The Submission Process
1. Logging In
2. ETD Status
6. Logging Out
10. Special Characters/HTML Entities
11. Converting Your File to PDF
12. Browser Compatibility Issues
13. Cookies
14. Proxy Servers
17. Starting Over
Logging In
In order to begin the process of submitting your electronic thesis or dissertation, you must first contact your department for the departmental user name and password. The departmental contacts are as follows:
College of Arts & Sciences - Amber Amari
Andrew Young School of Policy Studies - Wanda Cooley
College of Health & Human Sciences - Cece Grindel
J. Mack Robinson College of Business - Libby Crawley
College of Education - John HaydockOnce you have received your departmental user name and password, you are ready to log in and create your individual user account.
From the Main ETD page, choose "Click here to create an ETD account":
You will now be prompted to enter your departmental user name and password (provided by one of the contacts above) before continuing:
Now, you will create your own user name and password:
Once you have begun the process of submitting your ETD, you will be able to use the same username and password to continue making changes to your information until your ETD is approved. The security system used by the submission process requires that your browser support and allow cookies.
Now that you have your own account, you're ready to log in. Click the Log In link, as shown below:
You will be prompted to enter the user name and password you just created (note: despite the text on the page below, this may or may not be your GSU CampusID, depending on what you chose as your user ID above):
Now that you have successfully logged in, you are ready to begin the submission process, by following the ETD Status message on the lefthand navigation bar:
ETD Status
The submission process will continually display an ETD Status message to keep you aware of what you've already done, and what still needs to be done before your ETD can be approved. You should also use this status window to navigate among the different steps of the submission process.
In order to be considered complete, your ETD must:
- Contain all of its title page information (author, title, keywords, etc.).
- Have at least one advisor.
- Have at least one file.
- Not contain any notices that need to be dealt with.
Pay special attention to any items in the status message which are displayed in red and underlined ; these are items that need to be completed before your ETD can be approved.
Sample ETD Status message (links removed)
ETD Status Items in red represent information that must be added or changed before your ETD can be approved.
- Start Over
- View Main Record
- Update Main Record
- Update Committee Information
- Add File Information
- Log Out
Add New Main Record
In this section, you will enter the following information about your electronic thesis or dissertation:
Name
Email Address (Displaying your email address on your ETD title page will ensure that someone wanting to contact you about your thesis or dissertation will be able to do so; if your ETD itself contains your contact information, then that may be sufficient. You should use an email address that is not likely to expire soon.)
Degree
Type of Document
Department (If your department isn't listed, type it in the "Other Department" field that follows.)
Other Department
Defense Date
Title (The title of your thesis or dissertation, in Title Case - not in all capital letters.)
Keywords (Tips for entering keywords.)
Abstract (Tips for entering abstract.)
Copyright Statement
Availability (It's in your best interest to release the entire work immediately for access worldwide - better access means greater chances of citations of your work. If in doubt about this option, please consult with your committee. Find out more about the mixed availability option.)
Add Advisor/Committee Information
In this section, enter the names and email addresses of the members of your committee. The committee members will need to be added one at a time by clicking "Click add advisor" to add another committee member.
Add File Information
The ETD submission process requires you to upload files using a Web browser. File uploads will not work properly if your browser is using a proxy server of any kind.
Our file upload page can generally support files of up to 20 Megabytes in size. It is recommended that you keep your files under this size, as it increases the usability of your research over the Web. However, if you need to submit a larger file, ftp access is also available on request by emailing etdhelp@gsu.edu. You can also split up your ETD into multiple files (saving each chapter or the appendices as a separate file).
As a rule, a correct filename will not contain any spaces or slashes, and will contain all lowercase letters. On the title page that will eventually present your information over the Web, your files will be sorted alphanumerically. Please adhere to the filenaming convention - it was instituted to aid access to your work.
The file name should be:
lastname_firstname_middleinitial_yearsemester_degree.pdf
So if Pounce C. Panther submitted a dissertation in the fall 2004 semester the file name would be:panther_pounce_c_200412_phd.pdf
(Fall Semester: 12, Spring Semester: 05, Summer Semester: 08)
and if the dissertation had more than one part the file names could be as follows:
panther_pounce_c_200412_phd_part1.pdf
panther_pounce_c_200412_phd_part2.pdfMost students convert their traditionally-formatted theses and dissertations from a Microsoft Word document into a PDF file. However, because we're working with digital files, there is the opportunity to create a more dynamic document with your PDF file, by adding bookmarks and creating hyperlinks, making it easier to navigate. More information about converting your document to PDF can be found here.
Acceptable formats:
Thesis (front matter / preliminaries)
Thesis (body)
PDF (preferred)
HTMLText (supplementary files)
ASCII (.txt)
SGML
-- Note: We recommend Unicode for non-Roman characters.Images
PDF (.pdf)
-- use Type I PostScript fonts
JPEG (.jpg)
CompuServe GIF (.gif)
TIFF following version 6.0 or later, including CCITT G4 (.tif)
CGM Computer Graphics Metafile (.cgm)
PhotoCD
-- Note: We recommend a minimum of 600 dpi resolution for images of pages with text.
Adobe Photoshop (.ppd)
Post Script (.eps)
PowerPoint (.ppt)Video
MPEG (i.e., MPEG-1, MPEG-2) (.mpg)
QuickTime - Apple (.mov)
Audio Video Interleaved - Microsoft (.avi)
Streaming video applicationsAudio
MPEG-2
MP3
CD-DA
CD-ROM/XA (A or B or C)
AIF (.aif)
SND (.snd)
Streaming audio applications
WAV (.wav)
MIDI (.midi)
Can be used with Finale software to reproduce scoreAuthoring
Authorware
Director (MMM, PICS)Special
Spreadsheet - Excel (.xcl)
AutoCAD (.dxf)
ArcView (GIS)Referring
"handles" as URNs (URLs don't last very long)
ISBN, ISSN
Logging Out
When you have uploaded your electronic thesis or dissertation, log out by clicking the Log Out link in the ETD Status message on the lefthand side. If you receive the following error message:
Please disregard. This error message occurs if the clock on your computer is not synced up with the clock on the server, and does not affect the successful submission of your ETD.
Entering Abstract
In general, you can copy and paste your abstract from a standard word processing program into the abstract field in your browser window. Be aware that special characters such as é and this section sign, §, often will not copy correctly if you cut and paste them into the form. Instead of these special characters, you should use the equivalent HTML entity (i.e. " instead of " and é instead of é). It's a good idea to save your abstract as a text-only file, which will remove any special formatting (such as curly quotes and em-dashes) that do not translate into html.
Entering Keywords
To improve access to your ETD, select keywords or phrases that are NOT already in your abstract or title page. All of those words are already indexed for searching. Selecting additional words and phrases that are descriptive and unique will increase the probability that searches will retrieve your ETD. Consult your chapter subheadings and conclusion for different but appropriate search terms. If you cut and paste your keywords from your word processor, you should be aware of any special characters (umlauts, accent marks, quotation marks), and replace them with the appropriate HTML entity. You may also want to discuss keywords with your committee, or consult the library catalog for appropriate keywords.
"Mixed" Availability
"Mixed" availability allows you to choose a separate availability for each file that is included with your ETD. For example, in order to completely withhold access from the second chapter of your ETD, you must have selected "mixed" availability for your ETD, and saved the second chapter of your ETD in a separate file. You must then change the availability of the file containing your second chapter to "withheld". If you have selected "mixed" availabilty and have added at least one file, you will be given the option to change the availability of individual files when you View or Update your Main Record, or when you Update the file information associated with your ETD.
HTML Entities
Some special characters do not display in a browser window. For a number of these cases, there are HTML entities which can be used to safely display the special characters. An HTML entity consists of an ampersand (&), a word or number (quot, for example), and a semicolon (;). The following is a short list of special characters and the HTML entity equivalents:
Name Syntax Character Description aacute á á Small a, acute accent agrave à à Small a, grave accent ccedil ç ç Small c, cedilla eacute é é Small e, acute accent egrave è è Small e, grave accent ntilde ñ ñ Small n, tilde ouml ö ö Small o, dieresis or umlaut mark uuml ü ü Small u, dieresis or umlaut mark (double) quotation mark " " (double) quotation mark ampersand & & ampersand less-than sign < < less-than sign greater-than sign > > greater-than sign For a more complete list of HTML entities, please visit the following URL, which is maintained by the World Wide Web Consortium:
http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/HTML3/latin1.HTML
Converting Your File to PDF
Most students convert their traditionally-formatted theses and dissertations from a Microsoft Word document into a PDF file. However, because we're working with digital files, there is the opportunity to create a more dynamic document with your PDF file, by adding bookmarks, creating hyperlinks (making it easier to navigate), or by adding multimedia.
If you have the full Adobe Professional program on your computer, you can use that to convert your document. There are several free programs online that will convert documents into PDFs - a simple web search should find one for you. Most of the computer labs on campus have the software to convert files to PDF.
Step-by-Step Tutorial (from Adobe)
http://www.adobe.com/education/etd/tutorials.htmlCreate an ETD Tutorial Using Adobe (from Virginia Tech University)
http://etd.vt.edu/etdtutorials/Converting your Document into a PDF (from the University of Florida)
http://etd.circa.ufl.edu/present/pdfconversion.htmlWhen you have converted your document, make sure you scroll through the entire thing, to ensure that there have been no problems with the conversion process before uploading it into the ETD database.
Browser Compatibility Issues
In order to use the ETD submission process, your browser must support cookies and file uploads. There are currently known incompatibilities with the Macintosh version of Netscape version 3.02; you will need to upgrade if you are using this version.
Cookies
A cookie is a bit of information about a user or session that is stored in a cookies.txt file by a compatible browser. Whenever the browser requests a page from a host for which it has cookie information, it also sends the cookie information along, which can be used by any scripts or CGI programs capable of processing cookie data. In our case, this cookie is used to store a unique session ID, so that it is not neccessary for you to log in repeatedly before visiting each subsequent page in the process.
Most recent browsers come with cookies enabled, but people often disable them for various reasons. If your browser has cookies disabled, consult the documentation (online or otherwise) that comes with your browser for instructions on reenabling cookies.
The session cookies issued by our scripts are set to expire in 15 minutes, but are renewed by each subsequent script. If you remain on the same page for more than 15 minutes, your cookie will expire, and you will be required to log in again. If this happens, you can still use the "back" button on your browser to return to the page you were working on before your cookie expired.
Problems Using Proxies
A proxy is a machine which allows your browser to download pages as though it were coming from a different location. Proxies are typically used to allow access to materials restricted to a particular location (as in the case of the University Library's Proxy Server). Proxies are also used to allow access between networks. Users of some versions of AOL's default browser use this type of proxy arrangement to connect to the Internet. To use the file upload feature of your browser, you must not be using a proxy. Proxy settings for most browsers can be changed as needed. For more information, consult the help files for your particular browser. If you are using AOL, you must download and use a newer version of either Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer in conjunction with your AOL account.
The Review Process
Once you have submitted all of the minimum information needed to make up an ETD, your ETD will be reviewed by your College or School. This process can take as little as a few days, or as long as several weeks, depending on the number of ETDs waiting to be approved. Once your ETD is approved, it will be available on the ETD site.
Notices
If anything about your ETD needs to be changed before it can be approved, you will receive a notice, which is a brief message describing the steps you need to take to complete your ETD. Notices are generally delivered as email messages to whatever author email address you entered for your ETD. Notices may also be sent to your committee chair if there are problems reaching you. Once you receive a message indicating that you have a notice, you should login again and make the requested changes. Once you have made the requested changes, it is very important that you send a response to your College or School, so that they will know that your ETD has been updated and is ready to be reviewed again.
Starting Over
If you would like to stop work on a partially completed ETD and completely start over, the "Start Over" link in the ETD Status block that appears on most pages will give you the ability to completely remove all of the files and information you have already added and start again.
