Dissertations and Theses

Tisch Library actively supports thesis & dissertation research. Students writing Senior Honors Theses, master's theses & PhD dissertations can connect with subject-specialist research librarians to learn how to use relevant library resources as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Senior Honors Theses

Masters theses & PhD dissertations

Online submission to ProQuest is required for master's theses & PhD dissertations written in AS&E. Once you create a ProQuest account and log in, there are various submission steps (in tabs on the left side of the screen) that you'll work your way through as you deposit.

Items to have on hand when depositing

• A PDF copy of your dissertation/thesis
• Abstract
• Optional Supplementary files (images, data, etc.) that are an integral part of the dissertation/thesis, but not part of the full text. (see below for more on supplemental files)
• Advisor and other Committee Members' Names
• Subject Categories: 1 - 3 that best describe your dissertation/thesis' subject area

Options for publishing, copyright, and sharing supplemental files

Some things to consider in these areas, broken out by their submission step. Contact us if we can help further explain any of these options, or help consider what's right for your particular situation.

PQ Publishing options

In Type of Publishing, you'll choose between "Traditional Publishing" and "Open Access Service":

• In Traditional Publishing, your thesis/dissertation will be available to anyone who has subscription access to the ProQuest Dissertation & Theses database, and anybody without subscription access will be offered a copy for purchase.
• In Open Access Service, you pay a fee to ProQuest and your thesis/dissertation is available to everyone.
• NOTE: Tisch Library receives copies of all theses & dissertations submitted to ProQuest and makes them open access in the Tufts Digital Library (TDL), so you do not need to pay ProQuest for their open access option.

In Access Options, you'll choose to make your work available in ProQuest immediately, or place it under embargo (delay its release) for 6 months, 1 year, or 2 years. The copy in the TDL will follow this same embargo period. Some reasons you may embargo your work are for pending patents or publications, or privacy concerns.

ProQuest agreement

Note that this is a non-exclusive agreement, which means that you give ProQuest permission to make your thesis/dissertation available in their database, but you also retain your copyright and your right to share your thesis/dissertation elsewhere, publish it, etc.

Supplemental files

You may optionally share additional files related to your thesis, like audio, video, or data/code. These will be available in ProQuest, but not in the copy in the Tufts Digital Library (TDL). We recommend sharing supplemental files first in an appropriate repository like the TDL or Tufts Dataverse, and then including the permanent URL for your materials in your thesis/dissertation. Find out more about contributing your work to the TDL or to Dataverse.

Register U.S. Copyright

You have the option to formally register your copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office through ProQuest. Note that this is not required, and you automatically have copyright to your work as soon as you create it without formally registering it. If needed, you can also choose to register copyright directly through the U.S. Copyright Office yourself, which is cheaper than paying ProQuest to do it.

Ask Us

We can help locate sources, create multimedia components, manage your data, cite sources, answer questions about copyright, and more.