Academic Services

Electronic Dissertation Filing

UCSB allows doctoral students to file one electronic copy of the dissertation (e-dissertation). The other copy of the dissertation must be in paper and must follow the formatting guidelines laid out in this document. Students may file the paper copy of the dissertation with Graduate Division before or after submitting the electronic version.

This option is available only for doctoral dissertations; both copies of master's theses must be submitted in paper.

Submission Procedure

The e-dissertation must be an exact replicate of the paper copy of the dissertation with one exception: the signature page on the e-dissertation will remain unsigned. Ensuring that the document appears as originally intended when it is accessed or printed is entirely the responsibility of the student author

The e-dissertation must be submitted as a single electronic Portable Document Format (PDF) file. If the original e-dissertation is a Microsoft Word or RTF file, it will be converted to PDF at the UCSB Dissertation Submission Site. If the e-dissertation is not in Microsoft Word, RTF or PDF - e.g. LaTeX or WordPerfect - it must be converted to PDF by the student before the student uses the Submission Site.

UCSB Instructional Computing (IC) makes Adobe Acrobat available at no charge to UCSB students at several IC computer labs. Certain types of fonts and graphics work better with PDF, and special attention should be paid to creating equations for PDF conversion. Issues related to PDF files are discussed in the PDF Help Center section of the submission website.

E-dissertations may be submitted via the UCSB Dissertation Submission Site.

When submitting your dissertation click on "Submit Your Dissertation" in the left sidebar. This link opens the log in page for students to click on the "New user" link to create a free account. If an account has already been created, students enter the appropriate email address and password into the text boxes provided and click "Log In." Once the log in is successful, students follow the instructions and links. The student's acceptance of the Submission Agreement and UMI Release is required in order to submit the e-dissertation

An email confirmation of a successfully submitted e-dissertation will be sent to the student. The e-dissertation will be reviewed by Graduate Division for final approval. The student will be contacted by email regarding the status of the submission (e.g., approved, not approved pending required modifications).

For technical questions, students may contact support@dissertations.umi.com. For questions about dissertation formatting, students may contact Academic Services staff in the Graduate Division.

Notes:

When filling out the Agreement form, the Social Security Number field is optional, but a Social Security Number is required if the student wants to receive royalty payments from the sale of the dissertation.
You will be required to paste or type your dissertation abstract (of no more than 350 words) in a text box at some point during the e-filing process.
There will be a section where you will be able to make special requests to the dissertation administrator.
The final page gives the student the opportunity to upload any supplementary files - such as sound or video files, if applicable.