Memorandum
TO: Graduate Faculty
FROM: Elizabeth Baranger, Vice Provost for Graduate Studies
SUBJECT: Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD)
DATE: January 6, 2004
In December 2001, the Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) Working Group, an ad hoc committee of the University Council on Graduate Study (UCGS), embarked on a voluntary pilot project to assess the procedural feasibility and scholarly advantages of accepting theses and dissertations in electronic rather than paper-based format. After two years of implementation and evaluation of the project, and upon reviewing the ETD Report http://www.pitt.edu/~graduate/etd/etdreport2003.html presented by the ETD Steering Committee, the UCGS voted unanimously to recommend to the Provost that ETDs become a University requirement by the December 2004 graduation. The Provost has now approved Council’s recommendation. All theses and dissertations submitted at the University of Pittsburgh must be submitted as ETDs by the December graduation of 2004.
ETDs are theses or dissertations prepared as text-based PDF files that can contain non-text elements such as multimedia, sound, video, hypertext links etc. At Pitt, ETDs are available on PITTCat, the University's online catalog. This enables scholars worldwide to locate, search, and download Pitt's ETDs. Since December 2001, over 200 Pitt graduate students have submitted ETDs.
In place of the old Style and Form Manual, please direct your students to the ETD Format Guidelines Manual http://www.pitt.edu/~graduate/etd/ETDformat.pdf. In addition, style and form templates for those using Word, WordPerfect, and LaTeX are available online at http://www.pitt.edu/~graduate/etd/templates.html. The templates will assist the student by making sure the ETD is in the correct style and format. Students should be advised to use the template as soon as they begin writing the dissertation as this decreases the likelihood of formatting errors.
ETDs will require no additional work on the part of the thesis or dissertation committee. Committees may require that students provide all members with a paper copy of the ETD before the defense; others may elect to read on-screen or take individual responsibility for working from screen or paper they print out themselves. Printed versions of the textual components of an ETD should always be made available to committee members at their request. If non-text elements of the ETD are part of the defense, the committee should consider the most effective way to ensure that all members of the committee have access to non-text elements during the defense.
The ETD Steering Committee has considered issues surrounding ETDs such as issues of prior publication, copyright, and restriction options and is confident that all the basic processes are in place to move towards ETDs being the standard for submission by the December 2004 graduation.
To learn more about the ETD Project at Pitt visit the ETD Web site at http://www.pitt.edu/~graduate/etd/. To see Pitt’s ETDs go to http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD-db/ETD-search/search. If after reviewing the ETD Report and Web site you still have questions or concerns, you may write to Carrie Sparks at sparks@provost.pitt.edu or directly to me.
[Update: December 2020: Visit Electronic Theses and Dissertation site at https://etd.pitt.edu/ for current information.]