Thesis/Dissertation Submission

Congratulations on the completion of your thesis/dissertation! 

Please follow the steps below to ensure the efficient processing of your thesis/dissertation and conferral of your degree. The Office of Student Records and Registrar Services cannot confer your degree until your thesis/dissertation has been submitted and accepted by the Graduate School.

  1. Prepare your thesis/dissertation to the appropriate standards
  2. Submit your thesis/dissertation electronically
  3. Submit Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) - doctoral students only
  4. Submit processing fees
  5. Check your email for notifications

You must complete the first three steps by the thesis/dissertation submission deadline.

1. Prepare your thesis/dissertation to the appropriate standards.

Please consult with your department or faculty advisor to determine whether you should defend your thesis/dissertation before submitting it electronically. Remember to consider the deadlines.

Use the thesis/dissertation formatting guide and sample below to prepare your thesis/dissertation to meet the formatting requirements. All submissions must adhere to the formatting guidelines. 

Please note that these are visual aids for your reference. If you need assistance with your word processing software, we recommend using online tutorials designed for your software.

The formatting guide covers the following topics:

  • Manual of style
  • General page formatting (including page margins, font size and color, hand lettering and corrections)
  • Sequence of pages (page order)
  • Page numbering
  • Tables and figures
  • Illustrative materials
  • Specific page layouts (title page, copyright notice, committee page, etc.)

Below, please find helpful video tutorials for some of the most commonly asked questions about formatting your thesis/dissertation, including how to set page margins. Please refer to the Thesis/Dissertation Formatting Guide above for complete formatting requirements when preparing your thesis/dissertation.

2. Submit your thesis/dissertation electronically.

Binghamton University archives theses and dissertations electronically through ProQuest/University Microfilms International (UMI).*

Have the following items ready before you begin the submission process:

  • Full text of your thesis or dissertation in PDF format in one file. It is generally advisable to convert your own work to PDF format before beginning the electronic submission process. If your manuscript is in Word or RTF format, you may convert it to PDF format on the ProQuest/UMI website.
  • ProQuest/UMI abstract. The ProQuest/UMI abstract may be an edited version of the full abstract in the document.
  • Optional supplementary files (images, sound, etc.) that are an integral part of the dissertation, but not part of the full text.

Go to the ProQuest/UMI website. Follow the instructions for submitting your document.

  • Register at the website.
  • Enter basic information about you and your work.
  • Complete the non-exclusive publishing agreement.
  • Attach your document.
  • Click "Submit." The submission is not registered until you click "Submit."

During the submission process, you may request that ProQuest/UMI file on your behalf for copyright for a fee, payable directly to ProQuest/UMI. However, even without registering the thesis/dissertation with the federal copyright office, the copyright notice on the page following the title page is sufficient to effect a copyright for the author.

You may also order bound hard copies of your thesis/dissertation through ProQuest/UMI. Please note that some departments/programs require students to purchase at least one bound hard copy of the thesis/dissertation to be archived with the department. Check with your department for details. See the Graduate School Manual for a list of departments/programs that have informed the Graduate School that they do not require bound hard copies.

3. Submit Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) - doctoral students only.

After submitting your dissertation electronically, please submit the following:

4. Submit processing fees. 

The thesis/dissertation processing fees cover electronic submission; indexing and abstract services; microfilming and archiving; and digital storage and access. The thesis processing fee is $85 (USD) and the dissertation processing fee is $100 (USD). You will receive an email with a link to pay your processing fee when your thesis/dissertation has been fully accepted by the Graduate School.

5. Check your email for notifications.

The Graduate School will review your thesis/dissertation and will notify you via email if your submission has been accepted or if your submission requires formatting revisions.

If your submission requires formatting revisions, submit revisions electronically on the ProQuest/UMI website. The Graduate School recommends that you submit revisions in a timely manner (within 1 week of receiving the notification of the need for revisions). The Graduate School must receive revisions in order to accept your thesis/dissertation and, ultimately, to confer your degree. 

Questions?

Contact the Graduate School at gad@binghamton.edu.

Please also refer to the Graduate School Manual.

*Among its many advantages, electronic archival allows students to include multimedia in their projects, revise their theses/dissertations long-distance, spend less on photocopying and storage costs, and—most importantly—reach a larger audience. Prior to electronic archival, most hard copy dissertations only received a few library requests each semester. Now, Binghamton University's theses and dissertations are downloaded electronically hundreds of times each year. By archiving with UMI, all theses and dissertations receive double-protection archiving (microfilm and digital) and FREE full-text access to the Binghamton University community. In addition, the Library of Congress retains full rights to the UMI collection.

UMI will prepare archival digital copies and microfilm copies, both of which are maintained in perpetuity and migrated to new storage media as necessary, in accord with UMI's contract with the Library of Congress. UMI then disseminates your work to various bibliographic databases and indexes and publishes a full-text copy of your work on a website available to the Binghamton University community. Readers outside of Binghamton University may find your dissertation and purchase copies directly from UMI.