Submitting an Electronic Thesis or Dissertation (ETD)
Before submitting your ETD
To begin your ETD submission, your thesis should be formatted according to Graduate College thesis requirements and approved by your department.
- The thesis must be submitted as a single Portable Document File (PDF).
- The file should be named Lastname_Firstname.pdf (e.g., Smith_John.pdf)
- Security settings should not be applied to the PDF file.
- The PDF file should not contain embedded multimedia.
- Do not include additional materials (see below) in the PDF file.
(Note: For a few tips on getting started with the PDF conversion process, please see our ETD FAQs or this short video on PDF conversion using MS Word 2003 and Adobe Acrobat Pro. Please note that neither the Thesis Office nor the Library will assist with the conversion of thesis files to PDF.)
In addition to the PDF file of your thesis, you will need:
- If applicable, any supplemental appendix files (video, audio, data sets, etc.). (An appendix page with a brief description of the content of the supplemental file must be included in the main PDF file of the thesis. See the Graduate College thesis requirements for further information.)
- A familiarity with the IDEALS deposit agreement.
- A knowledge of your options regarding the release of your ETD into IDEALS.
- Your primary adviser's email address.
- Your departmental thesis reviewer's email address.
- An active NetID or a temporary password. (If your NetID is no longer active, you will be able to create your own temporary password once you begin the submission process.)
Submitting your ETD
To create your ETD submission profile and submit your thesis to the Graduate College Thesis Office for review, click on the link below:
After you have submitted your thesis for review, you will receive a series of emails from the Graduate College Thesis Office that will notify you that we have received your ETD and alert you to any required corrections or other steps you will need to take to complete your thesis deposit. You may also check the status of our review of your ETD at any time by returning to your submission profile via the link provided above.
Completing the deposit of your ETD
Your thesis deposit is not complete until you have made all corrections requested by the Graduate College Thesis Office and have submitted all additional materials required for the deposit. All corrections and additional materials must be received by the Thesis Office no later than 4:45 p.m. on the day of the deposit deadline for your intended graduation period.
Materials required for a master's thesis deposit
- One original, signed Certificate of Committee Approval (CCA)
- (If applicable) One copy of each permission letter to reprint previously copyrighted material
The Thesis Office must receive the hard-copy CCA with original signatures before your deposit can be completed. You may bring this form to the reception desk on the 2nd floor of Coble Hall between 8:30 a.m. and 4:45 p.m.; you may arrange for a proxy to do so on your behalf; or you may send the CCA to the Thesis Office via USPS or other delivery service.
Copies of permission letters (if applicable) may be sent to the Thesis Office via email or fax at 217-333-8019.
Materials required for a doctoral dissertation deposit
- One original, signed Certificate of Committee Approval (CCA)
- Signed ProQuest/UMI publishing agreement (pages 4 and 5 required)1
- Completed Survey of Earned Doctorates (with verification sent to the Thesis Office)2, 3(If applicable)
- One copy of each permission letter to reprint previously copyrighted material
1 ProQuest: The release options available on the ProQuest agreement are separate from the University's ETD release options. To avoid the additional fee associated with ProQuest's "Open Access Publishing" option, selection of the "Traditional Publishing" option on the publishing agreement is recommended.
2 Survey of Earned Doctorates: The Survey is not required for dissertations submitted for the Ed.D. and D.M.A. degrees.
3 Survey of Earned Doctorates: To complete your deposit, you must provide proof to the Graduate College that you have completed the SED. The easiest way of doing this is by entering, when given a prompt near the end of the Survey, thesis@illinois.edu as the address to which a notification of completion may be sent. The average amount of time required to complete the SED is about 20 minutes.
The Thesis Office must receive the hard-copy CCA with the required number of signatures before your deposit can be completed. You may bring this form to the reception desk on the 2nd floor of Coble Hall between 8:30 a.m. and 4:45 p.m.; you may arrange for a proxy to do so on your behalf; or you may send the CCA to the Thesis Office via USPS or other delivery service.
The ProQuest agreement and copies of permission letters (if applicable) may be sent to the Thesis Office via email or fax at 217-333-8019.