Templates: These documents serve as models for formatting a journal-ready thesis, a journal-ready dissertation, a journal-ready 3-article dissertation, a traditional (5-chapter) thesis, and a traditional (5-chapter) dissertation and include all formatting required by BYU and the American Psychological Association (7th edition). Check with your department for specific guidelines. All theses and dissertations that include human subjects need to include a copy of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) Letter of Approval to Conduct Research and the stamped IRB consent/assent forms in an appendix.
- Journal-Ready Thesis Template
- Journal-Ready Dissertation Template
- Journal-Ready 3-Article Dissertation Template
- Traditional (5-Chapter) Thesis Template
- Traditional (5-Chapter) Dissertation Template
- Traditional (5-Chapter) Qualitative Thesis Template
McKay School of Education Checklist for Formats and Conventions of Theses and Dissertations: The checklist describes the important writing and formatting requirements of the MSE and BYU Graduate Studies. Students must submit this completed checklist (electronic or paper) to the MSE dean's office with their thesis/dissertation for approval. The more carefully you review your thesis or dissertation for these items, the faster your submission process will be.
For extra support with the writing and formatting requirements, schedule a meeting with Jena Green here and email the section you're working on to jena.green@byu.edu 3-5 days before your meeting.
MSE Thesis & Dissertation Approval Process: When you have finished your thesis or dissertation, you will need to receive approval from your committee, chair, graduate coordinator, and the dean's office. This flowchart illustrates the approval process. First submit your MS Word document to your committee and chair. When they have all reviewed it, send it to the graduate coordinator. Finally, when the graduate coordinator has reviewed it and you have made all of the corrections from the committee, chair, and graduate coordinator, you or your graduate coordinator will send an updated, clean MS Word final version to msegradsec@byu.edu. This process will take a few back-and-forths to finish. Plan enough time ahead of the submission deadlines to make corrections you will receive from your committee, chair, graduate coordinator, and the MSE dean's office.
Creating and Uploading Your Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD): After making changes from the dean's office, you will convert your MS Word document to a PDF with embedded fonts and bookmarks, send it again to msegradsec@byu.edu, and after approval, upload it to the Graduate Progress website. For additional help converting to a PDF with embedded fonts and bookmarks, you can watch video tutorials posted on the Graduate Progress website and sign up for software training classes on the Harold B. Lee Library website. Below are example PDFs to help you see how the bookmarks should appear in your final ETD.
- Journal-Ready Thesis ETD Example
- Journal-Ready Dissertation ETD Example
- Journal-Ready 3-Article Dissertation ETD Example
- Traditional (5-Chapter) Thesis ETD Example
- Traditional (5-Chapter) Dissertation ETD Example
Once your thesis/dissertation has been released for publication on the BYU Scholars Archive website, it will be available for worldwide access. You can search for and download theses/dissertations and faculty publications on this website and access article metrics (e.g., number of downloads).
2023-2024 Graduation Deadlines for the McKay School:
(Check with your department for your program's deadlines.)
December 2023 Graduation Deadlines:
Sep. 15: Last day to apply for graduation
Nov. 14: Defense has to be held by this day
Nov. 21: Deadline to submit the electronic MS Word version to the MSE dean’s office
Dec. 5: Deadline to submit pdf to msegradsec@byu.edu
Dec. 8: ETD upload deadline
April 2024 Graduation Deadlines:
Jan. 26: Last day to apply for graduation
Mar. 27: Defense has to be held by this day
Apr. 3: Deadline to submit the electronic MS Word version to the MSE dean’s office
Apr. 16: Deadline to submit pdf to msegradsec@byu.edu
Apr. 19: ETD upload deadline
June 2024 Graduation Deadlines:
May 3: Last day to apply for graduation
May 22: Defense has to be held by this day
May 29: Deadline to submit the electronic MS Word version to the MSE dean’s office
Jun. 10: Deadline to submit pdf to msegradsec@byu.edu
Jun. 13: ETD upload deadline
August 2024 Graduation Deadlines:
June 21: Last day to apply for graduation
July 16: Defense has to be held by this day
July 23: Deadline to submit the electronic MS Word version to the MSE dean’s office
August 6: Deadline to submit pdf to msegradsec@byu.edu
August 9: ETD upload deadline
The following individuals can be hired to support students in the formatting and writing process. It is not mandatory to hire an editor. Please contact editors concerning prices. Inclusion in this list does not constitute an endorsement by the McKay School of Education.
Margaret Zerkle | (801) 766-5147 | |
Suzy Bills | (602) 318-2218 | |
Jessie Scoville | (734) 272-1473 | |
Stirling Miller | (801) 675-6044 | |
Faculty Publishing Service, Heather Randall | (801) 824-9334 |