Plan your Defense

Thesis and dissertation defenses are public events and are advertised throughout the university. Your graduate coordinator can answer any questions on how you should prepare. Please complete the following steps before you may hold your defense:

• Register and submit a complete draft of your thesis/dissertation to ProQuest.
• To watch a video tutorial on how to set up your ProQuest account, click here: How to set up a ProQuest Account
• Don’t worry—you will need to click ‘submit’ several times during the account set-up.  You are NOT sending your document to ProQuest; the Graduate School does that after the Registrar verifies all requirements for your degree are finalized.
• If you feel you need to delay the release of your thesis or dissertation, please see the ISU Embargo Policy.
• Here is information about ordering bound copies of your thesis/dissertation from Milner library if you wish to do so. Binding flyer
• Any changes to your committee composition since your proposal requires a Committee Change form to be submitted to Hovey Hall 208 or dissert@ilstu.edu.
• Complete the Right to Defend form and return it to Hovey Hall 208 or dissert@ilstu.edu at least 10 days before your planned defense date. Students must wait at least 7 business days after approval of the Right to Defend to hold their defense. Be sure you check deadlines for the last date to hold your defense.
• If any changes have been made to your copyright checklist, complete section 5 of the Proposal Approval form and submit it to the Graduate School with your Right to Defend form.
• Please notify the Graduate School of the defense date and other details.

Thesis & Dissertation Format Check

After you have submitted your Right to Defend form, and as you wait for your defense date, you may want to schedule an optional thesis/dissertation format check to ensure your document is formatted correctly.

• Step One : Submit an electronic draft of your entire thesis/dissertation to ProQuest. (this is done as part of completing the Right to Defend process)
• Step Two : E-mail dissert@ilstu.edu to schedule your format check. You do not need to be present during the format check, but you do need to reserve a time.
• Format checks are done on a first come first served basis, and a limited number of reservations are available. No optional format checks will be scheduled after the oral defense deadline as final reviews will have begun.  

• Due to time limitations only one format check can be done prior to submission of final deposit materials