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How Do I Begin?

• I've finished classes and all of my qualifying tests. What is the first thing I should do to start my thesis/dissertation?
  • The first step on your road to writing your thesis/dissertation is the selection of a committee chairperson. From there, you and your chair will select the rest of your committee. Your committee chair can help you make sure all of the required forms are completed before you start your research. If you have any questions, you can always contact the Thesis and Dissertation Office via email at grad-research@iup.edu.
• Is funding available for my research project?
  • Funding is available on a competitive basis through the graduate research grant. Funding is also available for graduate students to present their research at professional meetings. See the graduate student research funding information.
• What forms and approvals are required before I start my research?
  • All students completing a thesis/dissertation must submit an RTAF, and it must be received by the Office of Graduate Education and Academic Planning before the applicable deadline. Many students will also need IRB or IACUC approval. Once you have submitted the RTAF and IRB/IACUC (if applicable) documents, the Office of Graduate Education and Academic Planning will review these documents for approval. You may not commence research until after you receive an official notification from the Office of Graduate Education and Academic Planning indicating your RTAF has been given final approval. The notification will be sent to your IUP email address.
• What is an RTAF, and where and when do I need to submit it?
  • RTAF stands for Research Topic Approval Form. You must fill this out after you form your committee, but before you begin the actual work on your thesis/dissertation.
  • Accessing the electronic RTAF:
    • In the portal:
      • Log into MyIUP and go to Discover.
      • Search for "graduate" and click on Graduate Student Resources.
      • Click on Research Topic Approval Form.
    • Follow the on-screen instructions. Note: This form is not compatible with Internet Explorer.
• What are the deadlines for submitting theses/dissertations?
  • Here are thesis/dissertation deadlines.

Committee 

• How do I select a committee?
  • You should choose a committee chairperson when thesis/dissertation work begins. This individual must be qualified to serve as a chairperson according to the Office of Graduate Education and Academic Planning Criteria for Teaching Graduate Courses policy for graduate faculty membership. Members of a dissertation committee must also be approved under this policy. See the Current List of Eligible Faculty Members.
• Can I have an expert from outside IUP serve on my committee?
  • Doctoral students wishing to have a committee member from outside the APSCUF bargaining unit may apply to have an outside reader serve as the third or fourth member of their committee. Instructions to request an outside reader
• What should I do if my committee changes?
  • If your committee changes, you will need to submit a new electronic RTAF through your MyIUP account.  Email grad-research@iup.edu to inform them of the reason for the new RTAF submission.
• What are my options if the chair of my thesis/dissertation committee chair is retiring before I defend?
  • Your thesis/dissertation committee chair may continue to serve as your chair for one year after their date of retirement if certain criteria have been met.  You will need to defend your thesis/dissertation within that one-year time frame; if you do not, a new RTAF will need to be submitted with an active IUP faculty member who has current graduate teaching eligibility status listed as committee chair.

  • If your thesis/dissertation committee chair will no longer be serving, then you will need to select a new committee chair; this may be a member already serving on your committee or a new member to the committee. They will need to be an active IUP faculty member who has current graduate teaching eligibility status.

  •  For doctoral students, a faculty member must have current doctoral-level graduate eligibility status to chair a dissertation committee.

  •  For master's students, a faculty member must have current master's-level graduate eligibility status to chair a thesis committee.

• Where can my chair find info about compensation for chairing my thesis or dissertation?
  • Please see FAQ About Faculty Compensation for Chairing Thesis and Dissertation Committees.

Copyright Issues

• Are the rules governing the use of copyrighted materials any different for ETDs (Electronic Theses and Dissertations) compared to hard-copy theses and dissertations?
  • No. The only exception would be if your ETD required a licensed application or reader program in order to make your ETD readable or useful. In that case, you would need to consult the licensing agreement to see if you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
• What does "fair use" mean?
  • Since a thesis or dissertation is published for nonprofit educational purposes, the author is permitted limited use of copyrighted material under the guidelines of "fair use." The purpose, amount, nature, and effect of the work reproduced determine whether or not one must seek permission from the copyright owner.
• What are some examples of things that I probably would need to get copyright permission for?
  • Items that you would want to pay special attention to would be materials such as graphs, charts, data, pictures, maps, illustrations, long quotations, questionnaires, journal articles, music, archival material, unpublished works, computer software, and creative works such as poetry, novels, and plays.
• Where can I go for more information about copyright issues in general, as well as those related to ETDs?
  • You can find more information on our Copyright Information page.

Submitting Your Thesis/Dissertation

• Can I turn in my draft for review before I defend?
  • Yes, once it is approved by your committee. Please keep in mind that we only review content for format and compliance. You may want to submit your thesis/dissertation to the Scholarly Editing and Writing Service at the Center for Scholarly Communication prior to submitting it to the Thesis and Dissertation Office.
• Should I turn in a paper copy of my thesis/dissertation for review, or should I email it?
  • No. Please email your copy in Word or PDF format to grad-research@iup.edu.  
• Why should I submit a thesis/dissertation electronically?
  • Submitting electronically makes your research available to a global audience and not sequestered on a shelf in our library.
  • By preparing an ETD and submitting it electronically, you may be able to better convey the message of your dissertation in an electronic document. Color diagrams, color images, hypertext links, audio, video, animations, spreadsheets, databases, simulations, and virtual reality worlds can be included in your document.
  • Further, you will learn about electronic document preparation and about digital libraries. These skills can help prepare you for your future role in the Information Age, whether you teach, conduct research, or use the research results of others.
• If I submit electronically, can I still get paper copies?
  • Yes. Here is information for obtaining paper copies for binding.

PDFs

• How can I convert my dissertation to PDF?
  • You will need Microsoft Word 2007, Adobe Acrobat, or their equivalent.
  • Adobe Acrobat is available on all IUP computers (including computers in the computer labs).
    • Additionally, a free, 30-day trial version can be .
  • Mac users will need to download .
  • Another option is to download , which is a free program.
• What other electronic formats are allowed?
  • The text-based portion of the dissertation must be a PDF file. You may use the following additional permitted file types already approved and supported by ProQuest's UMI division for electronic dissertations: image files as .gif, .jpg, or .tif; video files as .mov, .mpg, or .avi; and audio files as .aif, .midi, .snd, .wav, or as CD-DA, CD-ROM/XA, or MPEG-2.
• Can I submit multiple PDFs in my ETD?
  • No. Only one PDF is allowed.
• Are there any size limits imposed on ETDs?
  • No. However, to ensure that readers will be able to download and use your ETD in the future, it is important to keep the size to a minimum. The average size of ETDs is less than 5 MB.

The Thesis/Dissertation Review Process

• What do you look for when I submit for review?
  • We will check that your formatting complies with your chosen style manual and the university's formatting templates for front matter. We will also confirm that you have obtained all necessary approvals to conduct research, including but not limited to RTAF, IRB, IACUC, and outside readers. Additionally, we will review the document for plagiarism using iThenticate software. You will receive an electronic copy of the iThenticate report with your format revision notes.
• How will my thesis/dissertation be reviewed with iThenticate?
  • When you send your thesis or dissertation to the Office of Graduate Education and Academic Planning for review, we will upload it to iThenticate. The iThenticate software will compare your document to over 32 billion web pages and 125 million content items, including 34 million published works. iThenticate will automatically generate a report flagging sections of the thesis or dissertation that bear some percentage of similarity to published content. Each student will be sent an electronic copy of the iThenticate report along with the other formatting documents already sent by the Office of Graduate Education and Academic Planning. The Office of Graduate Education and Academic Planning will carefully review the report produced by iThenticate and notify the student of possible missed citations and trivial errors. If it appears that there is a significant amount of potentially plagiarized material, the student, committee chair, graduate coordinator, and associate provost for Graduate Education will be notified for further investigation and for possible noncompliance with the university's Academic Integrity Policy.
• Will each quote and/or citation in my thesis/dissertation be flagged?
  • No. The iThenticate software allows the Office of Graduate Education and Academic Planning to set filters to exclude quotations and bibliographic information.
• Will my thesis/dissertation be added to an iThenticate database?
  • No. Your thesis/dissertation will NOT be added to any iThenticate databases during the review process.
• Can I check my thesis/dissertation with iThenticate before the Office of Graduate Education and Academic Planning does so?
  • Unfortunately, the Office of Graduate Education and Academic Planning's iThenticate license does not permit this.
• When I submit for review, do you make the corrections, or will you send it back to me with revision notes?
  • We will email you revision notes. We do not make any corrections to your thesis/dissertation.
• After you finish reviewing my thesis/dissertation, do I resubmit it to you for approval?
  • No, unless instructed otherwise your thesis/dissertation can be uploaded can be uploaded to ProQuest. We will review your thesis/dissertation after you have uploaded it to ProQuest, and additional edits may be required at that time.

Citing and Publishing ETDs

• How do I correct my ETD after it appears on the IUP Libraries server?
  • You can't. If you need to make corrections, you must contact the Thesis and Dissertation Office.
• How do I cite an ETD?
  • Citations depend on the style manual you chose on your RTAF. Find approved style manuals.

Please address all thesis and dissertation questions to grad-research@iup.edu.