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ETD Submission Guide

Describes the required steps for graduates to submit their work for inclusion into ProQuest's Dissertations & Thesis database.

To Begin: Thesis

proquest etd molloy university thesis upload main screen

To begin the process, proceed to the ProQuest UMI/ETD Administrator Site for Thesis.
Make sure you see the word Masters in parenthesis at the top!

Submitting Your Thesis

1) Instructions: Note, submission steps are located on the left hand side. You may 'jump around' by clicking on the items in this bar. You must have all sections completed, however, before final submission. Also, note the items recommended that you have on hand to help streamline the process.

etd adminstrator at molloy college masters homepage


2) Publishing Options: The only choice here is Traditional Publishing. That said, you can choose to delay publishing of the document, which is further described under Access Options. If you have no need to delay publication, proceed to the next step.

Access Options (e.g., delaying the release of your work):In the event you may have a patent pending, or perhaps plan to incorporate your dissertation into a future publication, you have the option to delay the release of your work into ProQuest's and the college's database. Otherwise known as an embargo, if this option is selected you can choose to postpone the availability of full text by 6 months, 1 year or 2 years. The result will be that your work will be listed in the ProQuest database as a citation only until the specified embargo period has lapsed. 

Note: embargoes are the exception, not the rule. In most cases you would want your work published as soon as possible.

masters access options screen


3) PQ Publishing Options: Next, you'll be presented with agreements from both ProQuest and Molloy to allow the release of your work and its association with the college. Lastly, the final section under Publishing Information will be a form to enter your basic contact information.


4) Creative Commons: Unless you want to pay for official copyright registration (explained further below), this step is where you select which type of Creative Commons License you want. If you plan to file for formal U.S. Copyright, just say 'no thank you' in this section and move to the next step.

A Creative Commons License designates how you permit your work to be used without the end-user having to contact you; for all other uses, they would still need to contact you for permission. For these types of works, typically students choose one of the non-commercial options.

  • CC BY-NC = Attribution-NonCommercial
  • CC BY-NC-SA = Attribution-NonCommerical-ShareAlike
  • CC BY-NC-ND = Attribution-NonCommerical NoDerivs

Detailed information regarding Creative Commons licenses can be found here: https://molloy.libguides.com/digitalcommons/cc

masters cc license selection page

Submission Steps: About My Dissertation/Thesis

1) Dissertation/Thesis Details: In this section you'll begin to enter the data associated with your work. Requested information includes the Title, Primary Language, Abstract, Degree/Awarded, Subject Category, Keywords, Advisor/Supervisor/Committee Chair and Committee Members. 

For Subject Categories, you'll be prompted to choose from a drop down list. You may click back to the Instructions section to view the possible categories while in the ETD system, or just go view this PDF. This will be followed by an area where you can enter up to six additional keywords of your choice. Regarding Abstracts: In most cases you can simply copy and paste the abstract from your main document, but be sure to check and see if the formatting carried over correctly (e.g., line breaks, special characters and the like).

2) PDF, Optional Supplemental Files & Notes:The final phase will be uploading the .pdf document and if applicable, additional support files. This section of the submission provides tips should you encounter difficulty and additional information is available via this support page. Supplemental files are optional and may include audio, video or spreadsheets if they are part of your dissertation. Zip files are acceptable but cannot exceed 1000 MB in size. Lastly, there is a notes section where you can enter any information that may be important for the graduate school administrator to know. Note: In the Administrative Documents Section, if students submitted their thesis to the Institution Review Board (IRB), they will be required to obtain and upload their IRB approval letter. If your thesis was NOT subject to IRB approval, select Save & Continue and move on to the next step. 

3) Do you have any copyright permission documents to submit? If additional copyright release documents were obtained and not included in your thesis, you can upload those here.

Submission Steps: Submission & Payment

1) Register U.S. Copyright: The first step is filing for copyright, this is not a requirement for the masters submission, but if you choose to do so there will be a fee of $75 and is subject to change without notice. The free Creative Commons Option indicated above is generally sufficient for most students.

2) Order Copies/Checkout Procedures: The last step is optional and allows you to decide if you'd like to order printed and bound copies of your thesis. Additionally, the library will hold your dissertation in electronic format at no additional cost; however, if you'd like a professionally bound hard copy for yourself or others, it is in this section where you can select from a variety of choices. Prices and options are clearly stated and there are discounts available for ordering multiple copies. After your shipping address is confirmed, if you had requested copyright or ordered hard copies you'll be asked to provide a credit card and the system will submit your payment directly to ProQuest. 

3) Submit: At this point in the process, if you have skipped any required steps they will be listed so you can go back and complete them. You may also be able to determine this for yourself by looking for any unchecked boxes on the left-hand sidebar. Once you have successfully submitted your thesis, it will be reviewed by a Graduate Office Administrator associated with your discipline. Submissions are generally processed twice a year a few weeks after graduation. 

As your thesis progresses through the approval process, or in the event of any problems, you will be contacted via email by your ETD Administrator. You will also be notified when your dissertation is ultimately submitted for inclusion into the ProQuest database. Once it is sent on to ProQuest, it typically takes approximately 6-8 weeks before the work appears in the Theses & Dissertations Database. Additionally, a .pdf copy of your dissertation will be added to the library catalog and the digital commons.