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.
- View Graduate Certificate Checklist Guide (PDF)
- View Non-Thesis Checklist Guide (PDF)
- View Thesis Checklist Guide (PDF)
- View Dissertation Checklist Guide (PDF)
- View Library Dissertation Checklist Guide (PDF)
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
- Week 1 of term.
- Allow 1 week to complete.
- See Required Page Order and Formatting Guidelines for instructions.
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. Your commitee will take 24 hours to update once corrected in the graduation system. Do not wait until the last minute! Other steps in the ETD process depend on this.
Announce Defense on Graduate College Website
- Week 8 of term.
- Recommended at least 2 weeks ahead of defense.
- All doctoral students must announce their defense publicly 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 9 of term.
- Allow 1 week to complete.
- You may need 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 will be accepted. 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 10 of term.
- Allow 24 hours to complete.
- Discuss keywords and subject headings with your advisor. Choose up to five keywords and two subject headings.
- View permissions and copyright.
Prepare ETD Submission for Chair Approval
- Week 10 of term.
- Allow 24 hours to complete.
- Make sure "Submit to Chair" is checked in the navigation bar. You may need to remind your chair for electronic approval if he/she does not respond promptly.
Obtain Electronic Chair Approval
- Week 10 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.
Meeting the ETD Submission Deadline
- Week 12 of term.
- 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 on 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 Graduate College deadline. Comments about any issues with your submission will appear on the comment summary page when you login to the "Submit ETD" step on the checklist.