Electronic Thesis - Dissertation Guidelines | Graduate School | SIU

Graduate students at Southern Illinois University who are required to submit a Thesis or Dissertation must follow the Graduate School formatting guidelines and submit through the ProQuest submission website. Review the guidelines for formatting and submission on this website and/or download Guidelines for the Preparation of Dissertations, Theses, and Research Papers. Two submission deadlines must be met: Format Check and Final Submission. Deadlines are posted at https://gradschool.siu.edu/about-us/dates-deadlines.php.

Format Check – Upload your ETD (Electronic Thesis or Dissertation) in one PDF file to the ProQuest submission website. Your ETD does not have to be perfect for this first upload! Within 1-3 days after submission, you will receive an email from the ETD Administrator with a list of corrections that must be made to meet formatting requirements. Make those changes and upload your ETD again. There is a charge for the first upload, and no charge for subsequent uploads. Upload as many times as needed to meet all formatting requirements.

Final Submission – All corrections to content (based on your committee’s feedback) and formatting (based on ETD Support feedback) must be completed by the final submission deadline.

Questions should be directed to etdsupport@siu.edu.

Note: Students who will submit a Research Paper should visit https://gradschool.siu.edu/current-students/thesis-dissertation-researchpaper/research-paper-guidelines.php for instructions.

These links will help guide you through the process of preparing and submitting your Thesis or Dissertation.

• ETD Guidelines
• ETD Format
• ETD Submission Process
• ETD Templates
• ETD Checklist
• Copyright Information
• Ordering Copies of Thesis / Dissertation

The ETD provides a technologically advanced medium for expressing your ideas by incorporating multimedia objects. You may prepare your ETD using nearly any word processor or document preparation system. Electronic Theses and Dissertations must be submitted as a PDF file and be ONE document. 

ETDs may include color diagrams, color images, hypertext links, audio, video, animations, spreadsheets, databases, simulations, and virtual reality worlds. The inclusion of new multimedia can allow students to better express ideas.

Why ETD?

• Improves graduate education through more effective sharing
• Opportunity to better express ideas
• Worldwide access to scholars
• Timely sharing of technology, knowledge, and peer review
• Economical

Copyright and Intellectual Property

Compliance with copyright law is imperative. Information on copyright issues is available from the following website:  

• UMI Copyright Law and Graduate Research 

Submitting Dissertations and Theses in Digital Format

For electronic submission of your thesis or dissertation, please go to dissertations.umi.com/siu. Here you will find a detailed FAQ, as well as information from UMI regarding ETD submission requirements.