Thesis And Dissertation

• Guide to formatting your Thesis or Dissertation
  • Thesis and Dissertations must meet all formatting requirements listed within this document. 
• Blank checklist - for students and Defense Committee Chairs to use as an aid to ensure that students are meeting the OU Graduate School Thesis and Dissertation Formatting Guidelines.
• Thesis - Title Page (Template)
  • You must download this as Microsoft Word file to be able to see the full template. Your Title Page must look exactly like this. Type your information directly into the template. 
• Dissertation - Title Page (Template) 
  • You must download this as Microsoft Word file to be able to see the full template. Your Title Page must look exactly like this. Type your information directly into the template.
• Thesis preliminary pages (Template) - optional
• Dissertation preliminary pages (Template) - optional
• OU Technology Center - (248) 370-4357 (HELP), support.oakland.edu can assist if you are having technology related problems with formatting

There are three phases to a dissertation defense:

1. Public presentation of the dissertation and defense
2. The dissertation committee's meeting with the candidate
3. Evaluation of the Candidate's Performance

To learn more about each phase and see an example, visit the defense announcements page. 

Oakland University requires all dissertations to be published through ProQuest dissertation publishing. 

Before you upload your dissertation to ProQuest, you should have a few things at hand:

• PDF copy of your dissertation
• your abstract
• the names of your committee members
• any optional images or data that aren't part of the text but are necessary to your dissertation and
• one to three subject categories that describe your dissertation 

The subject category list can be found on the ProQuest website. ProQuest offers two types of digital publication for your dissertation. You can also choose to let your work appear in major search engine results (ie. Google or Yahoo). 

1. Traditional publishing: The first is a traditional option, where ProQuest makes your work widely available, you are eligible for royalties from the sale of your work, and there is no fee. 
2. Open access publishing: The second is an open access publishing option. Publishing this way makes your work available via free global access. You will not receive royalties with this option, and ProQuest will charge you a $95 fee to publish your dissertation this way. 

Finally, you can choose to delay the availability of your work once it's published through ProQuest. If you have patents pending or other reasons you may want to delay the release of your work, you can choose to delay its publication in ProQuest for 6 months, 1 year or custom date. Students may only embargo their publication for up to 1 year. 

Once you have chosen the type of publication, ProQuest will prompt you to complete and sign a Publishing Agreement. The Agreement grants ProQuest a non-exclusive license to duplicate and distribute the dissertation and publish the abstract. You will retain the copyright to your dissertation. You also keep the right to publish the dissertation elsewhere, in book form or as separate articles. ProQuest takes care of the arrangements for (a) publishing the abstract in ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global; (b) preparing a digital copy of the dissertation; and (c) depositing digital copies in various databases.

ProQuest also offers the option of acting as your agent to register the copyright, and deposit the required copies with the Copyright Office. The fee for this service is $55. Although registration is not required to preserve the author’s copyright, most copyright specialists feel that it is advisable.

Please note that if you decide not to register the copyright through ProQuest, you can register the copyright on your own at some later date.

ProQuest Dissertation Publishing has been publishing dissertations and theses since 1938. During that time, more than two million graduate works have been published from graduate schools around the world. ProQuest Dissertation Publishing has more than 700 active university publishing partners, and publishes more than 70,000 new graduate works each year.

• One PDF copy of your dissertation.
• Any supplemental files that are necessary to your dissertation but not included in the body of it. This may include audio or video files. 
• ProQuest abstract (350 word maximum) that matches the abstract in your dissertation.
• Completed and signed ProQuest Doctoral Dissertation Agreement form. ProQuest will prompt you to fill out this form online while you are submitting your work. You must include the year your manuscript was completed, the degree you were awarded and the date, your department, the primary subject category, the name of your adviser or committee chair, and the names of your committee members.
• ProQuest service fee (required for all students) = $65

• ProQuest will submit your application to the United States Copyright Office on your behalf and then provide you with the certificate the Library of Congress will issue. If you choose to have ProQuest act as your agent in the copyright process, ProQuest will assess you an additional $55 fee. 

OU faculty, staff and students can access graduate works online through ProQuest and the Kresge Library’s Dissertations & Thesis @ OU database. When accessing from off campus, you may be prompted for a name and ID number by the library database access system. Learn how to view OU dissertations published through ProQuest. 

The Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) is a federal agency survey conducted by NORC for the National Science Foundation which gathers information annually from new U.S. research doctorate graduates.

Responses to the Survey become part of the database that began in 1920. Information gathered by SED is used for policy information and research funding at national and state levels.

After PhD students receive an email from the Graduate School Format Team stating that their dissertation has received Format Approval, they are required to participate in the Survey by following the instructions and link in that email. Upon completion of the Survey, students will receive a Certificate of Completion, a copy of which must be emailed to [email protected].