Graduate School

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) Submission Instructions

Graduate students completing a thesis or dissertation must submit the final version of their document to the Graduate School. The final version is the document that has been approved by each of your committee members after all required post-defense edits have been made. The final version must also conform to the Graduate School's formatting requirements.  

Before You Begin

DO NOT wait until the last minute to submit your ETD. As with many things (such as writing your thesis or dissertation!), the process will take longer than you think. Also, there may be heavy traffic on the submission website near submission deadlines. Deadlines for submission for each term are available on our website. 

The ETD site for Portland State University is available through ProQuest's ETD Administrator website. When you access the site the first time you will be required to create an account; click on the button titled Sign up and get started today! and then choose Portland State University from the list. Keep track of your username and password - you will almost certainly need to access the site more than once during the ETD process.

Once you establish an account, you will receive a email from the ProQuest ETD system (this email, and others generated from the ProQuest ETD system, may get caught in your spam filter, so please watch for this). Use the link provided in the email to confirm your account. Once you confirm your account you will be taken to the Submit my ETD page of the ProQuest ETD Administrator website. We would suggest you explore the entire site in advance; the submission steps are detailed on the left-hand menu. We also suggest you review all of these submission instructions in advance.

You will be asked to make decisions about traditional versus open access publishing as well as copyrighting your work. We suggest you review these materials in advance (view ETD publishing options and copyright information) so that you can make these decisions by the time you are ready to submit. If you choose traditional publishing there is no charge; if you choose open access publishing there is a $95 fee. If you choose to file for copyright there is a $75 fee. Have your credit card ready when you make your final submission.

If you would like to purchase additional copies of your thesis/dissertation for yourself, you may order bound copies through ProQuest (Order copies page), or through any other service that does book binding. 
 

Submitting Your ETD

From the Submit my ETD page on the ProQuest ETD Administrator website, the submission steps are outlined on the left-hand menu. You will see the items checked off as you progress through the submission steps. You must click "Save & Continue" at the bottom of each page, even pages on which you do not enter any information (e.g. the Instructions page, the Supplemental files page, etc.). Using the left-hand menu, you can return to any page and make changes until the point of final submission (make sure you save the changes at the bottom of the page).

Instructions page

  • Before you begin the submission process, review the notes on this page about the information you should have ready.
  • If you start the submission process but are not able to complete it in a single session, you can save your information and come back later to finish. Just remember to click "Save & Continue" as you enter information on each page.

Publishing Options page

  • If you choose Open Access Service, you will have to pay the $95 Open Access Service fee.
  • You may choose no search engine access at your discretion.
  • You may choose a 6-month or 1-year embargo at your discretion. You must have advance permission from the Graduate School to select the 2-year embargo.
  • After you have selected your publishing options, click Save & Continue at the bottom of the page. You will be taken to the detailed publishing agreement for the publishing option you chose. You will need to click Accept at the bottom of the page.

Contact Information page

  • The form of your name that you use on this page must match the form of your name as listed on the Title page of your ETD (see the ETD Formatting Requirements for more information).
  • The email address you enter is the email address that will automatically be used for communications during the format review process, so make sure it is one you check regularly.
     
  • PSU or ProQuest may need to contact you weeks or months after your submission, so please think carefully about your permanent email address and permanent mailing address. 

Dissertation/Thesis Details page

  • The Title provided must exactly match the title on the Title page of your thesis/dissertation, including punctuation.
  • The Adviser/Committee Chair section allows for two entries. Only enter one name in this section. If you are a doctoral student who has an approved Co-Chair, enter both the Chair and Co-Chair names in this section.
  • Keywords - these are used to create the appropriate Library of Congress subject headings for your thesis/dissertation. You must enter at least one keyword.
  • Abstract - your entire Abstract will be entered here. You can copy and paste your abstract into the box without formatting it. For the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses database, ProQuest will format your abstract using the formatting that is in the abstract of your PDF submission. As a reminder, keywords should not be added to the Abstract in the dissertation itself or in the ETD Administrator Abstract field. They should only be added in the Keywords section as indicated in the previous bullet point.

PDF page

  • The ETD that you submit must be a PDF file. If you are using MS Word or RTF format, the ETD Administrator can convert your manuscript to PDF for you. The PDF Conversion tool also ensure your fonts are properly embedded. When you upload the file, the ETD Administrator will recognize if you are uploading a MS Word or RTF format document and will automatically complete a two-step process that includes first uploading the file and then converting it to PDF. The process takes a few minutes. Larger documents, such as those that contain many high resolution images, can take 30 minutes (or more) to convert or upload. After the conversion is complete, we recommend that you save a copy of the PDF file for your records.
  • If you are using LaTeX, you cannot use the PDF Conversion tool. From the Creating PDFs page, scroll down to the instructions for converting LaTeX files to PDFs.
  • After uploading, review your PDF to ensure the formatting remained as you intended.
  • If you have copyright permission documents that are not included in your dissertation/thesis file, you must submit them separately. Copyright permission documents are required by ProQuest if you are republishing another's work (either in full or in part) in your dissertation.

Supplemental Files (optional) page

  • Use this page only if you are including supplemental files - e.g., video files, audio files, large spreadsheets, etc.
  • Be sure to click "Save & Continue" at the bottom of the page even if you do not add a supplementary file.

Notes (optional) page

  • Use this page if there is a short message you would like to send to the person in the Graduate School who will review your ETD.
  • Be sure to click "Save & Continue" at the bottom of the page even if you do not add a note.

Register U.S. Copyright page

  • If you choose to register your copyright, you will have to pay the $75 fee.

Order Copies page

  • If you would like to order bound copies from ProQuest, enter your order information on this page. Alternatively, you can order bound copies through any service that does bookbinding. 

Submit & Pay: Credit Card page

  • When you click the Submit Dissertation/Thesis & Pay button at the bottom of the page, your submission will be complete. Do not make this step until you are sure you are ready to submit.


After your final submission, you will receive an automated confirmation email within minutes. (This email may be caught in your spam filter.) The Graduate School will contact you after we have audited your thesis/dissertation and/or if we have any questions about your submission.

After You Submit Your ETD

Keep your original Word document! Back it up in more than one location! If revisions are needed, it is much easier to revise the Word document, then reconvert it to a PDF, than it would be to modify the PDF.

Check your email! The results of your format review will be sent to the email address you entered in your ProQuest ETD Administrator profile. This email address is also where we will contact you when your graduation has been processed. Note that we cannot change the email address in your ETD Administrator profile to send it to a different email address. If you have questions about receiving format review emails, please contact us at etdinfo@pdx.edu.

Students often need to make formatting revisions after initial submission of their final thesis or dissertation to the Graduate School. If you have met the Thesis/Dissertation Submission deadline for your intended term of graduation, but need to make additional formatting revisions, you can still graduate in that term provided you submit the required revisions by the individualized deadline provided by the Graduate School during your format review. 

You will not be certified for graduation until the formatting of your thesis/dissertation has been fully approved by the Graduate School. 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 you have been certified for graduation. 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. Regardless of the timing of your ETD approval, we will email you once we have certified you for graduation.

Doctoral students only: Please note that you cannot participate in the Spring PSU Commencement ceremony unless you have been certified for graduation by the Graduate School. Again, we will be in touch.