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Submission Procedure

Steps for Thesis or Dissertation Submission

These are the steps necessary to submit a dissertation or thesis.

Quick Summary

1. “Apply to Graduate” in LionPATH
2. Complete your format review
3. Schedule your defense
4. Upload your final submission
5. Get committee approval
6. Get J. Jeffrey and Ann Marie Fox Graduate School approval

Details

Please remember to “Apply to graduate” in LionPATH by the specified deadline. If you have not applied, your final thesis or dissertation cannot be approved.

Upload your thesis or dissertation to the Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) website.

Make sure your file has:

title page
table of contents
committee page
at least three chapters

Within three weeks, the Office of Theses and Dissertations (OTD) will email you a PDF with comments for you to address.

Students only need to do a format review once.

If you are a doctoral student, schedule your doctoral defense as soon as possible.

If you are a master’s student, please direct all questions concerning master’s theses defenses to your graduate program.

To upload your final submission:

Pay the fee through the payment portal if you have not already done so.
Use comments from OTD and your committee to make all necessary corrections.
Submit your final submission in the ETD system.

Remember: no changes can be made after the final manuscript is submitted.

This is a separate process from committee approval of your defense. After uploading your final submission, the ETD website will indicate that your manuscript is in “Pending Status.”

When this happens, a series of approvals will need to take place in the order below. Each approver will receive an email when it is their turn to review and approve. The student also gets notified.

Approval Order

Faculty advisor
All Committee Members
Graduate Program Head or Professor in Charge.

Please note that committee approval is not final approval for your thesis or dissertation.

After the committee approves, OTD will review one final time. If further corrections are needed, your dissertation will be rejected and sent back to you.

Once it is free of errors, OTD will mark your dissertation as approved, and you will receive an email confirming this.

When you receive email confirmation, you will know your thesis or dissertation is complete.

Completion

After you have finished your submission, you have completed your thesis/dissertation requirements. Depending on your embargo status, theses and dissertations are released to the University Libraries approximately one week after your degree is awarded.

Note: regardless of your embargo status, your abstract will be publicly accessible.

Helpful Resources

A guide provided by the University Libraries that addresses many copyright questions.

Letter of Certification

An official document verifying that you have completed all degree requirements by your expected graduation date.

Office of Technology Transfer

Any dissertation or thesis that includes Penn State intellectual property must include an invention disclosure number that is provided by the Office of Technology Transfer.