penn state office of theses and dissertations

About the Fox Graduate School eTD database.

The primary purpose of a thesis or dissertation is to train the student in the process of scholarly research and writing under the direction of members of the Graduate Faculty. After the student has graduated and the work is published, it serves as a contribution to human knowledge, is useful to other scholars, and perhaps even to a more general audience.

The Fox Graduate School, the University Libraries, and the Graduate Faculty of Penn State have established format standards that theses and dissertations must meet before receiving final approval as a part of the fulfillment of graduation requirements. The Office of Theses and Dissertations staff is responsible for verifying that all eTDs have met these requirements (more information may be found in the Thesis and Dissertation Guide ).

• The text of the eTD should be proofread and free of grammatical errors and typos.
• It is extremely important that the author carefully review and proofread the thesis or dissertation before submitting the final document.
• After the official approval of the final eTD by the Office of Theses and Dissertations, changes will not be permitted.

Dissertation candidates' program and committee information is imported daily to the eTD system from LionPATH. If students need to make changes to their program or committee data, they should contact their program offices to do so.

Master's Thesis candidates' program information is imported daily to the eTD system from LionPATH. If students need to make changes to their program data, they should contact their program offices to do so.

The Digital Signatures feature gives committee members the ability to digitally approve submissions through this site. Documentation for this feature can be found here: Digital Signatures Documentation .

written at Virginia Tech [Pang, 2002]. In viewing this sample thesis and all thesis excerpts on this page, please be aware that different universities have different format guidelines.

, which is for electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) at Virginia Tech.

that shows where these sections typically occur in the document. ). In the words of Albert Einstein, you should be "as simple as possible, but no simpler."

is appropriate (in other words, write , not .) Also, many committees frown upon the use of contractions, such as or that would be readily accepted in a less formal document such as an e-mail. Another word that many committees frown upon, because of its informality, is the word While this word is appropriate for instructions and correspondence, it is seldom, if ever, appropriate in theses or dissertations (note that the implied is certainly acceptable in clauses such as ). In regard to the first person pronouns or , judicious use is widely accepted, especially to make the writing more active (see Chapter 6 of ) or to assume responsibility for assumptions or actions. Be forewarned, though, that despite its acceptance by most committees (and journals), an occasional committee remains opposed to use of the first person, even when that use is judicious.

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Department of energy and mineral engineering, graduate student theses & dissertations.

For a list of previous EME graduate student theses and dissertations, visit the Graduate School's list of Electronic Theses and Dissertations .

For additional information and theses and dissertations prior to 2009 please contact Penn State University Libraries . 

Graduate Student Success Center

• Thesis and Dissertation Information

Thesis and Dissertation Submission Information

We have recently moved over to ProQuest ETD for all thesis/dissertation submissions. 

ProQuest is one of the largest, multidisciplinary, full-text databases with a variety of content types, including theses and dissertations. When published, your thesis/dissertation will be accessible to anyone who has access to the ProQuest database, allowing academics from all over the world to view your research. 

In addition to ProQuest, Boise State University uses ScholarWorks as an online repository for the publishing of all Theses and Dissertations. Your thesis/dissertation will be published here subsequently. Content included in ScholarWorks is openly available and can be accessed by anyone with an internet connection. Inclusion of Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations helps demonstrate the incredible contributions by Boise State students and assists in promoting research opportunities for future students.

Need Assistance?

Still confused on how to submit your document? Check out our step-by-step  ProQuest Submission Instructions  for further information.

Contact the Graduate Student Success Center at: 426-3604 or [email protected]

ProQuest Guide

Initial document upload instructions.

• Go to the Boise State ProQuest website and click “LOG IN” in the top right corner next to the Boise State “B” Please note: When submitting your advisor-approved copy of your thesis/dissertation,  you will use a Single Sign-On through your myBoiseState account.. Do not use the red “Sign-up and get started!” button at the bottom of the page to sign-in with your myBoiseState credentials to start the submission process.
• Start your Thesis/Dissertation submission. Please make sure you read the instructions page before continuing.
• Pick your ProQuest publishing option. If you need an embargo on your document, this is where you will indicate that, as well as by filling out our Embargo Request for a Thesis/Dissertation form. If you do not need a delay on your document being published to ProQuest/ScholarWorks, then please click ‘Yes.’
• Please read through and accept the ProQuest Traditional Publishing Agreement, as well as filling out our Access Agreement for a Thesis/Dissertation form.
• Begin to fill out your contact information (Name, Boise State Student ID number, email addresses, etc.). If you don’t want to purchase a copy of your thesis/dissertation at this moment, please make sure you click the box indicating that you would like information on ordering additional copies after your document is published.
• Then fill out your thesis/dissertation information (Title, Abstract, Committee Members, Keywords, etc.). Please put the ‘Degree Date’ as the month of your graduation i.e. May 2021, August 2021, or December 2021.
• Upload your thesis/dissertation document. If you have a Word document of your thesis/dissertation, please upload it as a supplemental file for formatting purposes. Additionally, if you have your Defense Committee Approval form, please upload that as a supplemental file.
• Please use the ‘Notes’ section to let us know what writing style you are using, i.e. APA, Chicago, MLA, etc.
• In the copyright section, please make sure that you click ‘Yes – copyright was previously filed.’ Do not pay ProQuest to file the copyright for you as it will be cheaper for you to do it on your own.
• If you would like to purchase bound copies of your thesis/dissertation, you can do that now or later.
• Double-check that the information you have provided is correct and submit your document.

Guide for Online Submission Form

• Primary Language of Dissertation/Thesis: Use the drop-down box to pick English if it is not automatically applied.
• Title: Enter the title of your thesis or dissertation exactly as it appears on the title page of your document, using Title Case.
• Abstract: Enter the abstract from your document. Often abstracts will be the only way readers can determine if they want to view your work. As a result, it is important to provide a well written and descriptive abstract.
• Year Manuscript Completed: Enter the year you are graduating.
• Degree Date: Enter the month and year of when you will be graduating. For example, May 2021, August 2021, December 2021, etc.
• Degree Awarded: Use the drop-down menu to find your exact degree title.
• Department: Use the drop-down menu to find your department.  If your degree is multidisciplinary, please choose the department your committee chair is housed in.
• Primary Subject Category: Use the drop-down menu to select the appropriate subject category of your thesis/dissertation.
• Keywords: The words you enter will help visitors find accurate results when they search ProQuest. You can enter up to 6 keywords or phrases. These keywords should be terms not already used in the title or abstract.
• Advisor/Supervisory Committee Chair: Enter the name and email of the Chair of your Supervisory Committee and, if applicable, your committee co-chair. Please do not include degree titles. 
• Committee Members: Enter additional committee members in the following fields including their email addresses. Please do not include degree titles.

Revised Document Upload Instructions

• Click here to access ProQuest and please press ‘Log in’
• Select the “Revise” to upload your thesis/dissertation with Graduate College edits made
• After your changes are complete, click Submit Revisions from the left sidebar and the button on the page that brings up

Reviewed Notification

You will receive notification via email when the reviewed copy of your thesis or dissertation is ready for you to view through ProQuest. You will then make any necessary edits before submitting the final version back to the Graduate College.

Final Approval

Once your final thesis or dissertation has been submitted to ProQuest, it will be reviewed by staff from both the Library and Graduate College. Once final approval has been given, it will be made publicly available on ProQuest and the Boise State repository, ScholarWorks, site as per your Access Agreement. Embargoed documents will not be available for download until the embargo period has passed.

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Penn State Theses and Dissertations

Dissertations and theses from other institutions.

• Related Subject Guides
• Dissertations & Theses This link opens in a new window With more than 2 million entries, PQD&T is the single, central, authoritative resource for information about doctoral dissertations and master's theses. Includes dissertations from England and Ireland. more... less... ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global is the most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses in the world, with more than 2.5 million available in full text PDF.
• Penn State Electronic Theses and Dissertations This link opens in a new window Provides access to Penn State electronic theses and dissertations. more... less... Provides access to Penn State electronic theses and dissertations.
• Catalog (Penn State University Libraries catalog) This link opens in a new window You can search our Catalog for theses and dissertations written at Penn State. more... less... This is the online catalog of materials owned by Penn State Libraries. All formats (books, journals, audiovisuals, maps, recordings, etc.) are included. Circulation status for individual items is also provided. Coverage: Presently contains about 7 million records. Updates: Continuous up-to-the-minute as new records are added.
• Select Thesis/Dissertation under Format
• Most works published since 2009 have links to electronic full text
• Older works are print and/or microfilm. Use I Want It to have a copy sent to your campus
• To get a list of all theses and dissertations from a particular department, use the CAT (legacy catalog) and do a keyword search for [program name] {699}, for example: Meteorology {699}.  Departments have changed names over the years, see this  Index of previous and current department names  for older information.
• Dissertations & Theses This link opens in a new window Citations and abstracts for doctoral dissertations and some theses from American and Canadian universities, and some international universities. Electronic full text of some works is available. If full text is not available, request a copy through interlibrary loan. more... less... ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global is the most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses in the world, with more than 2.5 million available in full text PDF.
• Dissertations and Theses @ CIC full-text This link opens in a new window Full text of dissertations and theses from CIC member universities are available to Penn State users. more... less... Full-text access to dissertations and theses written by graduates of CIC institutions are available.
• LionSearch This link opens in a new window an integrated search of books, e-books, research articles, newspaper articles, and other publications.
• Google Scholar This link opens in a new window A good tool if you have the title of a specific dissertation. Google Scholar will provide a link to the full text if the work is open access (freely available online). more... less... Google Scholar enables you to search specifically for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from all broad areas of research. Use Google Scholar to find articles from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web. Once you set your institutional preferences, links to full-text, if available at Penn State, should appear.
• Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) This link opens in a new window Links to repositories of open access theses and dissertations from around the world, organized by country. more... less... The Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations Union Catalog will serve as a repository of rich graduate educational material contributed by a number of member institutions worldwide. The hope is that this project will increase the availability of student research for scholars, empower students to convey a richer message through the use of multimedia and hypermedia technologies and advance digital library technology worldwide.
• EBSCO Open Dissertations This link opens in a new window A free database that includes more than 172,000 theses and dissertations from 1902 to the present and a link to full text when available. Previously called "American Doctoral Dissertations". more... less... Ebsco Open Dissertations (previously “American Doctoral Dissertations”), is an open-access database built to assist researchers in locating both historic and contemporary dissertations and theses. Created with the generous support of the H.W. Wilson Foundation and the Congregational Library & Archives in Boston, it incorporates EBSCO’s previously released American Doctoral Dissertations, and features additional dissertation metadata contributed by select colleges and universities from around the world. Providing researchers with citations to graduate research across a span of time, from the early 20th century to the present, this database will continue to grow through regular updates and new partnerships with graduate degree-granting institutions.
• Center for Research Libraries Catalog This link opens in a new window Search the online catalog for dissertations from around the world by keyword, author, title or subject, and limit by country. more... less... The Center for Research Libraries (CRL) is a consortium of North American universities, colleges, and independent research libraries. The consortium acquires and preserves newspapers, journals, documents, archives, and other traditional and digital resources for research and teaching and makes them available to member institutions through interlibrary loan and electronic delivery.
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• Last Updated: Jul 11, 2024 8:35 AM
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New integrity website houses academic integrity resources

Penn State will continue to develop the new academic integrity website over the coming academic year.   Credit: Penn State . Creative Commons

September 17, 2024

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State has launched a new academic integrity website aimed at providing resources and reporting information to all members of the University community.  

Integrity.psu.edu provides instructors, students and staff with a gateway to integrity resources located across the University, such as Academic Integrity , Athletics Integrity , Office of Ethics Compliance & Reporting , Research Integrity , Rock Ethics Institute , Student Accountability & Conflict Response and University Ethics Unit.   

The Academic Integrity portion of the website includes resources and syllabus language to help instructors support and manage students’ use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) without compromising their educational objectives, general academic integrity guidance, assessment security information, guidance around submitting an academic integrity claim, and more. Andrew Peck, interim director and associate dean of Academic Integrity for Undergraduate Education reported that additional resources, including those created by members of the University Academic Integrity Leadership Community, are in the works.  

“It’s exciting to have a website dedicated to academic integrity that reflects resources from collaborative efforts,” Peck said. “This project is a direct response to the needs of the University community, including instructors who are searching for integrity answers in a rapidly changing landscape.”  

“Having these new academic integrity resources in place will give instructors more support and tools as they begin their fall courses and plan for spring,” said Tracy Langkilde, interim executive vice president and provost. “We are excited to continue developing the new integrity website and hearing from our University community on how we can evolve to continue to meet our world-class academic standards.”  

According to Peck, supporting academic integrity resources is crucial. Penn State instructors submitted nearly 2,000 academic integrity claims during the 2023-24 academic year, and Peck expects that number to rise.  

“Instructors are becoming more aware of generative technologies, the need to report violations so the University can identify and respond to repeat offenders, the role of academic integrity in the protection of our degree programs and the critical importance of providing students with fair opportunities for academic success,” Peck said.   

The Academic Integrity website also houses resources for students, including videos about academic integrity and the academic integrity process, a link to a student orientation to academic integrity, guidance to assist students responding to academic integrity allegations, and links to relevant Penn State policies and academic integrity contacts. Peck shared that additional resources are planned for this portion of the website, as well as the portions designed for academic advisers and others. 

Integrity.psu.edu is supported by Penn State Undergraduate Education .  

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Date & Time: November 05, 2024 from 04:30 PM - 06:00 PM

In this workshop we will provide tips for designing an efficient Three Minute Thesis.

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