Electronic Thesis/Dissertation

Students in all programs must submit their master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation to the Graduate College electronically as a PDF using the ETD submission system. The Graduate College no longer accepts paper submissions effective Fall 2011.

Submit ETD or Check Current Status

Intent to Graduate

The thesis submission process is seperate from declaring an intent to graduate.  See Graduation and Deadlines for procedures and deadlines for submitting and Intent to Graduate.

Committee Approval

Master’s Thesis, Doctoral Preliminary Examination, and Doctoral Dissertation committees are approved by the Graduate College based on guidelines developed by the faculty and the Graduate College Executive Committee. A Committee Recommendation Form must be completed and submitted to the Graduate College, with appropriate signatures, at least three weeks before the date of the examination or defense.  See Exams and Defense for procedures and forms.

Registration Requirements

The Graduate College does not require master’s students to be registered in order to submit an Intent to Graduate, defend a thesis, submit a thesis to the Graduate College, or graduate, assuming all course requirements are completed, or will be completed by the graduation deadline.  Students with federal aid, assistant-ships, tuition and service-fee waivers, fellowships, or on student visas need to be registered under most circumstances.  Additionally, some programs require registration in the term of a thesis defense.

The Graduate College requires doctoral students to be continuously registered from the term of the Preliminary Examination through the term of a successful dissertation defense (not necessarily the term of graduation), excluding summers, unless a Preliminary Examination or dissertation defense occurs in a summer term.

Thesis & Dissertation Resources