Q15: Why are there two addresses listed for TAD Services?

Q16: Why do I receive emails from different individuals in TAD Services?

Q17: If I submit my document electronically, will my department still need a printed hard copy?

Q18: What items must TAD Services receive by the quarter deadline?

Q19: What if I miss the deadline for the quarter?

 Question 1: What does TAD stand for in “TAD Services”?

Answer: Thesis and Dissertation

Question 2: Where do I get the forms for filing a thesis or dissertation?

Answer: All forms are online at www.ohio.edu/etd.

Question 3: How do I get more information about how to file my thesis or dissertation?

Answer: Go to www.ohio.edu/etd  and follow the steps provided. A TAD Graduation Workshop and Word/PDF training are offered each quarter. You can find information about the dates and times and how to register on the same site.

Question 4: Where do I send my document for review?

Answer: Email your document to etd@ohio.edu.

Question 5: When do I send my document for review?

Answer: Send the document before your oral defense for a preliminary review and after the document is complete at etd@ohio.edu. The final document must be received at this address before 3:00 p.m. on the deadline date for the quarter. 

Question 6: Where do I obtain a thesis/dissertation template?

Answer: All templates have been posted to the www.ohio.edu/etd under Step 1.

Question 7: Where is the TAD Services office located?

Answer: TAD Services is physically located in Haning Hall, Room117 (beside Buffalo Wild Wings). TAD Services is a part of and receives mail in Graduate Studies, McKee House. Most TAD Services paperwork can be dropped off to the front desk of McKee House, Graduate Studies (across from Ellis Hall).

Question 8: Are TAD Services workshops mandatory for graduate students?

Answer: Neither workshop is required. The TAD Graduation Workshop covers the steps to file a thesis or dissertation before graduating. The Word/PDF Training covers the formatting guidelines, how to use the TAD Templates, and how to format a manuscript using Microsoft Word. These workshops are beneficial to those who still have questions or concerns after reviewing the web site or for those who are having technical formatting issues in a Microsoft Word document. For information and to register for either of these workshops, visit www.ohio.edu/etd. Individual appointments are also available by emailing etd@ohio.edu or calling 740-597-2599. *TAD Services may be unable to schedule individual appointments during the last two weeks of the quarter due to the heavy workload near the deadline each quarter.

Question 9: I’m planning to use a friend’s paper to compare formatting. Is this OK?

Answer: Updated campus-wide formatting guidelines have recently been put online. By using our website and its templates, you guarantee that the formatting and guidelines are the most current. We strongly discourage students from using a past document as a formatting template.

Question 10: Many publishers require that work has not been published previously. If I submit my document electronically, will I have trouble publishing it elsewhere? Is uploading my document to OhioLINK also considered “publishing” it?

Answer: It is very rare that a publisher would consider a document on OhioLINK or ProQuest as a previously published version. This is generally because a publication in a journal, book, etc., looks very different in layout, format, and content. Ohio University TAD Services has never experienced an issue with a student not being able to publish a work based on an electronic thesis or dissertation (since Winter Quarter 2001). In fact, the University of Cincinnati contacted close to 3,000 major publishers and never found one that considered documents on OhioLINK or ProQuest as previously published works. *If you have contacted a publisher who will not work with your material because it is on OhioLINK or ProQuest, please notify TAD Services immediately.

For copyright questions, please visit http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/.

*Still concerned? Ask us about the publication delay option described below.

Question 11: What is a publication delay and should I consider obtaining one?

Answer:  Publication Delays are discouraged unless you are filing a patent, writing a book, or publishing a series of articles. The recommended guidelines are one-year publication delay for an article, two-year publication delay for a book, and two-year publication delay for a patent. Publication delays are available through OhioLINK for up to five years. The following is adapted from OhioLINK’s list of FAQs:

Some students prepare books based on, or related to, their theses and dissertations. If you think you might do this, you should check with publishers in your field to determine their policies about books based on Internet-accessible ETDs (electronic thesis/dissertation). If recommended by a publisher and allowed by your program, you may wish to request a publication delay while the publisher considers your book project. *Note that publishing an ETD on the Internet often leads to greater sales of books (OhioLINK, 2007).

If you decide you want a publication delay, you will need to notify TAD Services and complete and sign the Publication Delay form before uploading your final document to OhioLINK.

Question 12: How long does it take for my document to appear on OhioLINK?

Answer: Generally, your document will appear on OhioLINK by the end of the quarter following your graduation. Documents are not released to OhioLINK until the degree has been posted to the student’s transcript. Doctoral student documents are released first to decrease the processing time for dissertations to appear in ProQuest/UMI (Dissertation Abstracts).

Question 13: Can I send my document to TAD Services in several parts?

Answer: TAD Services encourages students to submit their final documents as one Word file, but some documents are more difficult to combine than others. If issues arise when a document is combined into one, TAD Services will accept individual Word files. If filing electronically, the final Word file parts can be converted to PDF format and then combined before filing in the OhioLINK database.

Question 14: How large can a thesis or dissertation document be?

Answer: TAD Services can receive via email all documents that are smaller than 17 MB for review and approval. For documents near 17 BM in size, it may take up to an hour for TAD Services to receive the document. For documents larger than 17 MB, the student may send the document through a free online document transport system (such as, Yousendit.com), through a web link, or by burning a CD of both the Microsoft Word and PDF files and dropping this off to Graduate Studies, University Terrace, McKee House or dropping it off directly to TAD Services Office, Haning Hall 117.

Question 15: Why are there two addresses listed for TAD Services?

Answer: TAD Services is a part of the Graduate Studies office (McKee House, 44 University Terrace) and receives most paperwork and mail at this location. The physical location of the TAD Services office is in Haning Hall rooms 117, 117A and 118 (on the first floor in the back of the building). Haning Hall is across from Buffalo Wild Wings on the corner of Union and Congress Streets. The preferred drop off location for student paperwork is the McKee House front desk. Near deadlines a student may be asked to deliver paperwork directly to the TAD Services office in Haning Hall 117 for timely processing.

Question 16: Why do I receive emails from different individuals in TAD Services?

Answer: TAD Services has a team of manuscript specialists who check for different formatting details throughout the submission process, from your preliminary review to your final advisor-approved document review; therefore, separate manuscript specialists may uncover additional suggestions or changes, and we encourage more than one set of eyes to review each document. Most students go through an average of three reviews before the document format is accepted by TAD Services. After the document format is accepted, instructions are sent to the student for uploading to OhioLINK or printing to paper.

Question 17: If I submit my document electronically, will my department still need a printed hard copy?

Answer: Some departments still require a printed copy, while others do not. Please check with your adviser regarding departmental expectations of printed copies and where to deliver the bound copy if required.

Question 18: What items must TAD Services receive by the quarterly deadline?

Answer: TAD Services must receive the final advisor-approved document at etd@ohio.edu (with a note stating this is the final document approved by the advisor) by 3:00 p.m. on the deadline date for the quarter. (This means the student has defended, has made all required changes, and has received the approval on the final document from the advisor. At this point, no other changes can be made to the content of the document.)

If not already complete, all required submission forms are needed immediately by TAD Services (For Master students: TAD Submission form. For Doctoral students: TAD Submission form, Online SED, and ProQuest/UMI Submission Form).

TAD Services must receive the student’s two approval pages and one abstract page printed on cotton bond paper, signed by the advisor only, and dropped off to TAD Services (McKee House or Haning Hall 117) for processing shortly after the deadline. TAD Services has approximately one week to process all documents received on the deadline. Before TAD Services can forward approval pages to the college for processing, the student must also upload the final accepted document to OhioLINK (or print to paper) when requested. Students are encouraged to avoid the final deadline for the quarter. The final document should be emailed immediately to etd@ohio.edu once the advisor approves it.

Question 19: What if I miss the deadline for the quarter?

Answer: If the final advisor-approved document is not received by TAD Services by 3:00 p.m. on the deadline date for the quarter, the file is automatically moved to the following quarter. Each quarter several students are unable to meet the deadline for filing their thesis or dissertation document. The deadline for the quarter is a fixed date and cannot be moved. This is to ensure that all campus offices can complete the necessary graduation paperwork before grades are due at the end of the quarter.

Does the student have another option? Yes, the student may complete all six steps of the thesis or dissertation process before the first day of the following quarter to avoid paying tuition in the following quarter. This requires the student to: 1) receive permission from department to be a “late filer” and to have 2) no Visa restrictions requiring that they be a registered student. (If you are an international student, you can contact the International Student Services office at (740) 593-4330 to find out if your Visa allows this option.)

For Late Filers, the final advisor-approved document must be received by TAD Services at etd@ohio.edu by 12:00 noon the Wednesday before the first day of the quarter. TAD Services must have all required submission forms, conduct and approve the final format of the document, and send the final TAD Process Complete email and approval pages to the student’s College before the first day of the quarter in order for the process to be considered complete and for the student to avoid paying tuition. The student must remember to re-apply for graduation and pay the $5 reapplication fee.  *To avoid unneccessary emails from our office, please let TAD Services know at etd@ohio.edu if you intend to be a late filer.