ua graduate school dissertation

Future Students

• Current Students
• Graduate Assistantships
• For Faculty
• Programs & Degrees
• Graduate Programs
• Graduate Catalog
• Academic Calendar
• Graduate Student Spotlight
• Alumni Spotlight
• Faculty Spotlights
• Graduate School Student Support Directory
• Graduate Programs at UA Little Rock
• Guide for Graduate Applicants
• Guide for Newly Admitted Graduate Students
• Early Entry Programs
• Financial Assistance
• Get Your Feet Wet Scholarship – Graduate School Scholarship
• International Students
• Graduate Certificates

Thesis and Dissertation Information

As of Summer 2024, the Graduate School is introducing a new set of thesis and dissertation guidelines. This page is currently under construction to reflect the new changes. We expect this update to be complete by June 7, 2024. If you have time-sensitive questions before the update is complete, please email Ms. Chloe Moses ([email protected]) or Dr. Karen Kuralt ([email protected]).

Congratulations on reaching the final stage in your graduate education at UA Little Rock! Completing your thesis or dissertation research successfully means you are now part of a global community of researchers working to create and share new knowledge with the world.

Submitting your thesis or dissertation manuscript to the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global database is an important way for you to share the results of your research with over 4 million researchers at more than 3000 institutions worldwide. It also enables you to satisfy your final graduation requirement at UA Little Rock.

This webpage explains how to format your manuscript to meet the university’s requirements, as well as the requirements of ProQuest Global. By following these steps carefully, you can be well prepared for completing the process after your defense date — saving you time and stress, and reducing the time required to receive your diploma and official transcripts.

Deadlines for submitting your manuscript

Procedures for submitting your manuscript, revising your submission and getting your diploma, formatting requirements, templates, and videos.

You must submit a successfully defended PDF of your thesis or dissertation manuscript to the Graduate School for formatting review by one of the deadlines below, depending on your intended graduation date.

• Spring graduation: May 1 at 5 pm
• Summer graduation: August 1 at 5 pm
• Fall graduation: December 1 at 5 pm

If any of these dates falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the deadline will be extended to the following Monday at 5 pm.

• After successfully completing your thesis or dissertation defense, email your defended PDF to [email protected] .
• Your manuscript formatting will be reviewed by one of our editors, Ms. Hannah Bernard or Ms. Chloe Moses, usually within 3-5 business days.
• Either Ms. Bernard or Ms. Moses will send you an email indicating what changes (if any) you need to make to the manuscript.
• Complete the changes requested and resave your PDF.
• Upload the revised PDF to the ProQuest database: https://www.etdadmin.com/cgi-bin/school?siteId=64

After you upload your PDF to ProQuest, our editors will review your work again to make sure you completed the required formatting changes correctly. They will also send an email to the chair of your thesis or dissertation committee, asking that person to confirm that changes requested by the committee have also been made in this version of the manuscript.

You may need to revise the document based on comments from either your committee chair or our formatting editor after they check your ProQuest submission. Comments from our formatting editors will come to your email from ETD Administrator. Please respond to these comments and re-upload a corrected version of your PDF quickly. If you don’t make corrections quickly, your diploma or your official transcripts for the degree may be delayed.

When you submit your defended manuscript for formatting review, the Graduate School places a thesis or dissertation hold on your student account. While the hold is in place, your diploma cannot be mailed to you. You are also unable to receive official transcripts for the degree. The hold remains in place until you have completed the entire thesis or dissertation review process, including uploading the manuscript to ProQuest and making changes after the initial upload. When all your changes have been approved, we remove the hold. At that point, you can get your official transcripts, and your diploma can be mailed.

If your ProQuest upload is complete and approved by both the Graduate School and your committee chair before commencement for fall or spring — or by August 15 in the summer — you will receive your diploma approximately 4 weeks after your graduation date. Please ensure your mailing address is correct in BOSS to avoid any delays in receiving your diploma.

The new Thesis and Dissertation Guidelines PDF will be placed here by June 7, 2024.

Templates for Word 365, Google Docs, Pages, and LaTex will be added here.

YouTube videos for the new templates will be added here.

• UA Little Rock Graduate School
• Phone: 501-916-3206 Fax: 501-916-3039 (fax) Email: [email protected]

University News

• College of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Education at UA Little Rock Celebrates Student Ambassador Program
• Warren Family Establishes $50,000 Gift at UA Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law
• 19th Century Namesake Inspires Author’s First Novel

Connect With Us!

Dissertation Formatting Guidance

The following resource shares some best practice guidance for dissertation formatting. 

USEFUL LINKS

Share this page.

The following resource shares some best practice guidance for dissertation formatting. Please note that some of the elements outlined below are required and will be reviewed by the FAS Registrar's Office as part of Harvard Griffin GSAS policies on formatting . 

Language of the Dissertation

The language of the dissertation is ordinarily English, although some departments whose subject matter involves foreign languages may accept a dissertation written in a language other than English.

Most dissertations are 100 to 300 pages in length. All dissertations should be divided into appropriate sections, and long dissertations may need chapters, main divisions, and subdivisions.

Page and Text Requirements

• 8½ x 11 inches, unless a musical score is included
• At least 1 inch for all margins
• Body of text: double spacing
• Block quotations, footnotes, and bibliographies: single spacing within each entry but double spacing between each entry
• Table of contents, list of tables, list of figures or illustrations, and lengthy tables: single spacing may be used

Fonts and Point Size

Use 10-12 point size. Fonts must be embedded in the PDF file to ensure all characters display correctly. 

Recommended Fonts

If you are unsure whether your chosen font will display correctly, use one of the following fonts: 

If fonts are not embedded, non-English characters may not appear as intended. Fonts embedded improperly will be published to DASH as is. It is the student’s responsibility to make sure that fonts are embedded properly prior to submission. 

Instructions for Embedding Fonts

To embed your fonts in recent versions of Word, follow these instructions from Microsoft:

• Click the File tab and then click Options .
• In the left column, select the Save tab.
• Clear the Do not embed common system fonts check box.

For reference, below are some instructions from ProQuest UMI for embedding fonts in older file formats:

To embed your fonts in Microsoft Word 2010:

• In the File pull-down menu, click on Options .
• Choose Save on the left sidebar.
• Check the box next to Embed fonts in the file.
• Click the OK button.
• Save the document.

Note that when saving as a PDF, make sure to go to “more options” and save as “PDF/A compliant”

To embed your fonts in Microsoft Word 2007:

• Click the circular Office button in the upper left corner of Microsoft Word.
• A new window will display. In the bottom right corner select Word Options . 
• Choose Save from the left sidebar.

Using Microsoft Word on a Mac:

Microsoft Word 2008 on a Mac OS X computer will automatically embed your fonts while converting your document to a PDF file.

If you are converting to PDF using Acrobat Professional (instructions courtesy of the Graduate Thesis Office at Iowa State University):  

• Open your document in Microsoft Word. 
• Click on the Adobe PDF tab at the top. Select "Change Conversion Settings." 
• Click on Advanced Settings. 
• Click on the Fonts folder on the left side of the new window. In the lower box on the right, delete any fonts that appear in the "Never Embed" box. Then click "OK." 
• If prompted to save these new settings, save them as "Embed all fonts." 
• Now the Change Conversion Settings window should show "embed all fonts" in the Conversion Settings drop-down list and it should be selected. Click "OK" again. 
• Click on the Adobe PDF link at the top again. This time select Convert to Adobe PDF. Depending on the size of your document and the speed of your computer, this process can take 1-15 minutes. 
• After your document is converted, select the "File" tab at the top of the page. Then select "Document Properties." 
• Click on the "Fonts" tab. Carefully check all of your fonts. They should all show "(Embedded Subset)" after the font name. 
•  If you see "(Embedded Subset)" after all fonts, you have succeeded.

Body of Text, Tables, Figures, and Captions

The font used in the body of the text must also be used in headers, page numbers, and footnotes. Exceptions are made only for tables and figures created with different software and inserted into the document.

Tables and figures must be placed as close as possible to their first mention in the text. They may be placed on a page with no text above or below, or they may be placed directly into the text. If a table or a figure is alone on a page (with no narrative), it should be centered within the margins on the page. Tables may take up more than one page as long as they obey all rules about margins. Tables and figures referred to in the text may not be placed at the end of the chapter or at the end of the dissertation.

• Given the standards of the discipline, dissertations in the Department of History of Art and Architecture and the Department of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning often place illustrations at the end of the dissertation.

Figure and table numbering must be continuous throughout the dissertation or by chapter (e.g., 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, etc.). Two figures or tables cannot be designated with the same number. If you have repeating images that you need to cite more than once, label them with their number and A, B, etc. 

Headings should be placed at the top of tables. While no specific rules for the format of table headings and figure captions are required, a consistent format must be used throughout the dissertation (contact your department for style manuals appropriate to the field).

Captions should appear at the bottom of any figures. If the figure takes up the entire page, the caption should be placed alone on the preceding page, centered vertically and horizontally within the margins.

Each page receives a separate page number. When a figure or table title is on a preceding page, the second and subsequent pages of the figure or table should say, for example, “Figure 5 (Continued).” In such an instance, the list of figures or tables will list the page number containing the title. The word “figure” should be written in full (not abbreviated), and the “F” should be capitalized (e.g., Figure 5). In instances where the caption continues on a second page, the “(Continued)” notation should appear on the second and any subsequent page. The figure/table and the caption are viewed as one entity and the numbering should show correlation between all pages. Each page must include a header.

Landscape orientation figures and tables must be positioned correctly and bound at the top so that the top of the figure or table will be at the left margin. Figure and table headings/captions are placed with the same orientation as the figure or table when on the same page. When on a separate page, headings/captions are always placed in portrait orientation, regardless of the orientation of the figure or table. Page numbers are always placed as if the figure were vertical on the page.

If a graphic artist does the figures, Harvard Griffin GSAS will accept lettering done by the artist only within the figure. Figures done with software are acceptable if the figures are clear and legible. Legends and titles done by the same process as the figures will be accepted if they too are clear, legible, and run at least 10 or 12 characters per inch. Otherwise, legends and captions should be printed with the same font used in the text.

Original illustrations, photographs, and fine arts prints may be scanned and included, centered between the margins on a page with no text above or below.

Pages should be assigned a number except for the Thesis Acceptance Certificate. Preliminary pages (abstract, table of contents, list of tables, graphs, illustrations, and preface) should use small Roman numerals (i, ii, iii, iv, v, etc.). All pages must contain text or images.  

Count the title page as page i and the copyright page as page ii, but do not print page numbers on either page .

For the body of text, use Arabic numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.) starting with page 1 on the first page of text. Page numbers must be centered throughout the manuscript at the top or bottom. Every numbered page must be consecutively ordered, including tables, graphs, illustrations, and bibliography/index (if included); letter suffixes (such as 10a, 10b, etc.) are not allowed. It is customary not to have a page number on the page containing a chapter heading.

Check pagination carefully. Account for all pages.

Thesis Acceptance Certificate

A copy of the Thesis Acceptance Certificate should appear as the first page. This page should not be counted or numbered. The DAC will appear in the online version of the published dissertation. The author name and date on the DAC and title page should be the same. 

The dissertation begins with the title page; the title should be as concise as possible and should provide an accurate description of the dissertation. The author name and date on the DAC and title page should be the same. 

Do not print a page number on the title page. It is understood to be page  i  for counting purposes only.

Copyright Statement

A copyright notice should appear on a separate page immediately following the title page and include the copyright symbol ©, the year of first publication of the work, and the name of the author:

© [ year ] [ Author’s Name ] All rights reserved.

Alternatively, students may choose to license their work openly under a  Creative Commons  license. The author remains the copyright holder while at the same time granting up-front permission to others to read, share, and (depending on the license) adapt the work, so long as proper attribution is given. (By default, under copyright law, the author reserves all rights; under a Creative Commons license, the author reserves some rights.)

Do  not  print a page number on the copyright page. It is understood to be page  ii  for counting purposes only.

An abstract, numbered as page  iii , should immediately follow the copyright page and should state the problem, describe the methods and procedures used, and give the main results or conclusions of the research. The abstract will appear in the online and bound versions of the dissertation and will be published by ProQuest. There is no maximum word count for the abstract. 

• double-spaced
• left-justified
• indented on the first line of each paragraph
• The author’s name, right justified
• The words “Dissertation Advisor:” followed by the advisor’s name, left-justified (a maximum of two advisors is allowed)
• Title of the dissertation, centered, several lines below author and advisor
• Table of Contents

Dissertations divided into sections must contain a table of contents that lists, at minimum, the major headings in the following order:

• Front Matter
• Body of Text
• Back Matter

Front and Back Matter

Front matter includes (if applicable):

• acknowledgements of help or encouragement from individuals or institutions
• a dedication
• a list of illustrations or tables
• a glossary of terms
• one or more epigraphs.

Back matter includes (if applicable):

• bibliography
• supplemental materials, including figures and tables
• an index (in rare instances).

Supplemental Material

Supplemental figures and tables must be placed at the end of the dissertation in an appendix, not within or at the end of a chapter. If additional digital information (including audio, video, image, or datasets) will accompany the main body of the dissertation, it should be uploaded as a supplemental file through ProQuest ETD . Supplemental material will be available in DASH and ProQuest and preserved digitally in the Harvard University Archives.

Harvard Library Office for Scholarly Communication

Advancement Via Individual Determination And The Development of Student Agency

Add to collection, downloadable content.

• Affiliation: School of Education, Educational Leadership Graduate Program
• This study aimed to research the impact Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) programs have on the development of student agency in high school students. AVID was founded in San Diego, California by teacher Mary Catherine Swanson in 1980 (AVID.org). The AVID framework is divided into two sections, “What Students Need” and “What Educators Do”, with components and strategies in each section (AVID, 2020). A key component of the student section is student agency, which is defined “students believing in themselves and act intentionally to build relationships, persist through obstacles, and activate their academic, social, emotional, and professional knowledge and skills to reach their potential” (AVID Organization, 2020). Currently located in 47 states and impacting more than 2 million students Worldwide (AVID.org), the researcher decided to focus on a school district that has been successfully implementing AVID since 2007. The school district follows the guidelines provided by AVID that pertain to the elective course structure, selection process of students, and implementing all processes with fidelity. Colleting both qualitative and quantitative data, the researcher sought to answer the questions, “How and to what extent does participation in the AVID program empower them to manage their own learning (i.e., develop student agency)?”. The researcher administered an online questionnaire to high school juniors and seniors that were currently part of the AVID program at their high school. The sample size included 126 students, from three different high schools within the district. The questionnaire was designed by the researcher using student agency constructs and teacher practices that were identified by the American Institute for Research (AIR) study titled “Maximizing Student Agency: Implementing and Measuring Student-Centered Learning Practices” (Zeiser et al., 2018). The researcher analyzed the data using in-vivo coding to identify reoccurring themes within the qualitative data and mathematical calculations to analyze, compare and disaggregate the quantitative data. The researcher used Psychological Empowerment Theory (PET), as the theoretical framework to analyze the results collected from this study. This framework builds upon the development of agency through empowering students to believe in themselves. The four dimensions of PET (meaning, competence, self-determination and impact) are the foundation of this framework (Thomas and Velthouse, 1990; Spritzer, 1995; Spreitzer et al.,1997). These dimensions were used to validate supporting research that the identified constructs impact one’s sense of agency and empowerment. The data proved that student agency is developed in high school students who participate in the AVID program. Student agency constructs and teacher practices were proven to have an impact on how students are developing agency and the benefit of AVID. It is evident that school districts who invest the time and resources into AVID is changing the lives of first-generation college students around the World.
• Educational administration
• College and Career Readiness
• Educational leadership
• High School Students
• Student Agency
• https://doi.org/10.17615/jzez-j444
• Dissertation
• In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
• Houck, Eric A
• Hughes, Sherick A
• Hashim, Ayesha
• Horner, Martinette
• Moran, Amanda
• Doctor of Education
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate School

This work has no parents.

Select type of work

Master's papers.

Deposit your masters paper, project or other capstone work. Theses will be sent to the CDR automatically via ProQuest and do not need to be deposited.

Scholarly Articles and Book Chapters

Deposit a peer-reviewed article or book chapter. If you would like to deposit a poster, presentation, conference paper or white paper, use the “Scholarly Works” deposit form.

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Deposit your senior honors thesis.

Scholarly Journal, Newsletter or Book

Deposit a complete issue of a scholarly journal, newsletter or book. If you would like to deposit an article or book chapter, use the “Scholarly Articles and Book Chapters” deposit option.

Deposit your dataset. Datasets may be associated with an article or deposited separately.

Deposit your 3D objects, audio, images or video.

Poster, Presentation, Protocol or Paper

Deposit scholarly works such as posters, presentations, research protocols, conference papers or white papers. If you would like to deposit a peer-reviewed article or book chapter, use the “Scholarly Articles and Book Chapters” deposit option.

• Skip to Content
• Skip to Main Navigation
• Skip to Search

Indiana University Indianapolis Indiana University Indianapolis IU Indianapolis

• Attendee Information
• Exhibitor Information
• Getting You Into IU Indianapolis
• Student Awards
• Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Doctoral Scholars
• Commitment to Diversity
• IUPUI Graduate Emissaries for Student Diversity
• Measures of Quality
• Doctoral - Research Student Data
• Accelerated Degrees
• Graduate Non-Degree Program
• Future Student FAQs
• About IU Indianapolis
• Visit IUPUI
• How to Apply
• Tuition & Fees
• Indiana Partner Tuition Participating Programs
• Fellowships & Awards
• Travel Fellowships
• Student Loans
• Tax Information
• IU Graduate Bulletin
• Responsible Conduct and Ethics
• Timeline for Graduation
• IU Degree, Transcript, Diploma/Certificate
• IU Dissertation Defense Announcements
• Getting Oriented
• Events and Resources
• 3MT and 3MP Competitions
• Indianapolis Graduate Mentoring Center
• Graduate Commons
• Grad Parent Network
• CIRTL at IU Indianapolis
• Research Funding
• Campus Transportation
• Campus Safety
• Health & Wellness
• Health Insurance
• IUPUI Dining Services
• Disability Services
• Virtual Resources for Current Students
• Virtual Resources for Prospective Students
• Fellowship Subcommittee
• Curriculum Subcommittee
• Graduate or Professional Degree Program
• Graduate or Professional Degree Certificate
• Graduate or Professional Degree Sub Plans (tracks, transcripts)
• Propose Accelerated or Dual Degree
• Graduate or Professional Degree Minor
• Changes to Existing Degrees
• Add or Change Courses to Curriculum
• Academic Reviews
• Graduate Recruitment Council
• Graduate Faculty Council
• Membership to Graduate Faculty
• Mentor Graduate Students
• School of Science Realignment FAQ for Graduate Students

Indiana University Graduate School Indianapolis

• Purdue Graduate Students

Theses & Dissertations

Graduate students in Purdue programs at IUPUI who are depositing a thesis or a dissertation need to follow the Purdue deposit process including templates, forms and deadlines.  Click below for the full Purdue graduate student site or for the Purdue deposit process information.

Purdue Graduate Students Site

Purdue Deposit Process Page

IU Graduate Students in UGS Programs

The thesis or dissertation is the capstone work of your academic career. This is your opportunity as a graduate student to apply everything you have studied during and leading up to graduate school and contribute to the academic community.

A thesis or dissertation can take months or even years to complete, and it is one of the final steps in achieving a graduate degree.

At IUPUI, master’s degree candidates complete theses, while doctoral candidates complete dissertations. Each work comes with its own set of requirements, including formatting and deadlines , and both have multiple options for submission . A doctoral dissertation also comes with the added requirement of a defense .

By participating in The Graduate Student Writing Group , you’ll receive feedback on your work, participate in skill-building activities, discuss ideas with peers, and set aside designated time to write. Email [email protected] to join.

The IU Graduate School Indianapolis will make forms or documents available to those who cannot access them via this website. Please contact gradoff@iupui.edu to request the document you wish to see.

Indiana University Graduate School Indianapolis resources and social media channels

• Give Now - support graduate students