Electronic Thesis Submission

General Instructions

Submitting your Electronic Thesis / Dissertation (ETD) is a quick and straightforward process. After your thesis supervisor has approved your thesis, follow the instructions below to submit your ETD documents to the digital library repository.

Administrative Preliminaries

You can register as a digital library repository user at any time, but to submit an ETD, you must first provide the Graduate Program Completion Office with the following written confirmation (letter or email) from your supervisor (for editorial corrections) or the convenor of your Final Oral Examination Subcommittee (for minor revisions), that your thesis is in final form and approved.

If you are restricting the release of your thesis, you must provide us with a restrict release form, signed by your graduate unit chair (outlined in the following paragraph).

Embargoes on Thesis Release

Publication of your thesis by the University of Toronto is a requirement of your degree; it is U of T’s intention that there be no restriction on the distribution and publication of theses. Accordingly, theses will be released after each convocation, and will be freely available to the public in an online environment.

However, in exceptional cases, you may wish to consider delaying thesis publication. Typical reasons for embargo include:

• currently seeking publication of part of your thesis in a journal, or publication of the thesis as a book
• content of a sensitive nature in the thesis, the publication of which might endanger the wellbeing of the author or of persons associated with the work
• a patent is in process

Discuss restriction with your supervisor and the chair of your graduate unit if you think restriction might be appropriate.

If you intend to restrict the release date of your ETD, please submit a restrict thesis release date form to SGS (dated and signed by your graduate unit chair). If applicable, include a copy bound inside the front cover of the bound paper copy for your graduate unit.

Prior to Submitting Your Electronic Thesis / Dissertation (ETD)

Create a Digital Library Repository Account

Log into the digital library repository by entering your student number and email address. You must use an official utoronto or graduate unit email account.

Select “Submit Thesis” and choose the appropriate collection to submit to.

File Format & Naming Convention

The main thesis file must be in PDF format. Before you start the submission process, create a PDF of the final approved version of your thesis.

You must use the following file naming convention:

lastname_firstname_middleinitial(s)_graduationyearmonth_degreedesignator_thesis.pdf

e.g., Smith_Lorie_L_201711_PhD_thesis.pdf

Supplementary files should follow the same naming convention:

e.g., Smith_Lorie_L_201711_PhD_datatables.exl

Stopping During the Submission Process

You can stop and save your work at any point in the submission process and resume your submission at a later date. Click the ‘cancel / save’ button which appears at the bottom of every ETD submission page. The data you have already entered will be stored until you come back to the submission.

If you accidentally exit from the submission process, you can always resume by re-entering the digital library repository.

You can cancel your submission at any point.

Submission Complete: What Next?

Congratulations! SGS will review your thesis and notify you once it is approved. If there is any problem with your submission, you will be given instructions. Please note that the timeline on this review varies depending on the time of year. The date your thesis is submitted is recorded in ProQuest for the reviewer to see. Upon submission, you will receive a message from sgs.thesis@utoronto.ca; please do not reply to this email. If you have questions, consult the Office of Graduate Program Completion.

Publication & Distribution

Your thesis will be available online on the digital library repository and on the web approximately five to six weeks following convocation. These theses will have priority in many search engines. Theses will be uploaded to the University of Toronto Library’s T-Space at intervals, approximately two times per year.

The digital library repository (Proquest) will:

• create an archival quality microfilm copy of the thesis for Library and Archives Canada
• catalogue your thesis
• publish the abstract in the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT) database
• make theses available in digital or paper format for a fee.

Proquest is considered an academic and not a commercial publisher.

After a period of two years, Library and Archives Canada may also make downloadable copies of theses available at no charge (or paper copies for a publication cost recovery fee).

Before electronic submission, this was the only way to obtain copies of theses apart from borrowing them from university libraries or contacting authors directly. You retain copyright to your thesis and may make it available on a personal website and pursue other sources of publication.

Continued Access to the U of T Proquest Thesis Submission Site

You will be able to view your thesis on the digital library repository a few weeks following convocation.

You will also have access to U of T’s T-Space with access to any collections, including the Theses collection. You are also welcome to become a contributor to other T-Space communities and / or register for updates.

For general information and news about T-Space or help using your account and using the site, please contact tspace@library.utoronto.ca.

Handles

As part of the T-Space repository, your thesis is assigned a persistent URL. This means that, unlike most URLs, this identifier will not have to be changed when the system migrates to new hardware, or when changes are made to the system. T-Space is committed to maintaining the integrity of this identifier so that you can confidently use it to refer to your item when citing it.

Our persistent URLs are registered with the Handle System, a comprehensive system for assigning, managing, and resolving persistent identifiers, known as “handles,” for digital objects and other resources on the Internet.

The Handle System is administered by the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI), which promotes research in the public interest.