The University of Chicago Library
Dissertation Office | Dissertation Packet

This Dissertation Packet contains the following items:

  1. University-Wide Requirements for the Ph.D. Dissertation
    The guide includes instructions and requirements for formatting and turning in the final copies of your dissertation. The Dissertation Office web site (http://phd.lib.uchicago.edu/) provides more detailed information.
  2. Departmental Approval Form
    The Departmental Approval Form must be dated and signed in ink (no stamps; no faxes; no photocopies) by your department chair, indicating departmental approval of specific copies of your dissertation. The department chair reviews these copies, and the Dissertation Office will not accept the two final copies of your dissertation unless they are accompanied by this form.
  3. Publishing Your Graduate Work with UMI Dissertation Publishing
    Publishing with ProQuest/UMI is one of the requirements for receiving a doctoral degree from the University of Chicago. The ProQuest/UMI Publishing Agreement and Dissertation Submission Form on pages 3 and 4 should accompany your final copies. (You should also include two additional copies of your title page and two copies of a separate abstract with your final copies.) On page 3, select only one of the publication options, then sign and date the agreement. If you select an Open Access option, you must provide payment for the additional fee. You may choose to restrict search engine access and third party sales, but you may not choose an embargo. On page 4, you will need Guide 2: Subject Categories in order to complete the Dissertation Information section. If you choose to include pages 5 or 6, you must provide payment for these services. (Copyright registration is optional, as are orders for personal copies of your dissertation.) Postal Money Orders should be made payable to ProQuest Information and Learning. Please ensure that the form of payment you use will not expire in the 6 months following your submission!
  4. Library Form
    The Library Form should accompany your final copies. The information you provide will help the Library catalog your dissertation correctly. One copy of your dissertation becomes part of the Library's circulating collection.
  5. Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED)
  6. Purpose and Use Brochure
  7. How the SED Keeps Your Information Strictly Confidential
    The SED, conducted by NORC for the National Science Foundation and other federal agencies, gathers data serving policymakers at the federal, state and local levels. Survey information is reported only in aggregate form or in a manner that does not identify information about any individual. If you wish, you may go to our web site to fill out the survey online instead of filling it out on paper, and you are welcome to return the paper version to the Dissertation Office so that someone else may use it.