Preliminary Technical Review

Each graduate student is required to undergo a preliminary technical review. Reviews are conducted by the Dissertation and Thesis Office housed within the Graduate School. We offer 2 kinds:

1. Teams Video Preliminary Review 14 days before defense: For this option you must submit your document and unsigned signature page the morning of your review. If it is apparent that you have not attempted to follow guidelines your appointment will be cancelled and you will have to reschedule. Common reasons for cancellation: No signature page attempted. Document is not complete(missing chapters) Not following any guidelines. 

2. Written Feedback Only Preliminary Review 21 days before defense: If you select only written feedback, you must still schedule a Preliminary Review appointment; however, you will not need to attend a meeting. Your document and unsigned signature page must be submitted before your scheduled appointment time to allow the formatter adequate time to review your document. After the review is completed, you will receive your revisions electronically. Please note that if your document requires more than 10 corrections, or if the formatter determines that additional guidance is needed, you will be required to schedule a Teams Video Preliminary Review. 
This option is recommended only for those students that feel confident in their formatting ability, have reviewed our guidelines and have used our checklist to ensure that You are following our guidelines.

Schedule your Review

Students should schedule a preliminary review on our Microsoft Bookings calendar. 

Prior to your Meeting

Review the Dissertation and Thesis Formatting Guidelines. Consider copy-pasting your work into the Dissertation/Thesis template provided. You must do your best to apply all formatting guidelines including spacing, margins, fonts, etc. to your work prior to submitting for review. 

If our guidelines have clearly not been applied to your document, your review will be cancelled and you will need to reschedule for a later date.

Submitting your Document

By the morning of your review, please log in to our submission system at https://baylor-etd.tdl.org.  You MUST use the "Shibboleth Login." Click Shibboleth Login before entering your credentials. Do not try to log in by creating an account with your email; doing so will create login issues down the road.

Complete the initial information in steps 1-3.  Be sure to select "Graduate School" for your school, NOT "Baylor."

In Step 4, “Upload Your Files,” scroll down and read all sticky notes along the right side before you begin.  Upload documents per the instructions and complete the process. You are required to submit the following (all forms can be found on our forms page):

• A PDF of your entire document as your "primary" document.
• A filled (but unsigned) signature page (PDF) as an "administrative" document. Do not attempt to insert the signature page into Word or the PDF of your dissertation/thesis at this stage. You must have this at your preliminary review so that we can confirm it is formatted correctly before you seek out signatures at your defense.

The Review

The graduate assistants in the Dissertation and Thesis Office will review your submission and prepare feedback. For a Teams Video Review they will screen-share and walk through this feedback with you during the 30-minute review, which is conducted via Teams through the link sent to you upon scheduling. For a Written Feedback Only Review they send their feedback via Verio. 

Post-Review 

After your review one of our graduate assistants, the GA will upload the version of your dissertation or thesis that contains their comments to the submission portal. They will also upload your approved signature page for use at your defense.

Within 10 days after your defense date, upload your new document with all of your formatting changes and any content revisions required by your committee along with your signed signature page. Our team will then conduct a post-defense review and inform you of any additional changes required before approval by the Dissertation and Thesis Program Director. (No additional meeting required.)

You will also complete the online Copyright and Final Approval form. (Link and instructions also found on our forms page.)