odu thesis and dissertation guide

Dissertations & Theses

Find electronic odu theses and dissertations, odu dissertations and theses in print, department codes for odu theses & dissertations in print.

• Non-ODU Dissertations and Theses
• Interlibrary Loan or Purchase

As of 2016, ODU instituted an Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) program -- electronic format is now required for all students. All dissertations and theses are submitted and available electronically through ProQuest's Dissertations & Theses @ ODU and also through the university's institutional repository  ODU Digital Commons  (as the University's official copy). No new print copies are available in the University Libraries.

ODU Dissertations : In 2019, an additional 2,488 dissertations and some theses back to 1976 were added to ODU Digital Commons. In the past all dissertations were required to be deposited in ProQuest. ProQuest digitized the print and made them available in their Dissertations & Theses database. ODU purchased those digital copies to add to Digital Commons. All pre-2016 dissertations (and some theses that went to ProQuest) are still available in print in the library stacks on the 4th floor LD4331 - until further notice and at least through Spring semester 2024. 

ODU Theses : The 3,000+ theses that never went to ProQuest and were only available in print in the Perry Library have been pulled from the shelves and will be available digitally starting in late 2023.

Print Copies : Pre-2016 print copies of all ODU theses and dissertations are available in Special Collections and University Archives on the 3rd floor or Perry Library (email [email protected] for more information or to make an appointment).

For information about submitting ETDs, including the official guide, go to the  ODU Graduate School Resources  page.

• ODU Digital Commons for Theses and Dissertations Link to ODU Electronic Theses and Dissertations in the university's institutional repository. 1976-present for most dissertations, and for theses 2016-present.
• Dissertations & Theses @ ODU Subset of the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Full Text database that is limited to ODU dissertations and theses available online. Keep in mind that, while most dissertations will be available here, most master's theses were not required to go to ProQuest until 2016. (Restricted to VIVA/ODU)

You can search for ODU dissertations and theses in Monarch OneSearch on the Libraries homepage at odu.edu/library . If the item is available electronically, you will get a link; the majority of theses, published prior to 2016, are only in print.

Search by author or title, or enter a subject:

Subject example:   psychology and old dominion university and (dissertations or theses)

• Print copies of theses and dissertations may be found both in the fourth floor book stacks and in the Special Collections/University Archives area on the third floor. See Department Codes below.
• WorldCat also includes ODU's theses and dissertations.

Print copies of theses and dissertations are shelved on the 4th floor with the call number LD4331 and one of the following department codes . [Note: As of Fall 2016, theses and dissertations are available online only through ODU Digital Commons .] Call number begins:   LD4331

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• Last Updated: Aug 5, 2024 2:24 PM
• URL: https://guides.lib.odu.edu/dissertations

Thesis & Dissertation

Review procedures, college of sciences guidelines for submitting a thesis/dissertation for review.

Graduate students are required to submit their dissertations/theses for review by the Associate Dean's office. The manuscript must conform to the university requirements before it will receive approval by the Associate Dean.

It is the responsibility of the student, and the thesis/dissertation director, and the Graduate Program Director to ensure that the manuscript is submitted in a timely fashion and conforms to the requirements found in the ODU Thesis Prep Guide and any style manual/guide used in the student's program.

Thesis & Dissertation Prep Guide

Old Dominion University Guide for Preparation of Theses and Dissertations

Review Package Submission

A complete thesis or dissertation review package must be submitted to  [email protected]  at least  three weeks prior  to the ProQuest deadline from Registrar's office for the expected graduation semester. A complete review package must contain:

• a complete, clean  PDF  copy of the dissertation or thesis.
• a complete College of Sciences  Check-In Sheet  and College of Sciences  Checklist .
• a  PDF  copy of Graduate Form M2 (Result of Master's Degree Examination or Requirement) or a PDF copy of Graduate Form D3 (Result of Ph.D. Examination or Requirement);
• a  PDF  copy reprint from the Model Journal;
• a  PDF  copy of Graduate Form M3 (Master's Thesis Acceptance and Processing), or a PDF copy of Graduate Form D5 (Doctoral Dissertation Acceptance and Processing). The copies must be complete except for the Associate Dean's signature.

Manuscript Requirements

The Dean's Office will check the thesis/dissertation for conformity to the  ODU Thesis & Dissertation Prep Guide . The last numbered page of the guide lists the items that will be checked in the Dean's Office.

Students should not use old theses and dissertations as guides; if there are questions that are not addressed in the thesis/dissertation guide, students should first contact their advisor, second, their GPD and lastly, the Associate Dean's office.

Note: If there are updates made to the Guide for Preparation of Theses and Dissertations, students must follow the copy of the ODU guide that is in effect on the first day of their graduation semester. For students in the College of Sciences, changes made to the guide during a semester will not become effective until the start of the next academic semester.

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Dissertation & Thesis Templates (Version 1)

COS Graduate Students:

We are rolling out version 1 of the dissertation and thesis templates in LaTeX and MS Word. Please be aware that these versions are high quality drafts and not perfect yet. Be mindful of how you use them and double check all your input.

References are in Nature format. But we use all authors and the full name of the journals. You are also required to review the University Thesis and Preparation Guide.

Please let Reeta Heard and I know if you have any questions.

• [email protected]
• [email protected]

Lesley Greene, PhD Associate Dean of Graduate Studies College of Sciences

ODU College of Sciences LaTeX ETD Template

Welcome to the LaTeX Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) template for the College of Sciences at Old Dominion University. This template is designed to assist students in formatting their theses and dissertations according to the guidelines provided by the university. Those using this template must still abide by the guidelines and formatting requirements found in the ODU Guide for Preparation of Theses and Dissertations , last updated March 2024.

Note that using this template removes the requirement that you submit a "journal model" with your thesis or dissertation, as noted on the College of Sciences Check-in Sheet . You just need to check the box on the form that you have used the LaTeX template.

Review Process

The student will receive written feedback in the form of a review email from the COS reviewer, and copies will be sent to the student's advisor and Graduate Program Director. After the initial email, the student will send the reviewer a corrected electronic copy of their thesis/dissertation.

A final electronic copy will be checked to ensure that all requested corrections have been made. The student will then receive an email that they have successfully completed their review and that the Associate Dean will sign the original Graduate Form M3/D5.

If during the initial review significant errors or a large number of small errors are found in the manuscript, the reviewer will email the student that the thesis has too many errors for the review to continue. The student will then resubmit the review package and the process will begin again. In such a case, the student's graduation date could be delayed.

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