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Research Guides

Submit and Publish Your Thesis

The Graduate Thesis: What is it?

A thesis is a piece of scholarly writing that should constitute a significant contribution to the knowledge of the field and must be based on research conducted while registered.

While in many disciplines at the University of Toronto the traditional or monograph style thesis remains the norm, some disciplines accept integrated or publication-based theses, in which a series of scholarly publications focus on the same research problem. As well, most graduate units welcome the use of scholarly artefacts such as film, audio, visual, and graphic representations. Consult your supervisor or graduate unit handbook for more information on what is acceptable in your graduate unit and discipline.

For further details on theses formats, including traditional, publication-based, multimodal, and portfolio thesis, see the SGS Student Guidelines for the Doctoral Theses.