Thesis
and Dissertation Information
The research that is proposed and written as a thesis or
dissertation
is the thoughtful and thorough culmination of a research idea
that developed throughout your graduate career.
This page provides information about guidelines and resources
to complete this document.
The mission of the Thesis and Publications Office is to support students,
faculty, and staff throughout the thesis/dissertation process and facilitate
effective scholarly communications.
Thesis & Publication Office
editor@mail.ucf.edu
407/823-2739
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Thesis
and dissertation guidelines, formatting requirements, semester deadlines, and final submission
information are outlined in the
thesis and dissertation
section of the Graduate
Studies Website. It not only includes all of the information that you would need
to complete your thesis or dissertation, it also provides templates for page
layout and format. Also available from this site is a
final
semester checklist, which details everything you need to do in your final
semester.
Does your research include the involvement of human subjects?
(survey or otherwise). For important information regarding approval for use human
subjects, please see the UCF
Office of Research and Commercialization
Announcements:
- Doctoral students will complete the NORC
Survey of Earned Doctorates online.
You will be able to access the NORC online after you receive final approval
from the thesis editor for your ETD. Completion of this survey is a
graduation requirement of all
doctoral students.
- Information about ProQuest Information and Learning publication application
and process (ProQuest publishes UCF's ETDs).
- There are no length restrictions on abstracts.
- An "Open Access Publishing" option is available. For an additional fee,
your work will be made available free
for download, in perpetuity.
- UCF requires doctoral students only to
complete the traditional publishing agreement, with the same fees as
previously. UMI publication remains optional for Master's students.
ETD Workshops
The Thesis and Dissertation Office offering several ETD workshops every
semester. These workshops are great opportunities for students to gain insight
and ask questions.
Completing Your Thesis or Dissertation: The Last Semester
Designed for ETD students attempting to graduate in the semester the
workshop is offered. Topics: Final semester processes, ETD formatting and final
submission guidelines and hints.
Beginning Your Thesis or Dissertation: Getting Started Right
Designed for ETD students in their first couple of semesters thesis or
dissertation research. Topics: Available ETD campus resources, process
milestones and document design.
Workshop Schedule
Workshops are offered in person and online.
Format Review and Approval
Please refer to the
Academic Calendar
for deadlines.
The Thesis and Dissertation Office must grant format approval for all ETDs.
Submission for an initial format review does not equate to final approval. In
fact, most students require more than one format review to receive university
approval.
Students who require a follow-up format review should re-submit drafts to the
Thesis and Dissertation Office at least a week in advance of the final
submission deadline to allow time for review and required changes. Drafts
re-submitted for format approval in the last week before the final submission
deadline may not be reviewed in time for spring graduation.
Turnitin.com
Effective Fall 2008, all students are required to submit their
thesis/dissertation to Turnitin.com for review by their committee.
Your chair is responsible for giving you access to Turnitin.com to submit
your document for review. Further, the chair and your committee are
responsible for reviewing the results. Your chair must indicate completion
of the Turnitin.com requirement by signing the "Review for Original Work"
section on the
Thesis
and Dissertation Attachment form. This review is a part of your final
submission requirements.
Turnitin Q&A:
| Q. |
How does Turnitin work? |
| A: |
The review is an automated
process where the text it translated into numerical code and
compared to billions of
pages of documentation from both current and archived instances of
the internet, millions of student papers previously submitted to
Turnitin, and commercial databases of journal articles and
periodicals. The results will reveal any text matches to be reviewed
by your advisor for proper citation. |
| Q: |
I'm concerned that my
document becomes "property" of Turnitin, and if I try to submit it
for publication it's already considered "published" ? |
| A: |
That is not the case, and here is
why: |
| |
(1) the
information within Turnitin is only used for comparison to other
bodies of work and is not published in any way; (2)
papers submitted to Turnitin are not available outside of
Turnitin.com; and
(3) any journal that uses Turnitin
will see previously submitted work and be able to attribute it to
the same author. |
| Q: |
When my master's thesis
is developed into a dissertation, Turnitin flags the majority of the
dissertation as "copied" material. Will I risk action for
plagiarism? |
| A: |
Students should know that the faculty doing the dissertation review
will be able to see that the previous/duplicate work was a part of
the student's thesis. The same information is available when a
student submits a draft version of their document that is followed
by a final version. |
| Q: |
I'm concerned about
copyright infringement. What can you tell me about this so that I
know my thesis (or dissertation) is protected? |
| A: |
iParadigms' has argued that use of the
written works is a fair use under 17 U.S.C. § 107 and, as such, does
not constitute copyright infringement. Fair use is a statutory
exception to copyright infringement. The unauthorized use or
reproduction of copyrighted work "for purposes such as criticism,
comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple cases for
classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of
copyright." 17 U.S.C. § 107. In determining whether a particular use
is a fair use, the following four factors must be considered: |
| |
|
(1) the
purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of
commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to
the copyrighted work as a whole; and
(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of
the copyrighted work. |
| |
The court has found that the "purpose and character" of iParadigms'
(Turnitin) use of written works to be highly transformative. Work is
originally created and produced for the purpose of education and
creative expression. iParadigms, through Turnitin, uses the papers
for an entirely different purpose, namely, to prevent plagiarism and
protect the students' written works from plagiarism. iParadigms
achieves this by archiving the students' works as digital code and
makes no use of any work's particular expressive or creative content
beyond the limited use of comparison with other works. |
If you still have questions about Turnitin.com, there are several sources
for more information. The
Turnitin.com
website and also to Turnitin's
Copyright and Privacy page provide information about what happens once
your work is submitted to Turnitin.com. The UCF Thesis and
Dissertation editor and Patricia MaKown of the
Office of Student
Rights and Responsibilities are also available to answer questions.
Defense
Defense Announcements
Please refer to the
Academic Calendar
for defense deadlines.
All thesis and dissertation defenses should be announced at least a week in
advance of the defense. Contact your program's graduate director or graduate
program assistant for information
about having your announcement made public.
Signature Page
You should also take a copy of your final signature page to the defense.
After you successfully defend, your committee, your department's chair, and
the college dean will sign this form.
The Thesis and Dissertation Office will reject approval
pages with incorrect information or improper formatting.
Samples of properly formatted defense approval pages may be found, by college
and degree, in Appendix B of the
Thesis and Dissertation Manual.
Final Steps
Dean's Signature
To obtain the Dean Panousis' signature, please bring your signature page to CSB 201 (the
College of Sciences Dean's Office). At this time, your approved committee
will be verified - so if you make changes to your committee, be
certain to officially file these changes with the COS Graduate Office.
If the dean is available, he will want to meet with you to sign your
approval page.
If the dean is not immediately available
for a signature, please leave your approval page with a staff person at the
front office. You must also provide contact information so that you can be
called to pick up your signed form. Given the importance of this document
and the time constraints generally associated with this process, we cannot deliver your signature page to Graduate Studies.
Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies' Signature
Once all departmental and college signatures have been obtained, the
signature page should be brought to Graduate Studies for final approval by
the Dean and Vice Provost of the Division of Graduate Studies. You
should only submit one final signature page for approval. This is the final
location of the signature page (it will not be returned to you).
If you would like a copy of your completed signature page, you can
request this by e-mailing editor@mail.ucf.edu. Only electronic copies will be
sent to students.
Final Upload
If your format review received final approval, the editor will send you
an e-mail with final upload instructions. This must be done by the posted
deadline. If your format review indicated that updates and another
submission are needed, make certain that you resolve any issues well in
advance of the final upload deadline.
For doctoral students, the final upload e-mail will also have
instructions about completing the UMI/ProQuest agreement information (found
within
Forms and Files on the Graduate Studies website). The publication
agreement with University Microfilms International is required of all
doctoral students and includes a minimum $55 fee (as of fall 2007). Do not turn in
the UMI/ProQuest form until your final document has been approved by the
editor. After final approval, you will turn this form (along with any
payment) to Graduate Studies, MH230.
Master's students have the option of submitting their thesis to
University Microfilms International. If you choose to do such, you must complete the
above identified form and submit it to
Graduate Studies along with the appropriate fees.
Finally, as a part of the final approval e-mail, all graduates are asked
to complete an online survey.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Especially important for
thesis and dissertation completion are:
Steps
for Submission
(found in the
Thesis/Dissertation Manual)
Numerous help files
(found within
Forms and Files on the Graduate Studies website)
Thesis/Dissertation Format,
Defense, and Submission Deadlines
(all found in the
Academic Calendar)
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Office of Graduate Services