Thesis Formatting & Completion Guidelines

Dissertation Formatting Guidelines and Miscellaneous Completion Information

I. Defense Announcement Posting Required. 

College rules state that a Notice of Final Public Oral Examination must be posted at least two weeks before a defense takes place.   Each student is required to complete the template found here and submit it electronically to Regina and Vicki for posting.

II.  Formatting your dissertation

The guidelines for proper formatting of your thesis are now posted on our College website at this location.  Scroll down to the section titled "Thesis and Dissertation Document Standards" (heading in red).   All students are required to read and follow these guidelines.  You will find that most of the actual formatting rules will be found in the ProQuest form that is linked to these guidelines. 

Also linked to these guidelines you will find templates for the Thesis Title Page and Thesis Signature Page.  Note that there are two signature pages provided - one for joint degrees and one for regular (non-joint) degrees.  Provide the information EXACTLY as shown on these templates, using the same spacing.  Keep the font consistent with the font used in your thesis.  

Note also that the lines are to remain on the signature page as they appear on the template.  In other words type your thesis title, name, and department/s on top of the lines.  Do not remove the lines.

Some key "Do's & Don'ts" when formatting your thesis:

a.  Do acknowledge your financial support on the Acknowledgements page.
b.  Don't list your thesis committee anywhere except on the Acknowledgements page.
c.  If copywriting your thesis, do include a separate page with the copyright information.
d.  On the title page, do use only the date (date = month & year) that your PhD will officially be conferred.  For example, December 2009 graduates will use 'December 2009' even if the final thesis was submitted much earlier.   To state it another way, the only official months in which Carnegie Mellon confers degrees are May, August, and December so these are only the months that may be used on the title page.

As a final check, you may want to use the "Department Coordinator Checklist" found here.  This is the checklist that each department's coordinator will use to verify that a thesis is ready to go to the Dean's Office for final approval. 

III.  Additional forms required upon submission of your final thesis to the department:

a.  Signature Sheets.   3 signatures sheets signed by the chair of your thesis committee must accompany your final dissertation.  Templates for the signature sheet are provided on the college website in the  thesis formatting guidelines (see item II above). You are responsible for obtaining your chair's signature on all three cover sheets, the department coordinator will get the rest.

b.  Survey of Earned Doctorates Form.   All students receiving a doctorate from a U.S. university must complete this form.  Coordinated through the Office of Scientific and Engineering Personnel of the National Research Council in Washington, D.C., the survey responses become part of a national data bank dating from 1920 to present.  Survey information is used to serve policymakers at federal, state and university levels.  The most recent form is available at the Hub's website under Forms and is also available here for your convenience.

c.  ProQuest Form.  This is the form discussed above in Section II that you will use to find specific thesis formatting guidelines such as margins, suggested paper type, etc.  You will also need to complete, sign, and submit this form as well.  

Note that you will need to select a publishing option on Page 3 of the form.  There are four publishing options from which to choose - two Open Access and two Traditional.  If you select an Open Access publishing option, there is a $95 charge.  You must include a money order or check made out to ProQuest for this amount.  If you select a Traditional option, there is no charge. 

Note also that you will need to include an additional copy of your title page for ProQuest and an additional copy of your abstract.  Note that ProQuest requests that the abstract be 350 words or less for publishing on their website, but it is not mandatory. If your abstract is over 350 words, ProQuest will stop at 350 words and add an ellipsis.  If you like, you can include a shortened version of your abstract specifically for ProQuest.   

Final Note, if you elect to copyright your thesis through ProQuest be sure to indicate that on the form and include a money order or check payable to ProQuest in the amount of $65 (the fee ProQuest charges to file the copyright).  You are not obligated to use ProQuest for copyright.  There are free copyright services through the web such as creativecommons.org.

IV.  Thesis Submission Dates.

Final thesis submission deadlines coincide with the final grade deadline each semester, with the exception of May when the thesis submission deadline is approximately a week earlier than the final grade deadline.  For the 2009-2010 academic year, the deadlines are as follows:

December 2009 graduation:   Final thesis (with 3 signature pages signed by thesis chair), ProQuest form, and Survey of Earned Doctorates form, must be submitted to the department no later than December 17, 2009.

May 2010 graduation:  Final thesis (with 3 signature pages signed by thesis chair), ProQuest form, and Survey of Earned Doctorates form, must be submitted to the department no later than May 7, 2010.

August 2010 graduation:  Final thesis (with 3 signature pages signed by thesis chair), ProQuest form, and Survey of Earned Doctorates form, must be submitted to the department no later than August 10, 2010.

V.  Thesis Copies.  Refer to the appropriate section in the EPP Graduate Student Handbook for information on copying your thesis.