ETD stands for Electronic Thesis or Dissertation. In America, a PhD thesis is referred to as a dissertation and an MSc dissertation is better known as a thesis; hence, the ETD moniker was partly developed to remove any confusion arising from the use of the terms theses and dissertations. The term ETD is used globally, but its popularity has not yet caught on in the UK, possibly because the use of electronic theses is not as well established as leading countries such as America and Germany.

If you have not requested that your ETD be blocked from access, which we recommend (see below for reasons, and for discussion of other options), we will work to make your ETD as easily available worldwide as possible. First, we allow access over the WWW, so people can link to our collection for browsing, and even link directly to your ETD. Second, in the HKU Libraries Catalogue, Dragon, we will make a bibliographic record, and input the URL for your ETD in that record.

Timely publication makes your up-to-the-minute research instantly available. Upon publication, ETDs immediately become part of the NDLTD and are available for use by anyone having access to the Internet. Visibility allows people inside and outside of the academic arena to see and use your research. Just having an ETD can multiply the number of times your work is read.

Students are encouraged to use a variety of content and media to express themselves. There are no limitations imposed on content other than issues of copyright/IPR and of course individual departmental regulations.

E.g. Bloggs, Joe. "Electronic Methods of Theses Production." Master's Theses, The Robert Gordon University, January 2004, www.link_to_ETD_file.ac.uk

You need to activate the Adobe Reader; it will then download the e-book. The *.etd file contains information that allows the Adobe Reader to download the book; it is not the book itself.

Completely restricting public access to it (including the UF community) for six months for patent and other publication purposes. You make your choice on the ETD Rights and Permission Form that you and your supervisory committee chair must sign and turn in at final submission. Consider these options carefully and discuss them with your adviser.

Preparing and submitting an ETD teaches you about electronic document preparation and digital libraries, something you need to know in the Information Age. These skills will be a bonus for you in your future teaching, research and work. Also, an ETD can enable you to convey the message of your thesis or dissertation in a more dynamic way. Unlike a paper document, you can easily include audio, video, hyperlinks, animations, databases, simulations and virtual reality in your work.

The world of scholarship depends on people exchanging information and making their research available to others. When done electronically, more people in more locations can access these resources at lower cost. As a result, more knowledge is shared, stimulating education, research and progress. Furthermore, an ETD gives you and your work far greater exposure than a paper-based format ever could. Before the advent of ETDs, many theses and dissertations sat on library shelves unread.

Complete your thesis and download the paper Form 9 and print it on 100 percent cotton rag paper (available from Betty). Try out ProQuest demonstration site http://dissertations.umi.com/marin/. This is an imaginary university. Ignore any statements that conflict with Purdue requirements. Gather PDF, abstract file, personal info, and credit card info (if you want to order copies or register the copyright).

We will inform your shipping schedule by Booking Notice when your purchase has been successfully confirmed.

Complete instructions on submitting your ETD to OhioLINK are available for download as a PDF file HERE.

ETD has the same features as its paper-based predecessor: text, figures, tables, footnotes and references. It has a title page with your name and your school's name on it. It documents your years of academic commitment, research skill and scholarship. It tells others why you did this research, what research methods you used, how your research relates to previous work cited in your references, and what results you reached; interprets and discusses your findings; and summarizes your conclusions.

ETD uses a technologically advanced medium for capturing and expressing your ideas. You prepare your ETD using nearly any word-processing or document-preparation program on a personal computer. However, an ETD allows you to incorporate many different and dynamic multimedia items not possible in paper documents (such audio, video, animation and active hyperlinks for instant connection to online resources).

You have a number of options if you have published an article (or articles) before turning in your ETD and want to incorporate them into it. Discuss them with your supervisory committee and your publisher. First, you can simply cite that publication in your references.