Before submitting your Master's or Doctoral thesis

Before submitting your Master's or Doctoral thesis, make sure you have checked each of the following points:

You are registered for the current session and for the entire session of your initial submission: 

• in your degree program OR
• in research continuing activity OR
• in a course* from another graduate program to which you have been admitted at Université Laval.

*Professional Skills Development courses (DVP courses) do not meet this requirement.

You Déclaration de l'étudiant - éthique de la recherche (VRR-101) (in French only) has submitted to academic advising office of your program.

If not, contact academic advising before proceeding with your initial submission.

You have fullfilled all program obligations, including mandatory and elective courses, research training activities, language prerequisites, and other requirements.

You have written your Master's or Doctoral thesis in accordance with the FESP presentation rules (Academic Regulations, article 1.5 a)).

You have two versions of your Master's or Doctoral thesis: a Word, ODT or LaTeX version and a PDF file.

You have completed the evaluation committee makeup form in collaboration with your research director and sent it to your program director.

You have completed and signed all required forms applicable to your situation in the following section.

Several forms must be filled out when you submit your Master's or Doctoral thesis. It is your responsibility to ensure that you have completed and signed all applicable forms before making your initial submission. 

Required forms for all students

• Non-Exclusive Distribution License of a Master's or Doctoral thesis (DOC) (FESP-102), even if you request a restriction on release. Make sure that the title given in the form is matching your manuscript's title.
• Information sheet on the format of your manuscript (DOC) (in French only)
   

One or the other of these forms is required as per your situation

Your manuscript has at least one chapter written in a language other than French:

• Authorization to Write a Master's or Doctoral thesis in a Language Other than French (PDF) (FES-101)
  This form must be signed by you and your program director.

Your manuscript includes one or more coauthored papers. You must fill out an authorization form for each paper:

• Coauthor Authorization for Inclusion of an Article in a Master's or Doctoral thesis (PDF) (FES-100)
  This form must be signed by you and the coauthor(s).

You are requesting a restriction on release:

• Request to Restrict Release of a Master's or Doctoral thesis (PDF) (FES-106)
  This form must be signed by you and your supervisor.
   
• Request to Extend Restriction on Release (PDF) (FES-106b) 
  This form must be signed by you and your supervisor.

If there is an agreement on the protection and confidentiality of information with which you have worked or have been exposed:

• Declaration relating to the confidentiality of work and results of an essay, dissertation or thesis (in French only)
  This form from the Office of the Vice Rector, Research and Innovation must be used only in the case of confidentiality agreements concerning strategic and confidential information obtained within the framework of the research project, in the case of obtaining a patent or in other exceptional cases.

As a member of ORCID-CA, Université Laval encourages the use of ORCID throughout the research ecosystem. ORCID id is a unique, persistent identifier free of charge to researchers. 

It aims to solve the problems of name ambiguity and researcher identification by giving individuals a unique numeric identifier that persists over time.  ORCID is integrated into several systems used by publishers, granting agencies, institutions and other research-related services and thus facilitates several aspects of the professional life of researchers.

If you do not have an ORCID identifier yet, FESP recommends that you create one when you proceed to initial submission. It is possible to do this for free on the orcid.org website.

For assistance, please contact the Library's ORCID support team at identifiants.uniques@bibl.ulaval.ca.

You must be registered for the semester in which you make your initial submission:

• For an activity in your degree program
• For an ongoing research activity
• For a graduate program at Université Laval (e.g., a doctoral program subsequent to your master’s program)

Important: Professional skills development (DVP) courses do not meet this requirement.

The deadline for the initial submission of your Master's or Doctoral thesis is the semester end date on the university calendar.

During your initial submission, be sure to send a complete evaluation file to the FESP, i.e. your Master's or Doctoral thesis in a Word, ODT or LaTeX format, and a PDF version as well as all the required documents and forms. If your initial deposit is not complete and the deadline has passed, you will need to register for the next session and maintain your registration for the entire session.

If you make your initial submission after the end of the semester, you will be required to register for the following semester and remain registered throughout.

Foreign students present on Canadian territory whose only legal status in Canada is that granted by their study permit have the legal obligation to register full-time for all sessions of their study program, which includes the sessions of the initial submission, the defense and the final submission.

Foreign students registered full-time retain the advantages associated with this status:

• Continued authorization to work on and off campus
• You remain in Canada and must maintain full-time student status in order to meet your legal obligations and retain the following benefits:
  • Membership in the group health and hospitalization insurance plan for international students
  • Dental insurance provided by AÉLIES
  • Access to library services
  • PEPS membership
  • Student rate in campus residences

Registration is not required if:

• You are a permanent resident or a Canadian citizen
• You have a valid work permit, other than a co-op work permit obtained from your program of study, and meet the following conditions:
  • You do not wish to apply for a post-graduation work permit.
  • You do not wish to apply for permanent residence through a student program, such as the Québec graduate stream of the Québec Experience Program (PEQ) to obtain a Certificat de sélection du Québec (Québec Selection Certificate) (CSQ).
• You reside outside Canada and meet the following conditions:
  • You do not wish to apply for a post-graduation permit
  • You do not wish to apply for permanent residence through a student program, such as the Québec graduate stream of the Québec Experience Program (PEQ) to obtain a Certificat de sélection du Québec (Québec Selection Certificate) (CSQ).

For more information, please write to immigration@reg.ulaval.ca or see this page.