Thesis Preparation Guidelines (FAQs)

General Statement

Olin Library catalogs and processes all theses written by Washington University graduate students. There are records for all theses in the Library Catalog as well as in the OCLC WorldCat database. All doctoral dissertations are sent to UMI Dissertation Services, a division of the ProQuest Company.

The conversion to electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs):

Beginning in 2009 (for degrees awarded in August, 2009) all theses and dissertations completed at Washington University will be submitted in electronic form. Print submissions will no longer be accepted. Dissertations will be submitted directly in electronic form to UMI Dissertation Services. Theses will be locally submitted in electronic form (the submission link is below). The Library will continue to catalog theses and dissertations, and enter these records into the Library Catalog.

Where are theses and dissertations stored?

The Library formerly received printed copies of theses and dissertations written for degree programs at Washington University and housed them in the West Campus Library at the corner of Forsyth and Jackson Streets in Clayton. Theses and dissertations previously submitted in paper form will continue to be available at the West Campus Library. Going forward, theses and dissertations submitted electronically will be housed in an online repository. (UMI will send copies of dissertations submitted electronically to them back to Washington University for ingest into the local repository.)

While the Library is currently receiving theses in electronic format, the local online repository where the theses and dissertations will be indexed and available is currently under development. We anticipate the ETD repository to be accessible near the end of 2009. When ready, the URL to the repository will be made available on this page.

Do I need to copyright or register my work?

It is always suggested that upon completion of the text, the student add the copyright symbol © with the year and personal name following the title page. It is not necessary to register your copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office. However, if you wish to do so, there are two options:

• For doctoral students submitting dissertations to UMI / ProQuest, you may choose to have ProQuest act as your agent to register your copyright for a fee (currently $65.00) or you may decline that service and register your work with the U.S. Copyright Office.
• For students submitting theses directly to the local repository, you may register your work with the U.S. Copyright Office. Forms for copyright registration may be downloaded from the Library of Congress web site at http://www.copyright.gov/.  ($35 or $45 dollars at the time of this writing, depending on the means you choose to register.)

What if I want to restrict access to my dissertation?

The Library recognizes students may wish to restrict access to their work for a given period of time. Options for doing so are available in the submission form.

I’m ready to submit—what do I need?

Before you begin, please be sure you have the following:

• Full text of the thesis as a single PDF file. If your manuscript is currently only in Word or RTF or some other format, and you need advice on converting it to the PDF format, please contact Digital Library Services (digital@wulib.wustl.edu).
• Optional Abstract
• Optional Supplementary files (images, data, etc.) that are an integral part of the thesis, but not part of the full text.
• Advisor and other Committee Members' Names

Now you can proceed to the respective submission forms.  Ph.D. candidates will submit directly to ProQuest/UMI. The form for Masters’ degree candidates should submit their theses in electronic form to the Online ETD Submission Form.

NEW: along with the wider University community, the Washington University Libraries are transitioning to use of the WUSTL Key for authentication. If you have viewed this page in the past, the submission form no longer uses the student ID number.

To access the form, you will need to log in. Be sure to have your:

• WUSTL Key ID, and
• WUSTL Key password

If you have problems with your WUSTL Key or WUSTL Key password, please see the Library Password Help page.

When you click on the link to the submission form, a login window will appear:

You will need to enter "ACCOUNTS" with a backward slash, followed by your WUSTL Key ID in the username field, and your WUSTL Key password in the password field.

After you log in and the page opens, click on the New link, and select New Document.

When you select New Document, the submission form loads.

When you are finished entering your submission information, click the Submit link at either the top or bottom of the page.

Still have more questions or comments?

The administrative assistant for your School will be able to help you prepare your thesis. If you experience problems and have to quit the submission process before it’s complete, or if you believe there is an error in the form as you submitted it, please do not create a new form, and contact Digital Library Services (digital@wulib.wustl.edu) for assistance.