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Frequently Asked Questions
How do I convert my Word document to PDF?
Converting your Word document to PDF is a multi-step process that requires a FULL version of Adobe Acrobat. Complete instructions for converting your Word document to PDF are available for download as a PDF file HERE.
How do I convert my WordPerfect document to PDF?
Converting your WordPerfect document to PDF is a multi-step process that requires a FULL version of Adobe Acrobat. Complete instructions on converting your WordPerfect document to PDF are available for download as a PDF file HERE.
I don't have a full version of Adobe Acrobat. What do I do?
If you do not own Adobe Acrobat, you have several options. You can: Return to table of contents ↑ How do I submit my ETD to OhioLINK?
Complete instructions on submitting your ETD to OhioLINK are available for download as a PDF file HERE.
How do I write a CD in Windows XP? Step-by-step instructions to write a CD in Windows XP available for download HERE. Why would I choose to submit electronically? By preparing an ETD and submitting it electronically you learn about electronic document preparation and about digital libraries. These skills will help prepare you for your future role in the Information Age, whether you teach, research, or use the research results of others. Furthermore, you may be able to better convey the message of your thesis or dissertation in an electronic as opposed to a paper document. Thus, you can easily have color diagrams, color images, hypertext links, and even include audio, video, animations, spreadsheets, databases, simulations, virtual reality worlds, etc. in your appendices.
By submitting electronically you also allow your university to fulfill more economically its responsibilities of recording and archiving your thesis or dissertation. This is a large responsibility of the university, that is less costly to fulfill when the workflow involves electronic documents.
Why is a paper version no longer required for the University Libraries? By not requiring paper, the University of Cincinnati reduces handling and library costs.
The University commits to electronic archiving of works received, making sure that these will be accessible in the future, regardless of changes in media and standards. This is a firm guarantee so you need not worry. In addition, paper documents can easily be produced from electronic documents, but not vice versa.
How will people be able to access my ETD?
When you allow your ETD to be freely available worldwide, we will work to make it as easily available as possible. First, we will allow access over the WWW at OhioLINK (www.ohiolink.edu/etd/). Here, people may link to our collection for browsing, and even link directly to your ETD (with a special type of URL that is not subject to change). Second, we will provide link information in the record for your ETD, located in the University of Cincinnati library catalog. This will allow those searching the catalog to link directly to your document. Third, we will work with third party organizations, such as ProQuest and OCLC (a not-for-profit in Dublin, Ohio, that provides library cataloging and other services to libraries), to encourage them to provide access as well as archiving services.
Why should I make my ETD freely available? The world of scholarship depends on people making their research available to others. When this is done electronically, more people may receive access at a lower cost, and more knowledge transfer occurs. This stimulates education and research. It also ensures that many people give credit to you for your work, and that your research is cited in others' publications, which adds to your prestige and aids your future advancement. Before theses and dissertations were available electronically, not many were read. Electronic access multiplies the number of times works are read by a factor of ten or more. In fact, one author at Virginia Tech increased accesses to 56,399 from 9,920 in only one year. Since you spent a great deal of time on your research, it should encourage you to know that others are reading your work. Your research may guide others, and your results may save others the time of redoing your study. With electronic theses and dissertations, students and universities may more easily share knowledge, with much lower costs. It is estimated that about 200,000 theses or dissertations are completed each year. It would greatly aid graduate education if as many as possible of these were made freely available.
Since we aim to maximize access, which seems especially appropriate for a State university, we will not charge fees. Therefore, we will not have any royalties to share.
What are my options regarding electronic access? The University of Cincinnati gives you two options regarding electronic access to your ETD. The first option, which we recommend (see above), is to make it freely available worldwide. The second option is to restrict access for a period of a year, even disallowing access by the University community. This option addresses situations such as a patent application being planned, or proprietary interests that are at stake.
You should consider these options carefully. Feel free to ask The University of Cincinnati Intellectual Property or Legal Counsel for advice, and to discuss this with your advisor. If you intend to work with a publisher regarding journal or book publications, be sure you understand their policies and any agreements you would sign.
What if I want to write a book related to my thesis or dissertation? We realize that some students, especially in the humanities, prepare books related to their theses or dissertations. In general, it appears to be the case that electronic release of early versions of a book leads to greater sales of such books. Indeed, having an electronic work made available on the Internet, and showing a publisher a large number of electronic accesses to that work, may help you land a book contract. Usually, books that relate to theses or dissertations turn out to be significantly changed as part of the editorial process. This makes it likely that those interested in your work will buy your book when it comes out, even if they have reviewed your ETD. However, since publishers vary widely in their policies, it may be wise to share this information and other documents about the ETD initiative with publishers to which you are likely to submit your work. We are open to discussions with publishers regarding policies or helping in the publicity process. Return to table of contents ↑How do UC ETDs relate to ProQuest? ProQuest, a corporation in Ann Arbor, Michigan maintains a microform archive of approximately 1.5 million dissertations, as well as an online service called Dissertation Abstracts. Most dissertations written in the US are submitted to ProQuest for archiving on microfilm, from which microform or paper copies may be produced. ProQuest functions as an on-demand book publisher that eliminates the editorial process. One of the services they offer is to help you regarding copyright and working with publishers. ProQuest accepts electronic submissions or paper submissions. The latter are scanned and OCR'ed, but in most cases current technology does not yield as good a result as would come from an electronic submission. They have made available online electronic versions of all works they received since 1996. Few theses are sent to ProQuest. The ETD initiative aims to capture the hundreds of thousands of theses that ProQuest does not receive each year. ProQuest has a representative on the Steering Committee and on the Technical Advisory Committee for the NDLTD. More information about ProQuest can be found at http://www.ProQuest.com/.
The NDLTD project focuses on graduate education and raising the level of knowledge transfer. Since students may wish to read a thesis or dissertation that was prepared many years before, it is imperative that the NDLTD arrange for archiving of ETDs, so they can be accessed even when media and technology change. ProQuest, as well as OCLC, is interested in providing such archival services.
What do I need to know about signing agreements with publishers? When you have your research published in a conference, book, or journal, you usually sign some type of agreement with the publisher. You should read the agreement carefully before signing, making sure you understand AND AGREE with the terms and conditions. If you don't, you may want to change the agreement in connection with discussion/negotiation with the publisher, and possibly with advice of legal or other counsel. The agreement should be explicit about what future rights of use you retain. If you want to include the materials in a dissertation or to reuse the materials for teaching or a book chapter, it is important to document this in the agreement. As the author you are entitled to discuss your plans with the publisher. We encourage you to obtain an agreement that allows you to include your research in a freely available electronic thesis or dissertation.
During negotiations you may also want to discuss matters of timing and revision. You have the right to negotiate with a publisher to reduce access to your ETD for a limited amount of time, if they request this as a condition on publishing your article. However, most publishers consider a thesis or dissertation to be quite different from a journal article. Typically an article is much shorter than the chapter or full work and has been revised as a result of the editorial process and peer review. Sometimes, it might also have several authors. Because of these reasons many publishers have no concerns regarding fully accessible ETDs.
What if I want to have a journal article as a chapter in my thesis? If you have published an article or articles before you turn in your thesis or dissertation, and you desire credit for it with your graduate requirements, you have a number of options. These should be discussed with your committee, and possibly with your publisher. First, you can simply cite the publication in your references. Second, if the publisher has the publication online, you can link or point to it (with permission of the publisher, who usually has protection so that paying customers or subscribers are the only ones allowed access). Third, if the publisher gives you a signed release, you can include the publication in your thesis or dissertation as stated in the release. If the publisher restricts access in the release, possibly to your university, you may want to have two versions of your thesis or dissertation--one with and one without the chapter (e.g., published article) in question. This matter may be avoided if your thesis or dissertation talks about your research in a very different way from the published article. This often makes sense because articles are typically short, and your thesis or dissertation may be the only place where the details, data, tables, and other aspects of your research are made available. Return to table of contents ↑ |
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