Submission Procedure

Please remember to “Apply to graduate” in LionPATH by the specified deadline. If you have not applied, your final thesis or dissertation cannot be approved.

Upload your thesis or dissertation to the Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) website.

Make sure your file has:

• title page
• table of contents
• committee page
• at least three chapters

Within three weeks, the Office of Theses and Dissertations (OTD) will email you a PDF with comments for you to address.

Students only need to do a format review once.

If you are a doctoral student, schedule your doctoral defense as soon as possible.

If you are a master’s student, please direct all questions concerning master’s theses defenses to your graduate program.

To upload your final submission:

1. Pay the fee through the payment portal if you have not already done so.
2. Use comments from OTD and your committee to make all necessary corrections.
3. Submit your final submission in the ETD system.

Remember: no changes can be made after the final manuscript is submitted.

This is a separate process from committee approval of your defense. After uploading your final submission, the ETD website will indicate that your manuscript is in “Pending Status.”

When this happens, a series of approvals will need to take place in the order below. Each approver will receive an email when it is their turn to review and approve. The student also gets notified.

Approval Order

1. Faculty advisor
2. All Committee Members
3. Graduate Program Head or Professor in Charge.

Please note that committee approval is not final approval for your thesis or dissertation.

After the committee approves, OTD will review one final time. If further corrections are needed, your dissertation will be rejected and sent back to you.

Once it is free of errors, OTD will mark your dissertation as approved, and you will receive an email confirming this.

When you receive email confirmation, you will know your thesis or dissertation is complete.