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Checklist: Writing a Thesis or Dissertation

Published on August 30, 2022 by Shona McCombes . Revised on July 18, 2023.

Your thesis or dissertation is probably the longest academic text you’ve ever had to write, and there are a lot of different elements to keep in mind.

Use this simple checklist to make sure you’ve included all the essentials and submit your dissertation with confidence.

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Table of contents

Other interesting articles, checklist: dissertation.

My title page includes all information required by my university.

I have included acknowledgements thanking those who helped me.

My abstract provides a concise summary of the dissertation, giving the reader a clear idea of my key results or arguments.

I have created a table of contents to help the reader navigate my dissertation. It includes all chapter titles, but excludes the title page, acknowledgements, and abstract.

My introduction leads into my topic in an engaging way and shows the relevance of my research.

My introduction clearly defines the focus of my research, stating my research questions and research objectives .

My introduction includes an overview of the dissertation’s structure (reading guide).

I have conducted a literature review in which I (1) critically engage with sources, evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of existing research, (2) discuss patterns, themes, and debates in the literature, and (3) address a gap or show how my research contributes to existing research.

I have clearly outlined the theoretical framework of my research, explaining the theories and models that support my approach.

I have thoroughly described my methodology , explaining how I collected data and analyzed data.

I have concisely and objectively reported all relevant results .

I have (1) evaluated and interpreted the meaning of the results and (2) acknowledged any important limitations of the results in my discussion .

I have clearly stated the answer to my main research question in the conclusion .

I have clearly explained the implications of my conclusion, emphasizing what new insight my research has contributed.

I have provided relevant recommendations for further research or practice.

If relevant, I have included appendices with supplemental information.

I have included an in-text citation every time I use words, ideas, or information from a source.

I have listed every source in a reference list at the end of my dissertation.

I have consistently followed the rules of my chosen citation style .

I have followed all formatting guidelines provided by my university.

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Submit Your Dissertation or Thesis

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To assist you during the submission process, review this Checklist for Submitting My Dissertation or Thesis .

Submission Requirements

You will not be able to submit your dissertation or thesis through the Dissertation & Thesis Center in Axess unless you have met all requirements outlined below.

• You must be registered for classes or on an approved Graduation Quarter during the term in which your dissertation or thesis is submitted. 

An application to graduate should be filed through Axess early in the degree quarter but no later than the date specified in the academic calendar for that quarter. View details in this article: How do I Apply to Graduate?

When you apply to graduate, you will be instructed to enter the title of your dissertation or thesis. You are not eligible to submit your work until an application to graduate has been filed for the current quarter.  

In order to submit your work in Axess, you must ensure:

• Your candidacy is valid
• Your reading committee is accurate
• You’ve completed all relevant milestones

If you have any questions about the status of your milestones, accuracy of your reading committee, or your candidacy end date, reach out to the Student Services Officer in your department.  

• You will be unable to submit your dissertation or thesis until your eForm has been approved. Please see How to Submit Your Reading Committee Signature Page for full instructions.

Please note: Students with unmet financial obligations resulting in the placement of a hold will not receive a diploma until the hold is released by Student Financial Services. Be sure your financial obligations are in order before submission of the dissertation. 

Considerations During Submission

Consider these other items during the submission process of your dissertation or thesis.

Managing copyright is an important responsibility in your academic career.

For this reason, all students are required to review a resource on Copyright Considerations prior to submission of a thesis or dissertation for publication by Stanford, produced by Stanford Libraries in consultation with the Office of the General Counsel.

You are encouraged to review this resource as early as possible in the dissertation or thesis preparation process.

During the online submission process, you, as the author, will sign the Stanford University Thesis and Dissertation Publication License.

By accepting the terms of this agreement, you are granting Stanford the non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable right to reproduce, distribute, display and transmit the dissertation or thesis. Read the full text of the agreement.

Stanford will make your full dissertation or thesis available online through its library website, and may also make it available through third-party search engines and distributors. Supplementary material submitted along with the dissertation or thesis will be available only from Stanford Libraries website .

On occasion, when a dissertation or thesis author enters into a contract with a publisher, the publisher requests the author to "pull back" their dissertation or thesis to limit accessibility. Stanford can often accommodate these requests, in which case the thesis or dissertation will be available only to those in hard copy, or those with a Stanford network account. Indexing of the document will continue to be allowed, however.  Pull-back requests should be submitted using a Services Ticket:  http://services.stanford.edu    Be sure to include a copy of the publisher's request in your ticket.

A dissertation or thesis author has the option to apply a Creative Commons license during submission.

Because Stanford will make your dissertation or thesis publicly accessible, readers may locate your publication and may wish to use parts of it in their own work. Because you hold the copyright to your work, your permission for that reuse is necessary.

By applying a Creative Commons license to your work, you make clear to users the terms and conditions under which they may reuse your material, obviating the need for them to contact you directly. Applying a Creative Commons license does not take away any of your rights; rather, it makes clear to readers of your work what kind of reuse you permit.

You may optionally apply for one Creative Commons license. Stanford Libraries recommends the "Attribution Non-Commercial" license, because it encourages open access and collaboration in the scholarly process. For more information on Creative Commons license options, please visit the Creative Commons website .

For specific questions about applying a Creative Commons license to your submission, please submit a help request , which will be reviewed by the library.

You, as the author, have the option to delay the release of a dissertation or thesis to search engines outside of Stanford and other third-party distributors. Under an embargo, the dissertation or thesis will be available online to Stanford-authenticated users, but not to readers outside the Stanford network.

Release delay options are: six months, one year, or two years. Embargos of longer than two years require the review and approval of the Subcommittee on Exceptions to Graduate Policy (S-EGP).

The embargo option may be appropriate for a student who wants to delay access to the dissertation or thesis for a limited amount of time in order to pursue other publications.

Embargos and Patent Protection

Please note that the laws of different jurisdictions vary on what constitutes a public disclosure that could prevent or impede one’s ability to obtain patent protection for inventions disclosed therein.

Stanford takes no position with regards to whether the delayed release of a dissertation or thesis will safeguard the ability to obtain patent protection for inventions disclosed therein.  Instead, Stanford recommends that any patent filings relating to material described in the dissertation or thesis occur prior to submission, whether or not the dissertation or thesis is under delayed release.

If you have any questions, please contact Stanford's Office of Technology Licensing at (650) 723-0651 or [email protected] .

Embargos and Grant-Funded Research

If your thesis or dissertation includes any research conducted as part of an active grant-funded project, discuss the embargo option with the project's principal investigator. 

Embargos and Multiple Authorship

Multiple authorship has implications with respect to copyright and public release of the material. Be sure to discuss copyright clearance and embargo options with your co-authors and your advisor well in advance of preparing your dissertation or thesis for submission.  Embargoes may be lifted early at the request of the author.

Embargos and Copyright Permissions

You may not select embargoed status in lieu of obtaining appropriate copyright permissions. A dissertation or thesis, in its entirety, will be governed by only one level of distribution at any given time; the work may not be subdivided with sections disseminated under differing levels of distribution.

If you have any questions about whether you should embargo your dissertation or thesis, please consult with your advisor.

Extending Embargos

Students who designate an embargo period (of six months or one year) during the initial submission, may later wish to either extend their original embargo period (to one year or two years from the time of submission).

To make such a request, submit a help request to the Office of the Registrar no later than four weeks before your original embargo selection expires.

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Based on years of experience working with students and supervisors, this checklist gives you the insider’s perspective , so that you can submit your dissertationor thesis with confidence. Here’s what it covers:

• The title page/cover page
• Abstract (sometimes also called the executive summary)
• Section 1: Introduction 
• Section 2: Literature review 
• Section 3: Methodology
• Section 4: Findings /results
• Section 5: Discussion
• Section 6: Conclusion
• Reference list

Each section includes a list of essential to-do items, along with links to additional free resources to help you fast-track your project. Simply put, it’s an all-in-one resource that helps you earn marks, the smart way.

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Learn The Basics

This video covers the big-picture process of writing a dissertation or thesis. 

Additional Resources

If you’re working on a dissertation or thesis, you’ll also want to check these out…

1-On-1 Private Coaching

Research Bootcamps

The Grad Coach YouTube Channel

The Grad Coach Podcast

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• BorrowDirect Request books and other items from partner libraries. JHED ID required.
• Interlibrary Loan Request scanned articles, chapters, and more from non-JHU libraries. JHED ID required.
• Document Delivery via ILL Request scanned articles and chapters from JHU Libraries and the Libraries Service Center. JHED ID required.
• Journal Search Look for online journals and periodicals available from JHU libraries.
• Citation Linker Find a specific article or book by searching citation information.
• eReserves Access online articles and media reserved for courses.

Submission Checklist

Electronic theses & dissertations (etds).

• Formatting Requirements
• Submission Deadlines

Required Information

There are several descriptive fields that you must fill out in the submission form. Some of these fields will help other researchers find your thesis or dissertation and others will control when your thesis or dissertation will be made visible to the public.

Please ensure that all metadata, including your abstract, and your paper are finalized and adheres to the formatting requirements before submitting it.

Start this process after you have defended and made all final edits to your thesis or dissertation. Documents must be proofread and all errors corrected before beginning the submission process. Once published, changes cannot be made to your ETD.

• Carefully review the formatting requirements to make sure your document conforms to the requirements
• Contact [email protected] if you have any questions
• Save your document as a PDF/A file
• Login to the submission system using your JHED ID
• Enter the required descriptive fields
• Read and agree to the submission agreement
• Upload your PDF/A document
• Go to the fee payment site and pay your $60.00 fee
• If you receive an email asking for changes, follow the link and resubmit your corrected ETD
• If required, forward a copy of your approval email to your appropriate graduate office

PDF/A Export

PDF/A is an ISO-standardized version of the Portable Document Format (PDF) specialized for the digital preservation of electronic documents. You need to save your dissertation as a PDF/A file and upload it as your official submission. For more information, see the Wikpedia article on the format.

Note for Mac users: that while you can save a Word for Windows document as a PDF/A (see below for instructions) you cannot do so directly from Word for Mac. If you are a Mac user, consider saving your Word document as a PDF/A using a Windows computer, such as at the library, or use Adobe Acrobat Pro.

Notes about PDF/A format

• you cannot include audio and video content; still images are fine
• you cannot include JavaScript or executable files
• fonts must be embedded

If you need to include audio, video, or other files, you can submit them as supplementary files. Contact us at [email protected] for more help with PDF/A or supplementary files.

Adobe Acrobat Pro

• Select “PDF Standards” in the Tools menu
• Select “Preflight” in the right hand column
• Select “PDF/A Compliance”
• Double-click “Convert to PDF/A-1b” then “Save”
• Review your document to ensure it appears as you expect it to

Word for Windows

• Select “File” then “Save as Adobe PDF”
• Make sure file type is “pdf files”
• Select “Options” and a box with “PDF Options” will open
• Check the “Create PDF/A” box, then select “OK” and “Save”
• Follow the instructions for using a LaTeX template
• The Library does not provide support for LaTeX

Fee Payment

The ETD submission fee is $60 and may be paid by credit card or by funds transfer from your department. The fee is due at the time of submission; payment verification is required for approval.

Pay by Credit Card – $60

IMPORTANT: If the card you are using is not your own (e.g., spouse or parent’s card), proceed with the payment at the site, but then email your name, your JHED ID, and the name of the credit card owner to [email protected] so we can link your submission with the payment.

Pay by Department Funds Transfer

NOTE: This option is available at departmental discretion. Request that the department administrator fill out the PDF form and submit it to [email protected] .

You have the option of making your ETD publicly available within a few months following degree conferral, or placing an embargo on your ETD. Embargoes temporarily delay publication of your ETD to JHU’s institutional repository, JScholarship .

Students choose to place embargoes on their work if their ETD forms part or all of a larger work that they plan to publish with a journal or publishing company, and that organization has a policy against publication of previously published work.

Note: Most publishing companies with these policies make exceptions for theses and dissertations, so be sure to read the documentation carefully before choosing to put an embargo on your ETD.

JScholarship

All ETDs are made available in the Library’s institutional repository, JScholarship, after any applicable embargo periods set by the student have expired.

If a student initially chooses to place an embargo on their ETD and later wishes to lift the embargo early, they may contact us in order to do so.

If a student initially chooses an embargo of less than the maximum 4 years allowed, and later wishes to extend the embargo before their ETD has been made publicly accessible on JScholarship, they may do so, so long as the embargo does not extend past 4 years from the original submission approval date. For instance, if a student submits their ETD in 2018 and places a 2 year embargo on it, they may later choose to extend the embargo for another 1-2 years, but may not extend the embargo past 2022.

Contact ETD Office

Milton S. Eisenhower Library [email protected]

ETDs on JScholarship

Electronic theses and dissertations from JHU students. Go to ETDs

JScholarship Home

Open access publications from JHU faculty and students. Visit JScholarship

Please start by reviewing the formatting requirements and submission checklist .

If you have additional questions, email [email protected] for the fastest response.

If we are unable to resolve your inquiry via email, you may request an in-person meeting. Due to the volume of ETDs, we cannot meet on deadline days, or the two days before deadlines.

Please note we do not provide formatting reviews by email, only via the submission system .

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Dissertation Submission Checklist

This is a basic and generic checklist to help simplify the details for the submission of the final draft of a dissertation. It is a brief overview of the formal issues relevant to preparing a dissertation for final submission. There are a lot of details involved, and (usually) two style guidelines to follow, so it can feel overwhelming. Having a sense of the general issues can help negotiate the process.

Dissertations and theses at most universities generally have two sets of guidelines to follow, each with its own document. First, there is a style manual for the discipline-appropriate guidelines. The most common style manuals are the APA, MLA, and Chicago manuals. Second, each university usually has its own guidelines (typically available on school websites). If you combine the university-specific guidelines with the general style manual, you suddenly hundreds of pages dealing with document preparation–font, formatting, citation style, etc.–and that can be intimidating. This checklist presents the main formal concerns of those hundreds of pages to help you manage your interactions with style manuals.

• Font. Many universities accept a limited set of fonts and font sizes. If in doubt, use a simple, common, 12-point font like Times New Roman.
• Margins.  Traditionally, dissertations and theses were formatted with an extra wide left margin for binding.  As more and more schools move to electronic submission, that particular requirement is less relevant.  In any event, you’ll be expected to have margins that meet expectations (in the U.S. that’s typically 1″ on all sides, except, possibly, 1.5″ on the left for binding).
• Line spacing. This is another concern that is changing with the growth of electronic publications. Most commonly, dissertations and theses are double spaced. APA, MLA, and Chicago generally call for double spacing, although some parts of documents may be single-spaced. Long quotes are often assumed to be single spaced, but they may or may not be, depending on your style guideline.
• Page numbers. Specific rules for numbering pages vary slightly. Generally, the first page of actual text is given the Arabic numeral 1, and Arabic numerals are used for all that follows. The front matter–table of contents, acknowledgements, copyright, etc.–is usually numbered with Roman numerals. Title pages generally don’t have a page number printed on them, but sometimes they are counted as the first page of the front matter. Pagination is usually discussed in university guidelines.
• Page headers. Generally, dissertations do not have page headers. Check your university guidelines.
• Title page. Check your school guidelines for specifications.
• Front matter before the table of contents: acknowledgements, dedication, signature page, copyright page. School guidelines will specify format and order.
• Table of contents (and, when appropriate, list of figures, list of tables).
• Abstract. Keep it short–150 words is good target. Some thoughts on writing abstracts.
• The body of the text. You’re not likely to forget about this, but it’s got a spot on the checklist.
• Figures and images. It used to be most simple to include figures and images at the end of the text, and that still works if you’re having any difficulties getting your word-processing software to insert them into the text elegantly. If you are using copyrighted images, remember to get permission for their use.
• List of references. Don’t leave this for last! Your references/citations in the text have to be consistent with the entries in the reference list. Most references will be addressed easily, but there are a lot of them, and it’s pretty easy for readers to spot errors. Don’t get caught at the last minute scrambling to figure out how best to cite one of your references. Most style manuals have extensive lists of examples to help put references in the proper form, and most bibliographic software can help.
• Paper (if necessary). If you’re printing a physical copy of your dissertation, then make sure that you use paper acceptable to your university’s library–usually some sort of acid-free bond for archival purposes.

There’s a lot of detail to address in getting your dissertation ready–detail in addition to all the theoretical/research-related complexity. It’s detail, but it isn’t difficult detail. If you leave yourself a little time to address these details at the end, and plan you on taking care of them ahead of time, they should present little real difficulty.

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• The Ethics of Academic Research
• How does LaTeX based proofreading work?
• How to Improve Your Scientific Writing: A Short Guide
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• Chicago Style Citation: Quick Guide & Examples
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Checklist: Dissertation Proposal

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Writing a dissertation is a lengthy process that often takes months or even years. Over time, your thesis is likely to have taken a lot of unexpected turns which see changes in the way you write, the arguments you’re putting forward, and even the direction of your research! To wrap all of this up in a professional and coherent manner, it’s a good idea to go through a comprehensive checklist before submitting the final dissertation to your university. Here’s a last-minute dissertation checklist that will get your draft in order. 

Why do you need a dissertation checklist?

There are some researchers who rush through the dissertation writing process and others who take weeks and months to perfect the final report. A final checklist is crucial for both groups because there are numerous aspects of the dissertation to review: everything from the title to the final entry in the reference list.

Having a handy checklist when you’re revising the dissertation will help you streamline the editing process. It will help you identify precise goals and focus on them in each stage. For example, you will want to dedicate specific rounds for content checks, formatting, tables and images, the reference list, grammar and language, and so on. The goal is to ensure that you give each of these aspects enough time and effort during the final check. 

After writing, it’s best to keep the dissertation aside for a few days and then jump into this. Let’s explore a few things you will be paying attention to while crossing off items in the final dissertation checklist. 

What’s in the last-minute dissertation checklist? 

Content check .

The actual contents of your dissertation is undoubtedly the most important of the whole piece. This round of checking involves you reviewing the body of your entire dissertation, from the abstract to the conclusion or recommendations section. Your aim here is to see if the content flows well and is coherent to anyone who reads it. 

At this point, you’re checking to see that you’ve answered all the questions you’ve asked and tied up other loose ends. This is NOT when you’re reworking the arguments of your dissertation. This is simply a cursory check, so if you’re having last-minute jitters and want to change the direction of your thesis, don’t give in to it! Trust that you’ve already put your best foot forward. Now it’s just about fine-tuning minor kinks. 

Here are some guiding questions for this stage: 

• Have I answered my research question(s) adequately? 
• Do my title and abstract accurately convey the purpose and aims of my research? 
• Have you been clear about the impact of your research and the contribution it will make to the field?

Citations and references 

Citing sources and adding detailed (and impeccably formatted) references are two of the most tedious processes in academic writing. It gets to the best of us, especially in times of stress. But it has to be done. If your citations and references are not properly done, you could easily get a lower grade on an otherwise well-done research project. So dedicate ample amount of time to checking your citations and references so you don’t lose marks for silly mechanical errors. 

Citations and references also allow you to clarify which parts of your dissertation document your findings and which paraphrase, quote, or reference someone else’s work. It will also clarify that your work has not been plagiarized. 

If you’re struggling to do this round of editing on your own and you have some cash to spare, consider taking a professional editor’s help to perfect your dissertation’s in-text citations and references. 

Pro-tip: Don’t forget to note the edition of the style guide you’re working with! 

Tables, figures, and visual elements 

Pay close attention to the non-text elements of your dissertation. If you have images, figures, appendices, and other things that are slightly disjointed from the text, consider reviewing them separately. In this round, you are likely to check for things like alignment, accuracy, proper formatting, readability and coherence, labeling, etc. Recheck of each element accompanies the text it’s supposed to and corresponds with the table of contents (if necessary).

Language and grammar 

Last but not least, proofread your dissertation before you submit it. In the larger scheme of things, a typo or two may not seem to matter. But your grades are on the line — and silly language errors are a gateway to bad grades. You must absolutely do a round of proofreading to rectify misspelled words, grammar errors, misplaced punctuation, incomplete sentences, etc. 

Head over to this guide to know more about how you can self-edit your dissertation . 

Just to summarize + the FINAL dissertation checklist 

This is quite a lengthy process with many rounds. Here’s a checklist that will make things a bit easier: 

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Electronic thesis/dissertation (ETD) submission checklist

Before you can submit your thesis or dissertation, you must receive an e-mail from Libra  with the subject: “ Access to upload your approved thesis or dissertation to LIBRA ”. The e-mail is sent after your defense milestone has been updated by a Graduate Administrator and after Libra receives notice of it.

If you are a graduate student whose thesis is not a graduation requirement, or an undergraduate, you can still deposit your work in Libra. Please contact your advisor or graduate administrator and have them e-mail [email protected] .

Use the instructions below to successfully  submit your ETD  to Libra (LibraETD).

Before you submit

1. review copyright information.

Check out the Copyright Essentials for Scholarly Work page to get a better understanding of a few key copyright concepts. These will be important as you draft and submit your thesis or dissertation, both in understanding how and when you can use copyrighted third-party content in your own work, and in understanding your rights and opportunities to share your work as the author of your thesis or dissertation. Thinking about publishing your thesis/dissertation in part or whole, before or after graduation? Check out the Publisher Policy Checker from MIT Library. Use this resource to find publisher policies regarding inclusion of previously published articles in theses and dissertations, and policies on accepting journal submissions that first appeared in an author’s previously released thesis or dissertation.

2. Know your school’s instructions

Check with your school for information on the proper process, workflow, and timing for submitting your thesis or dissertation.

Your school will direct you on its process for submitting your work:

• Engineering School Graduation Procedure (MS Candidates)
• Engineering School Graduation Procedure (PhD Candidates)
• Arts & Sciences Thesis Submission (MA, MS, PhD)
• School of Education and Human Development, Doctoral Student Degree Completion (Ed.D. and Ph.D.)  or email  [email protected]
• School of Nursing (DNP)
• School of Medicine (Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program)
• Darden School of Business PhD Program  (Darden student access only, authentication required.)
• School of Architecture - Constructed Environment

3. Know your open license options

Libra lets you choose an open license when you post your work, and will prominently display the CC license you choose as part of the record for your work.

• CC-BY  (permitting free use with proper attribution)
• All rights reserved (no additional license for public reuse) – users who download your work from Libra must comply with ordinary copyright law and seek permission for uses that are not fair use or otherwise permitted by law

A CC-BY license helps readers find your work, and makes it more likely that it will be read and re-used. If you would like to use a more restrictive Creative Commons license, please contact a Libra administrator . Review the Creative Commons section of Copyright Essentials for Scholarly Work for further information.

4. Know your access and visibility options

All graduate students are required to discuss access options (including embargo) with their advisor or committee prior to submitting to Libra. To understand your options, please see the Access and Visibility Options page.

If you are thinking about requesting an embargo, do not complete your Libra submission until your request has been approved AND applied to your Libra record. 

To request an embargo, first consult with your thesis or dissertation committee, then contact your schools’ dean’s office for final approval.

5. Prepare an abstract and keywords

• An abstract is required for submission to Libra. It describes your work’s main focus to researchers interested in your topic. Using the abstract already included in your thesis or dissertation is fine. If your thesis does not already have an abstract, use a word processing or text editing program to create and save at least a paragraph describing your thesis to potential readers. Copy and paste your abstract into the submission form.
• Keywords are optional but encouraged. Select at least 2 to 3 keywords that best describe the content of your thesis or dissertation. Keywords can be taken from the abstract and/or title. Individual words and/or phrases may be used. Use keywords that will be easily recognized by others in your discipline.

6. Proofread

You may not delete dissertations and theses once they are deposited in Libra . Major changes or deletions require a dean’s approval.

Submit your work

7. upload to libra.

• Log in  to Libra (LibraETD) with your UVA NetBadge credentials.
• An  ORCID iD is a unique researcher identifier, used worldwide, that you can keep throughout your life and retain even if you move institutions. It distinguishes you from other researchers, even if they have the same name, and enables authoritative links to be created between you and your research activities.
• Create or link your ORCID iD in  LibraETD   by clicking the “Create or Connect Your ORCID ID” button on your dashboard (main) page in LibraETD. You may remove the Libra link to ORCID at any time by clicking the red X next to your ORCID iD on the dashboard.
• Find out more about  ORCID at UVA .
• Check the title displayed for your active thesis or dissertation on your Dashboard. The title in Libra must match the title as approved by your committee or advisor. If it does not, please report the discrepancy to your departmental administrator to make the corrections in SIS. Return to this step when the title has been corrected and proceed with your deposit.
• From your Dashboard, click “Edit” to enter description information. Required fields are indicated. Report errors in pre-populated fields to your Graduate Office.
• You must enter (one) advisor (primary advisor, committee chair, practicing mentor, etc.). You may enter additional advisors and/or committee members.
• Select an open license in the “Rights” field.
• Upload at least one file containing the final, approved version of your thesis or dissertation.
• If the approved version is a document, it MUST be in PDF format (PDF/a preferred).
• Acceptable file types for alternative theses and dissertations & supplemental files are: CSV, GIF, HTM, HTML, JPEG, JPG, MOV, MP3, MP4, PDF, PNG, TIF, TIFF, TXT, XML.
• MP4 videos should have these specifications:  H.264 codec, with AAC audio, in a .mp4 container.
• Consider uploading large supplemental files or data sets to  LibraData  and linking them to your thesis or dissertation.
• Contact Libra staff  if you have questions about acceptable formats or need assistance with video or data file deposits.
• Give each uploaded file a descriptive label that will be viewable to Libra visitors, or accept the recommended label  N _ LastName_FirstName_Year_DegreeType  (e.g. 1_Jefferson_Thomas_1871_MA.pdf).  The descriptive label will be the default name of the file when saved and downloaded.
• If desired, see the Provost's policy on Submission of Electronic Theses and Dissertations on how to request an Embargo.
• Read the  Libra Deposit License  for Student Theses and Dissertations and check the box to agree or contact your Graduate Office if you do not agree.
• Click “Save and Exit” at any point to save a draft of what you have added and return to Libra later to “Edit” and complete your submission.
• Click “Save and Continue” to view your descriptive information.
• If you did not create/connect your ORCID iD, and you want to, you can do so from this information page by clicking the “Create or Connect Your ORCID ID” button . See the  Optional  step above. Find out more about  ORCID at UVA .
• If there is information that needs editing or added, click “Edit” to make further changes.
• Click “Preview before Submission” to preview the public view of your work before finalizing your submission.
• You may not delete or make major changes to your dissertation or thesis once you have clicked “Submit Thesis”  so click “Edit” if you need to make additional changes.
• Click “Submit Thesis” to finalize your submission.

After you submit

8.  check your submission.

• Note the persistent link (DOI - Digital Object Identifier) for your scholarship. Add it to your CV, and share it if you chose to make it immediately open. Always provide the DOI when sharing your work with colleagues, collaborators, and on social media for the most accurate metrics on views and downloads.
• Approximately an hour after deposit, you may check that your scholarship was successfully added to the Library’s collection by searching for your thesis or dissertation in VIRGO, the UVA online library catalog.
• 24 hours after deposit, please verify that SIS has been updated to reflect that you have completed this requirement.
• You will also receive email confirmation of your deposit, including the persistent link (DOI) for your scholarship.

Congratulations on your achievement!

Libra Contents

• Libra: Search and submit
• About Libra
• About LibraETD
• About LibraData
• About LibraOpen
• Copyright essentials

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A Handy PhD Submission Checklist

Feb 10, 2019

Your work isn’t finished when you’ve written your thesis and had it proofread. There is still a surprising amount of administrative work to do prior to submission. Don’t underestimate the amount of time it will take to turn your finished text into a final bound copy.

Here we present a checklist to follow in the run up to submission. It is designed both to allow you to make sure you’ve done everything possible, but also to see, in advance, how much work is required. We have also written a PhD writing template to make sure you’ve got everything included in the text that should be. You might want to read it to make sure every part of your thesis does what it is meant to.

Click the image below to download a pre-submission checklist.

• Write an abstract. We’ve written a guide to help you write an abstract that stands out from the rest. You can also refer to our PhD Writing Template
• Write your acknowledgements. Our PhD Writing Template will also help here.
• Proofread your thesis. Have an expert do it. You’ve spent years – and perhaps tens of thousands of dollars – getting to this stage. Pay a professional to make sure you aren’t about to undermine it all by handing something in that contains errors and mistakes. Doing so will minimise your chances of corrections. Read our ten reasons why you need a proofreader for your PhD.
• Make sure you have a list of abbreviations, figures and tables clearly presented at the beginning of the thesis.
• Make sure you have a table of contents that is accurate and sufficiently comprehensive. Can you understand the main argument running through the thesis and through particular chapters just by reading chapter headings and sub-headings?
• Make sure you have found and read your university’s requirements for formatting and submission procedure .
• Format your thesis, including all tables, figures, charts and appendixes. Each university has different requirements and this can be very, very fiddly work.
• Format the references. Make sure they are using your university’s style and that all information is included. Make sure that every reference in the text is included in the bibliography and that every reference in the bibliography is included in the text.

Final checks

• Prepare all the necessary paperwork.
• Contact your submission office in time. Each university is different. Mine required three months notice that I was going to submit. Check yours well in advance.
• Get your thesis printed and bound. Check how many copies your university requires and what their requirements are for layout and binding.
• Get a signed receipt when you submit your thesis.
• Breathe out and celebrate!

If you’re at the submission stage that means you’re coming to the end of a long, difficult journey. Take time to reflect on how far you have come and how you overcame the obstacles in your way. Everyone’s PhD journey is different, but no less impressive. Congratulations.

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SMGT 688 Thesis Proposal

• Course Description

This course is designed to help students complete their M.S. thesis. It is expected that research for the thesis project will be relevant to the student’s specialization area and will make an academic contribution to the literature in Sport Management.

For information regarding prerequisites for this course, please refer to the  Academic Course Catalog .

Course Guide

View this course’s outcomes, policies, schedule, and more.*

*The information contained in our Course Guides is provided as a sample. Specific course curriculum and requirements for each course are provided by individual instructors each semester. Students should not use Course Guides to find and complete assignments, class prerequisites, or order books.

SMGT 688 is the first course in the three-course thesis sequence and supports students in building the foundation of the thesis project. It provides focused study on ethics in research, topic selection, introduction to the study, the literature review, and the methodology.

Course Assignment

Course requirements checklist.

After reading the Course Syllabus and Student Expectations , the student will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview.

Quiz: CITI Training Certificate

The IRB requires researchers, co-researchers, and faculty sponsors to complete research ethics training through the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) prior to receiving IRB approval. The IRB requires the completion of either the Social & Behavioral Researchers or Biomedical & Health Science Researchers courses, whichever is most applicable to the research being conducted.

IRB CITI Training Certificate

Liberty University IRB website

Your submission will include a file upload of the completed CITI Training Certificate for Social & Behavioral Science Researchers.

Thesis Background Assignment

The goal of this assignment is to focus your research. The Research Chair should have a solid understanding of what you intend to study and how you intend to study it.

Your submission will include the following:

APA formatted title page – see research templates for example(s):

• Running head – shortened version of paper title, page number in the upper right corner
• Scholarly Title
• Student’s Full Legal Name
• Department of Hospitality & Sport Management, Liberty University
• Author Note

Students should address the following questions in their submission:

This section should educate the reader regarding the topic. Start this section by catching the reader’s attention. Use recent evidence from 2-3 scholarly journal articles published within the last five years. This section contains a summary of the most relevant literature on the topic and provides the historical (i.e., how the problem has evolved over time), social (i.e., contexts), and theoretical (e.g., important variables, the theoretical concepts, and the principles underpinning the research) contexts for the research problem. Each of the three contexts must be specifically examined using APA Level 2 headings for each.

You should be sure to link and relate the background of the study to the proposed research. This is just an overview. You will go into more depth later. Questions to address may include but are not limited to the following:

• What is the problem and why is it an interest?
• Who else is affected by the problem?
• What research has been done to investigate or address the problem?
• How will the proposed research extend or refine the existing knowledge in the area under study?
• Who will benefit or use the proposed research?
• What new information does the current research add to the body of existing literature regarding the topic?
• All factual assertions should be supported with an APA formatted, in-text citation.
• All in-text citations should be included on an APA formatted reference page.

The content of this assignment is built on the thesis-track assignments completed in SMGT 520:

• Annotated Bibliography Assignment
• Literature Review Assignment
• Research Proposal Assignment

Thesis Resources

• Qualitative Research Template
• Quantitative Research Template

Chapter 1 Introduction Part 1 Assignment

This is a narrative assignment using the proper template and headings. See the  qualitative research template or the quantitative research template  for additional guidance.

The body of the submission will include:

• Abstract – place holder page, the abstract will be written here when the study is completed
• Table of Contents – place holder page, content will be included with completed manuscript

Chapter 1 Introduction Part 2 Assignment

This is a narrative assignment using the proper template and headings. See the  qualitative research template or the quantitative research template  in Canvas for additional guidance.

Chapter 2 Literature Review Part 1 Assignment

• Overview of the Literature Review
• Conceptual or Theoretical Framework

Chapter 2 Literature Review Part 2 Assignment

• Review of the related literature
• Summary of the literature review

Change Matrix Form: Complete Form Available here

Chapter 3 Methods Assignment

IRB Submission Assignment

Before collecting data, students must have their project approved through the IRB. IRB approval ensures that the study aligns with applicable federal regulations and university policy.

IRB Information

Human subjects research is regulated by the federal government through the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Human Research Protections. The IRB committee consists of faculty members from various Liberty departments and one non-university member.

The IRB is required to review all research involving human participants to ensure the privacy, confidentiality, and safety of participants. The IRB is part of Liberty University’s  Research Ethics Office , which is responsible for ensuring that all research conducted by Liberty University faculty, staff, and students are done in accordance with federal regulations and university policy.

Students are encouraged to carefully review the IRB website, including the  IRB Application Checklist .

Your submission will include a file upload verifying that the IRB Application submission has been “certified” and is ready for IRB review.

***Data cannot be collected until the IRB approval letter is received.***

Thesis Proposal – Complete Assignment

This goal of this assignment is to assemble the completed thesis proposal.

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