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The University of Texas at Austin

Graduation Guidelines and Deadlines for Doctoral Candidates for spring, 2008

Steps to take to graduate in spring, 2008

  1. Register for Dissertation (_99W) for spring.

  2. Turn in the Degree Candidate Form (.pdf) to the Graduate School by March 20, 2008.

  3. Schedule your Defense/Final Oral Examination. Give your committee a copy of your dissertation at least a month before you plan to defend so each member can examine it. Then fill out the Request for Final Oral (.pdf) form.  Secure signatures of your committee on this form indicating each of them agrees to attend the defense on the date shown.

  4. Submit the Request for Final Oral (.pdf) form to the Graduate School at least two weeks in advance of the defense. This is how your Defense/Oral Examination is officially scheduled.

  5. At the defense, the Committee Certification of Approved Version (see Format Guidelines - .pdf) should be signed by all members of your committee (any not attending will need to sign this page before the dissertation is submitted).

  6. Make any required/requested revisions to the dissertation, check it carefully for grammar, spelling, punctuation, content and format (see Format Guidelines - .pdf), then convert the final approved version of the dissertation into one .pdf file.

  7. The last day to submit the dissertation for graduation in the spring is May 2, 2008. The following steps must be completed by the deadline:

    1. Submit your dissertation to UMI/Proquest.* Instructions for submitting the dissertation on-line to UMI can be found at the Dissertation Submission Site.   Upon uploading your dissertation to the submission site, you will be offered publishing options.  It is important to note that UT provides Open Access to your dissertation for free. DO NOT select the Open Access option with UMI/Proquest.  Rather, choose Traditional Publication.  UT does not collect the $95 fee associated with the UMI/Proquest Open Access option.  The Traditional Publication fee option does not require an additional fee beyond the $55 you pay for publication. If you wish to participate in the UMI/Proquest Open Access option, you will need to contact UMI directly after submitting your dissertation.

      Additional information on converting your word or .rtf version of your dissertation to .pdf (including a link to an on-line .pdf converter) is available at the Dissertation Submission Site and the Electronic Thesis and Dissertations (ETD) site. (Some students have reported difficulty using the on-line .pdf converter. DO NOT WAIT until the last day to try to convert your dissertation or treatise or you may not be able to meet the deadline.)  For assistance with technical problems while using the online submission system, please send email to support@dissertations.umi.com, or call 510-665-1200. The Berkeley Electronic Press handles the technical support inquiries for the ProQuest ETD submission system.

    2. When you have uploaded the final approved version of your dissertation to UMI, submit the associated required forms and paperwork to the Graduate School.  Due to the large numbers of dissertations to be processed you are encouraged to upload your dissertation and submit the paperwork as soon as possible. This paperwork may be submitted in person no later than May 2, 2008 by coming to the Graduate School, Main Building 101 or it may be mailed to arrive no later than May 2, 2008 to: The University of Texas at Austin, VP & Dean of Graduate Studies, 1 University Station G0400, Austin, Texas 78712-0531. For a detailed list of paperwork to be submitted, print the Checklist for Final Submission of Dissertation or Treatise.

*NOTE: Publication of your dissertation in the exact version that has been approved by your committee is a requirement for the degree. If for any reason you are considering not submitting your dissertation to UMI directly for publishing, contact the Graduate School's Doctoral Degree Evaluator to discuss how you will complete the publication requirement. (Phone 512-232-3630 or email doctapp@uts.cc.utexas.edu.)

Please note:  To access or complete .pdf forms, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0 or newer installed on your computer.

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