ubc masters thesis guidelines

• Library Home
• General (Summon)
• Books & Media (Catalogue)
• Indexes, Databases & Articles
• Research Guides
• UBC Research
• UBC Open Collections
• UBC Vancouver
• Asian Library
• Biomedical Branch Library
• Chapman Learning Commons Help Desk
• The Chung | Lind Gallery
• David Lam Management Research Library
• Education Library
• Irving K. Barber Learning Centre
• Koerner Library
• Law Library
• Music, Art and Architecture Library
• Rare Books and Special Collections
• Research Commons
• University Archives
• Woodward Library
• X wi7 x wa Library
• UBC Okanagan
• The Commons (Okanagan)
• Okanagan Library
• Special Collections & Archives
• UBC Virtual
• AskAway Chat Services
• Borrowing Services
• My Library Account
• How to Get Library Access
• See More...
• Electronic Access
• Connect to Library Resources
• OpenAthens Login Overview
• Computers & Technology
• Print, Copy, Scan
• Public Computers & Software
• Group & Silent Study Spaces
• Technology Spaces
• Guides for Library Users
• Undergraduate Students
• Faculty & Instructors
• Planning Your Research
• Getting Started on Your Research
• Finding Resources
• Journal Articles
• Evaluating & Citing Sources
• Evaluating Information Sources
• How to Cite
• Publishing Research
• Getting Started with cIRcle
• Building Your Academic Profile
• Collections
• Policies, Procedures and Guidelines
• Work with Us
• Accessing Library Resources?
• OpenAthens Login
• Add Browser Extension for Access
• Managing Your Account?
• My Library Account Login
• Need Citation Management?
• Citation Management Tools

JavaScript is disabled: Site features and functionality may be limited.

• Library Home /
• Search Collections /
• Open Collections /
• Browse Collections /

UBC Theses and Dissertations

Open collections, limit this search.

The UBC Theses and Dissertations collection promotes open and comprehensive access to a significant body of unique knowledge created by graduate students to support further research and for private study. The authors retain copyright ownership and moral rights to their theses. The content of theses and dissertations may not be re-purposed or exploited for commercial gain without the explicit permission of the authors. 

See Theses and Dissertations at cIRcle: Discovery and Use to learn more about finding and using openly available theses and dissertations in Open Collections. 

UBC graduate students began submitting their theses online via cIRcle, UBC’s digital repository, in fall 2007, a practice that both simplified the submission process and also ensured the availability of this research to a global audience in a timely manner. As of March 2012, UBC Library has digitized and made openly accessible the full-text of more than 32,000 theses submitted by graduate students between 1919 and 2007. In addition to providing information about specific fields of study these theses also reveal important information about changes in pedagogy at the University and within academic disciplines. Authors concerned about having their pre-2007 theses included as part of this collection can notify [email protected] to have their thesis removed. Similarly, if copyrighted material appears in a thesis the copyright owner can request that material be removed.

Browse Theses & Dissertations

• {[{degree.key}]} ({[{degree.doc_count}]})

UBC Library Research Commons

• Research Commons Home
• Consultations
• Research Commons Team
• Impact Reports
• Policies & Procedures

Dissertation & Thesis Formatting Frequently Asked Questions

By Allan Cho on July 30, 2020

[Updated August 1, 2020]

The following are frequently asked questions regarding dissertation and thesis formatting.   We provide the following information as further support to answering commonly asked questions.  

Using memos in the body of a thesis. I am not aware of any UBC-specific formatting rules for memos. In other words, the UBC Grad Studies page has rules for block quotes but not for other things like memos. What about consistency? What about “complete memos” at the end of the thesis as appendices, but a shortened memo as a block paragraph in one of her chapters. Is this permissible? 

• APA has its own rules about writing memos, so  this is a grey area where citation style may/may not affect formatting in the thesis
• Please check with your department supervisor and also with previous dissertations/theses in your area of research for examples and best practices

Are there any formatting rules for creating captions for images/tables/figures that are in appendices? And is it a requirement to have these captions included in the Table of images/tables/figures of a thesis?

• No, there are no specific rules for captions in the appendices 
• Appendices must be limited to supporting material genuinely subsidiary to the main argument of the thesis. They must only include material that is referred to in the thesis.
• The following are appropriate for inclusion in the appendices:
• Additional details of methodology and/or data.
• Diagrams of specialized equipment developed.
• Copies of questionnaires or surveys used in the research.

How does citation style its impact paragraph spacing?   In my thesis, there is a space between every new section, sub-section, et cetera. But how would this change if a student is required to follow a very specific citation format?  (e.g. APA format in the thesis). 

• APA recommends no additional spaces between the start of new paragraphs/sections
• As a recommendation, you can go to Open Collections [ https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses ], and find recent previous submissions from your department.  

If you are still unsure, please contact your supervisor/advisor 

What is the main distinction between th e Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (G&PS) p re-review service and the RC Thesis Formatting service? 

• G+PS offers a general review to see if you’re on the right path with very general guidelines; it won’t answer any specific questions about formatting or other services
• RC service will help refer you to correct resources for more nuanced questions (e.g. Copyright, ethics approval, etc.)
• RC provides a pre-formatted dissertation template for you to populate with your content
• RC provides support using this template 
• RC offers one-on-one consultations for specific questions on your template

What is the turn-around time for G&PS pre-reviews?

• According to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (G&PS), it is 2-weeks.

What are the deadlines for Dissertation and Thesis Formatting submission?

• For most updated deadlines, go here: https://www.grad.ubc.ca/deadlines?type=deadline&deadline_type=571

Do I  have the option to embargo my work?

Yes, all information about delaying and embargo of your thesis/dissertation can be found on G+PS – https://www.grad.ubc.ca/current-students/final-dissertation-thesis-submission/delaying-publication-your-thesis

If I am an undergraduate student, should I still be using the Thesis Formatting template even though it seems to be intended for graduate students? Are there any formatting differences between an undergraduate thesis and a graduate thesis?

• Each undergraduate department may have its own specifications.  As undergraduates fall outside of the Faculty of Graduate + Postdoctoral Studies (G+PS), please contact your own department
• The Institutional Repository (cIRcle) has an archive of previous undergraduate theses with information on submission – https://circle.ubc.ca/submissions/submit-content/undergraduate/#fragment-5c201678217a9eeb6fca4f2cf24394f9-0

I found that in the thesis template, Chapter 1 doesn’t start at page 1 after the roman numerals.  I hope you can help me with this. It might be a problem with the Table of Content.  I am using the UBC thesis template.

• For your pagination issue, you can start with the two guides:
• How to guide:  PC (p.2)     Mac (p.2)
• Thesis Template User’s Guide: PC (p.4)     Mac (p.4)

I have an issue with converting my thesis into a PDF.  Some of the words (e.g. chapter headings in the table of contents and sub-section numbers) become blurry in the pdf format of the file. 

• The “blurriness” is indeed some sort of font formatting, and you can clear it as follows.  In the document, for each numbering level, click to select the number and press Ctrl+SpaceBar; this should revert font formatting to that of the underlying paragraph style.  Resource from: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2013_release-word/list-number-blurry-multilevel-list/ddd957aa-d531-4711-88e2-66fd4d7594fc
• The problem can be the PDF converter program. Sometimes, the PDF converter program may need to be reinstalled on the computer.  Try it again after reinstallation.

I need to create sub-sections in my Appendix C (e.g., C.2.1, C.4.1.1), but I don’t know how to do that. The UBC Research Commons template seems to only program to Heading 8.

Secondly, I also don’t know why the figure name sequence does not work in Appendices.

• First, Copy the template caption into Appendix B as it shows Figure 0.1. 
• Second, Right click the “0” choosing “edit field” and then change the file properties to Heading 7 (this is the heading level for appendices in the template). 
• Third, right-click the “1” choosing “edit field”.   The original field code is “SEQFigure \* ARABIC \s 2 “, the 2 after \s resets the sequence after each Heading 2, but appendices are under Heading 7.
• Fourth, change the whole code to “SEQFigure \* ARABIC \s 7 “
• Lastly, update the table of figures 
• ** Remember to separate each figure/table with its own page so that the Table of Contents will reflect these new sub-appendices

Theses and Dissertations

• Getting Started

UBC Theses Online

Finding theses by department, ubc theses and dissertations in print.

UBC's First 100 Theses

UBC Graduate Students

• British Columbia
• International
• How to Cite
• cIRcle: UBC's Digital Repository UBC theses and dissertations from 1919 to the present are available in full text in cIRcle: UBC's Digital Repository. All theses and dissertations completed at UBC's Okanagan campus are available in cIRcle (2005-present).
• cIRcle: Electronic Theses and Dissertations in Creative Arts, 2017+ Creative Arts Theses Beginning October 21, 2017 (UBC-V) and March 1, 2018 (UBC-O), creative arts theses (creative writing; film; music; theatre - MFA and MMus only) are available electronically by campus wide login (CWL), via Indexes & Databases: cIRcle: Electronic Theses and Dissertations in Creative Arts, 2017+. Creative arts theses prior to this period are listed in the Library’s online catalogue, and available for physical circulation.
• ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global This link opens in a new window International searchable index of dissertations and theses. The full text of UBC doctoral dissertations from 1997 to 2007 (including many pre-1997 titles) are available to UBC users. To search for UBC doctoral dissertations type "University of British Columbia Canada" and select "University/institution - SCH" as the search field.

Search for UBC Theses in cIRcle

In cIRcle you can search UBC theses and dissertations by program. At the cIRcle home page , select Theses & Dissertations under Browse Collections and on the next page click on UBC Theses & Dissertations . On the right side of the page you can browse UBC theses by department, faculty and program. After clicking on your choice, you can refine your search by degree type and other filters (on the left column).

Printed Format (available to 1991 only)

Most printed copies of UBC theses from 1919 to 1991 are in storage or the appropriate branch library and a second printed copy is held in Rare Books & Special Collections, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. Check the UBC Library catalogue for detailed location information.

Microfiche Format

Doctoral Dissertations

• From 1978 to 1997, there are two microfiche copies of UBC doctoral dissertations: one in Rare Books & Special Collections, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and one in the appropriate branch library. From 1998 to 2007, one microfiche copy only is held in the appropriate branch library.

Master's Theses

• From 1974 to 2007, there are two microfiche copies of UBC master's theses: one in Rare Books & Special Collections and one in the appropriate branch library.

Although UBC opened its doors in 1915 it was not until 1919 that the University awarded the first graduate degrees. In that year two women, Ruth Fulton and Isobel Harvey, received masters degrees. In fact, six of the first ten masters degrees granted by the University went to women. The University awarded its first doctorates in 1950 when four students earned PhDs.

Submission instructions for current UBC graduate students are available from the Faculty of Graduate Studies (Vancouver Campus) and the College of Graduate Studies (Okanagan Campus).

• << Previous: Getting Started
• Next: British Columbia >>
• Last Updated: Feb 1, 2022 2:35 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.ubc.ca/theses

• Submissions
• About cIRcle

Theses and Dissertations

What do I do if I need help submitting my thesis or dissertation?

Your Graduate Studies website is the first place to go for any questions about deadlines, preparation (including delay of publication & formatting), and submission (including account authorization).

If the website does not answer your questions, UBC Vancouver students may contact Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies ([email protected]), while UBC Okanagan students may contact the College of Graduate Studies ([email protected]).

Visit the cIRcle FAQ for more answers to common questions.

• Copyright Requirements for UBC Faculty and Staff
• Copyright Guidelines for UBC Faculty, Staff and Students
• Fair Dealing Requirements for UBC Faculty and Staff
• Fair Dealing in Practice
• Faculty FAQ
• Best Practices for Faculty
• Lecture Slides & Recordings
• Distributing Course Readings
• Music & Film in the Classroom
• Open Course & Educational Resource Guidelines
• Conference Presentations
• Copyright Flowcharts
• DVD Restrictions
• Student FAQ

Theses and Dissertations

• Why Should I Care?
• Website Administration
• Information about SOCAN and Re:Sound Fees at UBC
• Copying Posters
• Broadcast Emails

Introduction

What is copyright, what is fair dealing and can i use it for my thesis, when to seek permission, how to obtain permission, what to include in permission requests, unable to get permission, citations & bibliographies, student responsibility, removing images, non-exclusive licences, circle submission, publishing your thesis, creative commons licensing.

All UBC graduate students are required to submit a copy of their thesis to UBC’s institutional repository ( cIRcle ), where it will be made available to the public. Submission into cIRcle requires that you sign a license that gives UBC the rights necessary to make the thesis available to the public. The specifics can be found at cIRcle’s  License & Copyright  page. You are personally responsible for ensuring that your thesis complies with Canadian copyright law, and the cIRcle license requires that you confirm that you have done so.

This guide is designed to provide you with a starting point for your understanding of and compliance with your responsibilities.

Back To Top

Copyright is the sole and exclusive right of a copyright owner to produce, reproduce, perform, publish, adapt, translate and telecommunicate (e.g., post on the internet, email, etc.) a work, and to control the circumstances in which others may do any of these things.

Copyright law in Canada protects a wide range of works . Producing, reproducing, performing, publishing, adapting, translating and telecommunicating a “substantial” part of someone else’s copyrighted work is copyright infringement, unless (a) you fall within one of the exemptions set out in the Copyright Act , or (b) you have written permission from the copyright owner.

What is a “substantial” part of a work depends on numerous considerations, including:

• the quantity of what is being copied,
• whether what is being copied forms a material or essential part of the work, and
• what purpose the copied portion will be put to.

It is commonly understood that, for most purposes, copying more than a few sentences of a literary work, a few words of a short poem, a few bars of music, or a few seconds of a film is a “substantial” portion of the work. Also, copying any important part of a painting, graph or table, etc., is a “substantial” portion of a work.

Copyright protection comes into effect as soon as a work is created; there is no requirement that the work be registered or that the word “copyright” or the symbol © appear on the work. Accordingly, works that are publicly available on the Internet (such as images found via Google) are treated the same way under copyright law as materials distributed in any other way. In Canada, generally speaking, copyright expires 70 years after the death of the author, regardless of who holds the copyright.

This means that, if you have started writing your thesis, then your draft is already protected by copyright, which gives you control over the ways in which it can and cannot be legally used by others. At the same time, this also means that you need to think very carefully about how you are using the works of others, and about whether or not you will need permission to quote from or include these works in your thesis.

(For more information about copyright in general, please see the Basics FAQ and the Copyright Guidelines for UBC Faculty, Staff, and Students .)

Fair dealing is one of the user rights in the Copyright Act that allows any person to make a copy of a copyrighted work. In order for fair dealing to apply to your use of others’ works in your thesis, (a) the copying must be for one or more of the following purposes: research, private study, education, satire, parody, criticism, review, or news reporting, and (b) the copying must be fair.

When copying copyrighted works for use in a thesis, such copying is primarily for the purposes of research, criticism, and/or review. Any fair dealing for the purpose of criticism or review must mention the source and, if given in the source, the name of the author or creator of the work. Fair dealing should never be used merely for illustrative purposes or enhancing the content of the thesis without engaging with the third-party copyrighted materials for the fair dealing purposes listed above.

Sometimes you may hear that “copying for research or educational purposes is always fair” but this can be a misleading oversimplification. Ultimately, the fairness of the dealing is determined by a court of law if and when the rights holder makes a claim of infringement against the party that copied the work.

To determine whether a particular instance of copying may be considered “fair” for the purposes of fair dealing, the Supreme Court of Canada has stated that all relevant factors need to be considered, including the following, which comprise what is sometimes referred-to as the “six-factor” fair dealing test:

• the purpose of the proposed copying, including whether it is for research, private study, education, satire, parody, criticism, review or news reporting;
• the character of the proposed copying, including whether it involves single or multiple copies, and whether the copy is destroyed after it is used for its specific intended purpose;
• the amount of the dealing from the individual user’s perspective, including the proportion of the work that is copied and the importance of that excerpt in relation to the whole work; this is often referred to as a “short excerpt” and must contain no more of the work than is required in order to achieve the fair dealing purpose;
• alternatives to copying the work, including whether there is a non-copyrighted equivalent available;
• the nature of the work, including whether it is published or unpublished; and
• the effect of the copying on the work, including whether the copy will compete with the commercial market of the original work.

There is no specific Canadian case law on how the six-factor test would apply to use of third-party content in theses that are freely distributed on the Internet and what kind of copying would be permitted. The CAUT Guidelines for the Use of Copyrighted Materia l is a useful resource to learn about the six-factor test and to help determine if using others’ works in your thesis might be considered fair. For more information on fair dealing in general, including the University’s approach to determining whether something is a “short excerpt”, please see UBC’s Fair Dealing Requirements for UBC Faculty and Staff .

In summary, if your use of others’ work in your thesis is “fair”, then you do not need to ask for permission to use it. If your use of the work would not be “fair” then you do need to seek permission to use it. As a graduate student, you are responsible for the content of your thesis and, thus, for determining whether your proposed use of copyrighted works qualifies as fair dealing or whether you need to seek permission. The University is unable to provide you with legal advice in this regard.

UBC Library offers workshops and consultation to support graduate students in the application of these guidelines. Workshops are offered in collaboration with UBC Library Research Commons while consultations can be booked online or by emailing [email protected] .

Because the University requires you to submit your thesis to cIRcle (which means that it is published online) and also to submit your thesis to Library and Archives Canada, it is important for you to understand that any improper use of the fair dealing right by you may constitute copyright infringement and risks exposing you, and the University, to legal liability from copyright rightsholders.

In addition, you may wish to publish your thesis (or parts of it) in an academic journal. Please note some publishers may not be satisfied with copyright works used pursuant to fair dealing and may require authors to obtain permission for third-party copyrighted materials prior to publication.

You should seek permission if your thesis contains any of the following and you are unsure if the work can be used pursuant to fair dealing, as described in the previous section:

• Images of any form that have been obtained from copyrighted sources. This includes any tables, figures, maps, graphs, photographs, screenshots, drawings, logos, video screen captures, etc. that have been obtained from websites, newspapers, journals, books, brochures, professors’ lecture notes, etc.
• Since you will typically be using the whole of the copyrighted image (as opposed to a small portion of the image), you should be particularly careful in undertaking your fair dealing analysis or obtain permission before including it in your thesis.
• Altering an image does not necessarily remove the need to seek permission nor change the fair dealing analysis. Common alterations include cropping, re-sizing, modifying colours, and annotating with text, arrows, and other visual call-outs.
• Keep in mind that just because something is freely available on the web does not necessarily mean that you have permission to reproduce it. Always check the Terms of Use or copyright licence information on the website.
• Long quotations or excerpts from any one source. Common sources of quotations include books, academic journals, newspapers, magazines, short stories, plays, and poems.
• Articles or parts of articles that you wrote and previously published in a journal to which you assigned copyright. Academic publishing agreements commonly require authors to assign their copyright to the publisher. Refer to  Including Published Material in a Thesis or Dissertation  for additional requirements from Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.
• Material co-authored with others. Each co-author shares copyright and must consent to your use of the work if you are seeking permission to use it.
• Scripts and recordings of any performance.
• Translations of copyrighted work.
• Testing instruments such as standardized tests, questionnaires, forms, and surveys.

Important : The list above is not exhaustive. If your use of copyrighted material is not described above, that does not necessarily mean that you do not need undertake a fair dealing analysis or to seek permission.

Seeking permission is a straightforward process, but obtaining responses from copyright owners can take a long time. You are strongly encouraged to send out your permission requests as early as possible.

Identify the Copyright Owner

The first step in the process is to identify the copyright owner. Usually you will be able to identify the owner somewhere on the work by looking for the copyright symbol ©, which should have the copyright owner’s name next to it. You’ll often find this at the beginning of a book, at the side of a photograph or at the bottom of a web page.

Permission from Individuals

If the copyright owner is an individual, then the next step is to email or write to that individual, explaining how and why you want to use the work and requesting permission. The permission should be in writing; an email message will suffice. It’s also a good idea to keep a record of who gave the permission, what was permitted, the date, and how to contact the person who gave the permission. (For more information about what information to include in your permission requests, see the next section of this guide.)

Permission from Commercial Publishers

If the copyright owner is a commercial publisher, the fastest course of action is often to search for the work in question at the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC). The CCC handles permissions for a large number of publishers, and permission to include images in theses can often be obtained through the CCC website swiftly and at no cost.

If you cannot obtain permission through the CCC, then the next step is to check the publisher’s website. Many publishers will require that you submit your request directly to their permissions department, while others will require that you use an online form.

When you arrive at the website, look for a link that says “Rights and Permissions” (or something similar), then read through the available information to determine the correct method for requesting permission.

Permission from Journals

If the copyright owner is an academic journal (or an academic association/society that publishes a journal), then you may be able to obtain permission through the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC), as discussed above. If permission is not available through the CCC, then you should check the journal’s website, which may provide one or more of the following:

• Advance permission for specific uses. For example, The Journal of Biological Chemistry provides advance permission for non-commercial use.
• Advance permission to journal authors who have signed over copyright
• Information on how to request permission
• Information on uses that are specifically prohibited

If you can’t locate any information about copyright and permissions on the journal’s website, then visit the website of the company or organization that publishes the journal.

If permission to use copyrighted material is given on a website, then print out or save an electronic copy of the web page that states this and keep it for your records. Note, saving a link to the page is not sufficient, as the link may break or the content of the website may change.

Proof of Permission

You should keep copies of all letters and forms granting you permission to use copyrighted material. These copies are for your own records; do not include them in your thesis or dissertation.

As mentioned above, email permissions are acceptable. The best possible proof of permission is one of the following:

• a completed copy of the Permission to Use Copyrighted Material form, or
• an original signed letter on the copyright owner’s letterhead.

Originals are best, though scanned copies work well too.

For more information about seeking permission, see UBC Copyright Basics FAQ 1.16 .

Include the following information in your requests.

Introduce yourself clearly.

Tell the copyright owner that you are a graduate student preparing a thesis or dissertation for submission as part of the requirements for your degree at the University of British Columbia.

Identify the work you are seeking permission to use.

Give standard reference information for the work you wish to use, including figure/table number, if any, and page numbers. You should briefly describe the context in which you propose to use the work in your thesis.

Tell the copyright owner where their work will be distributed.

• that your thesis will be publicly available in UBC’s online digital repository, and
• that you will be granting non-exclusive licences to UBC and to Library and Archives Canada.

You, of course, will not know at the time you are asking permission, whether your thesis will be published in an academic journal. If you believe that it is a realistic possibility, you may wish to ask the copyright owner’s permission to use their work in the published version of your thesis.

Send the copyright owner information about and a copy of the cIRcle licence agreement:

• [cIRcle Licence Agreement – downloadable PDF http://hdl.handle.net/2429/59877 ]
• [cIRcle Licence Agreement – online submission form https://circle.ubc.ca/submissions/license-form ]

Ask for specific action.

• Request a reply by a given date.
• Offer to send the copyright owner a copy of your completed work.

Keep copies.

• Keep copies of request letters and all correspondence with the copyright owner.

When you are unable to obtain permission or there is a charge for obtaining permission, you must either (1) remove the copyrighted material and insert the text described below; or (2) replace the material with a different work for which permission is either obtainable or not required (such as works that are covered by Creative Commons licenses or that are in the public domain ).

If you have removed copyrighted material from your thesis and not replaced it, you must insert the following:

• A statement that the material has been removed because of copyright restrictions
• A description of the material and the information it contained, plus a link to an online source if one is available
• A full citation of the original source of the material

Example: Figure 3 has been removed due to copyright restrictions. It was a diagram of the apparatus used in performing the experiment, showing the changes made by the investigating team. Original source: Wu, G. and Thompson, J.R. (2008) Effect of Ketone Bodies on Dairy Cattle. Biochem J. 255:139-144.

The brief description of the removed figure is important, as it gives the reader a chance to follow the thesis argument without needing to look up the actual figures. If possible, including a link to an online source is also very useful.

You must include full citations for any copyrighted material in your thesis or dissertation regardless of source. Each citation must include the copyright symbol, name of the copyright owner (who may or may not be the author), and, if applicable, a statement that the use of the material or adaptation (in the case of adapted graphics) is by permission of the copyright owner.

Examples of direct citations to copyright owners:

• Image title (© 2001 Jane Doe, by permission)
• Graph Title (© 2003 John Smith, adapted with permission)
• Poem Title (© 2005 Jane Doe, by permission)
• Testing Instrument Title (© 2007 Company Name, by permission)

Citations from published works should follow your chosen citation style (e.g., APA, MLA, etc.) but include reference to the specific page. Examples of sources from published works:

• Table 1 from © Author, A., Author, B., & Author, C. (2007). Book Title. City: Publisher. Page 45. By permission from publisher.
• Figure 4.1 from © Author, A., Author, B., & Author, C (2009). Article Title. Journal Title, 38(2), 186-204. Page 191. Adapted with permission from publisher.
• Photo Title from © Author, A. & Author, B. (2012, May 5). Title of Web Article. Website Title. Retrieved from URL. By permission from author.

Sometimes copyright owners will ask you to use a specific wording in your citation. If so, it’s important to follow their instructions exactly, word for word.

Otherwise, craft your citations in accordance with your degree program’s preferred style guide. If you are unsure about which style guide to use, ask your supervisor. If you need help with using a particular style guide, check out the Library’s “How to Cite” guide or contact the subject librarian for your discipline. If you need help with citing images in particular, check out UBC’s Image Citation Guide .

If you have any questions about copyright or permissions, please begin by consulting the resources available on the Copyright at UBC website. You are also invited to send your copyright or permissions questions to [email protected] .

If you have questions related to the thesis-writing process, please review the following resources from Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies:

• Resources for Thesis Preparation and Checking
• Final Dissertation & Thesis Submission
• Graduate Pathways to Success (GPS) Program

My supervisor said that I don’t need permission to include copyrighted images in my thesis, so can I submit my thesis without seeking permission?

Information

As the author of your thesis, you are responsible for ensuring that your use of copyrighted images and other material is compliant with Canadian copyright law.

Indeed, when you submit the final copy of your thesis, you must sign the  cIRcle Non-Exclusive Distribution License  confirming that if you have copyrighted material in your thesis, you are either using that material under an exception available to you under the Copyright Act (such as fair dealing) or you have obtained permission to use it.

Can I just remove any copyrighted images from my thesis before submitting it, so I don’t need to worry about seeking permission?

For the reasons set out in the next paragraph, your thesis should be as complete as possible. Removal of material should only be an option if you are denied permission, if an unreasonable fee will be charged for use of the material, or if you receive no response from the copyright owner after making a reasonable effort at contact.

Theses are scholarly documents, and students are expected to complete them in accordance with scholarly best practices and their program’s requirements. Furthermore, by submitting your thesis to cIRcle , UBC’s digital repository, it will be publicly accessible online, so you want it to be as complete as possible to ensure that it appears professional, especially to future colleagues and employers. Your thesis is not only the culmination and crowning achievement of your graduate degree, but also the main surviving record of the work you completed during your degree. It is in your best interests to ensure that it is as complete as possible. By omitting images from your thesis, you run the risk of obfuscating the very arguments that you devoted so much time and effort to creating.

I know that I need to sign the cIRcle Non-Exclusive Distribution License before I can submit the final copy of my thesis, but I’m not entirely sure what I’m agreeing to. What exactly is a “non-exclusive licence,” and why do I need to grant such a licence to UBC in order to submit my thesis?

You own the copyright for your thesis, which means that you have the right to produce, reproduce, perform, publish, adapt, translate and telecommunicate your thesis, and you have the right to control the circumstances in which others may do any of these things.

By signing the UBC Thesis Licence Agreement, you are giving the University the permission to publish and archive your thesis in cIRcle.

Because this licence (or permission) is “non-exclusive,” you retain all of your rights as the copyright owner, and you may grant similar rights to others, at any time. This is in contrast to an “exclusive” licence, which would mean that the University alone would have the right publish and archive your thesis.

What is cIRcle, and where can I get help with submitting my thesis to cIRcle electronically?

cIRcle is an open access digital repository for research and teaching materials created by the UBC community and its partners. Its aim is to showcase and preserve UBC’s unique intellectual output by making content freely available to anyone, anywhere via the web.

Apart from theses and dissertations, cIRcle contains articles, conference and workshop papers, technical reports and working papers, books, datasets, learning objects, multimedia and audio-visual materials including podcasts, webcasts and more.

The University, via Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, requires you to submit your thesis to cIRcle electronically. For information on how to submit, please see the cIRcle instructions for electronic thesis submission.

As of September 2012, you can get in-person assistance with the thesis-submission process at the Koerner Library Research Commons .

If you have specific questions regarding cIRcle, please contact [email protected] . For questions related to your thesis submission, or to have your cIRcle login authorized for submission, please contact [email protected] .

You own the copyright to your thesis and are free to publish your thesis if you wish. However, if your thesis includes any copyrighted works (e.g. figures, tables, etc.) that you did not create and you are not able to use this work under an exception available to you under the Copyright Act (such as fair dealing), then you will likely need to obtain permission from the copyright owners in order to publish them.

This is true even if you have already obtained permission to use the works in your thesis, as the act of publishing your thesis would count as a different use of the works in question, and would therefore require separate permissions. With this in mind, as you make your initial requests for copyright permissions for your thesis, you may wish to think about asking for permission should you decide to revise your thesis for publication as a journal article or book at a later date.

The Scholarly Communications @ UBC website contains a wealth of information about scholarly publishing, including valuable resources for authors and information about how to make your work open access .

Also, you should be aware that students who have graduated may be contacted by publishing companies that have an interest in publishing their thesis. These companies often contact authors directly. You are free to grant permission, but you should research the company first to ensure that it is a reputable academic publisher. There are usually discussions among former students online that can give you an insight into the value of publishing with a particular company.

Creative Commons (CC) licences provide copyright owners with a simple and clear way to grant others permission to access and (depending on your preferences) to share and adapt your work for commercial or non-commercial purposes.

By applying a CC licence to your thesis, you can enhance the ease with which others can share and reuse your work. For more information about the various licences and what they allow, please see this useful overview .

To apply a CC licence to your thesis, you can simply select your desired licence when you submit your thesis to cIRcle (see: cIRcle’s submission instructions , step 3.7).

To apply a CC license to your other work, you can use the “Choose a License” form on the CC website. This form helps you choose a licence based on your preferences and then generates the appropriate text to apply to print works, as well as the HTML code to apply to online works.

In addition to information on the public domain available on the Copyright at UBC website, the Canadian Association of Research Libraries has published a FAQ on term extension that is available on their website. [Read More]

MORE UPDATES

12 Credit MSc Thesis (Thesis Master's)

The 12 credit MSc thesis is equivalent in credits to four three-credit graduate courses.  

Program Requirements under This Option

• 18 credits of approved courses of which a maximum of six credits may be 300 or 400 level undergraduate courses.  All courses must be approved by the student’s advisor or supervisor, and in the case of undergraduate courses, by the Graduate Advisor as well. If you want to take 300 or 400 level undergraduate courses or transfer credits, please refer to ' Undergraduate Course registration ' or  ' Transfer Credit ' for more information. The course work in this option comprises six 3-credit graduate courses, typically taken three per term in the first year of MSc studies.  However, students have flexibility in scheduling their course work.  For those new to the Canadian educational system the transition can be eased by scheduling two courses in the first term.  The additional course can be taken in the second year.  Another typical pattern involves taking only two courses in the second term of the first year, allowing the student to explore their intended research area.  Additionally, course availability may argue for deferring the final course until the second year.  It is of course possible to defer several courses to the second year of studies, but courses may either be unavailable or scheduled in the same term, which may interfere with research progress.  
• It involves some original research results;
• It involves novel implementation techniques
• It involves the implementation of a piece of nontrivial software whose availability could have some impact on the computer science user community.  
• one supervisor and at least one committee member, or
• one primary supervisor and one co-supervisor and one committee member,
• or two co-supervisors and one committee member.
• They may not have three co-supervisors (or one supervisor and two co-supervisors). Please refer to Faculty of Graduate and Post Doctoral Studies for details.
• The thesis must be approved by a committee of at least two (the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies highly recommends three) faculty including the supervisor(s).  An external reader  (i.e., someone outside of the supervisory committee who was not involved with the student’s thesis) is not required.
• Thesis/Essay Presentation: The student is required to present the thesis at a departmental seminar. This is not necessary if material related to the thesis has  been presented at conference or other public research meeting (workshop, symposium etc.). If the thesis is presented at a department seminar, the student must send the information (date, time, location, supervisor's name, title of the thesis, and abstract) to [email protected] at least 7 days  in advance, so that  an announcement can be sent to the department. 

  Supervisory Form

• Experiential Learning
• Research Participation
• Student Association
• Undergraduate Teaching Assistant
• Master’s Program
• PhD Program
• Opportunities

Dissertations & Theses

• Research Streams
• Labs & Museums
• Research Initiatives
• Field Schools
• Publications
• Laboratory of Archaeology
• Hawthorn Lectures
• Featured Anthropologists
• Faculty Committees
• Awards & Awardees
• In Memoriam
• Job Opportunities

Explore our doctoral dissertations and master’s theses that span all of the subfields of anthropology, including sociocultural, archaeological, museum and visual, linguistic, medical, and biological.