Theses and Dissertations

Lecture-Recitals and the Oral Defense  

1. If the student is completing DMA options 1 or 2, a scheduling request must be made through the College of Music Scheduling Office to reserve a venue for the lecture-recital or lecture. Venues must meet the requirements of dissertation recitals as outlined in the DMA Handbook. The advisory committee will be given the chance to approve the scheduling request while the Graduate Studies Office verifies that the student is eligible to hold the recital. Students completing DMA options 3 and 4, a MA thesis, or a PhD dissertation skip this step as they are only required to complete an oral defense. These students start at step 2. 

2. All students submit the Oral Defense Scheduling Form through Dynamic Forms. The dissertation committee approves the oral defense date, and the Graduate Studies Office verifies that the student is eligible to defend their document. 

3. Before the defense, the student should distribute amongst the committee a draft of their document and an iThenticate similarity report. The draft and iThenticate report should be submitted to the advisory committee no later than 4 weeks before the scheduled recital or defense to allow adequate time for review. The committee will review the similarity report for instances of plagiarism and work with the student to correct any issues that may be present. 

4. Once a student has successfully defended their thesis or dissertation, the Major Professor must submit the signed Oral Defense Form and Pre-Defense Checklist to the Graduate Studies Office. These forms are sent to the Major Professor, not the student, upon completion of the Oral Defense Scheduling Form.

College of Music Review Process 

1. The student must submit a digital copy of their document, along with an iThenticate similarity report, to the Music Graduate Studies Canvas page no later than two weeks before the dissertation/thesis deadline set by the Toulouse Graduate School. This allows sufficient time for the Director of Graduate Studies and the Dean of the College of Music to review and approve the document. Submissions received after the deadline will not be considered.

2. If the Director of Graduate Studies finds that a document is not in a final, polished state, they will require edits to be made before giving their final approval. Please note that these edits may require approval from the Major Professor. Students will be notified by the Monday before the TGS deadline whether edits will be required. All edits must be made, and the document resubmitted for a second and final review by end of day Wednesday before the TGS submission deadline.

3. Once review is complete, and the student’s document has been approved, the Graduate Studies Office will notify the student and Major Professor that they may submit their approved document to the Toulouse Graduate School through Vireo. Students are not permitted to submit their documents through Vireo until approval has been granted by the Director of Graduate Studies. Detailed submission instructions will be sent at the time of approval.

4. From this point on, the student will work with the Graduate Reader to get their document finalized and published. All questions about content, edits, or permissions should be sent to the Graduate Reader.  

A graduate student may make use of an external editor, paid or unpaid, in the editing of their final critical essay, dissertation, or thesis only if the Major Professor and the Director of Graduate Studies approve this course of action. The Request for External Editorial Assistance Form must be submitted prior to the approval of the topic proposal. 

iThenticate is a plagiarism detection tool designed to support students throughout the research and writing process. All graduate music students enrolled in thesis or dissertation hours have access to iThenticate through the Toulouse Graduate School. Students are encouraged to use iThenticate regularly while writing to avoid potential plagiarism issues. Each student is responsible for generating an iThenticate report of their pre-defense document and sharing it with their advisory committee at least four weeks before their lecture recital, lecture, or oral defense—whichever occurs first. Following the oral defense but before the CoM submission deadline, the student must submit to Canvas:  

1. The updated iThenticate report (reflecting any requested edits from the committee), and 

2. The final post-defense version of the document. 

These materials will be reviewed by the Director of Graduate Studies. Thesis and Dissertation submissions without an iThenticate similarity report will not be accepted. For assistance with iThenticate, please contact iThenticate@unt.edu.  

• Access Link 

• Upload Instructions 

Interpreting iThenticate Report Results  

• How to Read iThenticate Reports
• Helpful examples and how to identify plagiarism in reports: examples-from-turnitin.pdf (citadel.edu)

The College of Music and the Toulouse Graduate School have two submission deadlines available to students each semester. The College of Music submission deadline is always two weeks prior to the Toulouse Graduate School’s deadline.  

Students that need more time past the regular deadline to finish their theses and dissertations can opt to submit for the rollover deadline. Students that meet the rollover deadline will have their graduation "rolled over" to the next semester (fall, spring, or summer). Students will officially be graduates of the next semester but will not be required to register for dissertation credits in that semester.

The date of commencement in the next long semester should be the date that appears on the document's title page. 

• Fall Rollover — May 20xx
• Spring Rollover — July 20xx
• Summer Rollover — December 20xx

Rollover students may be approved to early walk in the commencement ceremony of the semester that they submit their thesis or dissertation, but notice of this intent must be sent to the Graduate Studies Office by the posted regular College of Music submission deadline. Failure to submit intent to early walk will result in the student participating in the following semester’s commencement ceremony. No exceptions will be made. 

Before you submit . . . 

• Ensure that you have applied to graduate in the semester you are submitting. Rollover students will have their graduation date automatically updated to the next long semester and do not need to reply for graduation. For help with the graduation application, contact the Toulouse Graduate School at Graduation@unt.edu.  

• Review the Thesis and Dissertation Formatting Checklist to ensure that your document meets the formatting requirements. Failure to adhere to University and College of Music guidelines may result in delays to your graduation.  

• Make sure that all necessary forms, permissions, and supplementary materials are in order, as failing to provide these in a timely manner may result in delays to the graduation process.  

Once the posted deadline has passed, you will receive either:

1. Full approval, including any required edits, along with instructions to submit your document to the Toulouse Graduate School through Vireo.
2. Required edits and instructions to resubmit to the Graduate Studies Office for a second review. Please note that edits may require the approval of the Major Professor. 
3. A denial and instructions to return your document to your advisory committee for further review, along with instructions for resubmitting for the next deadline. 

Please do not attempt to submit to the Toulouse Graduate School through Vireo until given express consent by the Graduate Studies Office.

• The Director of Graduate Studies is not an editor. Rather, they review the document on behalf of the College of Music. The Director of Graduate Studies may require changes to the document before granting approval.
• The Director of Graduate Studies will not review a thesis or dissertation more than twice. If more than two revisions are required, the student must plan to resubmit for the next available deadline. 
• Students will receive feedback from the director of Graduate Studies by the Monday before the TGS deadline. 
• If a second submission is required, the deadline for resubmission is 2 days prior to the Toulouse Graduate School's posted deadline. 
• A thesis or dissertation will only be approved for submission to the Toulouse Graduate School if all required edits have been incorporated into the final document, including permissions for any copyrighted material. Citation is not a replacement for permission. 
• The student and their committee are responsible for filing all forms (including permission to use an external editor and IRB approval as required) and meeting all published deadlines. It is not the job of the Graduate Counselors to request these signatures and approvals from the committee.

DMA Professional Portfolios are submitted a little differently than traditional DMA dissertations. 

Students must upload to Canvas a OneDrive link as a text entry containing all items from the portfolio in separate folders. Please ensure that music.grad@unt.edu has permission to access. 

You must include a "Finalized Portfolio Document" with an iThenticate similarity report, a copy of the approved Topic Proposal, media files (not links), and any copyright or IRB permissions if applicable. 

Folders should be labeled as such: 

• Finalized Portfolio Document (following the DMA Style Guide formatting requirements)

To include the following, in this order, as one .docx file:

1. Title Page
2. Copyright Page
3. Acknowledgment (optional)
4. Table of Contents (optional list of music examples)
5. GPDC-approved topic proposal 
6. Body (optional) to include: Written elements of the portfolio (journal articles, method books, etc. Can include links, webpages, images, visualizations, explanations, etc.
7. Project Summery

• • A written summary of your portfolio project, explaining how you met the objectives of your GPDC-approved proposal and addressing anything which needed to be altered while completing your project.
  • This summary should include a detailed list of every item in the portfolio.
  • Bibliography 

Included separately from the Finalized Portfolio Document:

• iThenticate similarity report of the Finalized Document
• Media Files (if applicable)
  • Audio/Video recordings should be presented in a professional, high-quality format. This should be of a level appropriate for a job application or professional publication. 
  • A recording of a Zoom meeting is not sufficient. 
• Copyright Permissions (if applicable)
• IRB Approval (if applicable)

Oral Defense Scheduling Form

UNT Plagiarism Guide

Music Subject and Course Guides

Thesis and Dissertation Editing

• Title Page Template 

• DMA Style Guide  (may also be used by other degrees)

• UNT Thesis Manuel

• Thesis and Dissertation Formatting Checklist 

• Request for External Editor Form  

• UNT Learning Center and UNT Writing Center 

Policy Links

• AI and Writing at UNT 

• Toulouse Graduation Deadlines 

• Academic Integrity at UNT 

• Continuous Enrollment

• Use of Human Subjects in Research