electronic theses and dissertations: guidelines for STH students
Introduction
Beginning in the 2008-09 academic year, all students are required to submit theses and dissertations in electronic format. There are multiple reasons for this change. Foremost among them is the School’s desire to archive your final important work digitally. This reduces costs both for the library (binding, storage) and for you (who will now only need to submit a single paper copy instead of the previously-required two copies). It also allows the library staff to fulfill interlibrary loan requests for theses more efficiently by providing a PDF version instead of a photocopy. Finally, having electronic theses will allow us to quickly and efficiently make them available for download from the BU Digital Common.
Checklist
There are multiple components to submitting an electronic dissertation. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE. Some of these will take time. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email sthdgtl@bu.edu. This checklist is only a summary; please read ALL the detailed instructions below.
__ Format the document(s) properly according to the instructions in the STH Thesis Guide. The Thesis Guide is available in the STM, ThD, DMin, and PhD handbooks here. For questions, see Robyn Kinch in STH suite 108.
__ Convert the document(s) to PDF and combine into a single file where needed. Name the files properly. See below.
__ Scan the signature page after your readers sign it. If you do not have access to scanning facilities, please contact sthdgtl@bu.edu to make an appointment to come in and do this in the library. It will take only a couple of minutes. You may do this as you’re dropping off the rest of your materials, but you must make an appointment.
__ Email a SINGLE file containing your thesis or dissertation, plus ANOTHER file containing the signature page (if you scanned it on your own), to sthdgtl@bu.edu.
__ Print, sign, have your advisor sign, and submit an Authorization to Manage Electronic Thesis or Dissertation (PDF). This form will grant BU a non-exclusive license to publish an electronic version of your work. This means that Boston University has your permission to put the work online, but you retain all other rights to your work, including the right to re-publish. You may revoke this release, in writing, at any time. Further details will be found in the document linked above. Be sure to read the directions for filling out this form.
__ Choose a Creative Commons license (see Licensing below) and have it emailed to STH. This is optional but strongly encouraged.
In the end, you will be submitting FOUR ITEMS: your thesis, the scanned signature page, the Authorization to Manage, and the Creative Commons license.
Licensing
You are encouraged to attach a Creative Commons license to your work. Creative Commons, according to its founders, “provides free tools that let authors, scientists, artists, and educators easily mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry. You can use CC to change your copyright terms from ‘All Rights Reserved’ to ‘Some Rights Reserved.’” CC licensing is extensively used worldwide. You can learn more about Creative Commons, and construct your own license, at http://www.creativecommons.org/.
If you choose this option, on the CC home page, choose “License” and choose from the available options. Please fill in at least your name and the title of your work, too. Then click on “Select a license.” On the next page, find and click on the link that says “have it emailed to yourself.” Have it emailed to sthdgtl@bu.edu.
If you wish, you may also create an author identity for yourself on the Creative Commons Network (http://www.creativecommons.net/). This site allows you to point to any URL (web address), declare the work at that URL to be yours, and specify the license you wish to use for it. Creative Commons will keep this information and make it available to others.
If you choose this option, please let us know in the body of your email, when you email us your thesis or dissertation. We’ll make sure to send you the URL of your work, and then you’ll be able to add it to your CC Network profile. If you try to do this and have trouble, please email us at sthdgtl@bu.edu, and we’ll set up a time to help you.
Converting your file to PDF
REGARDLESS OF HOW YOU CONVERT TO PDF, PLEASE EMBED YOUR FONTS. HELP WITH THAT IS AVAILABLE HERE.
(N.B.: If your thesis or dissertation exists in multiple files, please see the next section.)
Windows
In Windows, you may need need additional software in order to convert a file to PDF. If you use Microsoft Office and there is an Adobe PDF menu item at the top of the window, just use that. If you don’t have that or any other already installed converter, we recommend the free software PrimoPDF. It works with a multitude of file formats, including MS Office formats. Here’s how to install and use it:
- Download the PrimoPDF installer from http://www.primopdf.com/.
- When prompted for a destination, navigate to your desktop and click OK.
- On the desktop, double-click the downloaded installer. Typically, the file is named FreewarePrimoPDF.exe.
- Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the installation.
- Then, open the Word document you wish to convert.
- Go to the File menu and select Print
- In the printer selection box, choose the option to print to “PrimoPDF”
- When the PrimoPDF software opens (it may take a little while), click on “Print” to make sure the PDF is saved as print-quality
- Click on Options, go to Creation -> General, make sure that the PDF Resolution is set to 300
- In the “Save As” field, choose “Ask when creating PDF” (see below for file naming conventions)
- Click on “Create PDF”
- If your thesis exists in multiple files, please see below.
Mac OS X
On a Mac, the conversion feature is built in. Just open the print dialogue (File menu, then Print, or cmd-P), and in the lower left hand corner choose “Save as PDF…” from the PDF menu.
Converting and combining multiple files
If your thesis or dissertation exists in multiple files, you must convert ALL of them, including the title page, bibliography and any appendices, to PDF. You must combine all of these files in the right order.
Windows
In Windows, you can combine files using PrimoPDF (see above), but you must do it while you’re converting them. To do so:
- Open the first file, convert it to PDF using instructions above
- For every subsequent file, follow the instructions above. Give each file the same name you gave the first file. When you click on “Create PDF,” you will be asked whether you want to overwrite the existing file, or append to it. Choose to append.
- Check twice to make sure that the pagination is correct, accounting for the signature page (see scanning instructions below)
Mac OS X
If you are working on a Mac, the Preview software included in the operating system allows you to put files together. To do so:
- Convert all your files to PDF using the instructions above
- Open the first PDF file
- Go to the File menu and choose “Save as…”
- Make sure to name the new file according to the naming conventions described below
- Make sure you can see the Sidebar in Preview; this is the vertical bar that shows you all pages in a file, in sequence. If you can’t see it, click on the Sidebar icon on top of the file. Scroll down to the end of the Sidebar.
- Keep that file open, and make sure you can see all your thesis PDF files in a Finder window.
- Drag subsequent files, one by one, from the Finder window to the end of the Sidebar. Each time you should see a red horizontal line where the file will be inserted. When you let go of the mouse button, all of that file’s pages are inserted in sequence.
- You may do the same thing with individual pages. Just open two PDF files in Preview, make sure you can see the Sidebar for each of them, then click and drag a page from one Sidebar to the other to copy it. Likewise, you may rearrange pages within a single file by dragging them to new positions within a single Sidebar.
- Check twice to make sure that the pagination is correct, accounting for the signature page (see scanning instructions below)
- Save the file.
File naming conventions
The file name, in all lowecase letters, should contain your last name, first name, degree and year of graduation, separated by underscores. The last two characters before “.pdf” must be numbers. The file containing the thesis or dissertation itself should be numbered 00. The signature page must be scanned in separately (see below). Its numeric code should be 99. So your file names will look something like this:
smith_john_thd_2008_00.pdf
OR
smith_john_thd_2008_99.pdf
Scanning the signature page
If you scan the signature page on your own, please scan as “combined text and images” instead of pure images; this will reduce the file size. Resolution should be 300dpi, or print quality. You must email us the thesis and the signature page together.
Where to send your files
Please email the files to sthdgtl@bu.edu. When we receive the thesis and make sure everything is there and properly formatted, we will email you an acknowledgment of receipt. If you do not receive this acknowledgment from the above-referenced email address, please contact us again and send a copy of the email to sthhelp@bu.edu.
Include in your email: all of the information from the title page of your thesis (no special formatting necessary); the number of files you are sending to us.
Miscellany
Tracking changes in Microsoft Word
Please make sure you are not tracking changes (they must not be showing) before you convert to PDF.
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