Final Submissions

Autumn Doctoral Candidates: If you need permission to include material in your dissertation, you should obtain the permission the quarter before you plan to graduate.

The final version of your dissertation is due no later than 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, November 13. You should also complete the Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED). After you complete the SED, a certificate of completion will be emailed to you and to the Dissertation Office.

Please complete the SED before you submit your dissertation, and remember to apply to graduate.

Submitting Your Dissertation

You must upload a completed copy of the Departmental Approval Form, signed by the chair of your department or dean of your school, before completing your dissertation submission. You must upload the approved version of your dissertation. Proofread your dissertation and confirm the file complies with formatting requirements before asking for departmental approval. You will not be able to make changes or upload additional files unless the Dissertation Office requests revisions.

  • Go to Knowledge@UChicago.
  • Click on Submit.
  • Choose Doctoral Dissertation.
  • Log in with your CNetID, and then complete the form.
  • You will be asked for the following information.

Dissertation Submission Guidelines

Creator Information

Author & University/institution name*

  • Enter your name in Last name, First name order.
  • In the University/institution field enter “University of Chicago”
  • In the Identifier field enter an ORCID ID in the form of a URL, beginning with https://orcid.org/…
  • Choose ORCID in the Identifier Type drop-down menu.

Division*

  • Select the Division(s) and/or School(s) from which you will receive your degree.

Department

  • Select the academic department and/or academic committee within the Division(s) from which you will receive your degree.
  • This field is required if you selected a Division in the field above.
  • Do not enter a program within a School.

Center or Institute

  • Do not complete this field.

Advisor*

  • Enter advisor names in the natural order (Firstname M. I. Lastname). Do not include titles or degrees.

Committee Members

  • Do not repeat advisor names in this field.
  • Enter names of committee members in the natural order (Firstname M. I. Lastname). Do not include titles or degees.

Item Information

Title*

  • Enter dissertation titles in title case. This means you must use both upper and lower case. Title case is used in the convocation program. See The Chicago Manual of Style for examples.
  • Use HTML tags as needed for formatting.
    • The tags for italics are: <i>...</i>
    • The tags for subscript are: <sub>...</sub>
    • The tags for superscript are: <sup>...</sup>

Abstract*

  • Your abstract should be approximately 300-500 words long.
  • Use HTML tags as needed for formatting.
    • The tags for separate paragraphs are <p>...</p>
  • If your abstract includes dollar signs, remove them and enter the word dollar or dollars instead. If there are two dollar signs ($) in the abstract, the text between them will be rendered as a single MathJax entity and look different than the rest of the abstract.

Date*

  • Enter your degree date as yyyy-mm. For this academic year, you will enter either 2024-08, 2024-12, 2025-03, or 2025-06.

Keywords (required)

  • Each keyword should have its own entry. Do not enter a list of keywords as one entry even when they are separated by semicolons. Enter at least two (2) keywords and a maximum of six (6).

Related Resources

  • Do not complete this field.

Language

  • Leave the default value as is unless the dissertation is written in a language other than English.

Degree Type*

  • Choose J.S.D. or Ph.D. from the drop-down menu.

Notes

  • Do not complete this field.

Resource Acknowledgements

Funding Information

  • This section is optional as not all students receive funding for their dissertation research.
  • Funder abbreviations should be spelled out. For example, NIH is National Institutes of Health, NSF is National Science Foundation.
  • Funder Identifier entered as a URL. For example, UChicago's ROR ID is https://ror.org/024mw5h28. This section is only necessary when the funder is UChicago.
  • Funder Identifier Type. For example, ROR if ROR entered above.
  • Fund Number is the number assigned to the fund awarded. May be the same as the Fund Identifier.
  • Fund Identifier is the unique identifier assigned to the fund awarded.
  • Fund Title is the name of the fund. For example, the Pulitzer Prize.

Other Resources

  • Do not complete this field.

License Information

Creative Commons (CC) License

Copyright Statement (required)

  • This should be entered in the following format:
    © [year] [firstname lastname], i.e. © 2024 James Bond.

I Grant the Distribution License*

  • “I agree” must be selected in order to submit to the repository.

Identifiers

Generate new DOI*

  • Check this box to generate a persistent identifier for your dissertation.

Other identifiers

  • Do not complete this field.

Notes

Administrative notes

  • Do not complete this field.

File Uploads

Upload all required files before submitting your dissertation.

Dissertation PDF (required)

  • Upload the dissertation file first and describe it as "Dissertation" in its description field. Attach the file in PDF format and choose either Public or Embargo Date under Access. If you choose Embargo Date you may enter any date before 2026-12-14, which is two years from the date of your graduation. More information about Embargo Procedures is available from the Dissertation Office.

Supplementary Files

  • If a dissertation has a supplementary file, upload the supplementary file using the descriptor “Supporting information” in the description field.

Departmental Approval Form (required)

  • Each dissertation needs an approval form, signifying that the dissertation has been approved for upload. Upload a copy of the completed Departmental Approval Form, signed by the department chair or dean of the professional school. Joint or dual degrees require signatures from both programs. The Access level for this type of file will be “Restricted to Admin Use” and the Description “Approval Form.”

Permission for Content Use (required if permissions needed)

  • If your dissertation includes material protected by copyright, and your use exceeds fair use, then you must obtain permission from the copyright holder. Documentation permitting re-use of the content must be attached to the record. Many journals permit authors to include their previously published article as a chapter in their dissertation. If the information is posted on the journal's website, you can save the relevant page as a pdf. These types of files can be "Restricted to Admin Use," described as “Permissions,” and be zipped into one file.

Manage File Metadata

Uploaded files will appear in this section.

Submit Your Submission

You may Save rather than Submit if you would like to continue your submission later. After you Submit, you will not be able to make changes or upload additional files unless the Dissertation Office requests revisions. Do not create a second submission after submitting your dissertation. If you have a question about your first submission, contact Colleen Mullarkey.

We try to review your dissertation within two weeks. Our response time depends on staffing levels and the number of dissertations awaiting review.

Wait to Hear from the Dissertation Office

Check your email on a daily basis. We will let you know if you must revise formatting or upload additional files. We may have other questions. Please respond promptly so we can continue processing your dissertation. You are responsible for making any changes the Dissertation Office requires.

When we approve your dissertation submission, we will notify you. After this notification, your dissertation will appear in Knowledge@UChicago.

Dissertations for ProQuest

As a condition for receipt of the doctorate, all students are required to submit their dissertations to Knowledge@UChicago, the University's open access repository. After their dissertation submission has been accepted in Knowledge@UChicago, students have the option to include their dissertations in ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global (PQDT), a commercial information and data provider. ProQuest's dissertation database, PQDT, is available through many academic libraries worldwide and through the Library of Congress.

Dissertations sent to ProQuest will appear in:

This provides additional access points and research tools.

If you would like your dissertation to appear in ProQuest Dissertations and Theses in addition to appearing in Knowledge@UChicago, you may create a submission for ProQuest after your dissertation has been accepted by the Dissertation Office. After we accept a dissertation submission and the record appears in Knowledge@UChicago, we will send you and your program administrator a message with instructions on how to proceed.

You should not create a dissertation submission for ProQuest until after your dissertation has been accepted by the Dissertation Office. You will use the accepted dissertation for your ProQuest submission.

Print Copies of Dissertations

You may order a physical copy of your dissertation when you create a submission to ProQuest, or you may choose an alternative. For example: