Yes. All theses and dissertations must be submitted electronically through the Vireo submission process.
Electronic theses and dissertations are valuable for several reasons. To list a few: electronic theses and dissertations become accessible much quicker and are available to a larger audience. ECU research is accessible to the world via the Internet. The skills required to develop an electronic document are the skills needed for participation in research and publication in this era of digital publishing. In addition, ETD’s offer students the opportunity to present information in new ways by including audio, video, 3-D models, animations, simulations, and more in their papers. Students benefit from a savings on the cost of paper copies and the library benefits from space savings.
No. All documents are submitted electronically, including the signed signature page (by all except the Dean of the Graduate School).
Students should consult their committee chair to determine their department’s preferred manual of style. In addition, students should refer to the Graduate School’s formatting guidelines found in the Manual of Basic Formatting Requirements for Electronic Theses and Dissertations.
Only after the student has successfully defended their thesis/dissertation and all final edits are approved by the committee. Documents will only be reviewed after a signature page bearing committee signatures is on file in Vireo. After submissions, please patiently allow sufficient time for the thesis/dissertation editor to review the document for formatting. The student will be notified if revisions are needed and/or if their document has been approved.
The student should use the graduation month appropriate to their semester on the abstract, title page, and when choosing the term of graduation in Vireo. Spring graduation is always May (e.g., May, 2023). Summer graduation is always July (e.g., July, 2023). Fall graduation is always December (e.g., December, 2023). The graduation dates are set by the university and are not the month the student defends or uploads the document. Graduation months can only be December, May, or July.
The last day to submit a thesis or dissertation should be 10 business days prior to the last day of final exams of the semester after which graduation is desired. The dates for the last submission day for upcoming semesters can be found on the Home Page for ETDs . Please note that submissions close to or on the deadline may result in a delayed response from the Graduate School with the revisions needed and a shorter period of time to submit revisions to meet degree requirements for that term.
Students are not required to order a bound copy of their thesis/dissertation. However, if students wish to order bound copies of their work for personal reasons, or otherwise, they may do so without any restrictions. Some recommended companies are listed below:
Proquest (Author Copy Order Form)
Thesis on Demand
Print on Demand
After submission of an ETD, the Graduate School asks that students practice patience and understanding when waiting to hear back concerning approval/revisions for their work. As the deadline for submissions approaches, there is a higher volume of submissions for the reviewer to go through. That being said, any questions or concerns regarding an “in process” ETD after it has been submitted can be directed to the Graduate School staff located on the Home Page for ETDs
PDF is the only accepted format for the text-based portions of the thesis/dissertation. This includes the body of the work, and any separately uploaded administrative forms. Scanned, signed documents must be converted to pdf format. Additional digital files may be attached including audio, video, pictures, etc for the supplementary files.
Yes. No individual file may exceed 512 MB, and the total of all files submitted must not exceed 4 GB. Contact the Graduate School for concerns with file size.
Yes. The submission process provides embargo options up to two years initially and access options to limit the audience upon publication. Students should discuss all options with their committee chair. See the page Publishing Agreements, Embargoes, and Copyright for Theses and Dissertations linked on the right for more information.
Yes. A copyright page is required by ECU. This page should immediately follow the title page of the thesis/dissertation. The copyright notice should take one of the following forms (unless decided on differently with the committee chair):
Copyright 2015, Jane E. Student
- Or -
© 2015, Jane E. Student
See the page Publishing Agreements, Embargoes, and Copyright for Theses and Dissertations linked on the right for more information on this and other copyright concerns. Also see ECU's copyright website and the U.S. Copyright Office.
If the student has already published a journal article, the option to include it in the work should be discussed with their committee and the publisher. If the article is included, the student will need to cite the publication in their references. If the student wishes to use another’s journal article, or section of publication, the publisher must give the student a signed release saying the extent to which the article can be included in the work. This release must be included in the appendix of the work. If the publisher restricts access to the article, the student will need to exclude the article from the thesis/dissertation submitted to the Graduate School
If the article has already been published, there are three options which should be discussed with the committee and possibly the publisher. First, the student can cite the publication in their references. Secondly, the student may be able to link to an online publication (with the permission of the publisher). Lastly, the publisher can supply a signed release allowing the student to include the publication in the thesis/dissertation.
No. Printed copies of a thesis/dissertation will not be provided to anyone since all theses/dissertations will be available in a printable pdf format on the library website. Some departments may continue to require students to provide a bound copy to them. Students should check with their department or committee chair to see if that is required.
After approval, all theses/dissertations are stored subject to the publishing agreements (embargo and access options) in the ECU Institutional Repository The ScholarShip (within ECU Libraries) and in the Proquest database PQDT. See the page Publishing Agreements, Embargoes, and Copyright for Theses and Dissertations for more information.
There are several resources located within these web pages that were created to help the student successfully create and format an ETD. It is encouraged that students thoroughly read these pages for all content. Also, be sure to see the Workshops page (on left) for upcoming ETD workshops and the Documents and Links page for examples of proper formatting. If help is still required, please call the Graduate School office 252-328-6012.
You can browse previously submitted ECU theses and dissertations through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database or the ScholarShip, ECU's institutional repository. You can refine your search to theses or dissertations from your department. Please Note: some theses and dissertations are restricted or embargoed and you may not be able to access the full text. Please contact the Scholarly Communication Department or the Reference Desk with questions.