Masters Theses and Dissertations

Submission for Examination

At the time of your first digital submission you will be required to complete a Masters Thesis submission form (which includes the Supervisor Declaration and Ethics Declaration). This form will need to be emailed along with your masters thesis as a separate document. Any outstanding debts will be checked. Please ensure that you have paid any outstanding debts before submitting your thesis.

Failure to submit your thesis by the due date advised by your Faculty/School of Studies, may result in Honours not being awarded for your degree or result in you being required to re-enrol for another semester. An extension of up to three weeks, may be given by the Associate Dean (Graduate Studies) of your Faculty/School of Studies.

Once your thesis has been submitted, the Student Centre will forward it to the relevant department/programme for it to be examined

For further information on the regulations for dissertations and theses, refer to the Dissertations and Theses Regulations in the University of Waikato Calendar.

Submission for Completion

Once your thesis has been examined, passed and returned to you, you will be emailed to submit your final copy of your thesis. You will be required to submit a final digital copy to the University of Waikato Research Commons and complete the online digital submission form to complete your masters thesis. You may choose to make minor editorial changes approved by your supervisor before submitting your final copy.

Attached to your final copy must be the Declaration form signed by yourself and your supervisor stating that ALL versions of the thesis are identical with the exception of minor spelling, typographical and/or formatting errors. This final digital copy is not released for public viewing until the declaration form is completed and returned. The declaration form needs to be emailed to exams@waikato.ac.nz

If an embargo is required under contractual obligations, or if it becomes clear, at any stage during the course of the research, that an embargo will be necessary, the Student Centre (+64 7 838 4176) and the School of Graduate Research should be advised. The student and their supervisor should complete an Application to Embargo a Thesis form.

Approval of the embargo by the Research Office and the School of Graduate Research will then be sought.

It is recommended that an embargo application is submitted as soon as possible.

In addition to the submission of your thesis, if you are submitting a thesis written in Māori, a separate thesis abstract in English including your name, full thesis title, the degree and year of submission will need to be provided.

You may be offered the opportunity to re-submit a thesis if you have narrowly failed the thesis. That is, if at least one examiner has marked the thesis within the upper D range and the thesis does not achieve a pass grade overall. If you are offered the opportunity to re-submit a thesis, you will:

• have only one semester to resubmit the thesis;
• be required to re-enrol and pay fees for that semester;
• be awarded a maximum grade of C for the thesis;
• not be eligible for the award of Honours for your degree.

This offer can be made only once by the Dean on the recommendation of the Chairperson of the Department. The offer will be made to you in writing, and will provide advice about supervision arrangements and the implications in relation to maximum grades and ineligibility for honours for the degree. You will be required to accept or decline the offer not more than 14 days after receiving notification of the offer.

Submitting Masters dissertations

Masters dissertations (591 and 592 papers) must be submitted to your department, and do not require a digital version to be uploaded to the UoW Research Commons. 

Dissertation presentation

Dissertations, do not require formal binding but should be submitted in soft-bound form. The soft-bound dissertation should have soft covers and either a plastic spiral or staple and tape binding.

Also refer to the Dissertations and Theses Regulations in the University of Waikato Calendar.

Re-submission of dissertations

The regulations for re-submitting a dissertation are the same as those for a thesis.