Frequently Asked Questions

There are nine steps to completing your thesis/project/dissertation. To check them out, View Our Canvas Page.

​​​​​​You should submit your paper by our Canvas deadline at the latest. Our submission dates are built-in with a time buffer to allow us to review your paper, give you feedback, and have you make the necessary changes prior to the paper being approved.

ProQuest can take up to 8 to 12 weeks to process your paper and make it available online. For more questions about ProQuest, please visit the ProQuest FAQ page.

Yes. Students can submit using the library’s process until the summer of 2024. For instructions on the library’s process, please email GraduateStudies@csustan.edu.

We do not have an exact estimate of turnaround time for papers submitted to Canvas. However, during peak submission periods, do expect communication delays.  

Yes, you can submit earlier to Canvas. This gives you more time to work on any feedback provided by our team. However, it does not expedite your graduation clearance, as evaluators must wait until the end of the semester to check if you have met graduation requirements.  

Our templates are designed to be a place to copy and paste your full paper into the correct format, so the first thing to check if you are having trouble is if you are attempting to type your whole paper within the document. If so, please use a separate document and reserve the template for the end steps. If you are having trouble copying and pasting your information over within the format, it may be best to try redownloading the template and trying again. You may also turn on the leader dots if you need to look at the formatting instructions on the template to see what is going wrong. If you cannot identify the problem or how to fix it, please contact our office for help.    

You can, but the conversion to a SharePoint Word document may alter the current formatting in the templates and render them difficult to use.  

You will be able to get your feedback directly on Canvas within the submission comments. If you need to, please enable notifications so you will know when those comments have been posted.  

There is no official guide to how a project can be shown in your appendices. Check in with your chair committee about what they think would be most appropriate (links to the project, screenshots of certain aspects of the project, etc.).  

That would be your decision to make, but before doing so, you may want to check out this link to help you make your decision.  

This decision is made at the program level. Please consult with your program for further information on their policy on this. 

One of the most common errors our reviewers see in Template A is not listing the correct degree name for the program they are in. To check how your degree should be listed, please consult our guidelines. Also, some common errors our reviewers see in Template B are the headings and formatting of the table of contents. For headings, please check our guidelines for examples of how they should look in your paper and double-check that they are consistent throughout your chapters. The table of contents should be the last thing you do in your paper, as your page numbers can shift with any changes made to your document. We would also recommend tracking your page numbers on a separate sheet of paper to make formatting the table of contents easier.  

With the approval form, some common errors our reviewers see are with the address and signatures. Please make sure you fill out your full address (street address, city, state, and Zip code) and have both your chair’s signature and your signature in the appropriate sections. 

If you have not enrolled in our Thesis/Project/Dissertation Submission Portal, please do that first. Within that course, you should see an assignment due toward the end of the semester. This is where you will submit your signed approval form, template A, and template B. Please note that you must convert template B into a PDF before submission.  

You should be able to add extra subheadings to your table of contents by copying some of the existing subheadings and pasting them below the chapter under which you need extra subheadings. If you find that what you pasted is not in line with your other subheadings, you may need to hit “tab” and then paste your subheadings or copy a block of subheadings to paste instead.  

Yes! Throughout the fall and spring semesters, we offer numerous events on the submission process and the templates. Consult our events page to keep up to date! You can also follow our social media page(@stanstate_gradstudies) for regular updates in your feed on what is going on in our office.  

You can submit to ProQuest after our office has approved your paper. This would be done by creating an account with ProQuest, logging in, selecting “submit a new dissertation/thesis,” and filling out the appropriate information. If this is your first time logging into ProQuest, you may automatically be directed to the start of your submission process and not need to select “submit a new dissertation/thesis." If you would like a walk-through guide, please check out our help video regarding ProQuest submission.  

If you have received feedback from your reviewer and don’t know what it means, please feel free to schedule a consultation using BookMe. This will give you the opportunity to talk to a reviewer on Zoom and address your questions and concerns.  

If you are looking to resubmit, please go to the assignment and select “new attempt”. From there, submit all three of your documents over again (approval form, template A, template B). Our thesis reviewers will then review your new submission to ensure that the appropriate changes were made to your paper.  

While our office approves your thesis/project/dissertation, we do not determine if you have met all the criteria to graduate and receive your degree. For questions regarding degree requirements or when they will be posted, please contact Enrollment Services.  

We only allow one page for your dedication and acknowledgments. If you are having trouble fitting your complete dedication on that page, you may try using Adobe Acrobat to fill that section out and then save it using a print-to-pdf option. This allows you to maximize the usage of your space, but ultimately, it will have to fit within one page.  

Yes, the table of contents is supposed to start on page one in the template. This means your abstract and the beginning of your paper will likely start on page two or three.