Important Steps for Thesis/D Electronic Submission
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When your advisor/committee has approved your Thesis/D for electronic submission, here is what will happen. You will upload your Thesis/D in PDF format to the ProQuest ETD Administrator site. A Graduate College reader will then review your ETD for style and format. When your ETD is approved by the Graduate College, we will submit your work to ProQuest/UMI where it will be logged, indexed, and published. ProQuest/UMI  is a private company that has served for many years as the publisher and distributor for most theses and dissertations written in the United States. Please keep in mind that ProQuest acts as a publisher and does not own the copyright to your Thesis/D. As the author, you retain control of your work’s intellectual content.  Published theses and dissertations are listed in the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT) database:
http://www.proquest.com/en-US/catalogs/databases/detail/pqdt.shtml
Online access to the available full text of theses and dissertations (including those written at Marshall University) is made available through paid institutional subscription. Your Thesis/D will also be available through the Marshall University library catalog.

Before you begin the submission process you will need to consider these options and have handy this information:

• Select a Publishing Option (Traditional or Open Access)
  Traditional - This choice will meet the needs of most students. There is no fee.  This choice allows UMI to reproduce, distribute, and sell copies of your work--with royalties paid to you as the author.
  Open Access - This optional service makes your work freely available for viewing or downloading by anyone with access to the Internet. The Open Access publishing fee is $95. Please note that the Marshall University Library already provides open access to your work at no charge through its own institutional repository via the MU online catalog.
• Select whether to request copyright registration or not.
  There is a fee for Copyright registration (an optional service).  You automatically own the copyright to your electronic work as soon as it is published without any special requirement of notice or registration. International copyright law provides full protection and establishment of the author’s rights. However, ProQuest offers an additional copyright registration service that registers your copyright, establishes your claim to copyright, and provides certain protections if your copyright is violated. This means that ProQuest will submit your application to the United States Copyright on your behalf and provide you with the certificate from the Library of Congress. The cost to have ProQuest register your copyright with the Library of Congress is $55. If you are unsure about copyright registration, talk to your Committee Chair.
• Embargo/Hold information
  You have the option of restricting access to your Thesis/D for 2 years. If you choose to delay access, your work will default to whichever publishing method you have selected (traditional or open access) at the expiration of that embargo.
• A future address and phone number (yours or a friend's or relative's).
• Your final, uncapitalized thesis title, ready to copy or type into the ProQuest/UMI website.
• The names of your department(s), major professor(s), committee members.
• Your thesis abstract (ready to copy and paste into the website).
• Other thesis and degree data.
• Select whether to order a bound copy from ProQuest (optional).
• A credit card (necessary ONLY if you will select any of the optional choices above which assess a fee).

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ProQuest/UMI provides a DEMO site where you can try out the student submission process from start to finish:
http://www.etdadmin.com/cgi-bin/main/demo

You can also review, if you prefer, a clear set of instructions provided by ETD Admin: http://www.etdadmin.com/GlobalTemplates/ETDAdmin/StudentHelp/submit.html

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Now you are ready to upload your Thesis/D to the ProQuest ETD Administrator site.

• Please be sure you have submitted FIRST the ETD Approval form. We cannot review your ETD without it:
  http://www.marshall.edu/graduate/forms/etdsignatureform.pdf
• Create an account at the ProQuest ETD Administrator submission site:
  https://secure.etdadmin.com/cgi-bin/createacct?tool=student;siteId=261
  You should read the ProQuest information carefully. The initial upload process will take about 1 hour. Clear directions are provided for you at every screen.
• You can leave the website and re-enter your account at another time before submitting your final PDF for Graduate College review.

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Graduate College Review:
When you submit your ETD, the Graduate College staff will be alerted that your ETD is ready for a final style and format review. A Graduate College reader will read the Thesis/D and note any corrections to be made. When the reader copy with comments is returned to us, we will email a scanned copy to you and your committee chair. You will re-upload the corrected document, if corrections are required. We will check the corrected file and if it is in good form, will notify you that the Thesis/D is officially approved and has been submitted to Proquest/UMI for publication. You will be kept informed by email of the status of your Thesis/D.

Your final email from the Graduate College will be a note of CONGRATULATIONS!

ALL STUDENTS
Please complete and submit our online Graduate Student Exit Survey. Your responses to this survey will provide us with valuable feedback to help us evaluate and improve graduate degree programs at Marshall University.  The survey is anonymous and will only take a few minutes of your time.  
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MUGraduateStudent_exit_survey

DOCTORAL STUDENTS ONLY
Please complete online and submit the Survey of Earned Doctorates:
http://www.marshall.edu/graduate/etd/surveyofearneddoctorates.asp

Access to Your Thesis/D
Once we approve your Thesis/D and submit it for publication to ProQuest,, your Thesis/D will be available in approximately 8 weeks in the ProQuest/UMI database and on the Marshall University library server, unless you have restricted it. The MU Library receives a PDF copy of your Thesis/D once it has been submitted to ProQuest for publication. Unless you have indicated a restriction, the MU Library provides free, full-text access to your ETD, in perpetuity, through the online library catalog.
http://www.marshall.edu/graduate/etd/default.asp

Best wishes for a successful path to graduation!

Donna J. Spindel, Dean
Marshall University Graduate College
113 Old Main
One John Marshall Drive
Huntington, WV  25755 Phone:  (304) 696-2818
Email:  spindel@marshall.edu