Grad

Electronic Thesis / Dissertation Information

Preparing Your Electronic Thesis/Dissertation

Your ETD submission has specific requirements. For more information about preparing and submitting your ETD, please see the Required Page Order, Formatting Guidelines and ETD FAQ pages. 

ETD submission deadlines are posted on the Graduation Deadlines page. If you miss the ETD deadline for your desired graduation term, you will not be able to graduate that term, and you will have to submit another graduation application for the following term.

Important note: Make sure to provide your chair ample time to complete the review. We recommend you to upload your ETD quite in advance of the ETD submission deadline to allow your chair time for proper review. Your chair will need to review and submit the ETD to the Graduate College by the deadline date.

A guide to complete the Graduation Checklist and ETD submission can be found below. To view these documents, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader, a free download.

 

ETD Digital Accessibility

The University of Cincinnati strongly recommends making electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) accessible. You can ensure your accessibility features are established when you convert your thesis or dissertation document from Word to PDF. Please see PDF Documents and Creating accessible PDFs for tutorials and guides.

The following notice is a practice that has been established and implemented on behalf of the students; no action is required.

As part of the University of Cincinnati’s efforts to make educational content accessible and available to everyone and to meet OhioLink’s ETD minimum requirements, the Graduate College has created a feature in the Graduation Checklist to make your ETD Document of Defense (DOD) page accessible for assistive technologies, such as screen readers. The DOD is a version of the Committee Approval Form, and it includes printed names of the thesis or dissertation committee; an example of the DOD can be found in the thesis and dissertation checklist guides located above.

The DOD page includes the following accessibility components to meet the ETD OhioLink recommended minimum digital accessibility requirements:

  • Title: The title of your thesis/dissertation will be included on the document as text accessible.
  • Full text of DOD: The whole DOD page will be accessible, which will include student name, degree, program, title of ETD, and committee.
  • DOD page accessibility permission flag is checked: The Graduate College has addressed all accessibility issues in DOD page; no further action is required.
  • Text Language of the DOD is specified: The system will specify the language of the title and document you select in your graduation checklist.

The practice above has been established and implemented on behalf of the students; no action is required.

Suggested ETD Timeline 

You may need up to 6 weeks to prepare your thesis or dissertation for electronic submission. A suggested schedule is available below.

Format Thesis

Verify Committee

  • Week 1 of term.
  • Allow 48 hours to complete.
  • If your committee is not found or if there is an error, contact your Graduate Program Coordinator. Committee information should be displayed automatically in your checklist once it has been entered or corrected. Do not wait until the last minute! Other steps in the ETD process depend on this.

Announce Defense on Graduate College Website

  • Week 2 of term.
  • Recommended (not mandatory for the Graduate College) to announce at least 2 weeks ahead of defense. You must announce your defense at least one day before the scheduled open defense date. You will not be able to enter the same day or a previous date.
  • The majority of doctoral students must announce their defense publicly through the Graduation Checklist (automatically posted on the Graduate College website) prior to the day of defense. 
  • Announce your defense by logging into the Graduation Checklist and entering your defense information.

Acquire Committee Signatures

  • Week 4 of term
  • Allow 1 week to complete.
  • You may be asked to make changes to your document based on your defense. After completing the changes, you must get the signatures of your committee members. Signatures must be original. Digital signatures on the form are acceptable. Faxed copies are not acceptable. You will scan the signed Committee Approval Form as a PDF and upload it as part of your ETD submission. Scanners are available in many UC computer labs and libraries.

Research Publishing Options and Copyrights

  • Week 4 of term
  • Allow 24 hours to complete
  • Discuss keywords and subject headings with your advisor/chair. Choose up to five keywords and two subject headings.
  • View and dicuss permissions and copyright with your advisor/chair.

Prepare ETD Submission for Chair Approval

  • Week 5 of term
  • Allow 24 - 48 hours to complete.
  • Make sure "Submit to Chair" is checked in the navigation bar. You may need to remind your chair that you are awaiting electronic approval if they has not responded in a timely manner.

Obtain Electronic Chair Approval

  • Week 5 or 6 of term
  • Allow 1 week to complete.
  • Your chair is alerted via email that you have submitted your ETD for approval. Your chair will login to review your submission and may request changes. Be sure to leave time for any necessary corrections before the ETD deadline date. Once your chair has approved your ETD electronically, your submission will automatically be submitted to the Graduate College. If you do not obtain chair approval by the ETD deadline, you might not graduate. 

Meeting the ETD Submission Deadline

  • The Graduate College reviews each submission manually. This takes time. Do not call the Graduate College to check on the status of your ETD. You can check the status of your ETD by viewing the "Check Graduation Status" step in the checklist. 
  • If the Graduate College finds any problems with your submission, you will receive an email alert. All issues must be resolved by the deadline set by the Graduate College. Comments about any issues with your submission will appear under the open 'ETD Submission' steps when you login to your checklist.