A McGill thesis moves through a system called myThesis in stages. Before initial submission, your supervisor(s) and graduate program director (GPD) approve the thesis and its checklist for examination, a status myThesis shows as “Eval. Authorized by GPD.” After the examination, your supervisor authorizes the final, corrected thesis (“Final Thesis Authorized by Sup.”), and Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (GPS) then records its own approval (“Final Thesis Authorized by GPS”) before the thesis is published on eScholarship. As of May 1, 2026, GPS also makes available guidelines recommending a generative-AI statement and disclosure in master’s and doctoral theses.
What does myThesis actually track?
myThesis is McGill’s system of record for a thesis moving from a completed draft to a finished, deposited document. It is not a formatting tool — it is an approval ledger. Your thesis moves through named statuses as each party signs off, and each status change is a real administrative event, not a formality you can skip by emailing someone a PDF. McGill’s final-submission page also lists two earlier steps you complete in myThesis before initial submission: the Intent to Submit page, due four to eight weeks before your expected initial submission date, and the nomination of examiners, due at least two weeks before it. If your committee or supervisor has agreed to something by email but nobody has updated the corresponding myThesis status, GPS will treat your thesis as not yet ready to move forward. This trips up many students because it is invisible until the week you actually need it to have already happened.
How do the authorization stages work, in order?
First, for initial submission, your myThesis status has to read “Eval. Authorized by GPD” by the submission deadline — meaning your thesis and checklist have been approved by your supervisor(s) and your graduate program director and can go to the examiners. Second, the thesis is examined; once it passes, your status moves to a pass awaiting the final thesis, and you make the corrections required. Third, for final submission, your supervisor records “Final Thesis Authorized by Sup.” for the final, corrected copy. Fourth, GPS records “Final Thesis Authorized by GPS”; McGill notes that GPS approval is not required by the student deadline and may come a couple of weeks after it. Each stage depends on the one before it. Build slack into your own timeline for each handoff — a supervisor who is travelling or a program director between meetings can each cost you real days, and none of those days are recoverable once your deadline is fixed.
Where does a McGill thesis actually end up?
Once GPS authorization is complete, your thesis is published on eScholarship, McGill’s institutional repository. McGill’s own guidance says theses are commonly published there a couple of months after each thesis submission deadline — its example is that a thesis submitted in July is published around November. That gap matters if you are coordinating a start date, a job offer or an immigration process around “my thesis is public”: the myThesis approval and the eScholarship publication are two different dates. If a funder, an employer or an immigration form asks for proof that your degree requirement is complete, confirm which date the form is actually asking for, because the two can be weeks or months apart.
Can you keep your thesis out of public view for a while?
Yes, within limits. GPS may permit a thesis to be withheld from electronic publication for up to one year. This is not automatic: you must give a solid reason — McGill’s own example is a patent pending — and your supervisor must agree. The request is made in myThesis at final submission, you are asked for a release date, and McGill states that the request cannot come after GPS has approved your final thesis. Practically, that means you raise the embargo conversation with your supervisor well before your final submission, not in the days right before deposit. If your research touches something a company, a lab or a co-author might want to patent or publish first, this is the mechanism, and its ceiling is one year.
What does McGill’s generative-AI guidance actually say?
As of May 1, 2026, GPS makes available guidelines on the recommended inclusion of a statement and disclosure framework for generative-AI use in master’s and doctoral theses. The wording is a recommendation, and McGill’s page encourages students to discuss the topic with their supervisors and graduate program directors — the right first move if you are unsure what your program expects. In practice, keep a running note, from the start of your writing, of every place you used a generative-AI tool: drafting a paragraph, restructuring an argument, checking a citation format, generating a figure caption. A disclosure written after the fact from memory is far weaker than one built as you go, and it is far easier to defend at your oral examination if a committee member asks about it directly.
What actually gets accepted as a McGill thesis, in substance?
McGill’s general requirements set the substance. A master’s thesis must show familiarity with previous work in the field and the ability to carry out research, organize results and defend the approach and conclusions in a scholarly manner according to disciplinary norms, and it must be written in compliance with norms for academic and scholarly expression. A doctoral thesis must constitute original scholarship and be a distinct contribution to knowledge. Research involving human participants, animal subjects or other regulated materials must have had the appropriate compliance certification, and a thesis must be written in English or French except in language units. These are the standards your examiners apply — not a word count or a margin size.
What are McGill’s formatting rules?
Unlike many universities, McGill publishes its core page format centrally, on the GPS “Preparation of a thesis” page. A conventional 12-point font must be used; line spacing must be double or 1.5; left and right margins should be 1 inch; and the position of page numbers is optional, provided the chosen approach is used consistently. The thesis must be organized either as a traditional monograph or as a manuscript-based thesis — it cannot be a mixture of the two — and GPS offers proposed templates for both. The abstract has a maximum of 4,000 characters, and the acknowledgements must declare the extent of any assistance you received. The same page sets a minimum length for the discussion of findings: 10 double-spaced pages for doctoral students and 5 for master’s students. Build your document from the current GPS template rather than one inherited from a labmate who defended two years ago, and check with your program whether it adds anything on top.
What should the semester before your deadline actually look like?
Work backward from the myThesis steps rather than forward from “I’ll finish writing and then deal with the process.” A workable sequence: around ten to twelve weeks before initial submission, set up your document from the current GPS template and confirm with your supervisor whether an embargo request might apply to any of your findings. Four to eight weeks before initial submission, complete the Intent to Submit page in myThesis. At least two weeks before, make sure your examiners have been nominated. Ahead of the deadline itself, agree with your supervisor and GPD when they will review the thesis and checklist, so that “Eval. Authorized by GPD” is recorded in time. Throughout, keep your generative-AI disclosure notes current rather than reconstructed afterward. A common failure mode is treating myThesis as paperwork that happens automatically once the writing is done; it does not, and each stage is a real wait.
How does McGill compare to other Canadian universities on this?
The myThesis status chain and the eScholarship deposit are specific to McGill, but the underlying shape — supervisor and program sign-off, examination, then a central graduate-studies office confirming the final copy — is common across Canadian research universities, even where the system’s name and the exact stage labels differ. The University of Waterloo’s own thesis process runs through GSPA with its own named stages and timelines. If you want a side-by-side sense of how page layout and title-page requirements differ across Canadian schools, this comparison of UofT, UBC and McGill’s own published numbers is a useful starting point — and a good reminder that “a Canadian thesis format” is not one thing. If you are applying to, or co-supervised across, more than one Canadian institution, compare that other school’s process against McGill’s directly rather than assuming the steps line up one to one.
What happens around the examination and defence
Reaching GPS final authorization is the end of a sequence that runs through your examination; depending on your program and degree level, doctoral candidates also face an oral defence, and it is worth reading how Canadian examination committees typically structure their questions so you are prepared for process as well as content. It is also worth being precise with your own vocabulary: in Canada, the terms thesis, dissertation and major research paper do not map onto degree levels the same way they do in the United States, and what those terms actually mean at Canadian universities is worth confirming before you describe your own document to an external audience, a funder, or a future employer.
Where Tesify fits while you are moving through these stages
None of McGill’s authorization stages will write your chapters for you, and the clock on each one starts only once you actually have a document your supervisor is willing to sign off on. Tesify helps you draft, structure and revise a chapter in your own words, from your own research, so you spend the weeks before a myThesis deadline finishing real writing instead of staring at a blank page. See how it works at app.tesify.app.
Frequently asked questions
What is myThesis?
myThesis is McGill’s system for tracking a thesis from the Intent to Submit and examiner nomination through initial submission (“Eval. Authorized by GPD”), examination, and final submission (“Final Thesis Authorized by Sup.”, then “Final Thesis Authorized by GPS”), before publication on eScholarship.
How long after I submit does my thesis become public?
McGill’s own guidance says theses are commonly published on eScholarship a couple of months after each thesis submission deadline — a July submission is published around November. Plan around that gap, not around your myThesis approval date.
Can I delay my thesis being published online?
Yes. GPS may permit withholding from electronic publication for up to one year, with a solid reason (for example, a patent pending) and your supervisor’s agreement. The request is made in myThesis at final submission and cannot come after GPS approves your final thesis.
Does McGill require me to disclose generative-AI use in my thesis?
As of May 1, 2026, GPS makes available guidelines on the recommended inclusion of a generative-AI statement and disclosure framework in master’s and doctoral theses. If you are unsure what applies to you, discuss it with your supervisor and graduate program director.
Who has to sign off before I can submit my final thesis?
Before initial submission, your supervisor(s) and graduate program director approve the thesis for examination. After you pass and make corrections, your supervisor authorizes the final thesis, and GPS then records its own approval.
Where do I find the exact font and margin requirements?
On the GPS “Preparation of a thesis” page: a conventional 12-point font, double or 1.5 line spacing, and 1-inch left and right margins, with page-number position optional but consistent. GPS also offers proposed templates for monograph and manuscript-based theses.
What does McGill actually evaluate when it decides a thesis is acceptable?
The general requirements focus on familiarity with prior work, sound research and scholarly expression, with original scholarship and a distinct contribution to knowledge expected at doctoral level, plus the required ethics compliance certification for regulated research.
What happens if my supervisor is unavailable when I need an authorization signed off?
Nothing moves to the next myThesis stage until the current one is recorded, so build real slack into your own submission timeline around each handoff — a delay at any one stage delays every stage after it.
When should I start planning for these authorization stages?
Roughly ten to twelve weeks before initial submission is a realistic starting point. The Intent to Submit is due four to eight weeks before your expected initial submission date, and examiners should be nominated at least two weeks before it.
Is McGill’s process the same as other Canadian universities?
The general shape — supervisor and program sign-off, examination, then a central graduate-studies confirmation — is common across Canada, but the system names, exact stage labels and formatting rules are institution-specific. Confirm your own school’s process directly rather than assuming it matches McGill’s.
Can Tesify help me finish my chapters before a myThesis deadline?
Tesify helps you draft, structure and revise chapters in your own words from your own research, so the authorization stages above are tracking a document that is actually ready, not one you are still racing to finish.