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  4. Projects and Practicums

Projects and Practicums

Project/Report Options

Students are to consult with their supervisors concerning the general organization of the project report or paper, and also about special practices or rules that may apply to scholarly writing within the specific discipline.

Students may wish to refer to thesis guidelines in preparing and formatting a project report. Careful proofreading for spelling and grammatical errors as well as for adherence to all other standards is the responsibility of the student and supervisor.

Project/Report options are categorized as informal evaluations, and informal defences are not vetted through the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research. Project options in many units are treated in a similar fashion as other credit hour courses and are monitored by individual faculties and departments.

Project Defense

A Notice of Defense of Project form is completed and signed by the Head (or designate) stating the date, time, place and title of the project. A copy of the Notice of Oral Defense is sent to all Committee Members prior to the date of the defence.

  • Defense of projects/reports is typically in the form of a seminar presentation (of approximately 20 minutes) by the candidate, followed by a question period.
  • An examining committee consists of the supervisor, the supervisory committee members and the Chair, all of whom attend the defence. 
  • A project defence is chaired by the coordinator of graduate programs of the academic unit or designate. Fellow students and interested members of the University community may be invited to attend the project seminar.
  • The examining committee reaches the decision on the acceptability of the project and its defence.
  • If deemed unacceptable, each member of the committee will provide specific reasons to the Associate Dean of FGSR.

Non-Thesis Completion Form
A Non-Thesis Program Completion Form is required upon successful completion of the project/practicum/report after the final grade has been submitted and approved. Upon final grade approval and the program completion form being received in FGSR the student will have been deemed to have met this requirement of his/her program.

Practicum/Internship Options

Practicums are designed to provide the student with a practical experience in the field as opposed to a theoretical or research-based study. Students complete a summary report analyzing the practicum experience.

Guidelines for Practicum Placements

Conflict of Interest
The perception of a possibility, or the occurrence of, a conflict of interest is considered to be a major threat to the integrity of a graduate program. It is the responsibility of a prospective candidate and the academic supervisor to recognize the importance of ensuring that a proposed practicum placement would not jeopardize the principles associated with fairness and impartiality. Accordingly, students may not be placed in a practicum situation in which any financial or personal relationship may give rise to a reasonable perception of bias.

This includes but is not limited to:

  • placement in an agency where anyone in a position of authority impacting on the practicum can be viewed as having a close personal relationship with the student;
  • placement in an agency in which the student is otherwise normally employed. It is recognized that a student could be placed in a large agency (e.g., a government department) in a different section or division than the section or division in which the student is normally employed, and wherein;
  • the duties related to the placement are demonstrably outside the normal duties performed by the student in his or her regular employment;
  • the practicum takes place separate from the student’s normal hours of employment with the agency (i.e., the practicum activities should not be taking place at the same time the student is ostensibly being employed to undertake the duties of the employer, unless the employer is providing a paid leave of absence);
  • the student is not paid, in salary or in kind, for performing the duties associated with the practicum placement; and
  • the practicum associate (i.e., the external supervisor of the practicum) is not in the normal reporting structure associated with the student’s paid employment in the agency.

Practicum Defense

Practicum defenses consist of the completion of an integrative report or a theory-related paper of quality and format suitable for publication. This is determined by the member of the faculty who is a member of the supervisory team and by the Dean of FGSR (or designate).

Non-Thesis Completion Form
A Non-Thesis Program Completion form is required upon successful completion of the project/practicum/report after the final grade has been submitted and approved. Upon final grade approval and the program completion form being received in FGSR, the student will have been deemed to have met this requirement of his/her program.