Beginning Spring 2006, TCU began requiring that theses and dissertations be submitted online, rather than delivered as paper copies. The online documents are submitted to UMI (University Microfilms, which produces the Dissertations Abstracts and Theses Abstracts databases), as well as being stored on a TCU server. The library also produces printed copies for archival storage.

Access control
When submitting your file to UMI, you will have the opportunity to specify whether it the contents should be made available in UMI's database (which is available to paid subscribers of UMI). TCU will also use these instructions to control whether the file is made freely available in the to all users in the library online catalog, exposed to search engines such as Google, and available in the "Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations" (a cooperative project of universities around the world). Making it available this way does not affect ownership -- you continue to own your thesis or dissertation. However, in some cases you may wish to delay making the contents available due to intellectual property concerns that are not covered by copyright (for example, if you plan to later apply for a patent).

Copyrighted Material Contained in Your Thesis or Dissertation
If your thesis or dissertation includes quotations, graphics, or other material that is under copyright, you should review UMI's Copyright Guide. If you feel that your use of this material meets the standards for Fair Use, you can include them in the body of the file that you will send to UMI. If not, you can either obtain permission from the copyright holder (UMI's site includes example permissions requests), or save them as "supplemental" files that will *not* be sent to UMI with the PDF file containing your thesis or dissertation. In that case, be sure to include a note about the files that are not to be sent to UMI when filling out the "Notes for Administrators" field on their site.

Copyrighting Your Thesis/Dissertation
Copyrighting your thesis/dissertation is optional. If you wish to copyright your t/d, information and forms are available from the United States Copyright Office at: http://www.copyright.gov As of July 1, 2008, the U.S. Copyright Office fee is $35 to file online, or $45 to file with paper forms. On August 1, 2009, Congress may approve raising the paper form fee to $50, check http://www.copyright.gov/docs/fees.html for the latest information. You would pay this directly to the U.S. Copyright office, using the forms provided at the links above, not to TCU.

Alternatively, UMI will file for copyright on your behalf (this is one of the options that come up on their web site when you submit your PDF file). UMI charges a $65 fee to file for copyright. If you choose to use this option, the UMI web site will prompt you to pay with a credit card before completing your submission.

Bound Copies
TCU does not require bound copies of your thesis/dissertation. If you would like bound copies for your own use, these can be ordered from UMI while submitting your file, or from several other binderies. List of binderies and prices. If you ask for bound copies from UMI, their site will prompt you to pay by credit card.

Supplemental Files
In addition to the main text of your thesis / dissertation, which you will save in PDF format, UMI can accept supplementary files (for example: spreadsheets, large format maps, audio files) that are part of the thesis but outside the main text. If the information would be included as an appendix to a printed document, consider it part of the main text, not a supplementary file.

How to Begin
Before creating a PDF formatted copy of your thesis/dissertation and submitting it to UMI, you must receive final approval from the associate dean of your school or college. All required changes should be made before submission to UMI. The page numbering, order of sections, and other formatting must be prepared to the requirements of your school or college. The processing fee ($65 for a thesis, $75 for a dissertation) must be paid in the Sadler Cashier's Office, with the original receipt plus one copy delivered to your Dean's Office, along with the rest of your paperwork.

Please contact your school / college for guidelines for completing a thesis or dissertation. If there is a difference in UMI processing fees or copyright filing fees listed in their guidelines, please use the prices listed on this page.

Creating PDF Files
The main text of your theses or dissertation is submitted to UMI as a "PDF" (Adobe Acrobat) formatted file. If there are supplemental files (e.g., sound or video) associated with the text, these files are submitted at the same time.

Page Numbering
Your school or college may require that different sections of your thesis or dissertation have different page numbering. Microsoft has a tutorial for how to do that in MS Word here. However, if you have problems getting that to work, you may keep the different sections in different files, produce separate PDF files from the separate sections, and then combine the PDF files into one file using the Adobe Acrobat (professional version, not the free "reader" software) "Insert Pages" command on the "Document" menu. The individual files the PDF was created from can be submitted as separate "native" files when you get to that step below.

Creating a PDF File
If your file is in Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, or RTF format, and if all the sections are in a single file (see Page Numbering paragraph above), you can use UMI's online conversion utility to create a PDF file. If this will work for you, then you can proceed to the "Submitting Files to UMI" section of these instructions.

It is also possible to create your PDF file in the TCU Information Commons computer lab, or on your own computer if you have the "professional" (not free) version of Adobe Acrobat, or if you are running Mac OS X software. This gives you more control, and more opportunities try again if there are problems with the PDF conversion. The Information Commons computer lab, located on the main floor of the library, has several Windows computers with the full version of Acrobat, and several Mac OS X computers, as indicated in the following diagram.

For both Windows and Macintosh, you create a PDF file by opening your thesis/dissertation in the software you used to create it, and "printing" the file in PDF format. You should then open the PDF file in Acrobat Reader and make sure that any special fonts, foreign language characters, and symbols (e.g., chemical formulas or equations) used in your document converted correctly. A complete listing of the software available on the Information Commons Computer Lab machines is available here.

If the software you used to write your theses/dissertation is not available on a computer with Acrobat, one of the IC Lab Managers may be able to temporarily install it on one of the IC lab machines that has Acrobat. Please call in advance (7664), or e-mail LibSystems@tcu.edu to set up a time to do this. Alternatively, you can purchase a full version of Acrobat and create the PDF file on your own computer. (As of January 2009, the educational price for "Acrobat Professional " is about $160. TCU does not subsidize purchase of personal copies of Acrobat.)

UMI has a useful page of tips for settings to use during conversion on their PDF FAQ page.

Creating a PDF File in Windows:

Note: Older versions of Acrobat included a utility called "PDFWriter" that could be used instead of "Adobe PDF" to create PDF files. As documented by Adobe, PDFWriter does not produce reliable output -- you should use Acrobat Distiller instead.

Open your document, choose "Print", and choose "Adobe PDF" (it may be labeled "Acrobat Distiller") as the printer. In the Information Commons Computer lab, Adobe PDFis already set to use "Embed All Fonts". If you are working at another computer, make sure this setting is enabled by opening Preferences.

After you click OK to begin printing, you will be prompted to enter a file name. If you are working in the IC computer lab, do not save the file to the local hard disk, "C:", since you will not be able to retrieve it from there later. Instead use your network drive, or a CD-R or CD-RW disc.

The Print dialog box in Mac OS X has a "Save As PDF" button at the bottom of the box -- chose this when printing. This option automatically "embeds all fonts", so you do not have to worry about settings. Be sure to save to a network drive or a CD-R/RW drive, not the Mac hard disk.

Open the PDF file you created, and check that that special fonts, characters and symbols converted correctly. If they did not, notify one of the IC Lab Managers.

For Both Windows and Macintosh: Make Sure Type 3 Fonts Are Not Included

"Type 3" fonts are postscript fonts that can include bitmapped data. They are not recommended for use in applications such as online theses and dissertations because they are not always legible on screen at smaller sizes. To check for Type 3 fonts, open the PDF file you just created, and go to File / Document Properties / Fonts.

Scroll down through the list of fonts and make sure that none of them are Type-3 fonts. If any of them are, then go back to you original document, and try to find another font to use instead of the Type-3 font; then re-save it as a PDF using the steps above.

Submitting Files to UMI

In addition to submitting your PDF file to UMI, we also ask that you submit the "native" version of your dissertation (for example, Microsoft Word version) to TCU's server. TCU will archive the native version as an extra measure of safety in case problems are ever found with the PDF version. Simply use this form:

TCU ID:      File: (Not your PDF file, see paragraph above.)

Note: If your thesis/dissertation contains more than one native file, please submit all files (one at a time) using this form. Please enter a brief description of each file in the field below:
Description:

   (After you click Submit, it may take any where from a minute to an hour to finish uploading the file, depending on the file size and the speed of your network connection

You are not finished yet!!! Now go to: http://dissertations.umi.com/tcu/ to submit your PDF file.

The UMI site provides step-by-step instructions for submitting your thesis or dissertation. Notes on some choices that may not be obvious are provided below.

• After you click the "Submit my dissertation/thesis" link, you will get a log on screen. Unless you are revising a thesis or dissertation you've already submitted, you will need to start by clicking the: "New User? Create an account" link to create an account on the UMI system. (Your TCU username and password will not work for this.) Later, if you need to make changes to your submission, you will be able to log on again using the username and password you create here.
• On the screen where you select "No Restrictions" or "Restrictions" for your publishing option, "Restrictions" you place will also be followed by TCU in submitting your t/d to our local archive. When you select "No Restrictions", your t/d will be freely available from TCU as well as from UMI.
• On the screen where you enter the title and other information about your t/d, you will be asked to submit your abstract. You will want to use cut-and-paste so you don't have to re-type your abstract, so have your abstract open in another window.
• After you have uploaded your PDF file and any supplementary files, there is a screen where you can enter "Notes to Administrator". Library staff as well as the associate dean or faculty member who approves your t/d will see this note, so if you have special instructions/explanations regarding your t/d, you can use this note. (However, it is best to get approval for any special instructions before submitting your t/d.)
• There are screens that ask if you want UMI to file for copyright, and if you want to buy bound copies. Per the information above, both options are optional, neither is required by TCU. If you do choose either or both options, be sure you have a valid credit card available to use when UMI prompts for payment.

When you complete your submission, an e-mail will automatically be generated to Library staff, who pass your t/d on to the appropriate associate dean or faculty member. If they require revisions to your t/d, they will generate an e-mail that will be sent to you with an explanation of the required changes, and a link you can use to go back to the UMI site and log on with the username and password you created while submitting it. You can replace the PDF file, and change any text (such as Title, Abstract) that you entered in your first submission. When your thesis/dissertation is approved, you will receive another e-mail acknowledgement.