Thesis & Dissertation Information
Students required to submit a thesis or dissertation as part of their program requirements must follow the guidelines listed here. See the Graduate Student Calendar for important dates including deadlines to submit your defense results, submit your thesis/dissertation, and complete requested revisions.
Required Pages & General Formatting
Required pages plus page order, page numbering, and general formatting requirements
are on the General Formatting page.
Formatting for Specific Pages & Elements
Hover over THESIS/DISSERTATION INFORMATION in the gold menu bar above to find the General Formatting page as well as formatting
requirements for specific pages and elements.
- » Page Order, Formatting, & Style
All graduate students submitting a thesis or dissertation must adhere to the formatting guidelines provided on each page under the "Thesis/Dissertation" section (located in the gold menu bar), unless they are using LaTeX or have been authorized to follow the American Chemical Society (ACS) style, MLA, manuscript style, or another approved formatting style. (See Style below for more details.)
The formatting instructions listed on our website primarily follow APA 7 guidelines from the 7th edition of the American Psychological Association's (APA) Publication Manual. For consistency across the university, all students should use the formatting instructions listed on this website for the page numbers, margins, title page, abstract, copyright page, Certificate of Approval, dedication, acknowledgments, and vita regardless of the style guide used.
Page Order and Formatting
The pages of a Thesis or Dissertation must be submitted in a specific order.
Page order, page numbering, and general formatting requirements are on the General Formatting page.
Style
The default style is APA 7. Two of the most common approved styles are LaTeX and Manuscript. If your advisor and committee require you to use another style, such as ACS style, add a note in the comment box listing the style you used when you submit your work to Graduate Studies in ProQuest.
APA 7
The General Formatting instructions are largely based on APA 7 requirements. Additional resources are listed in the Getting Help section below.
LaTeX
Some students in math and engineering may be using LaTeX to format their dissertation or thesis. If you are using LaTeX, please download Tennessee Tech's LaTeX manual and required files at https://www.tntech.edu/cas/files/math/TNThesis.zip (right-click on this link to select your download destination).
LaTeX will format most of your document for you, but you especially need to review the Title, Certificate of Approval, and Vita sections (access these via the gold menu bar above). When you submit your work to Graduate Studies in ProQuest, put a note in the comment box that you used LaTeX.
When you submit your paper in ProQuest, indicate that you used LaTeX in the Notes field.
Manuscript Style (Environmental Sciences, Biology, and some ChemE papers)
Some programs at Tennessee Tech conduct research best presented as discrete journal articles rather than a continuous document. Manuscript chapters may better showcase individual projects and streamline publication, aligning with the program requirement for students to submit a manuscript for publication before graduation.
For students approved to use a manuscript formatting style, refer to the Manuscript Formatting Guidelines. These students must:
- adhere to all requirements in the Manuscript Formatting Guidelines.
- have an introductory chapter and a concluding chapter.
- follow all general formatting requirements on the Graduate Studies website (margins, continuous pagination, fonts, font sizes, heading styles, line spacing, etc.) and use the required pages and page order listed on the General Formatting page.
When you submit your paper in ProQuest, indicate that you are approved to use the manuscript format in the Notes field.
Other Styles
When you submit your paper to ProQuest, include the approved style in the Notes field.
- » Submitting Your Thesis/Dissertation
Your thesis or dissertation must be submitted and all revision requests completed no later than the dates listed in the Graduate Student Calendar.
All students submit their ETD (electronic thesis or dissertation) to the ProQuest ETD Administrator system for publication.
Your thesis or dissertation must be submitted as a PDF. The font must be embedded, and security settings for the document must show "No security." Additional information is available at https://suhttps://support.proquest.com/s/article/Submitting-your-ETD?language=en_USpport.proquest.com/s/article/Submitting-your-ETD?language=en_US
Please refer to:
Supplemental files within certain parameters are permitted. More information is available on the ProQuest ETD website.
Go to www.etdadmin.com/tntech/ to create an account and submit your paper.
If you are using any style other than APA, please put a comment in the Notes field specifying the style you used during the submission process.
Visit the ProQuest Thesis/Dissertation Virtual "Bootcamp" for additional resources.
- » Thesis/Dissertation Review Process
After you submit your thesis or dissertation to ProQuest, the College of Graduate Studies will assign a reviewer from our office. Our reviewers primarily check for correct and consistent formatting. This includes verifying that the page numbers, margins, title page, Certificate of Approval, and vita are formatted as requested on this website. They may also ask for changes to other elements of your paper if anything questionable is noticed (e.g., a misspelling, incorrect tense, etc.). Depending on the length of your paper, time constraints for review, etc., the reviewer may request several rounds of changes. Our goal is to help you submit the most polished paper possible.
Please monitor your email frequently for questions and requests for revisions.
Requested revisions must be submitted no later than the date published in the Graduate Studies Calendar.
Please reach out to your reviewer or gradstudies@tntech.edu if you have any questions.
- » Publication Timeline
The College of Graduate Studies submits all papers for the semester to ProQuest at the same time. This usually occurs approximately one week after commencement in Fall and Spring semesters or one week after the last day of classes in Summer semesters. This timeframe allows all degree requirements to be verified and degrees to be awarded before the papers are released.
ProQuest will review your paper and contact you at the email associated with your ProQuest account if they have any questions or if any revisions are required. ProQuest's review process may take up to two weeks, and you'll receive a notification once your paper has been published.
Delayed Publishing
If you need to delay publishing (also referred to as an embargo), you can select a publishing delay option when you submit your paper to ProQuest. Your abstract and citation will be available in the ProQuest database after your accepted paper is delivered to ProQuest, but your paper will not be publicly available until the embargo has ended. If you need to change your embargo dates after your paper is delivered to ProQuest, you can email ProQuest at disspub@proquest.com with the request.
For additional information, please refer to:
Or contact ProQuest at disspub@proquest.com.
Ordering a Printed Copy of Your Thesis/Dissertation
You can order printed and bound copies for a fee during the submission process. ProQuest handles this for you. Be sure to ask if your department requires a bound copy. Additional information about ordering printed copies from ProQuest is at https://about.proquest.com/en/dissertations/dissertation-copy-options/.
- » Getting Help
General Questions
For general questions about the thesis/dissertation process, contact the College of Graduate Studies at gradstudies@tntech.edu.
Writing
- Contact an advisory committee member(s).
- The Writing Excellence Studio (WEST) offers free one-on-one writing consultation by appointment. They will not proofread or make edits to your paper, but they can help with grammar, language usage, citation, and other issues.
APA Style
This webpage lists basic APA style information. Additional APA information can be found in the publications and websites listed below.
- The 7th edition of the American Psychological Association's Publication Manual and the Concise Guide to APA Style (7th ed.) are excellent resources if you have access to them. The library has a copy of the American Psychological Association's Publication Manual in their Reference section.
- Two excellent online APA style and formatting resources are:
The APA manual, OWL Purdue, and APA Style guidelines may recommend different formatting and style choices than those provided on this website. However, to maintain historical consistency, please follow the formatting instructions for page numbers, margin, title page, Certificate of Approval, and vita as outlined here. Additionally, adhere to the page order specified on this site and do not use a running head.
General Research Help
The Volpe Library has several research tools, including EagleSearch, InterLibrary Loan, and Get It Now.
Accessing Tennessee Tech's theses/dissertations in EagleSearch
Some theses and dissertations are in print in the library, and some are available online by following the directions below.
- Go to the Library's databases
- Click on All Databases by Name (A-Z), then click on D
- Click on "Dissertations & Theses Global"
- In the search box, type Tennessee Technological University and search to see all or enter the title to search for a specific thesis or dissertation
Note: You need to sign in to EagleSearch with your Tennessee Tech username and password (sign in is in the top, right corner) to access all resources.
RefWorks
RefWorks is a citation and research manager available to all Tennessee Tech students. The Volpe Library has information about creating a RefWorks account and more at https://www.tntech.edu/library/refworks.php.
ProQuest Resources
- Submitting Your Thesis/Dissertation section (see above)
- ProQuest article
- ETD Administrator: Frequently Asked Questions
- Contact ProQuest support
- » Thesis & Dissertation Information Sessions
PDF copies of the most recent presentation(s) and a resource list are available here.
- » Graduate Student Master's Thesis/Final Project Award
Every November, the Tennessee Conference of Graduate Schools (TCGS) recognizes the exceptional work of Tennessee graduate students. To apply for this award, contact the College of Graduate Studies. Applications are due to TCGS by December 1 each year.