GETTING READY FOR DEFENSE 2023/24
If you plan to defend in July, the deadline for submitting the thesis is 09.07.2024. Note, however, that the defense may take place in September depending on the availability of supervisors or other committee members.
Defenses do not take place in August.
For defenses planned for September, the deadline for submitting the thesis is 04.09.2024.
Step 1
Checking your grades
Go to your USOS account and choose Student’s section > Final grades. You may download a transcript of records from there. Beforehand, you should link all the courses that count towards your program.
Check all your ECTS points. You should have collected more than 120 ECTS (excluding Intellectual Property Rights and Workplace Health and Safety courses).
- Less than 120 ECTS? You cannot graduate. Please write a request to the Dean to repeat the last year to complete the missing requirements.
Note: It is very common for students to obtain a grade from the Diploma seminar IV course a little later (sometimes even after submitting the master’s thesis). In such case, do not worry if you have, e.g., 117 ECTS as you will meet the requirements after the grade for Diploma seminar IV (worth 4 ECTS) is registered in USOS.
Step 2
Absolutorium
Check if you meet all the requirements for obtaining an Absolutorium. Without Absolutorium, you cannot proceed with your defense.
You should have obtained the accurate number of ECTS from:
- A block of obligatory courses – 31 ECTS
- A block of path (computational/neuro) courses – 16 ECTS
- A block of elective courses – 35 ECTS
- Diploma seminars – 12 ECTS
- Research laboratory – 15 ECTS
- Internships – 5 ECTS
- General university courses (OGUNs) – 6 ECTS credits
As well as completed Intellectual Property Rights and Workplace Health and Safety courses.
If you have met all the above requirements, it means you have an Absolutorium and may submit your program for checkup (USOS: Student’s section > Promotions > deliver this study program for checkup). You need all grades registered in USOS and linked to stages and program to submit to do this.
Step 3
Preparing your Master’s thesis
See Attachment 1 for the Rules concerning the CogSci graduation procedure (thesis and examination).
See Attachment 2 for the Rules and Regulations of Study at the University of Warsaw.
Make sure you have the first few pages looking like the ones in Attachment 3. If you wish the Office to check if your first pages have no mistakes, you can send the file to hanna.cwynar@psych.uw.edu.pl to verify it.
This is the best moment for proofreading the thesis one last time to make sure there are no mistakes.
Step 4
Sending your Master’s thesis to your supervisor
When your thesis is ready, please send your supervisor(s) a file with the final version of the thesis in PDF format. It should be the whole version of your thesis, from the title page to the last page, including the bibliography and annexes. The supervisor, after checking the file, will send it to the Office. We do not require a paper version of your thesis, so you do not need to print it.
Please check in USOS if your Diploma Seminar IV course has been graded. If not, please contact the Office. Submit the program for checkup (see Step 2).
Step 5
Uploading your thesis to the APD (University of Warsaw Theses Archive)
You will be asked to log in to APD (https://apd.uw.edu.pl/) and upload your thesis there (you log in the same way as to your account in USOS). For instructions see Attachment 4.
The file should be the final version of your thesis (the whole version with bibliography and appendices) in PDF format. The name of the file should look like this: 2500-MGR-COG-yourpeselnumber.pdf. If you are a foreigner and you do not have a PESEL number, please put your USOS login number there.
The APD form will also require filling the fields:
- Title in Polish
- Keywords in English and Polish
- Abstracts (copy it directly from your thesis – the first formal pages) both in English and Polish.
Step 6
The date of your defense
Next, you need to inform the Office about the planned date and hour of the defense, after discussing it with your supervisor and reviewer. It is recommended that the defense should take place no earlier than two weeks after sending the final version of the thesis to your supervisor (due to anti-plagiarism and documentation procedures), but in exceptional circumstances this period can be shortened.
Having the proposed date, the Office will find a person who will be the head of the committee during your defense exam.
Step 7
Other formalities
The Office will prepare a clearance card (Obiegówka) in USOS. Some few days before the defense you should log in and answer the questions addressed to you. The Office will prepare a payment to make in USOS for your diploma, so please check it in the system (USOS: Student’s section > Payments > Academic bank accounts). All the payments must be registered in the system no later than one week before the date of your defense.
Additional Remarks
Is the defense held stationary?
Yes, diploma examinations are conducted in a stationary mode. At the request of the thesis supervisor, the Head of the Teaching Unit may decide to conduct the diploma exam in a remote mode.
You will then have to send to the Office your statement confirming readiness to take part in the defense conducted online taking into account technical conditions, i.e:
- A computer with access to the internet
- An active account on the GSuite platform (the defense will take place using Google Meet apps)
- A video camera connected to your computer
- A microphone connected to your computer
Can I extend the period of study and defend after September?
The Head of the Teaching Unit may extend the period of study, but no longer than three months, excluding the period of leave, from the scheduled date of graduation, in case of:
- Prolonged illness of the student, confirmed by the opinion of the BON issued on the basis of the student’s medical records
- Inability to prepare the thesis by the applicable deadline for legitimate reasons beyond the control of the student or the thesis supervisor
The regulatory/scheduled deadline for graduation is 30.09.2024. This deadline may be extended for the specified period and in the given cases as indicated above.