Thesis information

• What is the difference between a Master's thesis and essay? The best answer I could get is, nobody knows. A thesis should be more substantial, in some way or other. This can of course be difficult to define. Although many UBC Master's theses contain some original results, this is not a formal requirement, and some of our Master's students have written theses containing only expository material.
  
  
• Old Master's and Ph.D. theses collections: Koerner library, 2nd floor (microforms), and Rare Books and Special Collections, in the Main Library. At the Koerner library, you can view the old theses on computerized screens, or you can have them printed out at 20 cents per page. As far as I know, the University does not store past Master's essays.
  
  The easiest way to see a sample Math thesis or essay is to ask Lee - she has recent ones available in her office. The Math library has a collection of old Math theses, but only up to 1991.
  
  
• Thesis formatting: The UBC thesis formatting specifications are posted on the FoGS web page: go to "current students" -> "thesis submission" -> "preparing the thesis" and "formatting requirements". To get your thesis to look like that, you will probably need a template. Collections of LATEX style files and templates for a UBC thesis are available at http://www.math.ubc.ca/~ftp/UBC/Thesis-LaTeX/ or http://www.physics.ubc.ca/computer/ubcthesis.phtml.
  
  Note that FoGS revised its formatting requirements in 2005. In particular, the signatures of the examining faculty no longer appear on the title page - the committee members sign an approval form instead. Check the FoGS web site to see if the templates conform to the new requirements. If not, it should not be too difficult to modify your file accordingly.