Forms and Petitions

Guide to Filing Theses and Dissertations

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 are required to file the paper copy of the dissertation with Graduate Division before 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 electronic 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. 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.

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. The best product for creating PDF files is Adobe Acrobat, which includes Acrobat Distiller for writing PDF files. UCSB Instructional Computing (IC) makes Adobe Acrobat available at no charge to UCSB students at several IC computer labs. See Instructional Computing for information about IC facilities and services. Acrobat can also be purchased at most software retailers or at Adobe's web site.

E-dissertations may be submitted via the UCSB Dissertation Submission Site. The instructions in the main body of text as well as the options on the left sidebar provide useful information. If the dissertation is in Word or RTF format, it must be converted to PDF before continuing the submission process.

When the e-dissertation is ready to be submitted, students 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. These agreements contain standard language that is also part of the paper contract that one would sign while filing a paper dissertation. Students click on "Accept" to agree to these terms.

Next, students fill in the required text boxes with student name and contact information and click "Continue."

The next page requires information about the dissertation and student's degree. 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. Students paste or type the dissertation abstract (of no more than 350 words) into the appropriate text box. Requests to the dissertation administrator may be placed in the appropriate text box. Finally, students indicate whether ProQuest/UMI is authorized to register the student's claim to copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office for a $65 fee. Once students click on "Submit" the next page may take a few minutes to load.

The next page is an order form for printed, bound copies of the dissertation. To place an order, students complete the relevant fields and click on "Place order." Otherwise, students may click on "Continue without ordering copies."

The final page gives the student the opportunity to upload supplementary files - such as sound or video files, if applicable - and verify the accuracy of the submission. If the submission is satisfactory, students click on "Log out."

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.