Dissertation Submission Procedures

For clarification of any submission procedures, contact Colleen Mullarkey in the Dissertation Office (773-702-7404 | phd at lib.uchicago.edu) well in advance of the final deadline.

The Dissertation Office is located in Room 100-B on the first floor of the Joseph Regenstein Library. Our hours may vary, especially during the interim, but we are usually open:

We are always CLOSED on Saturday and Sunday, on the Thursday and Friday following the submission deadline, and on University holidays.

Before your Departmental Deadline, provide your Department with two complete sets of your dissertation in its final form, appropriately boxed, and accompanied by all additional material. If your Department does not have a deadline, you should provide your Department with these final copies at least a week before the Dissertation Office Deadline. This allows sufficient time for the Chair of your Department to approve the physical copies of your dissertation and to verify that your submission is complete. The Chair of the Department must sign and date the Departmental Approval Form, signifying departmental approval of the final submission. The Dissertation Office will not accept dissertations unless they are accompanied by a signed copy of the Departmental Approval Form.

Prior to submitting your final copies:

Review your dissertation for compliance with the formatting standards and to ensure that the table of contents, list of tables, and list of figures are accurate and up-to-date.

Print two copies¹ of your dissertation on one of the approved papers and then, for each copy:

• Count your pages and check the page numbers to ensure that no pages were skipped and that pagination is accurate.
• Get a ruler and measure the margins to verify that the margins on your final copies have not shifted.
• Check for extraneous marks and reprint pages with streaks or speckles.
• Be sure the print is dark and crisp. If the toner in a copier or printer is low, copies may not be sufficiently dark and clear to be acceptable.
• Check figures, legends, formulas (especially subscripts), and footnote indicators to be sure they remain legible.

Put these copies in separate manuscript boxes. (Multivolume dissertations may be submitted in multiple boxes.) Each copy must be complete, containing all supplemental material that is a part of the dissertation. For example, include two CD-ROMs with digital files of music, video, or very large data sets.

In the first box, include:

• The Departmental Approval Form (providing your name, dissertation title, and contact information, and ready for the Chair of your Department to complete),
• Any letters of permission, if needed, for previously copyrighted material used in your dissertation,
• The Survey of Earned Doctorates (if you have completed a paper copy) or a printout of confirmation (if you completed the survey online),
• Two extra copies of your title page and abstract, printed on regular paper,
• A completed copy of the Library Form,
• And a completed copy of the ProQuest/UMI Publishing Agreement and Submission Form. Publishing your dissertation through ProQuest/UMI is one of the requirements for receiving a doctoral degree from the University of Chicago.

Two additional ProQuest/UMI forms are optional:

• You may complete the Author Order Form and include credit card information or a postal money order.
• You may complete the Copyright Registration Form and include a money order for the service fee. ProQuest/UMI will discard Copyright Registration Forms if the money order is missing.

Bring everything to your department at least a week before the Dissertation Office deadline. Your department may have an earlier deadline. The final submission to the Dissertation Office must be accompanied by the Departmental Approval Form (signed by the Department Chair after review of the final copies of the dissertation and all accompanying material.) Dissertations must be delivered to the Dissertation Office no later than 4:30pm on the Wednesday 3 1/2 weeks before Convocation. It is your responsibility to see that your material is submitted on time.

¹Contact the Dissertation Office in advance regarding formatting and submission requirements for a dissertation that is entirely digital and cannot be printed.