The following policies and procedures pertain to the Ph.D. programs in Philosophy and Theology and those Master’s programs that require a thesis as part of the degree requirements, or provide a thesis option. Students should keep in mind that they must register for the Dissertation Continuation course (0 credits) or Thesis Continuation course (0 credits) in their program for every semester in which they are engaging with dissertation or thesis work, including summers.
Once your dissertation or thesis has been approved by your advisor and/or faculty committee, two more steps are required as part of the degree requirements. First, you will submit the title page and approval form to the Office of Graduate Studies. Please note that the thesis will not be approved by the Dean of Graduate Studies until you have passed the comprehensive examination and/or foreign language examination (if required).
The second and final step is to submit your thesis or dissertation to ProQuest, which arranges for the work to be published online. For detailed instructions on this process, please continue reading.
Preparing Your Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation for Your Advisor and Committee
Before you submit your thesis to your advisor, faculty committee, and the Office of Graduate Studies, it must be put into the required format. Please follow the instructions and specifications for general style guidelines.
Your thesis or dissertation should include a title page as the first page, followed by the official approval form. Both the title page and approval page must follow the models provided here.
It is the student’s responsibility to follow the law governing “fair use” of any copyrighted materials (photographs, reproductions of art work, poems, etc.) used in a thesis or dissertation, and to secure any necessary permissions. ProQuest will not accept a thesis or dissertation without the necessary permissions. For complete details on Copyright and Sample Permission Letter for Use of Previously Copyrighted Material for ProQuest, please see the Copyright Guide. Additional copyright information may also be obtained on this website.
Submitting Your Thesis or Dissertation to Your Advisor and Committee
When your thesis or dissertation is finished and formatted according to the above requirements, you are ready to submit it to your advisor and/or faculty committee for approval. Please follow your department’s specific instructions for this part of the process. When your thesis or dissertation has been approved, and all the required signatures have been obtained on the approval page, your next step is to inform the Office of Graduate Studies.
Submitting Your Dissertation or Thesis Title and Approval Page(s) to Graduate Studies
Once your thesis or dissertation has been approved, you must do the following:
- Click this link to complete the Dissertation and Thesis Form.
- Arrange for your academic department to submit the Approval Page(s) with all the required signatures as a PDF via email to Brooke Erdman. You do not need to send a copy of the dissertation or thesis.
Submitting Your Thesis or Dissertation to ProQuest for Publication
For on-line submission, please go to: http://www.etdadmin.com/villanova
You’re almost done! All Masters’ theses and Doctoral dissertations are submitted to ProQuest, which arranges for the work to be published online and thereby available to other scholars. ProQuest’s fees for publishing and copyright are the responsibility of the student. For publishing options, you may choose either Traditional or Open Access. For information regarding each of these publishing options, please click here. We recommend Traditional Publishing because no fee is charged. If you chose Open Access you will be charged a fee, which is also charged for obtaining a copyright.
To be submitted to ProQuest, your thesis or dissertation must be in PDF format, and you must embed all fonts in the document. ProQuest provides assistance, instructions and technical support on PDF formatting, embedding fonts, and fulfilling other submission requirements. These can be found at the ProQuest site. Once you are on the homepage, please click on Campus Resources.
Making a Bound Copy of Your Thesis or Dissertation
If your department requires you to submit a bound copy of your thesis or dissertation, Falvey Memorial Library provides binding services, for a fee. For more information, please visit this website.
Congratulations on Your Distinguished Scholarly Achievement!