The Manuscript Clearance Portal will automatically calculate a student's deadlines once the "Defense Announcement Form" is submitted. Students in the manuscript clearance process should be familiar with both types of deadlines: Semester and 60-Day. Please note the following information:
- Manuscripts must be submitted by 11:59 pm (Eastern Time) of the listed deadline date. Forms must be completed by the same time on the deadline date.
- Pre-defense manuscripts must be at least 90% complete and formatted according to The Graduate School's guidelines to be accepted.
- For the post-defense deadline (all degrees), in addition to all of the manuscript forms being signed in the Manuscript Clearance Portal (except "Official Final Clearance"), this is also the deadline in which students are required to resubmit their final, content approved manuscript in ProQuest. *If there are no content changes requested by the committee or made to the manuscript after the defense, a resubmission of the final, content-approved manuscript is still required in ProQuest by this deadline. A pre-defense manuscript submission in ProQuest is not sufficient in meeting this deadline.
- Additional formatting corrections will likely be required after the post-defense or 60-day deadline, but content edits are not permitted after that date.
Summer 2023 Manuscript Clearance Semester Deadlines
June 19, 2023
Last day for doctoral students to submit doctoral dissertation or treatise for pre-defense format review.
July 3, 2023
Last day for master’s students to submit master's thesis for pre-defense format review.
July 17, 2023
Last day for the post-defense, content-approved manuscript (all degrees) and required Portal forms to be submitted.
August 4, 2023
Last day for students (all degrees) to receive an email from Manuscript Clearance Office confirming final clearance.
Academic units may set their own deadlines in advance of these manuscript clearance deadlines. Students must adhere to their unit's deadlines in addition to those established by The Graduate School. Please consult with your Graduate Program Coordinator, if you are unsure of your academic unit's requirements.
In the absence of additional deadlines set by academic units, we strongly recommend students defend at least 1 week prior to the post-defense deadline. Missing a semester deadline will result in the student automatically becoming ineligible to graduate in the current term. While students may be allowed to defend until the semester's post-defense deadline, they should understand that ALL content changes must be completed AND approved in the Portal by their committee prior to the deadline. The finalized manuscript must be submitted to ProQuest by the deadline as well. Extensions will not be granted for students who defended late and were unable to complete any content changes in time.
60-Day Deadline
No later than 60 days after a successful defense:
- Post-defense, final content-approved manuscript must be submitted.
- Required forms (through Final Content Approval) must be completed in the Portal.
No later than 1 week after the 60-day deadline:
- All requested formatting corrections must be complete. (Multiple reviews may be required.)
- Official Final Manuscript Clearance must be achieved in the Portal.
This deadline applies to students who:
- Defend early in their semester of expected graduation.
- Defend in a semester prior to their expected graduation.
- Missed a semester deadline after defending (resulting in delayed graduation).
University closures are not excluded from the 60 days, but deadlines may be adjusted (forward or backward) if they fall on a weekend or a day the university is closed. The deadline will be automatically adjusted in the Portal.