Thesis and Project Committee Signoffs and Format Review

Committee signoffs and format review in two steps

  1. Submitting your thesis for committee signoffs
    To register your committee approvals, use Adobe Sign's Graduate Thesis/Project Committee Approval Form. Upload a pdf of your thesis to the form and send it to your committee members and program graduate coordinator no later than the Monday of finals week. Here are detailed instructions.
  2. Submitting your thesis for the official format review
    After all signatures have been registered on your Adobe Sign's Graduate Thesis/Project Committee Approval Form, submit a Word file of your thesis to Humboldt Digital Commons for the format review. The deadline for submission is the Tuesday of finals week before 11:59am.

When to Submit

All signatures must be registered in the Graduate Thesis/Project Committee Approval Form before you can submit your thesis/project for the final review. We recommend sending out your committee approval form at least one week early to give committee members time to register their signatures before the final submission deadline.
Note that these are FINAL deadlines.

Spring 2025

Courtesy review - April 28, 2025 (Monday)
Graduate Thesis/Project Committee Approval Form - May 12, 2025 (Monday)
Final Thesis/Project Submission - May 13, 2025 (Tuesday, 11:59am)

Summer 2025

Courtesy Review - July 14, 2025 (Monday)
Graduate Thesis/Project Committee Approval Form - July 28, 2025 (Monday)
Final Thesis/Project Submission - July 29, 2025 (Tuesday, 11:59am)

Fall 2025

Courtesy Review - December 1, 2025 (Monday)
Graduate Thesis/Project Committee Approval Form - December 15, 2025 (Monday)
Final Thesis/Project Submission - December 16, 2025 (Tuesday, 11:59am)

*Your advisor must notify Graduate Studies before the end of the preceding Spring Semester.

Before You Submit

Before You Submit

Courtesy Review: To receive a courtesy review of your thesis/project, submit your document to the Digital Commons Office to cfr@humboldt.edu before the deadline above. If you have any questions, please contact the Scholarly Communications team at cfr@humboldt.edu

Approval: Your thesis or project must be completed and ready for approval by your advisor/committee chair and all committee members (or second reader for projects).

Defense: You must have successfully defended your thesis or project if your program requires a defense.

Formatting and Revisions Complete: All content additions or corrections requested by your committee members (or readers) must be incorporated into your document. Your thesis or project must be formatted per specifications detailed in the Humboldt Thesis and Project Format Requirements. For assistance with thesis and project formatting,  enroll in the required Canvas Course. This thirty-minute course will save you hours of work later.

Check your final document carefully. With the exception of format corrections required by Graduate Studies, any requests for editorial changes from students or committee to a thesis/project after submission will be denied. Editorial changes include errors in punctuation and spelling, minor changes, or major changes to the interpretation of data or content.

Final Submission Instructions

Final Submission Instructions

File Name: The thesis or project file name should include your name and graduation date. For example: if Susan Sanchez was submitting her thesis and graduating in Spring 2020, her file should be sanchez_susan_sp20.

Committee Approval: To register your committee approvals, use Adobe Sign's Graduate Thesis/Project Committee Approval Form. Upload a pdf of your thesis to the form and send it to your committee members and program graduate coordinator no later than the Monday of finals week, although we recommend doing this at least one week early to give committee members time to register their signatures before the final submission deadline. Here are detailed instructions.

Format Approval: After all signatures have been registered on your Adobe Sign's Graduate Thesis/Project Committee Approval Form, submit a Word file of your thesis to Humboldt Digital Commons for the format review. After hitting the Submit Thesis button, click the pink “CLICK HERE TO LOGIN WITH myHumboldt” to login. The deadline for submission is the Tuesday of finals week before 11:59am.

Questions/Tech Help: If you have any questions please call the Scholarly Communications Team at 707.826.5602 or cfr@humboldt.edu.

After Submission

After Submission

Your submission will be reviewed for compliance with university formatting and accessibility requirements. Your thesis or project will not be reviewed for content, research quality, spelling, punctuation, grammar, bibliographic format, plagiarism.

The outcome of the reviews will be as follows:

  • No formatting issues: Your document will be archived by the university library. You will receive notice via email that the culminating experience portion of your degree is cleared.
  • One to ten formatting issues: You will receive instructions for correcting the format errors and length of time allowed for resubmission of your document.
  • Eleven or more formatting issues: You and your committee will be notified by email that your document is being returned for correction and revision. If there are numerous or major formatting errors you may be advised to change your graduation date to the following term.

Once finalized and approved, the library will archive your document in Digital Commons. You will receive notification from the library via email when your document is available through Digital Commons.

Committee Members & Graduate Coordinators

Committee Members & Graduate Coordinators

The student will send all committee members and the program graduate coordinator an Adobe Sign form to register their signatures to approve their project/thesis. Committee member and graduate coordinator signatures denote that, to the best of their knowledge, the student has completed all requisites for graduation. If there are errors in the form or edits to the thesis/project, a committee member or graduate coordinator should contact the student so they might make the corrections and distribute a new form.

The student will not be able to submit their thesis/project for the required format review until all signatures have been registered on the student’s approval form. Deadlines will be enforced.

Committee members and the graduate coordinator have the option to register approval or rejection of the thesis/project for the current academic term. See full instructions in Faculty & Staff Resources.