Thesis and Dissertation Services (TDS) is a unit of the Graduate School that develops supportive services for graduate students completing a thesis or dissertation. TDS processes, reviews, and approves proposals and completed theses and dissertations by reviewing adherence to the Graduate School's formatting requirements.
The Graduate School/TDS conducts a format-only review of all proposal, dissertation, and thesis documents submitted to TDS for Graduate School approval. The department or the advisor, based on the field of study and/or type of study being conducted, will determine what style guide a student should follow when drafting the thesis or dissertation. Students, with the help of their advisors, will be responsible for adherence to their chosen style guide.
Students should begin drafting their document using the Graduate School template. The template can be found on the TDS/Resources for Writing web page under the Graduate School Templates and Guide bar. The Thesis and Dissertation Formatting Guide provides additional instructions and details for formatting the document. Also, a student checklist can be found here to check the formatting of the document before submitting it to TDS for review.
Please note, whenever there are differences in format and layout between the template and/or theThesis and Dissertation Guide and your chosen style guide, the Graduate School formatting guidelines overrule.
Graduating dissertation and thesis students must complete all dissertation- and thesis-related requirements by the Friday before commencement to remain eligible for graduation. The dissertation- and thesis-related requirements include:
Receive dissertation or thesis approval from the Graduate School (students and advisors will be notified via university e-mail)
Pay all student fees (including the TDS processing fee of $63 for thesis students, $73 for dissertation students)
Upload the final document to ProQuest
Students who do not complete the above requirements by the deadline may be removed from the graduation list.
Review the research compliance requirements before beginning to collect data.
Students conducting studies that do not require research compliance approval (IRB, IACUC, or IBC) may begin data collection after:
successfully defending their proposal,
completing RCR training (completed through CITI), and
receiving approval from their advisor and committee to do so.
Students conducting studies that do require research compliance approval (IRB, IACUC, or IBC) may begin data collection after:
successfully defending their proposal,
receiving approval from the appropriate compliance committee,
completing RCR training (completed through CITI), and
receiving approval from their advisor and committee to do so.
For questions about the thesis or dissertation process or about the Graduate School formatting requirements, please do not hesitate to contact TDS at TDS@tamuc.edu or 972-886-5968.