thesis guidelines

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Theses and dissertations are scholarly essays incorporating original research on a topic and are usually written as part of the requirements for a graduate degree.

How to find University of Guelph theses

2010 to present.

• Search The Atrium where content is free and electronically accessible to anyone

1998 to present

• Search Library and Archives Canada - Theses Canada for Canadian theses in full text electronic versions free to anyone

1997 to present

• Search Dissertations and Theses (ProQuest) for full text electronic dissertations and theses
• Only citations & abstracts are available prior 1997
• Search by keyword, title, advisor or school, or browse by subject

Guelph theses & dissertations

• Search by author, title, keyword, or department with the phrase - "University of Guelph thesis"
• To access the paper copy, place a hold in Omni on the Annex copy
• Pre-1966 theses are non-circulating and can only be used in the Archival and Special Collections Reading Room during regular opening hours

How to find other dissertations

Canadian search - 1965 to present.

• Search Library and Archives Canada - Theses Canada for citations & abstracts
• Contains Full text from 1998 to present

Global search - 1861 to present

• Search Dissertations and Theses (ProQuest) for citations & abstracts only and to view a 24 page preview (1997 to present)
• Search Open Access Theses and Dissertations , an index of over 1.5 million electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs)
• Search dissertations.se for ETDs from Sweden in English
• Search NDLTD (Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations) for predominantly North American content that also includes the science focused Scirus ETD Search
• Search OpenDOAR (Directory of Open Access Resources) for European ETDs within institutional repositories
• Search National Library of Australia's Trove service for Australian and New Zealand dissertations

Borrow non U of G theses

• To borrow a non U of G thesis, see if a circulating copy is available by searching in  Omni
• If you do not find the item, fill out the request form  and we will do our best to locate the item

Buy your own copy of a thesis

• If the title you want is not available on loan, purchase a copy online via Dissertation Express . The purchase is not subsidised by the library.
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Student and Faculty Resources

Thesis and graduation resources, thesis preparation.

• Do you know the difference between a monograph and manuscript thesis format? Did you know that there are specific requirements for each type of thesis? Read the file at the bottom of the page before preparing your thesis!
• Thesis Preparation Guidelines
• Thesis Submission Checklist
• The template at the bottom of this page conforms to the style and formatting guidelines required by Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies. There is no official thesis template provided by the Department of Mathematics & Statistics. The template provided is provided only as a resource. You can and should modify the template to suit your needs within the confines of the official formatting requirements. Your final thesis must conform to the official style and formatting guidelines. You are strongly encouraged to read through all of the links above to ensure that your final thesis satisfies all requirements.

Submission and Defence Schedule

• Master's Thesis Submission and Defence Schedule
• Doctoral Thesis Submission and Defence Schedule
• Guidelines for Oral Examination (i.e. Defence) of Thesis (see attachments at bottom of page)

For other useful links and resources, visit the Completion and Graduation page on the Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies website.

Department Graduate Committee

(from September 2020 to August 2021)

• Zeny Feng (Chair Fall 2020)
• Monica Cojocaru (Chair Winter 2021)
• Hermann Eberl
• Tony Desmond
• Susan McCormick
• Kolja Kypke (Mathematics graduate student)
• Matthew Lowe (Statistics graduate student)

Graduate Representatives

GSA (Graduate Students' Association) Department Representative

• Kolja Kypke

Forms and Documents

Common forms and documents:

• Graduate Exam Request Form (see attachments at bottom of page)
• Advisory Committee Appointment & Graduate Degree Program Form
• Course Add/Drop / Course Waiver Request

All other forms can be found on the  Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies website .

Teaching Assistantships (TAs)

The Academic Staff Work Assignments website  is where you will find postings for available work assignments for Teaching Assistants (TAs & UTA's), Graduate Service Assistants (GSA-1s) and Sessional Lecturers (SLs), and where you will manage your Offers of Appointment.

Professional Development Resources

MyGradSkills.ca is a resource for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to enhance the professional skills so that they can succeed during their studies and research, and in a range of career paths. MyGradSkills.ca includes a number of self-paced, online modules on a range of #GradProSkills topics, including teaching & learning, to career development, to community engagement, to entrepreneurship, and much more. As the site expands, they also will be offering blogs, virtual career panels, an information clearinghouse, as well as additional online modules.

The Graduate Student Learning Initiative (GSLI) is a collaborative endeavour that brings together key campus services that support academic and professional skill development for graduate students as learners, instructors, researchers and professionals.

Mitacs is a national, not-for-profit organization that has designed and delivered research and training programs in Canada for 15 years. Working with 60 universities, thousands of companies, and both federal and provincial governments, they build partnerships that support industrial and social innovation in Canada. The Mitacs Step program is focused on four core competency areas in Professional Development. These are Leadership and Management, Communications and Relationship Building, Personal and Professional Management and Entrepreneurialism. The individual workshops in the Mitacs Step curriculum build skills in each of these competencies.

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College of Social & Applied Human Sciences

Thesis & Defence Guidelines

Refer first to the information provided by the Office of Graduate Studies:

• University's Degree Regulations , MSc
• University Degree Regulations , PhD
• Thesis Regulations & Submission
• Electronic Thesis Information

For FRAN graduate students, please also see our Thesis and Defense Guidelines and our Defence Checklists:

• MSc Thesis and Defence Guidelines
• PhD Thesis and Defence Guidelines
• MSc Defence Checklist
• PhD Defence Checklist

The Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies is happy to announce the posting of the new  Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) Guide . When submitting a thesis on-line, all required forms must be submitted to the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies prior to the acceptance of the thesis. Failure to do so may result in rejection of the thesis or delay in graduation. Please reference the  submission checklist  for information of submission requirements.

All theses will be published and made available on the World Wide Web through the  Atrium  and through the  National Library and Archives Canada .  

Submission of a thesis to  ProQuest  may be made independently by the student, should they wish additional publication at through ProQuest/UMI.

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The Atrium is the University of Guelph’s open access institutional repository. It provides long-term stewardship of scholarly and creative works created by the U of G community through the collection, curation, long-term storage, and dissemination of these works.

Please read our Digital Repositories Policy .

What are the benefits of depositing my work in the Atrium?

Some of the benefits of depositing your work in the Atrium include:

• Compliance with open access funding requirements.
• Your research publications will be free to read and easily discoverable.
• Most subscription journals allow authors to deposit their accepted manuscript in a repository after an embargo period (usually 12 months) - this is a cost-free alternative for making your work open access and meeting funding agency requirements. You can deposit your accepted manuscript as soon as the paper is published – it will automatically be made available after the embargo is lifted (if there is one).
• Content in the Atrium is easily discoverable via major search engines including Google and Google Scholar. Content is described using metadata to enhance the ability of users to search for and discover materials.
• Deposited items receive permanent URLs ensuring long-lasting reliable links to your work.
• Content is safely and securely stored for long-term access.

How do I get started?

Please refer to our help pages for additional information about using the Atrium.

Communities in the Atrium

Select a community to browse its collections.

• Other   5478
• Research   4659
• Theses   11595

Forms & Documents

If you have been directed here from another webpage, you will need to click on the topic specific red button to access a form in that area.

You will need to have Adobe Reader loaded on your computer to view these forms. If you do not have a version of Adobe Reader, you can download the software free from the Adobe Product Site.

Google Chrome Users: If you would like to access the forms using Google Chrome you will need to disable the Chrome PDF Reader.

If you have any difficulties with these forms, please contact [email protected]

How to Apply webpage  

• Admissions Referee Assessment
• Advanced Standing Credit Application
• Application Documents Request (Add/Change/Delete Document on WebAdvisor)
• Application for Admission (Incoming Letter of Permission)
• Graduate Funding Form
• Referee Request GryphForm (Add/Change/Delete Referee)
• OUAC Planned Scheduled Maintenance
• Arthur Richmond Memorial Scholarships
• Brock Doctoral Scholarship Check List 
• Cecil H. Franklin Graduate Scholarship in Soil and Water Conservation
• Clan Fergusson Graduate Research Travel Grant
• Class of OAC '60 Award for Outstanding Teaching Assistant
• Dairy Farmers of Ontario Doctoral Research Assistantships
• Doug and Esther Ormrod Scholarship for Parents
• Estill Family Graduate Scholarship in the Arboretum
• GSA/University - Compassionate Bursary Application
• Graduate Financial Need Assessment Form  (submit to Student Financial Services)
• ICI Scholarship in Biotechnology
• John Black Graduate Travel Grant  
• Latornell Graduate Scholarships
• Latornell Graduate Travel Scholarships
• Request for Financial Assistance  
• Parental Leave Fund (PPL) Application Form
• Graduate Student Medical Leave Application Form
• Advisory Committee Appointment GryphForm
• Appeal for Extension of Maximum Program Duration
• Application for Re-Admission
• Canadian Graduate Studies Research Mobility Agreement
• Course Add/Drop / Course Waiver Request
• Degree Program GryphForm
• Full-Time Distant Fee Status GryphForm
• Full-Time / Part-Time Transfer GryphForm
• Graduate Grade Change
• International Study Option Application
• Late/Reinstatement Fee Appeal GryphForm
• Leave of Absence/Withdrawal/Academic Break  Application GryphForm  
• Letter of Permission Request
• Ontario Visiting Graduate Student Application
• Ontario Visiting Graduate Student Withdrawal
• Petition for Academic Consideration
• Plan of Study GryphForm
• Progress Report GryphForm
• Transfer Credit Application
• Transfer Application (Study Option/Degree Program Transfer)
• Request for Updated Anticipated Completion Date GryphForm 
• Doctoral Final Examination Arrangements
• Early Completion Rebate GryphForm
• Examination Request Form
• Graduation Application
• Graduation Application - WebAdvisor Instructions
• Request to Restrict Circulation of Thesis
• Thesis Submission Control Sheet GryphForm
• Guidelines for conducting a remote Thesis Defence
• Guidelines for conducting a remote QE
• Tips for remote Thesis Defences and QEs
• Change of Address Form
• Change of Given Name(s) and/or Gender Identity Form
• Change of Legal Name Request Form
• Confirmation of Enrolment/Attendance Order Form
• Degree Parchment Re-Issue Order Form
• Explanation of Grading Symbols for Official Transcript
• Official Transcript Request
• Leave of Absence and Withdrawal Application
• Plan of Study

These forms are available on the SecureSite for Faculty/Department Admin for cases of accessibility requirements only (with the exception or Progress Report, which can be used in cases where a student is not completing and an advisor needs to initiate)

• Advisory Committee Appointment & Graduate Degree Program Form
• Early Completion Rebate
• Full-Time Distant Fee Status Application
• Full-Time / Part-Time Transfer Application
• Late Fee & Reinstatement Fee Appeal
• Progress Report
• Thesis Submission Control Sheet

Staff/Faculty Forms (Dept Use Only)

• Graduate Funding Form (Revisions)
• Minimum Doctoral Funding Policy and Waiver
• OUAC - Late Application Exception
• OUAC - Planned Scheduled Maintenance
• OUAC - Voucher Form
• WebAdvisor - Required Application Documents

Board of Graduate Studies

• Admissions & Progress - Procedures & Guidelines
• Graduate Faculty Appointments
• Graduate Faculty Nomination Form
• Non-Active or Restricted Graduate Faculty Status

Postdoctoral

• LMIA Exemption Request Form
• PDF Appointment Form

Records/Thesis/Completion

• Crossways Semesterly Registration Listing
• External Examiner Information
• Progress Report  (PDF for Advisor initiation)
• Request for Qualifying Exam
• Faculty/Staff Access Request
• System Feedback/Errors
• LinkedIn - LinkedIn
• Twitter - Twitter
• Instagram - Instagram
• Facebook - Facebook

Atrium Institutional Repository

What is the atrium, what are the benefits of depositing my work in the atrium, who can deposit in the atrium, can i deposit content on behalf of someone else, what types of content can be deposited in the atrium, can i deposit research data in the atrium, what do i need to consider prior to depositing content, are there any deposit requirements, how do i deposit my work, who can access content i deposit in the atrium, contact and support.

• Submitting Items to the Atrium
• Thesis & Dissertation Submission Guide
• Accessible Theses
• Linking ORCID to your Atrium Account

Ask Us: Chat, email, visit or call

Get assistance

The library offers a range of helpful services.  All of our appointments are free of charge and confidential.

• Book an appointment

The Atrium is the University of Guelph’s open access institutional repository for scholarly and creative works. It provides long-term stewardship of scholarly and creative works created by the U of G community through the collection, curation, long-term storage, and dissemination of these works.

Please read our Digital Repositories Policy .

Some of the benefits of depositing your work in the Atrium include:

• Compliance with open access funding requirements.
• Your research publications will be free to read and easily discoverable.
• Most subscription journals allow authors to deposit their accepted manuscript in a repository after an embargo period (usually 12 months) - this is a cost-free alternative for making your work open access and meeting funding agency requirements. You can deposit your accepted manuscript as soon as the paper is published – it will automatically be made available after the embargo is lifted (if there is one).
• Content in the Atrium is easily discoverable via major search engines including Google and Google Scholar. Content is described using metadata to enhance the ability of users to search for and discover materials.
• Deposited items receive permanent URLs ensuring long-lasting reliable links to your work.
• Content is safely and securely stored for long-term access.

The Atrium accepts submissions of scholarly or creative works created at or in collaboration with the University of Guelph. All University of Guelph community members including faculty, staff, students, and research collaborators are welcome to deposit in the Atrium.

Undergraduate student authors who wish to deposit non-thesis materials must have the approval of a departmental faculty member.

To deposit content in the Atrium you must be either the creator of the submission, a researcher collaborating with the creator(s), or an individual given permission by the creator to submit on their behalf.

If you are depositing content on behalf of your co-authors, you must seek permission from the other authors before submitting the work.

The Atrium primarily hosts research publications and open access versions of scholarly and creative work such as:

• Graduate theses and dissertations
• Journal articles and preprints
• Books / Book Chapters
• Conference Presentations / Papers
• Grey literature (including protocols, reports, policy briefings, plain language summaries, trade publications, community outreach materials)
• Openly licensed source files for OER created by, or in partnership with, McLaughlin Library.

The Atrium primarily hosts research publications and creative works. Research data should be deposited in the University of Guelph Research Data Repositories . Visit How to deposit research data in the University of Guelph Research Data Repositories for more details.

You are responsible for ensuring that the content you deposit in the Atrium does not infringe on the rights of publishers or any other entity or party. If your content has been commercially published, you must check your author agreement to see what rights you may have signed away during the publishing process and what rights you have retained. This will always be specific to each individual piece of work.

For more information, please refer to Copyright at the University of Guelph or book a Publishing and Author Support Appointment .

Funder and publisher requirements

Depositing your work in the Atrium complies with the Tri-Agency Open Access Policy requirements for publications. However, if your work has been commercially published, you are responsible for ensuring that your publishing agreement and/or your publisher’s open access policies allow you to deposit the work in an institutional repository. Additionally, your publisher may have specific requirements such as which version of your work can be deposited (e.g., preprint, accepted manuscript, publisher’s version of record) and under what conditions such as a temporary access embargo. For more information, please make a Publishing and Author Support Request .

Distribution rights

The University of Guelph will have the non-exclusive right to distribute your work freely and provide long-term access to it via the Atrium. You (or your publisher) will retain copyright to the work. Please see the Digital Repositories Policy (IV. Representations, Warranties, License) for more details.

End-user licensing

If you are the current copyright owner of the work, you can determine what others can do with it. During the deposit process, you will be able to apply a Creative Commons end-user license to your work to clearly indicate to others how they may use it. Please refer to Creative Commons' About CC Licenses  guide for more information.

You are responsible for ensuring the content you deposit in the Atrium aligns with preferred file formats, file naming conventions, and is accessible.

You will also be required to provide descriptive information (metadata) about each item you deposit using the Atrium’s online submission form whether you are entering the metadata into the form manually or using the ORCID integration to auto-populate the form. If you are using the Share Your Paper (SYP) tool ,  you do not need to complete the Atrium online submission form, as the SYP tool will do this work for you, including populating the required item metadata.

File format requirements

To promote reuse, interoperability, and long-term access, files should be deposited in open, non-proprietary file formats. Files should also be saved and stored in an uncompressed and unencrypted format.

For example, it is preferrable that text documents, such as Word (DOCX) or PowerPoint (PPTX), are saved as a tagged PDF format  prior to upload.

If you are unsure about the long-term accessibility and readability of your file format(s), please make a Publishing and Author Support Request for assistance.

File naming requirements

When naming your files, please:

• Keep the length of the file name short but descriptive (less than 25 characters).
• Use date format ISO 8601: YYYYMMDD.
• Use alphanumeric characters. Avoid special characters and accented characters.
• Include a version number if applicable.
• Use capitals and underscores instead of periods, hyphens, spaces, or slashes.

For example:

• grizzlyStomachContent20201215.pdf
• SmithJones_Sean_202012_MSc.pdf

File size limitations

Individual files must be equal to or less than two gigabytes (2 GB) in size for successful upload. There is no specific upper limit to the number of files or total overall storage size that can be added to a record or collection in the Atrium.

If individual files are larger than 2 GB or if you have a very large number of files to deposit, make a Publishing and Author Support Request for assistance.

Accessibility

Depositors are responsible for ensuring that all materials they deposit in the Atrium meet accessibility standards according to the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). Guidance and resources in support of creating accessible digital materials can be accessed through the Digital Accessibility Resource Centre .

You may also refer to the WebAim tutorials ( Word , PowerPoint , PDF , Multimedia ) for guidance on how to make your work accessible. Note that for textual documents, it is easier to modify the original format (e.g., Word or PowerPoint) than the PDF version.

Please note that not all content housed in Atrium is fully accessible. If you would like to request an alternate version of any content in the Atrium, please use the Library Resource Alternate-Format Request Form .

Deposit your scholarly or creative works (faculty/staff/students)

• All users with a University of Guelph email account have immediate deposit access to the Atrium. Simply log in to the Atrium using your U of G central ID and password and follow the instructions outlined in the Submitting items to the Atrium  guide to submit your work for review and inclusion in the Atrium.

Deposit your thesis or dissertation (graduate students)

• Review the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies’ (OGPS) Thesis Completion Guide which provides information on the requirements, schedule of dates, and process for preparing and submitting a thesis/dissertation for approval by OGPS. Questions related to formatting requirements, deadlines, fees, and submission status should be directed to the OGPS .
• All users with a University of Guelph email account have immediate deposit access to the Atrium. Simply log in to the Atrium using your U of G central ID and password and follow the instructions outlined in the Thesis & Dissertation Submission guide to submit your thesis/dissertation for review and inclusion in the Atrium.

Content deposited in the Atrium is, by default, openly accessible to the world and is discoverable through major search engines such as Google and Google Scholar.

In certain cases, a temporary delay to public access (i.e., embargo) may be placed on an item. The item will automatically become publicly available upon the expiry of the embargo period.

The Atrium is available for depositing, browsing, and accessing content 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. User support is available during normal business hours.

The Office of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies is responsible for reviewing and approving submissions of theses and dissertations to the Atrium. For questions concerning the requirements, preparation, and approval process for theses and dissertations, please contact the Office of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies .

For all other inquires, including technical support, please make a Publishing and Author Support Request .

• Next: Submitting Items to the Atrium >>
• Last Updated: Apr 3, 2024 3:50 PM
• URL: https://guides.lib.uoguelph.ca/atrium

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Food, Agricultural & Resource Economics

Promesse essolema's master of science defence, search form.

Posted on Thursday, May 30, 2024

Thesis Defence Date:  Friday, May 03, 2024, at 10:00 am  in  JD MacLachlan 319 . 

The title of Promesse’s presentation is: “E-commerce Resilience in Canada's Agri-Food Trade Amidst COVID-19 ".

Examination Committee

Alfons Weersink (Chair)

S. Kwaku Afesorgbor (Advisor)

Andreas Boecker (Co-advisor)

Jose Nuno-Ledesma (Advisory Committee)

Getu Hailu (Internal-External)

Advisory Committee

S. Kwaku Afesorgbor  (Advisor)