Master's Milestone Project Paper Guide

The student will:

• Regularly consult with the faulty supervisor and, if applicable, the Supervisory committee
• Prepare and submit a Project Paper Proposal. Refer to the “Master’s Thesis/Professional Project Paper Proposal Guidelines”
• Where research involving animal or human subjects is planned, obtain ethics review approval in advance of undertaking the research.
  Note: ethics review applications take time to process so it is wise for students planning such research to build this into their scheduling. Details of the ethics review application are available in the university Research Ethics website
• In consultation with the faculty supervisor, establish a timeline for research and writing. Students should recognize that producing multiple drafts is a normal and expected aspect of writing the Project Paper
• Prepare the Project Paper written to a professional standard and conforming to normal scholarly standards
• Consult with the faculty supervisor concerning the second reader of the Professional Project Paper
• Undertake the necessary preparations for and participate in the oral examination of the Project Paper
• Complete revisions as necessary
• Submit the approved Project Paper in the appropriate format(s) following the guidelines developed by the Yeates School of Graduate Studies. The responsibility for submitting the Project Paper in the correct format rests with the author.

The faculty supervisor’s responsibilities include:

• establishing a schedule of contact with the student and, if applicable, the Supervisory Committee
• Aiding in the development of the focus for the Project
• Approving the Project Paper Proposal. Once approved, the faculty supervisor will send a copy of the completed and signed Proposal Approval Form to the Program Administrator
• Guiding the student’s research/writing and requiring revisions of the Project Paper as necessary
• Declaring a completed draft is ready for examination
• Determining, in consultation with the student, the second reader of the Project Paper
• Scheduling the oral examination
• Subsequent to the oral examination, advising the student concerning any required revisions of the Project Paper prior to final submission, and attesting to the acceptability of the final document.

A student completing a Professional Project Paper may have co‐supervisors.

A supervisory committee is not required for a Master’s Professional Project Paper. However, the student and supervisor may elect to form a Supervisory Committee to provide guidance and support to a student in developing and conducting the research project. The committee will be formed prior to the start of the student’s second semester of study. In addition to the principal faculty supervisor(s), the supervisory committee will comprise one or two additional YSGS faculty members, at least one of whom is an EnSciMan faculty member. One member of the Supervisory Committee (in addition to the Supervisor) can participate in the Master’s Project Examination, but this will be in addition to, not in place of, a second reader.

The second reader represents an additional academic reviewer of the student’s work. The second reader is not a co‐supervisor. The second reader is identified through a consultation between faculty supervisor(s) and the student. Typically, the second reader will be asked to read a Professional Project Paper only when the faculty supervisor has deemed a completed draft satisfactory and a defense date has been established.

The responsibility to submit a correctly formatted project paper according to the YSGS thesis formatting and submission guidelines rests solely with the author. A student will not be cleared to graduate on the basis of submitting a project paper with formatting errors.

The Project Paper must be formatted according to the YSGS guidelines with two exceptions which are (a) the Project Paper cover‐page, and (b) the Author’s Declaration Page. Please refer to this sample document:  (PDF file) Professional Paper Formatting Sample - EnSciMan

As a courtesy, the program administrator may provide feedback on the format of the paper before the defence provided (a) the draft has all the major components (front matter, some part of the main body, back matter) and (b) the two different page number systems have been set‐up according to the YSGS thesis formatting guidelines. The draft in pdf format may be sent by email to ensciman@torontomu.ca .

The body of the text of a Professional Project Paper should be between 40 and 50 pages in length.

When the faculty supervisor deems a student’s project paper is ready to go forward for a defence, he/she will assemble an Oral Examining Committee after consultation with the student.

Per  (PDF file) Senate Policy #164, Procedures, Section 20.2, (external link)  the minimum composition of a Master’s Project Examination Committee:

• The student’s Faculty Supervisor
• The Chair of the Examining Committee (Program Director or designate)
• The Second Reader (YSGS Faculty member within the EnSiMan program)

 The faculty supervisor will:

1. Invite an EnSciMan faculty member to be a 2^nd Reader
2. Discuss with the examining committee members and the student to come up with a mutually agreeable date and time for the defence, and
3. Inform the Program Director/Graduate Program Administrator by  (google form) submitting a Thesis/Project Paper Schedule Request Form (external link)   about 3 weeks before the proposed defence date

No examinations will be set any sooner than two weeks after the draft is distributed to the examiners.

Conduct of the Oral Examination (Master’s)- Evaluation is coordinated by a student’s supervisor in accordance with the graduate program’s procedures (refer to  (PDF file) Senate Policy #164, Procedures, Section 20.3 (external link) ).

Graduate students must maintain continuous registration until degree completion. Graduate students are required to pay the appropriate program fee in every term including the term in which the completion of degree requirements is anticipated.

To complete the Master’s Project Paper Milestone, items listed below must be fulfilled before the appropriate deadline to clear the requirements to graduate in a term. 

Students are STORNGLY encouraged to aim to complete the degree requirements AT LEAST ONE WORKING DAY BEFORE the applicable YSGS “final date to clear outstanding graduation requirements “ published in the online YSGS Significant Dates.

Student Responsibilities: 

• Complete the post‐defence corrections required by the oral examining committee members as soon as possible after a defence is over. The faculty supervisor needs time to review the post‐ defense corrections completed by the student before he/she may verify that the project paper is acceptable.
• Submit an electronic version (pdf format) of the final corrected version of the project paper to the faculty supervisor (see 8.2 below).

Faculty Supervisor’s Verification: When the faculty supervisor is satisfied with the post‐defence project paper corrections made by the student, the faculty supervisor will

1. Write to the program by e‐mail (ensciman@torontomu.ca) to attest the acceptability of the project paper as a final corrected version;
2. Attach to the email the final corrected version of the project paper (pdf format); and
3. Copy the same verification e‐mail to the student so that the student knows that the verification and the paper have been sent to the program.

If major revisions of the project paper are required by the examining committee, the verification email will be sent by the Chair of the Oral Examining Committee instead of the faculty supervisor ( (PDF file) Senate Policy #164, Procedures (external link) , Section 21.9).

The program administrator will not accept the project paper from the student without the faculty supervisor’s verification email. If any of the items mentioned above are not received in time or the format the paper does not comply with the YSGS thesis formatting regulations, the student will be denied to graduate. A student who has been denied to graduate will be enrolled in the program as an active student or withdrawn from the program (if the maximum term for program enrollment has passed); actively enrolled students are responsible for paying the program fees.

The deadline to clear the degree requirements to graduate in each term published in the YSGS Significant Dates is an absolute deadline and is not subject to negotiation. The program administrator is not authorized to make any exception or to extend any deadline established by YSGS.

The master’s professional project paper (pdf) will be forwarded to the university’s Library by Graduate Studies.The pdf file will be publicly accessible by the student’s future employer and associates via the university library website.

Revisions to the project paper WILL NOT be accepted after the faculty supervisor sent the final corrected version to the program with the verification email.