Dissertation and Thesis Submission Guide

In This Guide

• Submission Requirements and Guidelines
• Important Policies
• Final Oral Examination for Doctoral Candidates
• Deadlines and Required Documents for Submitting a Dissertation
• Deadlines and Required Documents for Submitting a Thesis
• Procedure for Submitting Your Dissertation or Thesis
• Citations and Copyrighted Material
• Policy Issues Prior to Conducting the Research

Submission Requirements and Guidelines

This guide is designed to help students through the submission and publication process. The requirements and guidelines outlined in this guide apply to both master’s and doctoral students unless otherwise specified. At UT Dallas, the term dissertation refers to the final research paper for the doctoral degree and thesis refers to the research paper required for some master’s programs. The guide includes all pertinent deadline dates for the current semester, details of required documentation and guidelines/requirements for the Final Oral Examination. The guide is updated every semester. Please make sure you are using the most recent version. University policies on graduate study at UT Dallas are outlined in the Policy Statement UTDPP1052.

UT Dallas requires publication of the dissertation/thesis and abstract in their original form. The dissertation/thesis becomes a permanent and archived record of original research. Students are required to upload their dissertation/thesis as a PDF file to the submission website.* The Eugene McDermott Library will archive a digital copy of the dissertation/thesis which will be publicly available through Treasures @ UT Dallas Institutional Repository. A copy will also be submitted to ProQuest and digitally archived in ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global and will be made available to a world-wide network of online information providers and distributors (See index partners for a full list of indexes).

The Office of Graduate Education will provide guidance on formatting requirements and assist in the review and submission of dissertations/theses. Please consult the Dissertation and Thesis Formatting Guide for guidelines on preparation and formatting of dissertations/theses.

*The Office of Graduate Education does not require a hard copy of your dissertation/thesis; however, some programs may still require hardbound copies. It is the responsibility of the student to provide such copies. All printing services for dissertations and theses have moved to ThesisOnDemand.com. Please visit this site to print a copy of your dissertation, as the University Copy Center is no longer providing the service.

---

Questions concerning these guidelines or any aspect of manuscript preparation for the dissertation/thesis should be directed to:

The Office of Graduate Education
FA 3.104
972-883-2234
gradeducation@utdallas.edu

Important Policies

Final Oral Examination for Doctoral Candidates

University policies for conducting the Final Oral Examination are outlined in the Policy Statement UTDPP1052. Here is a brief summary of what to expect.

At least two weeks before you submit your Request for Final Oral Examination, provide all your committee members with a copy of your dissertation for review. When your supervising committee agrees that you are ready to defend, you should consult with the members of your committee, including the Examining Committee Chair, and agree on a time and modality (in person or remote) for your defense. Note: Your appointed Examining Committee Chair will remain until you graduate.

You must complete the PhD Request for Final Oral Examination Form (pdf) and obtain signatures from all committee members. If you will be having an in-person defense, you must provide a room number on the request form; if you will be having a remote defense, you must provide a meeting URL. The signed form must be submitted to the Office of Graduate Education at least two weeks before your defense date. Signatures on the Request for Final Oral Examination form must either be a handwritten signature or a verified, timestamped digital signature. Request forms must include valid signatures for all members (including the Examining Committee Chair) to be accepted by our office. Request forms missing valid signatures will be rejected.

The Final Oral Examination is divided into three phases. In phase I, you will give a presentation of your work. This phase is chaired by your Supervising Professor and is open to the public. The presentation and questions should last no longer than one hour. During phase II of the examination, you will be questioned by your committee primarily on your research, although aspects of the general field may also be covered. This phase of the examination is chaired by the representative appointed by the Dean of Graduate Education as the Examining Committee Chair and is not open to the public. Depending on your program, other members of faculty may be present and participate in the discussion. In phase III, the committee will discuss the examination and agree on the outcome. You will not be present for this phase of the examination. You will be informed of the decision as soon as the committee has reached agreement.

Deadlines and Required Documents for Submitting a Dissertation

The deadlines are set to allow time for processing by the Office of Graduate Education, the Registrar’s Office, and other offices involved in graduation and commencement.

No extensions are possible.

PhD Deadlines Fall 2024

Deadline	Date
Priority Graduation Application Deadline for fall 2024*	August 27, 2024
Final Graduation Application Deadline for fall 2024*	October 1, 2024
Last day to request a final oral exam	October 24, 2024
Last day to hold a final oral exam	November 7, 2024
Last day to upload dissertation for final review	November 14, 2024
Last day to have your dissertation approved by the Office of Graduate Education	December 3, 2024 – 12 p.m. noon

All documents must be submitted at least two weeks (14 days) before the date of the Final Oral Exam. If submitted less than two weeks before the date of the exam, the submission will be rejected. See the submission instructions section of this guide for details on how to use the UT Dallas ETD Submissions website.

*Please see Academic Calendar for any updates

Notes: The Final Oral Exam may not start after 4pm and cannot be conducted when the University is closed for business. Please see the Academic Calendar for University Closings.

Documents Required at Least Two Weeks Before Final Oral Exam

• Dissertation (PDF, Primary file)
• Completed and signed PhD Request for Final Oral Exam Form (pdf) (Administrative file)
• UTD Copyright Training Certificate of Completion (Administrative file)

Documents Required by the Final Deadline

• Final committee-approved PDF version of the dissertation with unsigned first page
• Turnitin Digital Receipt
• Survey of Earned Doctorates Certificate of Completion
• Citation Form (pdf) signed by the Supervising Professor and student
• Use of Human Subjects in Research Approval Memo (IRB). Only required if the research involved human subjects.
• Use of Animals in Research Approval Memo (IACUC). Only required if the research involved animals.

Deadlines and Required Documents for Submitting a Thesis

The deadlines are set as late as possible to allow the necessary time for processing by the Office of Graduate Education, the Registrar’s Office, and other offices involved in graduation and commencement.

No extensions are possible.

Master’s Deadlines Fall 2024

Deadline	Date
Priority Graduation Application Deadline for Fall 2024*	August 27, 2024
Final Graduation Application Deadline for Fall 2024*	October 1, 2024
Last day to upload thesis for review by the Office of Graduate Education	November 21, 2024
Last day to have your dissertation approved by the Office of Graduate Education	December 5, 2024 – 12 p.m.

*Please see Academic Calendar for any updates

Notes: No defenses can be held when the University is closed for business. Please see the Academic Calendar for University Closings.

Documents Required When You Submit Your Thesis For Review

• Thesis (PDF, Primary file). Upload a draft of your thesis for format review. It does not have to be the final version but must be a complete document.
• UTD Copyright Training Certificate of Completion (Administrative file)

See the submission instructions section of this guide for details on how use the UT Dallas ETD Submissions website.

Documents Required by the Final Deadlines

• Final committee-approved PDF version of the thesis with unsigned first page
• Turnitin Digital Receipt
• Citation form (pdf) signed by the Supervising Professor and student
• Report of Final Examination for Master’s Thesis (pdf)
• Use of Human Subjects in Research Approval Memo (IRB). Only required if the research involved human subjects.
• Use of Animals in Research Approval Memo (IACUC). Only required if the research involved animals.

Procedure for Submitting Your Dissertation or Thesis

Before the Deadline to Request a Final Oral Examination

The process for submitting a dissertation or thesis is similar with the exception that the PhD Request for Final Oral Exam Form (pdf) is only required for dissertations. The following information and documents are required when submitting your dissertation/thesis. Additional information on requirements can be found by opening the ⓘ icon at the side of field boxes on the submission website.

• To submit your dissertation/thesis, go to UT Dallas ETD Submission.
• Click Login and select Shibboleth Authentication.
• Login using your UT Dallas NetID and password.

Verify Your Information

You will be asked to provide the following information:

• School, Department, and Degree
• Permanent phone number
• Permanent home address
• Permanent email address (this cannot be a UT Dallas email address)

License Agreements

Complete the Texas Digital Library and ProQuest license agreements by checking the box at the bottom of each agreement.

Document Information

You will be asked to provide the following information:

• Title of your dissertation/thesis
• The month and year in which your degree will be awarded
• Defense Date (Format: mm/dd/yyyy)
• Submission Type (Thesis or Dissertation)
• Your dissertation/thesis abstract
• At least one keyword
• The subject area(s) of your dissertation/thesis
• Your committee members and their roles
• Your committee members’ email addresses
• The chapter(s) or page number(s) where any previously published material is used

Note: You have the option of delaying publication of your dissertation/thesis by 3 years. An email will be sent to your Supervising Professor through the submission site asking for approval of the embargo as part of the final approvals from our office. If during this 3-year period, you decide the dissertation/thesis should be published sooner, please reach out to gradeducation@utdallas.edu for the thesis/dissertation to be published to Treasures @ UT Dallas. Please contact dissepubl@proquest.com directly to request sooner publication to ProQuest.

Upload Your Files

• Primary File: Upload your dissertation/thesis manuscript in PDF format (required)
• Supplemental Files: Upload any supplemental material, such as audio, video, or data sets (optional)
• Administrative Files: Upload completed and signed PhD Request for Final Oral Exam Form in PDF format (only required for dissertations)
• Administrative File: Upload your UTD Copyright Tutorial Certificate of Completion (required for both dissertations and theses)

Confirm & Submit

Check that all information is correct. You can enter and change information and files any time before you submit your dissertation/thesis. Once you click the “Confirm and Submit” button, you will need to contact the Office of Graduate Education to make changes.

To submit your dissertation/thesis, click the “Confirm and Submit” button at the bottom of the page. You will receive an automatic email confirming the submission of your dissertation/thesis. If you do not receive an email, contact the Office of Graduate Education.

Your dissertation/thesis will be reviewed by the Office of Graduate Education to make sure it
meets UT Dallas’ formatting requirements, and you will be notified of any revisions needed.
Dissertations/theses submitted to our office must be formatted using our most recent
templates. Dissertations/theses formatted without a template or with an outdated template will be rejected and students will be asked to resubmit. Find templates on the Dissertation and Thesis page.

Our office does not accept dissertation submissions via email. After you have submitted your dissertation/thesis, please wait until your status is in “Needs Correction” to upload any primary or administrative files.

Before the Final Approval Deadlines

• Submit your dissertation/thesis to Turnitin and obtain an originality report and receipt
• PhD only: Upload the revised version of your dissertation as a PDF file by the deadline for final format review (refer to dissertation deadlines section of this page)
• MS only: Upload a draft of your thesis as a PDF file before the deadline for review by the Office of Graduate Education (refer to thesis deadlines section of this page)
• Upload other required documentation as ADMINISTRATIVE FILES before the final approval deadline. Please see our checklists for more information:
  • Doctoral Dissertation Checklist
  • Master’s Thesis Checklist

Your dissertation/thesis will undergo a final format check to make sure it conforms to UT Dallas’ formatting standards. Your dissertation/thesis will be reviewed in the order in which it was received, and you will be notified of any corrections needed.

You can track the review progress at any time by logging on to the submission website (UT Dallas ETD Submissions).

Note: All required revisions must be completed before the final approval deadline.

Citations and Copyrighted Material

Assessment of Originality and Appropriate Citations

It is the responsibility of the author to make sure that all citations are included and appropriate. To guard against improper and/or missing citations and to protect academic integrity in our graduate programs, the Office of Graduate Education requires you to upload a copy of your submitted dissertation/thesis to Turnitin.com for an originality report. Turnitin.com compares the submitted document to an extensive content database to make a determination as to the source of the citations as well as the overlap with previously published documents.

UTD Copyright Training for Graduate Students

• Sign in to eLearning
• Go to ORGANIZATIONS and open UTD COPYRIGHT TRAINING FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS. (Please contact the Office of Graduate Education if you do not see this.)
• Complete the copyright tutorial and test. The test can be repeated but you must receive a score of 100% on the test before you can receive a certificate of completion.
• Upload the certificate of completion to the submission website as an ADMINISTRATIVE FILE.

How to Obtain an Originality Report and Receipt

After submitting your dissertation/thesis, but before the final approval date:

• Sign into eLearning
• Go to ORGANIZATIONS and open GRADUATE STUDENT CITATION CHECK. (Please contact the Office of Graduate Education if you do not see this.)
• Click on “Citation Check” and follow the online instructions to upload your dissertation/thesis to Turnitin
• When the originality report becomes available, download a copy of the report and the digital receipt confirming that the manuscript has been submitted to Turnitin (see Figure 1). More detailed instructions can be found in the GENERATING AN ORIGINALITY REPORT file on the homepage of the Graduate Student Citation Check module.
• Email a copy of the report to your Supervising Professor for review
• Upload the Digital Receipt to the submission website as an ADMINISTRATIVE FILE
• Complete the Citation Form and have it signed by your Supervising Professor
• Upload the completed Citation Form to the submission website as an ADMINISTRATIVE FILE

Interpreting the Originality Report

The Originality Report highlights text that matches text in the databases used by Turnitin and generates a similarity index (the percentage of matches and overlap). A high similarity index does not necessarily mean plagiarism. In cases where the dissertation or thesis contains work that has been previously published the similarity index may be high. This is not an issue provided the appropriate permissions have been obtained to reproduce the material (see USE OF COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL below). There are other instances where the report identifies phrases used regularly in any given discipline and are not of great concern. The following links provide further information, including a brief demo on to how to best interpret a Turnitin report and more general information about plagiarism (iThenticate and Plagiarism.org).

Note: It can take up to 24 hours to generate the originality report.

Use of Copyrighted Material

It is your responsibility, as author of a dissertation or thesis, to conform to the provisions of the copyright law with regard to quoting and/or reproducing copyrighted materials. If the dissertation or thesis contains any material (e.g. figures, tables, text, or photographs) taken from copyrighted sources, you must determine if permission from the copyright holder is needed. This is true even if you or your Supervising Professor are the author of the material; in such cases permission from the publisher may still be needed.

In ordinary practice, it is generally assumed that the quotation of a prose passage of approximately 150 words or less or the quotation of a few lines of verse in a work of scholarship or criticism does not require written permission of the copyright owner. However, the area of “fair use” of copyrighted materials can be defined only by court action, and existing precedents are insufficient to make an exact or strict definition of its limits.

Should you decide that it is necessary to obtain permission from the copyright owner, the usual procedure is to write to the owner and obtain a written reply authorizing use of the material. Students must inform the copyright holder that the request extends to public availability through Treasures @ UT Dallas Institutional Repository and the prospective publication of the dissertation/thesis by ProQuest through its ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Publishing business. The instructions from the copyright holder on how to correctly acknowledge the copyrighted material within the dissertation must be followed. Typically, a footnote must be included which acknowledges or gives credit to the previous publication.

Note: Permissions are commonly received through the Copyright Clearance Center. A sample permission request letter can be found in ProQuest “Copyright and Your Dissertation or Thesis” (pdf).

Policy Issues Prior to Conducting the Research

Use of Human Subjects in Research (IRB)

The University Institutional Review Board (IRB) for the Protection of Human Subjects is charged by the university president under federal law with the responsibility of protecting the rights of individuals who are subjects of any research, whether funded or unfunded, and whether on or off campus, conducted by students, faculty, or staff of The University of Texas at Dallas. Written permission must be obtained through the Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects before any research can be undertaken involving human subjects. All research is covered, including questionnaires and observation. Forms requesting permission to undertake a study involving human subjects may be obtained from the Office of Research and Innovation (AD 3.204) or the school dean’s office. The IRB approval memo must be uploaded to UT Dallas ETD Submissions as an ADMINISTRATIVE FILE before the final deadline. Please see our Example Administrative Files (pdf) for an example of this memo.

Use of Animals in Research (IACUC)

The University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) is charged by the university president under federal law with the responsibility of protecting the welfare of animals used in research. No animals may be used in research without the approval of the IACUC. Forms requesting permission to undertake a study involving animal subjects may be obtained from the Office of Research and Innovation (AD 3.204) or the school dean’s office. The IACUC approval memo must be uploaded to UT Dallas ETD Submissions as an ADMINISTRATIVE FILE before the final deadline. Please see our Example Administrative Files (pdf) for an example of this memo.