Thesis Writing Deadline
Thesis Writing Deadline
Thesis Writing and Defense Timeline
Start Early
Prior to being granted permission – WRITE – It is never too soon to start writing!
You should be preparing early and working toward your goal!
Pre-Writing Phase
~6 months from the anticipated defense: Call a committee meeting to request permission to write. The committee grants permission to begin writing.
Timeline to Oral Defense
- Meet with program coordinator to finalize timeline and plan.
- Make an outline of the entire thesis:
- Ch 1: Introduction
- Ch 2: Methods
- Ch 3–4/5: Data/Results/Figures
- Ch 5/6: Perspectives
- Results Chapters:
- Results, Figures, and Figure Legends
- Discussion
- Introduction
- Introduction:
- Outline
- Thesis overview
- Each section should cover a major element of your work.
- Methods
- Perspectives:
- Outline
- Think about how your chapters fit together.
- Where is the data taking you next.
- Extra Pieces:
- Title Page
- Biographical Sketch
- Publications (if any)
- Acknowledgements
- Abstract
- Funding Sources
- List of Figures/Tables
- Abbreviations
- Formatting:
- Table of Contents
- Page numbers
- References
- Assembly
- Proofread: Give it to 3 people to read.
- Submit
- Presentation Practice
- Oral Defense
Created by Dr. Elaine Smolock; March 2026