Types of theses
The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies authorizes various types of theses. All manuscripts must meet the following General Guidelines, while some types of theses must meet additional requirements.
Conventional Master's or Doctoral thesis
A conventional manuscript, also called a monograph, is a complete work presenting a comprehensive study of a given subject. It is made up of chapters reporting on the various stages of the research. It generally includes the following chapters: introduction, literature review, methodology, presentation and analysis of results, general discussion and conclusion.
Article-based or combined Master's or Doctoral thesis
The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies accepts Master's and Doctoral theses that include one or more papers in the manuscript. Such theses can take one of two forms:
Article-based theses
In this type of manuscript, each chapter consists of a paper.
Combined theses
This type of manuscript combines:
- one or more chapters in the form of an article
- one or more conventional chapters.
General conditions
For these types of writing, the following general conditions must be met:
- The manuscript must include a preface, an introduction and a conclusion that highlight the coherence of the student's approach.
- The articles included must have been prepared in the course of your program as part of the research conducted to fulfill your degree requirements.
- You must be the first author of the papers. One or more coauthors may have contributed to the articles. The first author is the person to whom the work was assigned, who contributed most to the research, and who wrote the various parts of the paper.
Learn more about the definitions and differences between authorship and coauthorship status (see below).
If you are interested in doing an article-based thesis, first check with your program director to find out wether it is allowed and to learn about the specific rules to be followed for the insertion of articles and the presentation of your thesis.
Portfolio format thesis
A portfolio format thesis consists of various relatively independent original components, created to fulfill requirements of the academic program, organized according to a specific and coherent research project.
While not exhaustive, here is a list of elements that can be part of a portfolio format thesis:
- Policy reports and statements
- Inventions, models, prototypes, business plans, patents, technological licenses
- Educational programs, course materials, assessment tools
- Cultural productions such as creative works and archives from festivals, exhibitions, cultural or artistic events
- Various digital artifacts
- It may also include regular chapters and articles submitted for publication.
In this type of thesis, each original component constitutes a chapter.
Similar to an article-based or combined thesis, a portfolio format thesis includes a preface, an introduction, and a conclusion that highlight the coherence of the student's approach.
The Ph.D. program that allows the portfolio format thesis must clearly state this in its description, and specify the conditions that apply to this type of writing.
For this type of writing, the following general conditions must be met:
- Discuss with your supervisor to ensure that this type of thesis fits your research project.
- Be aware that crafting a thesis from various components may require a good knowledge or mastery of certain communication tools or new technologies.
- Be first author or co-first author of every original components included in the thesis.
For each chapter consisting of an original piece or an article, the rules for writing with articles must be respected.
Articles written with coauthors
Copyright must be respected when including a coauthored article.
Articles written with coauthors may be included in your Master's or Doctoral thesis provided you obtain written permission from each of the coauthors. Permission should be obtained while the thesis is being written. Coauthor permission forms (PDF) must be submitted at the time of initial submission.
Published or forthcoming articles
You’ll need to check with the publisher to ensure that publication of your article doesn’t prevent you from including it in your Master's or Doctoral thesis or restrict its subsequent release.
Note that a delay in the publication of an article cannot justify postponement of the evaluation of your Master's or Doctoral thesis.
For more information about the reproduction and dissemination of works for research purposes at Université Laval, consult the Copyright Office website (in French only).
For a Master’s thesis: it's not required that articles included in your thesis have been previously submitted for publication. As a Master’s student, you are not expected to have completed your training as an academic writer.
For a Doctoral thesis: articles must have been submitted to a peer-reviewed journal, but are not required to have been accepted or published.
- The Doctoral thesis must be a completed work, not a work in progress or the first draft of something else. Submitting the article to a peer-reviewed journal is an indication that your work has reached a sufficient degree of maturity.
- Submitted articles may be included in your thesis regardless of how they are received by the editorial board.
- Check with your program director to find out which peer-reviewed journals you can submit your articles to, so they can be considered for inclusion in your thesis.
When a paper included in a a Master's or Doctoral thesis and has been coauthored:
- You must have obtained their authorization for release during the writing process by having them sign the coauthors' authorization form (FES-100) (PDF). This form must be provided to FESP at the time of initial submission.
- Or, if the article is published at the time of initial submission, have obtained authorization from the publisher .
Important! The rules governing the submission of articles to peer-reviewed journals strictly apply to all graduate students who began their studies in the fall of 2018 or later. Those who began their studies before this date should ask their program director for details on applicable requirements.
The first author is the person to whom the work has been entrusted, who has carried out the majority of the scientific work and who has written the various parts of the article.
Each person who makes a substantial contribution to the materialization of an idea must be declared coauthor of the resulting document. The list of contributors must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the thesis.
Differences between author and coauthor status (PDF) (in French only)