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Staff Instructions


Candidacy and Pre-Defense

  1. Send student the revised admission-to-candidacy letter.

    (This letter introduces students to the ETD Project and contains the URL for the ETD Web site. You should also include a blank ETD Approval form, a copyright information flyer, and the URL at which to obtain the ETD Format Guidelines Manual and the Sample ETD.)

  2. Enter student milestones in PeopleSoft and school-specific database, as appropriate.

  3. Send notices to students/departments/programs regarding deadlines for applying for graduation without a fee as usual.

  4. Each School should establish their own ETD upload deadlines in concert with the graduation certification date. Deadlines should be set at least two weeks prior to the graduation certification deadline so staff have ample time to handle a significant number of ETDs submitted at the last minute.

  5. When student applies for graduation, give student the "graduation packet."

    (This packet should contain a blank copy of the ETD Approval form, information on creating keywords, obtaining permissions for copyrighted materials, etc.)

    Post-Defense

  6. Student brings all necessary hard-copy documents to staff. Use the checklist on the last page of the ETD Approval form to verify that all necessary documents have been received.

  7. Verify that the student has signed Part A on the second page of the ETD Approval Form, and that the student and the thesis advisor or dissertation director have signed Part B on the second page of the ETD Approval form.

  8. Log on to the ETD online system to review the record for the student's ETD.

    a. Compare all of the student's vital information-name, e-mail, degree, program, and school-that appears on the ETD Approval form with what the student has entered in the online system. If there are any discrepancies, add a notice to the student's record using the Add a Notice button. Clicking on this button allows you to write a message to the student that will appear the next time they log in to the system. You can also send them an e-mail with the same notice, and copy it to their committee chair.

    b. Compare the title of the thesis or dissertation as shown on the ETD Approval form with what the student has entered online. If there are any discrepancies, send a notice to the student in the same manner as in step a above.

    c. Check the committee information—make sure that all the names that appear on the first page of the ETD Approval form also appear in the online record, and that each committee member has signed and dated the first page of the ETD Approval form.

    d. Refer to the Staff Check List to make sure the ETD contains all the basic minimum requirements.

    e. The ETD should conform to the ETD Format Guidelines Manual unless the field, department, or school dictates more specific requirements.

    f. Compare the availability option chosen by the student online with the option selected on the second page of the ETD Approval form. If there is a discrepancy, send a notice to the student.

    g. Make sure that the file is not larger than 20MB. To check the file size, while viewing the document, click on 'View details about' in the 'Files' section of the view record screen. Verify that the number in the 'Size (bytes)' column no greater than 19999999. If the size is greater than 20 MB, send a note to etd-feedback@library.pitt.edu asking for a technical review of the document before approving it.

    h. If there are no discrepancies and all supporting materials have been received, click on the Approve link. You will be taken to a page with a summary of the ETD information. If everything is correct, click on the button that says Approve this ETD. The system will automatically generate an e-mail message to the student, with copies sent to you, the committee members, and anyone else whose e-mail address you have entered, indicating that the ETD has been approved. Once you click on the 'Approve this ETD' button, the ETD will be publicly accessible through its permanent URL according to the access option selected.

    i. Print out a copy of the ETD approved sheet with ETD URL.

    j. File ETD Approval form and Copyright Permission letter(s) in student's record.

    k. If a student has multiple ETDs, for example both a master's and doctoral ETD or an ETD for two separate schools, the student must upload one ETD and it must be approved following the above guidelines. Once the first ETD has been approved then the student can upload the second ETD for approval. ETD representatives will have to coordinate the uploading of the ETDs if they are being filed in separate schools.

  9. Send Office of the Registrar the "certified for graduation" form for the student and the hard-copy supporting documents that will be processed to UMI/ProQuest along with two copies of the ETD URL.