uq thesis submission

Thesis with publications

Process overview.

As part of the thesis, a candidate may submit published work that contributes directly to their arguments and supports their findings.

The minimum requirements for including publications in a thesis are:

• The work must have been carried out since the commencement of the candidature.
• The work must have been submitted for publication, accepted for publication, or published during the period of candidature.
• The scope and quality of the published work must be commensurate with the contribution of knowledge expected of a Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) or Master of Philosophy (MPhil) candidate.

Formatting and structural requirements

The thesis must meet the following requirements:

• The thesis must contain an introduction that contextualises the research in relation to the present state of knowledge in the field.
• Thesis chapters must be in a logical and cogent sequence leading to an argument that supports the main findings of the thesis.
• There must be an independent and original general discussion included that is entirely the work of the candidate and that integrates the most significant findings of the thesis.
• Clear statements of the candidate’s contribution to each paper must be provided in the preliminary pages of the thesis.
• Works submitted for publication must be clearly distinguished from work which has already been published or accepted for publication.
• Published works which are included in the thesis should not be submitted in the journal's published format, but rather in the format of the final author-submitted manuscript. This requirement is in place to maintain consistent formatting throughout the thesis.

Although they have gone through peer review, published works which appear in the thesis are  not exempt  from the revisions which examiners may request.

Learn more in the Thesis Preparation Guide for candidates.

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If you have submitted your thesis for examination via UQ eSpace please read this document for information on how your examination will progress.

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5. After your thesis is submitted

After you have completed the 2-step submission process, an email invitation will be sent to your Principal Advisor for review and approval. Once approved, the Graduate School will check your thesis against the requirements in the Higher Degree by Research Examination Procedures . There are three possible outcomes:

• If your thesis doesn’t meet the requirements , the Graduate School will contact you and ask you to amend and re-upload your thesis to UQRDM, so it can be sent for examination.
• If your thesis meets all requirements , the Graduate School will confirm that your thesis is officially ‘submitted’ and will send it for examination.
• If you are required to undertake an oral examination , your thesis won’t be recorded as officially ‘submitted’ until after you have completed your oral exam.

What to do next

Contact Student Central if you need a thesis statement to show your employer or sponsor that you have submitted your thesis.

Your student account will still allow you to access to:

• student email

You are required to update your personal details in mySI-net , including your address and contact details.

It is important to regularly check your student email account to ensure you are receiving all official Graduate School and UQ communications.

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• Thesis submission date and scholarship extension

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• Thesis assessment items
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• Thesis coursework information

There are a number of assessment items you must complete throughout your thesis.

Always check your course profile to confirm the assessment items and due dates for your specific project course. The list in the course profile is the definitive version.

Academic Integrity Tutorial (online)

All ITEE Thesis Project students must complete the UQ Academic Integrity Tutorial as a pass/fail requirement of the course. The tutorial can be accessed on the UQ Library website .

It is a University requirement that students complete the Academic Integrity Tutorial before graduation. However, academic integrity is particularly relevant to a thesis project so it's appropriate that student completion of the tutorial is verified early in the project. 

Annotated bibliography

Students undertaking a postgraduate (level 7) coursework thesis are required to compile an annotated bibliography of literature relevant to their project.

The annotated bibliography assists the development of proper referencing style and the short annotations form the kernel of the literature review in the thesis.

UQ provides guidelines and advice on how to write a literature review .

If using EndNote or other bibliographic management software always check that citations generated are correct. A full description of the IEEE citation reference style can be found on  IEEE’s website .

Library workshops  are available to help you prepare for this assessment item. The UQ Library also runs separate EndNote classes and training guides are available on the UQ Library website .

The bibliography is marked by the supervisor on a pass/fail basis using the  annotated bibliography marksheet (PDF, 51.7 KB)

The annotated bibliography is to be submitted via Blackboard (Turnitin).

Proposal Draft

Each student must write a project proposal which clearly defines the thesis topic, presents a review of relevant background materian and an assessment of the impact of previous work on the current project. The Proposal Draft is an earlier version of the final Proposal, with a particular focus on these items. In addition, a brief version of the project plan is to be included with a list of milestones, their dates and the required resources needed to complete these. This section will be expanded for the final proposal.

All background and related material should be appropriately references and appear in a bibliography. The proposal must also contain a satisfactory Occupational Health and Safety risk assessment for the project.

Assessment criteria

The proposal draft will be marked by the supervisor against the proposal draft marking criteria (PDF, 101 KB) .

The project proposal must be submitted via Blackboard by the due time.

Project proposal

Each student must write a project proposal which clearly defines the thesis topic, presents a review of relevant background material and an assessment of the impact of previous work on the current project.

Importantly, the proposal should state the purpose, aims, coverage and relevance of the project and a project plan for its completion.

All background and related material should be appropriately referenced and appear in a bibliography. The proposal must also contain a satisfactory Occupational Health and Safety risk assessment for the project.

There is no set format or length of the project proposal, and this should be discussed with the thesis supervisor.

Using the format of the final thesis will assist in the integration of the material from the progress report into the final thesis.

The length of actual text (excluding title pages, tables of content, etc) is usually around 15 pages.  

The project proposal will be marked by the supervisor against the  project proposal marking criteria (PDF, 307.1 KB) .

Library workshops  are available to help you prepare for this assessment item.

The project proposal must be submitted via Blackboard (Turnitin) by the due time.

Check with your supervisor as they may want a paper copy as well.

Seminar and seminar participation

Approximately half way through their projects, students orally present the key content of their research and the progress of their work.  

The seminar should describe the scope and relevance of their thesis, the reviewed literature and its relevance to the thesis, the work carried out so far and the work remaining to be done.  

The material should be prepared in a fashion that suits oral presentation and gives justice to the progress made so far.  

It is essential that the seminar is not merely an oral presentation of the previously submitted project proposal but is focused on the progress in the project since the submission of the proposal.

Your seminar will be marked by your supervisor using the criteria on the  seminar marksheet (PDF, 211.4 KB) . 

You should consult with your supervisor to arrange your Project Progress Seminar at least one week prior to the scheduled assessment. 

The supervisor will provide you with a Zoom link for the agreed time. You will be able to see the complete seminar schedule via the Assessment tab in Blackboard. 

Seminar participation

You must also participate in at least five other seminars and have your participation recorded on the  seminar participation form (PDF, 66.9 KB) . You do not need to book to attend the seminars that you participate in, only your own presentation timeslot.

Completed seminar participation forms are to be emailed to  [email protected]  with the subject 'Completed Seminar Participation Sheet'.  

Failure to participate in five seminars means your overall mark for the course is capped at 49% and your final grade is capped at 3.

Note: your seminar will be recorded for official moderation and review of results as required.

Conference paper

Postgraduate coursework thesis students must complete a 2-page or 4-page conference paper.

This item of assessment introduces students to an important medium of scientific and professional communication.

Students are required to submit a conference paper on their research findings in the form of an extended abstract.

The paper must follow the  conference paper template (Microsoft Word format) (DOC, 38 KB) . (The paper doesn't have to be completed using Microsoft Word, but it must still follow the template.)

The conference paper will be marked by your supervisor using the criteria on the  conference paper marksheet (PDF, 226 KB) .

You must submit your conference paper via Blackboard (Turnitin).

Page length requirement

#4 unit courses - submit a 2 page conference paper #6 or #8 unit courses - submit a 4 page conference paper

Poster and demonstration

Each student must verbally and visually present the results of their work at a time negotiated with their supervisor and examiner during the demonstration week.

Where tangible working hardware or software has been produced, it should be demonstrated.

All students will be required to produce a poster documenting their work to support their presentation.

The poster and demonstration will be marked by your examiner using the  Poster and Demonstration marksheet (PDF, 244.7 KB) .

The poster should clearly identify the project title, goals, some relevant background information and outcomes.

The abstract should clearly state the project aims and goals, methods used and the project outcomes.

The posters may be created using this   poster template (PPTX, 122.5 KB)  (more information is found on the template itself).

The posters are designed to be printed in colour on A3 paper (print using the  size to fit  option). Colour A3 printing is available on campus via POD or the UQ Union Print Shop.

Final presentation

Students undertaking a CEED or placement project have a final presentation at the end of the project, at a time and date to be negotiated with the industry and academic supervisors but no later than the date given in the course profile.

For a placement away from the Brisbane area, the presentation will take place on the student's return to UQ at an agreed time.

The presentation will be marked by the academic supervisor using either the  seminar marksheet (PDF, 196.1 KB)  or the  demonstration marksheet (PDF, 158.7 KB)  as appropriate.

Thesis (final report)

The project thesis is the major means of reporting the contribution of the project.  

The thesis should be such as to facilitate assessment by persons other than the supervisor, and should comprehensively include material on the problems and goals of the project, applicable methods, the approach taken, major decisions and the reasons for the selection of goals and methods, results, the extent to which the goals have been achieved, the relevance, importance and context of achievements and the reasons for any shortcomings.  

Production of the thesis is regarded as part of the educational value of the project, and the supervisor should give guidance where appropriate.

Please refer to the Formatting your thesis page for more information.

The thesis will be marked by both the supervisor and examiner using the  thesis marksheet (PDF, 407.1 KB) . Their marks will contribute equally towards this component of the assessment.

Students must submit their thesis via Blackboard (Turnitin). 

Please refer to the  Thesis Submission Information page  for more information.

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Higher Degree by Research Examination Guideline

Section 1 - including scholarly works in the thesis, section 2 - additional formats for a hdr thesis, section 3 - submission for examination, section 4 - conflict of interest, section 5 - oral examination, section 6 - chair of examiners.

(1) As part of the thesis, a candidate may submit work that has been published or accepted for publication or manuscripts submitted for publication that contribute directly to their argument and supports their findings.

(2) The scope and quality of each scholarly work in the thesis must be commensurate with the contribution to knowledge expected of a PhD or MPhil candidate.

(3) Research contributing to scholarly work that is included in the thesis must have been conducted during candidature.

(4) Works published prior to candidature cannot be included in the thesis.

(5) The candidate must make a substantial contribution to each of the following activities related to each scholarly work:

• conception and design of the project associated with the scholarly work and its components;
• analysis and interpretation of the research data on which the scholarly work is based; and
• drafting and production of significant parts of each scholarly work included in the thesis.

(6) The candidate must have participated sufficiently to take public responsibility for each scholarly work appearing in the thesis and a clear statement of authorship and contribution to each scholarly work must be provided in the preliminary pages of the thesis.

(7) All authors must agree to the scholarly work appearing in the thesis.

(8) The presence of peer-reviewed published works within the thesis does not pre-empt or negate the assessment of the examiners regarding the quality of this work within the thesis nor does it preclude amendments to the thesis based on examiners recommendations.

(9) All candidates commencing from 1 January 2017 who include scholarly works in the thesis will undertake an Oral thesis examination.

(10) All theses that include publications must be formatted according to the requirements outlined in the  Higher Degree by Research Examination Policy .

• The accepted author manuscript must be included in the thesis.
• Peer reviewed papers may be incorporated if the papers contribute to the argument of the thesis.
• an independent introduction that contextualises the research project in relation to the present state of the knowledge in the field;
• thesis chapters in a logical and coherent sequence leading to an argument that supports the main findings of the thesis;
• an independent and original discussion that integrates the significant findings of the thesis.
• Permission must be obtained to reproduce copyright material in the thesis unless as part of the publication process permission has already been granted. A statement attesting to copyright permission must be explicitly included in the thesis.
• Thesis examiners may request amendments to those parts of the thesis that derive from published papers. Prior publication is not an academically acceptable defence for not incorporating amendments into the final version of the thesis.

(11) For an individual candidate (or an Academic Organisational Unit) to obtain approval to submit a thesis in an alternative format, the request must include the following:

• Outline the proposed thesis format and the academic grounds for using that format, including how it would better articulate the outcomes of the project.
• Demonstrate that the proposal is appropriate for the HDR program, can support a timely completion with the resources available (including advisory expertise and support), and will result in a thesis that can be examined.
• If appropriate, demonstrate that the reasons for submitting material written in a language other than English in the thesis are academically appropriate (for example, that presenting the material in English would compromise the argument of the thesis) and related to the research topic, and not a consideration made based on the candidate’s English language proficiency.
• An endorsement by the advisory team and Head of the Academic Organisational Unit (AOU) for approval by the Dean, Graduate School. The Head of the AOU may also seek approval for this format to be used broadly for other candidates in the discipline if appropriate.

(12) The following requirements must be met for thesis submission:

• an indication if embargo is required;
• the thesis has been submitted to iThenticate and the Principal Advisor has sighted this and verified that the thesis is ready to be examined;
• the thesis and abstract must be in PDF format, supplementary audio files are to be in MP3 format;
• supplementary video files are to be in WMV or AVI format;
• all documents uploaded to the UQ eSpace must not be password protected, all fields in the UQ eSpace must be completed when uploading documents, all documents must be attached to a singular UQ eSpace record;
• PDF files must be saved using the following naming structure: (student number), (degree type), (stage of examination). Stages of examination are: “submission”, or “correctedthesis”, or “finalthesis”.

(13) The Graduate School ensures that all thesis examiners act with integrity. All Conflicts of Interest (COI) are declared so that a thesis may be assessed free from any perception of bias or preferential treatment. UQ's COI guidelines are informed by those of the Australian Council of Graduate Research.

(14) Relationships that would normally exclude a potential examiner include:

• Examiner is in negotiation to directly employ or be employed by the candidate or Advisor.
• Examiner was a candidate of the Advisor within the past 5 years.
• Examiner has directly employed or been employed by the Advisor or candidate within the past 5 years.
• Examiner is legally family or known relative to the Advisor, or candidate is a legal guardian or has power of attorney for the Advisor or candidate.
• Examiner has a formal grievance with UQ.
• Examiner is a current academic staff member at UQ or has a current Honorary, Adjunct or Emeritus position or is an academic title holder (Medicine) with UQ.

(15) Working relationships with the examiner are to be declared on the Nomination of Thesis Examiners request form. Working relationships which may lead to exclusion as an examiner include:

• Examiner has co-authored a paper with the candidate or Advisor within the last 5 years.
• Examiner has worked with the candidate on matters regarding the thesis, e.g. previous member of the advisory team.
• Examiner has employed the candidate or Advisor or been employed by the candidate or Advisor within the last 5 years.
• Examiner has acted as a referee for the candidate or Advisor for employment.
• Examiner has co-supervised with the Advisor in the past 5 years.
• Examiner holds a patent with the Advisor granted no more than 8 years ago and which is still in force.
• Examiner holds a current grant with the Advisor.

(16) The examples provided above are indicative and are not considered exhaustive.

(17) The main objectives of the oral examination are to:

• establish that the candidate fully understands the work and its wider implications;
• provide the candidate with an opportunity to reply to criticism or challenge;
• enable the examiners to clarify issues in the thesis which may be unclear;
• help the examiners to decide on the nature and extent of any corrections or revisions which may be required;
• provide the examiners with an opportunity to clearly communicate required corrections or revisions to the candidate; and
• authenticate the contribution made by the candidate to the thesis and ensure that the candidate has a clear understanding of the contribution of collaborators to the thesis.

(18) The oral examination will include assessment of the candidate's ability to:

• demonstrate detailed knowledge of the thesis;
• locate their research in the broader context of their discipline;
• demonstrate the originality of the thesis and the contribution it makes to state of knowledge in the field;
• defend the methodology and conclusions of the thesis; and
• display awareness of the limitations of the thesis.

(19) Examiners are invited to examine the thesis in the knowledge that an oral examination will be held as part of the examination process. Examiners are requested to provide a full written report and a recommendation on the thesis outcome for consideration by the Dean, Graduate School within 6 weeks of thesis submission.

(20) The oral examination should be scheduled approximately 8 weeks after the date of thesis submission.

(21) Examiners' reports and summary recommendation are submitted directly to the Graduate School.

(22) Once both reports have been received by the Graduate School, they will be forwarded to the Chair of Examiners.

(23) The Chair of Examiners will distribute the examiners' reports to the members of the oral examination panel and the Principal Advisor. The Chair of Examiners will consult with the candidate to discuss the examiners’ reports after which the reports will be provided to the candidate.

(24) The candidate should receive the examiners' reports at least 1 week prior to the oral examination. If this is not possible then the oral examination may be postponed.

(25) The candidate will provide a seminar on their thesis work to the examination panel, typically no more than 30 minutes in duration.

(26) At the conclusion of the seminar, the candidate and the oral examination panel conduct a closed interview during which time the panel discusses the thesis with the candidate.

(27) At the conclusion of the interview with the candidate, the panel will meet in the absence of the candidate to discuss the outcome and produce a written report that should be submitted to the Dean, Graduate School within two business days. This report will contain a recommendation on the outcome of the oral examination and will delineate any changes required to be made to the thesis before the conferral of the degree. If the comments are substantially different from the written reports of the examiners then a justification of these differences must be included in the report.

(28) The panel may advise the candidate of their recommendation. However, the determination of outcome remains with the Dean, Graduate School, who will consider the examiners' written reports together with the report from the oral examination panel.

(29) The Chair of Examiners:

• is nominated for each HDR candidate whose thesis is submitted for examination;
• is identified at the thesis review milestone;
• is an academic staff member of UQ;
• is a member of UQ's Principal Advisor Registry;
• must hold a degree of a level equivalent to or greater than the one the thesis is being examined for;
• must be familiar with the research discipline represented in the candidate's thesis, or in the case of multi-disciplinary theses, be familiar with part of the research discipline represented by the thesis; and
• must not be a current or former member of the advisor team.

(30) Duties of the Chair of Examiners include:

• conduct the oral examination meeting;
• coordinate the oral examination committee report;
• review and determine the adequacy of the response of the candidate to the examiner(s) comments and recommendations; and
• provide specific academic advice to the Dean, Graduate School on an examiner(s)' recommendation when requested. This may occur when the examiners' recommendations are highly divergent or when there is a recommendation of revise and resubmit. The Chair of Examiners is expected to confer with the candidate's advisory team and must confine his/her comments to the matters raised in the examiner(s)' reports.

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