Submission Process – Upcoming Informational Presentations

Submission Process – Upcoming Informational Presentations

“Everything is ready to go, and I believe the formatting is perfect. I should get a degree just for that – haha!” – quotation from an NIU graduate student.

We agree with this student’s sentiment: getting a thesis or dissertation ready for submission can be a degree-worthy task! And for some of us, the same goes for submitting the thesis or dissertation electronically (at which point the document becomes an Electronic Thesis/Dissertation, or ETD).

For instance, did you know that your thesis or dissertation must be submitted with keywords for indexing? Do you know how to embed all fonts into your document before submitting to Proquest? Do you know who or what ProQuest is and does? Are you aware of your embargo options and when to use them? Are you planning to order bound copies of your project when you submit?

You must manage those tasks or choices as well as a few others when submitting your ETD. Knowing a little about the process before submitting really helps!

Our website offers detailed instructions about exactly what to do before, during, and after submission of your ETD. 

ProQuest, NIU's publishing partner for theses and dissertations, also includes many informative resources to help you through the steps of submission.

Even after looking through these materials, however, many still have questions about submitting their ETD. Carolyn Law, our Thesis Office Advisor, will demystify the entire process in our upcoming presentations, open to all NIU thesis and dissertation writers:

• The first session of “Demystifying the Submission Process” is Wednesday, June 8, from 2 – 4 PM in Founders Library room 297.
• The second session (same presentation – no need to attend both) is Wednesday, June 15, from 6 – 8 PM in Wirtz Hall, room 104.

We still have availability for either session, but we do ask that you register via email at thesis@niu.edu – please always include the name of the presentation and the date you wish to attend in any registration message.

If you can attend one of these sessions, I bet you'll feel much more comfortable with the process of submitting. If you are unable to attend, we will offer these presentations again in the fall. As you know, you may always contact your director or the Thesis Office for help as well. We hope to see you soon!

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Attracting traffic to a web site is admittedly the resource of a web site. Knowing the way to attract folks through keywords and proper placement of Meta information can pay off handsomely once characteristic your credentials to webmasters. {this is|this is often|this will be} one in all the best merchandising options that you just can give once submitting bids for any form of content writing. Most webmasters understand their services and merchandise well however once it involves SEO they're challenger. you would like to be initial best and if you're then you'll be in business.

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The Thesis and the Dissertation: Peas in a Pod

The Thesis and the Dissertation: Peas in a Pod

We call the document for the master’s degree a “thesis,” and the longer one for the doctorate a “dissertation,” and perhaps you wonder why.

Well, many thoughts on the nature of theses and dissertations have been buzzing through our office lately. Over the past four weeks, we held our fall slate of presentations, workshops, and brown-bag sessions for students working on one or the other kind of document. Several of our programs cover important details behind the Graduate School’s document-formatting requirements. When we look through these requirements closely, it becomes clear that they’re nearly identical for either a thesis or dissertation.

So, then, if the format looks nearly identical, what distinguishes the thesis from the dissertation? A glance at the histories of the two words makes for an interesting way to highlight some differences and similarities between these two important writing projects.

"How do I put it?"

Thesis writers, do you sometimes find yourself wondering how to put your ideas in writing while working on your project? If so, you're not only human (nearly all writers, at some point, wrestle with how to put thoughts on paper or screen) but also hinting at some of the history behind the word "thesis." Like many terms in academia, the words “thesis” and “dissertation” come to us from Greek through Latin. "Thesis" originally derives from the Indo-European root *dhe-, which had the meaning of ‘to set’ or ‘to put.’ The root later formed the central element in the Greek verb tithenai, meaning ‘to place, put, or set,’ as well as the noun thesis. In Latin, thesis referred to the unstressed and later the stressed syllables in a line of poetry. (Stress for thesis writers today is usually of a different nature!) In the English of the late 1500s, “thesis” began to refer to a statement to be proved through logic—in other words, a thesis statement. By the next century, the word’s meaning broadened to include what we in the twenty-first century think of when we speak of a master’s thesis--the formal document presented for the master’s degree.

Scholars at a lecture. Engraving by William Hogarth, 1736

"Contrary to what others have said, I argue that…"

Dissertators, when you explain your project, do you sometimes linger around that point where you need to arrange your thoughts to emphasize how your work stands apart from previous scholarship? Such efforts invoke something of the original spirit of the word "dissertation." It's rooted in the Latin verbs dissertare ‘to debate, argue, examine, harangue’ and disserere, a combination of dis- ‘apart’ and serere ‘to arrange.’ The etymology zeroes in on the general task doctoral candidates must carry out today: arrange an argument based on original evidence as well as on an examination of the surrounding scholarly debate, write it out clearly and convincingly at length, share it with the world, and live to tell about it. (Long sentence, longer ordeal!) The word began to refer to such a thing in the 1650s, around the same time "thesis" began to refer to a similar piece. According to the OED, the meaning of "dissertation" began to be restricted to the monograph produced for the doctorate in the 1930s.

Peas in a Pod

Thus, once established in academic circles, the terms "thesis" and "dissertation,” along with the documents they refer to, grew up alongside each other. No wonder, then, that their format requirements overlap and that we sometimes speak of these two types of documents in the same breath. But in addition to the etymological and historical hints at what these documents do, universities usually separate the two by degree and kind. The thesis is shorter and is a kind of knowledge display. The dissertation is longer and is a kind of original research and significant new contribution to a field.

Of course, the Graduate School also offers clear and succinct definitions for a thesis and a dissertation. Check them early and often. And you can always turn to us if you seek further information or guidance. We’re happy to help!

In case you missed one of our fall programs, note that we’ll be offering presentations, workshops, and brown bags once again at the start of the spring semester. In the meantime, we’re available through email, phone, or walk-in. And remember that our writing group for thesis and dissertation writers, Write Place/Write Time, meets on the second Thursday of every month from 6 to 9 p.m. in Founders Memorial Library (4th Floor East). Look for us there this coming Thursday, October 13. Happy writing!    

Demystifying the UWC's "Dissertate in Eight" Program

Demystifying the UWC's "Dissertate in Eight" Program

As you know, Project Thesis NIU aims to keep you informed of updated and valuable information relating to all aspects of theses and dissertations. You may also know that we occasionally invite guest bloggers to contribute to Project Thesis on topics relevant to graduate students today. 

So today, we are happy to present you with a guest blog written by Gail Jacky, director of NIU’s University Writing Center. Please read her post below about a great summer opportunity, “Dissertate in Eight,” the UWC’s “Boot Camp” for Thesis and Dissertation Writers.

Pick a topic, write a proposal, defend the proposal, conduct the research, write up the findings, discuss the findings, defend the dissertation/thesis, format the dissertation/thesis, submit the dissertation/thesis to the Graduate School, and glide/stomp across the stage for hooding. How challenging can that be??????? Well, just as Dorothy and her friends ventured off to the Emerald City with trepidation, “Lions and tigers and bears – Oh My!,” the journey toward completion of a dissertation/thesis can also be fraught with unknowns and, yes, sometimes even a little fear.

Stevenson Towers B is Shown at Left

If you are seeking a way to demystify – okay, some would say “survive” – that process, please join the staff of the University Writing Center (UWC - Stevenson Towers B) for the 7th annual Dissertate in Eight boot camp June 15 to August 3, 2016. 

From 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. each Wednesday afternoon, speakers present some facet of the dissertation/thesis process per the following schedule:

• Navigating the dissertation/thesis journey (6/15)
• Determining what a dissertation/thesis looks like (6/22)
• Understanding conflict resolution/negotiation strategies (6/29)
• Employing graphics in your document (7/06)
• Employing quantitative and/or qualitative methodologies (7/13)
• Incorporating sources and maintaining your voice (7/20)
• Meeting the Graduate School reader (7/27)
• Preparing for the defense (8/3)

The discussions are conducted by the UWC staff and/or individuals who have completed their dissertations within the past academic year. The premise being – they made it, so can you!

Participants generally also take advantage of the rest of Wednesday afternoon, and sometimes the mornings as well, by working independently, connecting with the other participants, or scheduling sessions with the UWC writing coaches to discuss their ideas, organization, coding, etc. – you choose the focus, we provide the support.

Participants also often seek feedback on their writing and/or help finding sources. The UWC coaches love working with writers and are great sounding boards and resources. Many of this summer’s coaches are currently writing their own dissertations, so they can definitely support, and probably commiserate with, you.

Registration is required, and because of the size of the room the number of participants is limited to 30. The registration link is found on the UWC website . Applications are due by June 1. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at gjacky@niu.edu or 815-753-6336. I am the person behind the curtain, and I am ready to help you!

If you cannot attend the boot camp, you are always welcome to use the UWC services at other times: summer hours are M-Th, 9 to 4:30.

Reason for apply to the same university

Many people selected colleges supported sure motivations, such as:
1.) The status value: “I studied at Harvard”
2.) To continue a family tradition: “my father visited Duke, thus i'll be aiming to Duke”
3.) It’s near home, OR its far from home.
4.) it's the program or specialization you're yearning for
5.) it would have the extra-curricular activities you're yearning for (a smart crew team, word of farewell life etc.)
What’s very fascinating, is however if you were asked to call all the schools you'll consider within the U.S., you'd most likely be ready to come back up with somewhere between thirty and fifty names. If another random trespasser were asked to try to to constant, he would most likely conjointly come back up with roughly constant range. once we would compared the 2 lists there would be a minimum of twenty five overlaps.
Most people applying to varsity ar sometimes applying to constant colleges – the faculties that have high of mind recall, your Harvards and MITs of the globe. solely often somebody can mention some state colleges and even less oftentimes perhaps some smaller colleges.
This gives the larger colleges lots of weight and this is often why they will be thus selective. consider it this way: what percentage folks does one assume ar aiming to be applying to Harvard this year for his or her undergrad? Even even as a ball park figure, maybe 40,000? what percentage of those forty,000 folks does one assume are accepted? Ball parking once more, say 4,000? Those thirty six,000 those who won't be accepted is why Harvard will selected to be thus selective – it's such an oversized pool of potential students to selected from, which is why Harvard during this example will have ridiculous entrance necessities, as a result of it is aware of {it can|it'll} realize those that will fulfill them.
Now let’s consider one thing else. what percentage universities ar there truly within the US? 1000? 2000? There ar if truth be told over 4000 colleges within the USA alone! nevertheless we are able to solely recall fifty! And virtually most are applying to those self same 50 colleges over and once again. You’re most likely thinking “Okay thus there ar 4000 colleges, however its not like those 4000 colleges ar all smart, otherwise i'd have detected concerning them”. honest enough. Let’s consider one thing else, lets for the sake of argument, say out of these four,000 colleges, 0.5 - that’s 2000 colleges - ar simply dangerous. they're the kind {of colleges|of faculties|of colleges} folks don’t need their youngsters applying to and children don’t need to travel to those schools. what percentage will that also leave U.S. with? or so one,950 that ar tight, most of them ar smart, and a few of them ar even terribly good! Why don’t folks apply to them? as a result of they don’t even consider a world on the far side the highest fifty.
These 1,950 colleges ar nice colleges, they offer you a good education, they place you {in a|during a|in an exceedingly|in a terribly} very competitive position after you do graduate and ar yearning for employment. they're smart colleges. Students got to conjointly break the monopoly of the massive fifty and appearance at a number of the less far-famed (but even as good) colleges.
If you're applying, or thinking of applying, do your analysis, there ar some nice sites on the net that permit you are doing searches on all of the faculties we've got spoken concerning and might be filtered by program, size, location, fees, essentially each criteria you'll be able to consider, to administer you an inventory of 50-100 colleges that you just will work with and realize what you actually need to try to to.
We will be light a number of these tools within the future, thus do check back!
Happy hunting!