Is there any paper required for an ETD submission?
Yes! There are paper forms that accompany the ETD process:
- The Thesis Signature Page (for master's students) and Dissertation Signature Page (for doctoral students) are used for your committee to formally approve the final, post-defense copy of your thesis/dissertation.
- The ETD Access Form, for both master's and doctoral students, is used to grant the PSU Library the non-exclusive right to make your ETD available through our Digital Repository.
How will I know when I have completed format review and my ETD is approved?
If your ETD is approved before your term of graduation ends, your Graduate School processor will send you an email. If your ETD is approved after your term of graduation ends and everything is ready for degree awarding, you may not be notified until your graduation has been processed. Either way, you should be regularly checking both your PSU email and the email address you entered in your ETD Administrator profile as we may contact you at either email address. If you are unclear about your format review status, please contact your processor directly for an update (see previous FAQ for contact information).
I have questions about formatting my ETD. Who should I contact?
Please see our ETD Formatting Requirements Page for detailed information about our formatting requirements, as well as several example pages. (Note: do not use another person's thesis or dissertation as a formatting guide or sample as requirements change and you could be introducing errors into your document.) If you have questions that aren't answered on our Formatting Requirements page, please contact the Format Editor at etdinfo@pdx.edu.
I'm having difficulty applying the formatting to my document. Where can I get help?
If you have questions about the formatting, please contact our office (see immediately previous FAQ). If you need help with formatting your document, we recommend that you search for YouTube videos and other online written or video tutorials, contact a computer lab on campus for technical help, or hire an outside editor.
What do I need to know about Copyright?
Thesis and dissertation students need to know about both their own rights as creators of unique works as well as how to not infringe on the copyright of others. The PSU Library provides a variety of resources about copyright and fair use. You should explore their site in detail and contact the library with any questions.
Should I register the copyright in my ETD?
Proquest offers a service in which they will register your copyright for you and deposit the required copies with the Copyright Office. The fee for this service is $75. Although registration is not required to preserve your copyright, most copyright specialists feel that it is advisable since registration offers certain legal benefits if someone infringes on your copyright and you wish to bring suit. Note that if you choose not to register your copyright through ProQuest, you can still register it on your own at a later date. Information on self-registering your copyright can be found at eCO: Electronic Copyright Office.
How does my department get a copy of my thesis/dissertation?
The Graduate School does not provide a paper copy of your ETD for your department. If your department would like to receive a paper copy, those arrangements need to be made directly between you and your department. Of course, once your ETD has been published by ProQuest, your department can access a full text PDF of your ETD through the PSU Library's subscription to the Dissertations & Theses database. A copy will also be available through PSU's Digital Repository, PDXScholar. If you have questions about what it means to have your work in PDXScholar, please contact Karen Bjork in the PSU Library at kbjork@pdx.edu.
Who should I contact if I'm having problems with the ProQuest ETD Administrator site?
Technical Support for the ProQuest ETD Administrator is available on the ETD Administrator website. Our staff and students have had uniformly positive results from their tech support team.
Why do I have to pay $95 to ProQuest for Open Access Service?
The ProQuest Traditional Publishing option allows for the payment of royalties, both to you as the author and to ProQuest. No royalties are paid for open access, so the additional fee is to offset ProQuest's administrative costs for providing open access. Your ETD will be open access in PDXScholar and discoverable by web search engines.
What is a Creative Commons license?
A Creative Commons license provides a standardized way for you to communicate to the public how others can share and use your work. If you choose to add a Creative Commons license to your ETD, add the appropriate text and image to the Copyright Notice Page, double spaced below the copyright notice. For more information, visit the Creative Commons website.
If you would like to suggest an FAQ for inclusion on this page, feel free to email the question to us at etdinfo@pdx.edu.