Thesis & Dissertation Submission Procedures

Important Instructions for Theses/Dissertations: 

1. Consult the appropriate guide
   1. Students completing a Master's with the thesis option should review the Master's Thesis Guide for specific requirements prior to submitting their final thesis. The guide includes details on electronic submission of the thesis, as well as the review and approval process.
   2. D.Sc. and Ph.D. students should review the Doctoral Dissertation Guide for specific requirements prior to submitting their final dissertation. The guide includes details on electronic submission of the dissertation, as well as the review and approval process.
2. Format your thesis/dissertation
   • Students are required to format their documents according to the McKelvey Thesis and Dissertation Guidelines prior to submission. Students may use the school's officially supported LaTeX template or the McKelvey Dissertation and Thesis Word Template as a starting point.
3. Students may optionally submit a draft (PDF or WORD) copy of their thesis/dissertation to McKelveyRegistrar@wustl.edu prior to their defense date, for a format review. However, they should not submit any documents to the publication website until they have successfully defended. Pre-defense reviews are subject to availability. 
4. Final oral defense
   • Students must successfully defend their thesis/dissertation before the stated deadline in the McKelvey Academic Calendar. All committee members must sign a completed final oral exam form before submitting the final thesis/dissertation for publication. The student's departmental administrator will send the form to the McKelvey Registrars.

See the Forms page for applicable forms.

Master's Thesis Submission

Master's students will submit their final theses through the Washington University Library's Open Scholarship website at the link below (submission instructions can be found here). Students should review the Master's Thesis Guide or consult with their department administrator before submitting.

Master's electronic submission

Doctoral Dissertation Submission

Doctoral students submit their final dissertations to ProQuest at the link below. For more information, students should review the Doctoral Dissertation Guide or consult with their department administrator. See guide for submission instructions.

Ph.D./D.Sc. electronic submission

Note: Doctoral students must also submit an online Survey of Earned Doctorates form. The completion of this survey is a graduation requirement, so please plan to complete the survey prior to the dissertation deadline. Ph.D. students should complete the Post-Graduate Job Survey.

Thesis-on-Demand (TOD)

McKelvey Engineering students may order copies of their thesis/dissertation to be copied and bound only after they have received final approval of their online submission. Refer to the appropriate guide for more information.