External Examiners

General Information

At Simon Fraser University, the external examiner’s assessment is central to the examination process. The external examiner’s report is to be submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies two weeks prior to the defence. Our Graduate General Regulations do not allow us to proceed with a doctoral defence until we receive the ruling from the external examiner. Once the report is received, it is sent to the Associate Dean for review, then to the Graduate Program Assistant (GPA) for distribution to all members of the examining committee. If the external examiner deems a thesis ready to defend, the GPA can begin advertising the defence as soon as the report is received. Thesis examinations at SFU are public.

Please reach out to the Dean in the Faculty of Graduate Studies (gsdean@sfu.ca) as your contact with SFU on any issues pertaining to the content and evaluation of the thesis. There should be no direct contact with the student or any member of the supervisory committee concerning the thesis or the examination.

If your report recommends the candidate proceed to defence, please coordinate logistical details — e.g. suitable dates, travel and accommodation, remote participation via Zoom, etc. —through the supervisor.

Report Guidelines

The external examiner’s report should outline the main strengths and any shortcomings of the thesis and/or the research. It should provide clear suggestions as to how to remedy the shortcomings. In addition, the report should highlight any strengths of the thesis that should be preserved in any subsequent revisions.

Minor comments and corrections can be made directly on the thesis or in a separate document and can be submitted alongside the report or sent directly to the supervisor after the defence. If you determine that the thesis is ready for defence, your report will be shared with the student after the defence to guide revisions. If you deem the thesis not ready for defence, the contents of your report will not be shared with the student, but the concerns you raise will be used to inform thesis revisions.

A note on information published elsewhere

Students may include articles published or submitted for publication in their theses. Please evaluate all parts of the work with equal rigor, including sections that may have been published.

Our Graduate General Regulations do not allow us to proceed with a doctoral defence until we receive the ruling from the external examiner. If you require additional time to complete your report, please let us know as soon as possible.

Your website

Submit Your Report

To submit your report, please complete the form below.

You will have the choice of either submitting your answers directly in this form to the optional questions OR, answering the optional questions in your own document that you must upload as a pdf on your letterhead. The size of the pdf upload must not exceed 25 MB.

Your full name

Your institutional email address

Your position e.g. Associate Professor, Chair, etc.

Your institution

Student's Full Name

You can either submit your answers to the following questions within this form, or answer them in a separate document (as one file) and upload your responses as a pdf document, below.

Please report on the extent to which:

1. The thesis is ready for defence A thesis is deemed ready for defence if you believe that it substantially meets the requirement for a doctoral thesis in the relevant discipline, and that likely revisions will not require re-examination by the examining committee. Please note that if the thesis is not ready for defence, the defence may be postponed. Your report will be given to the chair of examining committee, graduate chair, and supervisor, who will then inform the candidate of the ruling and the main issues of concern as stated in the report to inform thesis revisions.

2. the thesis represents a meaningful contribution to the field. Is the research question sufficiently original? What is or are the PhD thesis’s most significant contribution(s)?

3. the scope of the thesis is appropriate for the awarding of a doctoral degree.

4. the thesis is likely to have an impact on the field.

5. the research is contextualized within and demonstrates a critical understanding of the relevant literature.

6. appropriate research methods are described and applied.

7. analyses and conclusions drawn from the research are clearly articulated, well-justified, and integrated into the larger field of knowledge

8. the quality of the thesis meets or exceeds the standards of the field.

9. the document is written to a professional standard.

10. Is the thesis outstanding (i.e., worthy of nomination for an institutional, national or international award)? Yes No

10.a. If yes, please add a brief explanation for this determination.

Please include any additional comments, questions, and/or concerns

You have chosen to write your resopnses to the questions and upload it as a pdf instead of completing the questions 1-10, above. Please upload the pdf here.

The total size of uploaded attachments can be no larger than 15MB

Size of pdf file must not exceed 15 MB

Use of Generative AI I confirm that I did not use generative AI tools to assist in the evaluation of the thesis nor did I use such tools, other than spell and grammar-checking tools, in the preparation of my evaluative report.

You may wish to provide optional, separate, and confidential comments to the Dean. If you wish to do so, please draft an email with your comments and send it to gsdean@sfu.ca. Please add the subject: ‘Confidential to the Dean: Comments for [Candidate's name] thesis defence'.

Please let us know if you will be sending a confidential email to the Dean so we can ensure we are following correct procedures. Yes. I will send an email to gsdean@sfu.ca with the subject line, above. No. I have nothing further to add.

Faculty of Graduate Studies

External Examiners

General Information

Report Guidelines

A note on information published elsewhere

Submit Your Report

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