Have you followed the Guide for Writers of Theses & Dissertations for the format and structure of your thesis or dissertation?
The Guide for Writers of Theses & Dissertations [PDF] covers formatting and submission requirements in detail.
This guide does not provide directions on how to research or write a thesis or dissertation. Nor does this guide set major stylistic or bibliographic rules for the author. Your advisor(s) or department may suggest or require you to follow a specific journal or other style for your work. Consult the bibliography at the end of this guide for sources about thesis/dissertation styles. This guide takes precedence should there be any conflict in formatting or standard requirements.
Are the first three pages (in order) Title page, Copyright page, and Reader’s Approval page?
The title page, copyright page, and approval page will have page numbers assigned to them, but the numbers should not be on those pages themselves. Other preliminary pages must have lower case Roman numerals (e.g., iv, viii, xii), placed at the bottom center of the page.
| Preliminary Pages | Page Number |
|---|---|
| Title page (required) | i (counted, does not appear on page) |
| Copyright page (required) | ii (counted, does not appear on page) |
| Readers’ Approval page (required) | iii (counted, does not appear on page; unsigned – without signatures) |
| Dedication page (optional) | iv |
| Acknowledgments (optional) | v |
| Abstract (required) | vi |
| ...... | ..... |
Is the title and your name consistent on the title page and abstract page?
The title and your name should appear just as they are on the title page.
Did you review your document for third-party copyright materials and acquire any necessary permissions?
If you reproduce material directly from a copyrighted source in the manuscript you may need to obtain written permission for its use and indicate that permission in a footnote or caption with the material. Such material may include graphs, charts, figures, photographs, artworks, musical passages, psychological scales, standardized tests, computer programs, databases, et al.
ProQuest Information and Learning policies for fair use of text and figures (not requiring explicit permission) of copyrighted material are as follows:
[Policy on use of copyrighted textual material]
The use of up to 1.5 pages of single-spaced text from one source is considered acceptable fair use. If the text from a single source is distributed throughout the text, the author needs to determine if the total text used is under this acceptable threshold. Quotations of several lines of text from a source in the body of the manuscript do not require written permission. Simply footnote the source.
[Policy on use of figures]
Copying up to three figures from any one source is considered fair use. When using more than three figures, ProQuest Information and Learning will require permission from the copyright owner.
[Guidelines on what is copyrighted material]
Carefully determine if materials you use are copyrighted and keep detailed records of your findings. Consult the guide Copyright and Your Dissertation or Thesis supplied by ProQuest at https://media2.proquest.com/documents/copyright_dissthesis_ownership.pdf
ProQuest maintains extensive records of publishers’ copyright policies. They encourage you to call their Publishing Unit at 800-521-0600, ext. 77020 as it may spare you time and energy.
[Seek copyright permissions early]
Seek any necessary permission as soon as possible. Use of copyrighted material without permission delays circulation of the work and could bring about legal action by the copyright holder. Obtaining permissions may take months. Letters of permission may or may not be included as part of the manuscript, but you must submit them along with the final draft of your work so that the library can see that you are allowed to reproduce the material in question. A sample permission letter is provided in the file of Sample pages.
Check the security settings on your PDF
The dissertation/thesis is submitted in PDF format.
To ensure that a dissertation/thesis is published as intended, check your PDF settings. Your PDF must have all fonts embedded and security settings showing 'No security.' See instructions for embedding fonts and for checking security settings.
Check the Document Restrictions Summary
Your PDF should be set to Document Restrictions Summary ➞ Everything allowed.
[Note for Adobe Acrobat Reader users: it is acceptable for Document Assembly and Page Extraction to be
“Not allowed”] 
