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Final Submission of Your Electronic Thesis or Dissertation (ETD)

Welcome to the University of Washington’s Electronic Thesis/Dissertation (ETD) web page. This page walks you through the five steps required for a successful final submission of your thesis or dissertation:

Step 1: Read This Information

To graduate with a master’s (thesis program) or doctoral (dissertation program) degree at the University of Washington, graduate students are required to submit a thesis or dissertation through the UW Electronic Thesis/Dissertation (ETD) Administrator Site. Documents will be published by ProQuest/UMI Dissertation Publishing and made available on an open access basis through UW Libraries ResearchWorks Service.

Prerequisites

You must meet the following prerequisites before final submission of your document:

Master’s students
  1. Submit a master’s degree request in MyGrad – Student View.
      Note: Make sure to select “Thesis Program” and enter a thesis title.
  2. Obtain original signatures on your Master’s Supervisory Committee Approval Form to be submitted to Graduate Enrollment Management Services (GEMS) by the deadline indicated below.
PhD students
  1. Schedule a doctoral final exam in MyGrad – Student View.
  2. Obtain original signatures on your Doctoral Dissertation Reading Committee Approval Form to be submitted to Graduate Enrollment Management Services (GEMS) by the deadline indicated below.
  3. Complete the Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED). Print the SED Certificate of Completion and submit to GEMS with your signed Doctoral Dissertation Reading Committee Approval Form.

Deadlines

  • Submit your document in the UW ETD Administrator Site by 11:59 p.m. PST on the last day of the quarter. If you submit your document after the deadline, you will graduate the following quarter and must register or pay the $250 Graduate Registration Waiver Fee.
  • Deliver your signed Master’s Supervisory or Doctoral Dissertation Reading Committee Approval Form to GEMS no later than 5:00 p.m. PST on the Monday following the last day of the quarter. GEMS cannot graduate you until your signed form has been received. Failure to submit your form may require that you register again or pay the $250 Graduate Registration Waiver Fee.
  • Please see Dates and Deadlines for specific dates.

Your Title Page

Your title page has specific formatting requirements. Please see the sample title pages provided below.

If you do not format your title page correctly, you will receive an email from a GEMS advisor requesting revisions and your graduation may be delayed. If you have any questions, please email uwgrad@uw.edu.

Formatting the Rest of Your Document

To format the rest of your document, you may refer to Format Guidelines for Theses and Dissertations. Your ETD should NOT include a signature page or a quote slip. Because of changes in requirements, you should not use existing library or departmental copies of theses/dissertations as examples of proper format.

Introduction to the UW ETD Administrator Site

There are three major sections in the UW ETD Administrator Site:
  • My ETDs – step-by-step ETD submission instructions
  • Resources & Guidelines – information such as format guidelines; copyright issues; creating PDFs; UW contacts for formatting help, copyright and open access questions
  • PDF Conversion – a tool that may be used to convert Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, or RTF (rich text format) documents into PDF format. Your thesis/dissertation must be uploaded as a PDF; the maximum file size that can be uploaded is 250 MB.

Fees and Ordering Bound (Paper) Copies of Your Document

There are no required fees. You have the option to register your copyright via ProQuest for a fee. If you want to order bound (paper) copies of your document, you may do so through the UW Copy Centers or through ProQuest. Questions should be directed to the UW Copy Centers or to ProQuest at 1.800.521.0600, ext. 77020 – available 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. EST, Monday through Friday (excluding U.S. holidays).

Step 2: Activate Your Account

To get started, you must activate your account in the UW ETD Administrator Site. You are encouraged to do so well before you submit your thesis or disssertation so you can become familiar with the UW ETD Administrator Site.

  1. Go to the UW ETD Administrator Site
  2. Select “Submit my dissertation/thesis” under “Ready to begin?”
  3. Select “Create an Account” under “New user?”
  4. Fill in the required fields and select the “Sign Up” button
  5. Check for an email message from UMI ETD Administrator with the subject line UMI ETD Administrator: Account Confirmation for [your name]
      Troubleshooting: If the email message is not in your inbox, it may have been blocked or filtered into your spam or junk email box. If it is not in one of these locations, you can try to login to re-send the email message but first make sure your account is set-up to accept email messages from the domain@proquest.com. If you need further technical assistance retrieving the email message, please call ProQuest at 1.877.408.5027 – available 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. EST, Monday through Friday (excluding U.S. holidays).
  6. The email message includes a link to activate your account. Select the link to confirm your account. You should be taken to Instructions under the My ETDs section.
  7. Before continuing, please go to Step 3: Start Your ETD Process.

Step 3: Start Your ETD Process

  1. Go to MyGrad - Student View
  2. Select "Start Your Electronic Thesis/Dissertation (ETD) process
  3. Login in with your UW NetID and password

A page will open showing your name and dissertation/thesis details on record with the UW and the Graduate School. The dissertation/thesis details you enter in the UW ETD Administrator Site must match this record. We recommend that you keep this page open when you begin the submission process in the UW ETD Administrator Site to ensure the information is transferred accurately. If you experience any problems opening this page, please send an email to uwgrad@uw.edu.

Step 4: Submit Your Thesis or Dissertation

  1. Go to the UW ETD Administrator Site
  2. Select “Submit my dissertation/thesis” under “Ready to begin?”
  3. Login with your username and password
  4. Read the Instructions under the My ETDs section
  5. Begin the submission process. Submission steps are outlined in the left-hand column.

If you need help, select “Help” in the UW ETD Administrator Site for instructions (see Contents), frequently asked questions (see FAQ), and customer service (see Support). For technical assistance with the site, call 1.877.408.5027 – available 9:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. EST, Monday through Friday (excluding U.S. holidays).

Step 5: Review Important Notes about your Final Submission

  • If you need to finish your submission later (for instance, if you need to update your PDF file before uploading it), you can save your information and come back to finish. No information will be lost.
  • Once your thesis/dissertation is submitted, no additional changes to the document are allowed with the exception of a major data error in the document. In this circumstance, a letter outlining the necessary changes is required from your supervisory committee chair.
  • Submissions are reviewed by GEMS advisors before they are delivered to ProQuest for publication. If you do not format your title page correctly, you will receive an email from a GEMS advisor requesting revisions and your graduation may be delayed.
  • When your submission has been accepted by a GEMS advisor, you will receive email confirmation.
  • Your submission will be delivered to ProQuest/UMI for publishing 4-6 weeks after graduation and you will receive email confirmation.

 

Office of Graduate Enrollment Management Services
G-1 Communications  |  Box 353770  |  Seattle, Washington 98195
Email: uwgrad@u.washington.edu  |  Phone: 206.685.2630