For some of you, the most important moment in your graduate experience is when you research, compose and defend your thesis or dissertation. As the culmination of your outstanding hard work, your thesis or dissertation represents the final step towards earning your Masters or Doctoral degree. The process isn’t as daunting as you may have heard. View the links below to learn more about the process and hear some of our advice.

Preparing For Your Thesis or Dissertation

If your degree requires a thesis or dissertation, your Graduation Packet will contain several additional required documents.

ProQuest Documents

• Master’s Theses & Doctoral Dissertations
• ProQuest Open Access vs. Traditional Publishing
• ProQuest Copyright Guide
• UNT vs ProQuest Comparison

The UNT Thesis Manual: Formatting the Dissertation/Thesis

Your first stop when formatting your dissertation or thesis should be our Thesis & Dissertation Manual. Additionally, we have many resources in our Writing section that can provide you with insight on copyright issues, plagiarism, style guides and the like.

Ready to Submit?

When you are ready to submit, bring all of your completed thesis or dissertation documents to the Graduate School. You will be given a Filing Envelope into which all materials should be placed. Please allow enough time to fill out the required information on the front of the envelope. All documents must be turned in by the appropriate deadlines. For more detailed information, download a copy of the graduation calendar: Fall 2010, Spring 2011.

A completed packet will include:

• Checklist for ETD Submission

• A CD containing three separate files (with appropriate formatting)

  • a PDF version of your dissertation/thesis

  • a PDF version of your abstract

  • a word processor version of your abstract

• Filing Envelope Cover (only if mailing your thesis/dissertation)

• Paper version of your dissertation/thesis including your abstract

• Electronic Document Filing Form

• Final Defense Form (may be submitted directly by your department)

• ProQuest Agreement Form

• Paper or digital versions of any copyright permission letters

• UNT Graduating Student Survey

• Survey of Earned Doctorates (doctoral students only)

What's Next?

After your dissertation/thesis has been submitted, the Graduate Reader will examine your work and email you regarding any necessary revisions (if needed). These revisions should be resubmitted by the appropriate deadline. For more detailed information, download a copy of the graduation calendar: Fall 2010, Spring 2011.

Distribution of Electronic Theses & Dissertations (ETDs)

The Graduate School will distribute your ETD to the UNT Library and ProQuest. All UNT ETDs are placed in the UNT ETD repository and made available via the online Libraries catalog for reading and/or downloading by all users, including being crawled and indexed by online search engines (e.g., Google). ETDs are available in perpetuity; there are no restrictions regarding who can download the file or how many times it can be downloaded. If release needs to be delayed, a student's major professor must make an appeal to the Graduate School dean.

All students must sign and submit a ProQuest publication agreement form as part of their required paperwork for graduation. Students must include their social security number on the ProQuest forms. As copyright holder, students earn royalties on every copy of their thesis or dissertation. All signed forms are sent with the files to ProQuest at the end of the semester. UNT is not a party to this agreement and has no way of tracking what arrangements students make with ProQuest.