Avoiding the Pitfalls of the ETD Process Matthew Cordner, M.A. ETD Lead Reviewer & Process Manager, Office of Graduate Studies

Know the Process (or at least the website!) Students sometimes forget there’s a specific process for formatting & submitting ETDs to Grad Studies. Be aware of what the process entails, what’s needed for submission, & that there are specific formatting requirements. All of this is covered on the ETD Resource Center website:

Certificate of Approval vs. Successful Defense Form Students (and sometimes even faculty) sometimes think the Successful Defense form is the same as the Certificate of Approval It’s not. Your college uses the Successful Defense form. We need the Certificate of Approval – it has information and wording specific to the ETD process. Both need signatures from your entire committee and look slightly similar. If the Successful Defense form is included in the ETD submission packet, we do not hold onto them, since they are not required by the Office of Graduate Studies.

Certificate of Approval Successful Defense Form

Use the Most Up-to-Date Certificate of Approval Sometimes students submit older iterations of the Certificate of Approval. Because we make changes as needed, it may be missing essential information. Download the form directly from our website – it can be found in Requirements & Information > Submission Requirements and in the Registration Quick Links (

Attend the ETD Workshop a Semester Before You Intend to Defend Get a head start on the ETD process by attending the ETD Workshop a semester before you defend and submit. We go over the entire process - deadlines, submission requirements, submitting the PDF to ProQuest, copyright issues, IRB/IACUC approvals, and even how to set up a basic document to meet the requirements. Online option: currently you can review the site and when completed. We are working on an online workshop module in Canvas (ETA: 2016)

Attend a 1-on-1 Help Session We set up 4-6 help sessions a semester. No appointments needed, just come in and we will sit down with you. We can take a quick look at your document to see if there are any major issues, show you how to do something in Word, & answer any questions about the process or formatting. Arrive minutes after the start time – it generally gets less crowded at that point.

Check Your s Regularly When you sign up for ProQuest, you enter an address – make sure it’s one you always check, preferably your USF . We’ve had cases where we review and upload an annotated PDF and then don’t hear from the student for days or weeks. I try to send reminders to those students, but during peak times, I am not able to do this as frequently as I’d like.

Use the Formatting Requirements Pages & Examples We’ve set up pages for General Formatting Requirements and Section- Specific Formatting. Each has the requirements, instructions for certain sections that may be difficult, and even examples. General Formatting: Section-Specific:

Problematic Sections of the ETD Title Page Table of Contents List of Tables List of Figures Appendices

Problematic General Requirements Margins (1” on all sides) 1 st -order Headings (2” from top edge of page) Page Numbering (3-4 different sections – use section breaks) Excessive Space (2” or less at the bottom of pages unless end of chapter) Use Page Breaks at the end of each section chapter, so that no matter what changes, the new section/chapter begins on a new page, 2” from top edge.

Fees We do unfortunately have to charge a manuscript processing fee – which covers the workshops, help sessions, and review. We haven’t raised the fees in several years – $75 if more than 2 weeks before deadline; $100 within 2 weeks of deadline. We do have a one-time additional $25 fee we charge only if the document requires extensive notes and/or multiple revisions. So it pays to go to the workshop, attend help sessions, and know the requirements!

We Want You to Succeed! We know you have worked hard on your dissertations. We aren’t trying to make you jump through hoops. Our goal is to help you format your ETD so that it’s as professional and consistent looking as possible.

Questions? Thanks for inviting the Office of Graduate Studies!