Final Submissions

The final version of your dissertation is due no later than 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 24. Earlier submissions are welcome! Remember to register for the Survey of Earned Doctorates.

Submitting Your Dissertation

Before you submit your dissertation, your dissertation defense must occur. Next, you must complete all changes recommended by the dissertation committee. Then you should proofread and copy edit your dissertation. You must complete all changes before you ask your department for approval. Ask your graduate program administrator how much advance notice is required for the departmental review.

Departments must review and approve your dissertation before you submit your final version. After your dissertation is in its final form and it has been approved by your department, you may submit your dissertation.

  1. Go to Knowledge@UChicago
  2. Click on Submit
  3. Choose Dissertation.
  4. Log in with your CNetID, and then complete the form.
  5. You will be asked for the following information.

Dissertation Submission Guidelines

Creator Information

Author & University/institution name*

  • Enter your name in Last name, First name order.
  • In the University/institution field enter “University of Chicago”
  • If you have an ORCID ID, enter it in the Identifier subfield in the form of a URL, i.e., beginning with https://orcid.org/… Choose ORCID in the Identifier Type drop-down menu.

Division*

  • Select the Division(s) and/or School(s) from which you will receive your degree.

Department

  • Select the academic department and/or committee within the Division(s) from which you will receive your degree.
  • Do not enter a program within a School.

Center or Institute

  • You do not need to complete this field for a dissertation.

Advisor*

  • Enter advisor names in the natural order (Firstname M. I. Lastname). Any variation of the prefix “Doctor” or “Professor” should not be used in this field.

Committee Members

  • Enter names of committee members in the natural order (Firstname M. I. Lastname). Any variation of the prefix “Doctor” or “Professor” should not be used in this field.

Item Information

Title*

  • Enter dissertation titles in title case, e.g. "Title Case." This means you must use both upper and lower case. Title case is used in the convocation program and is also known as headline style. See The Chicago Manual of Style for examples.
  • Use HTML tags as needed for formatting.
    • The tags for italics are: <i>...</i>
    • The tags for subscript are: <sub>...</sub>
    • The tags for superscript are: <sup>...</sup>

Abstract*

  • Your abstract should be approximately 300-500 words long.
  • Use HTML tags as needed for formatting.
    • The tags for separate paragraphs are <p>...</p>
  • For theses and dissertations with math equations or symbols, MathJax rendering is activated for Knowledge. If there are two dollar signs ($) in the abstract, the text between them will be rendered as a single MathJax entity and look different than the rest of the abstract. To prevent this issue, remove the dollar signs and add “dollar(s)” in the abstract as appropriate, e.g., change “the price was $56 overseas two years ago but $108 in the country” to “the price was 56 dollars overseas two years ago but 108 dollars in the country.”

Date*

  • Enter your degree date as yyyy-mm. For this academic year, you will enter either 2024-08, 2024-12, 2025-03, or 2025-06.

Keywords

  • Each keyword should have its own entry. Do not enter a list of keywords as one entry even when they are separated by semicolons. Enter at least two (2) keywords and a maximum of six (6).

Related Resources

  • You do not need to complete this field for a dissertation. Students might use this field to attach a website or video created specifically for their submission. The drop down “Submission is supplemented by” should be selected for any related resource entered in this field.

Language

  • Leave the default value as is unless the dissertation is written in a language other than English.

Degree Type*

  • Choose J.S.D. or Ph.D. from the drop-down menu.

Notes

  • You do not need to complete this field. Notes entered here will be viewable on Knowledge@UChicago.

Resource Acknowledgements

Funding Information

  • This section is optional as not all students receive funding for their dissertation research.
  • Abbreviations should be spelled out. For example, NIH is National Institutes of Health, NSF is National Science Foundation.

Other Resources

  • Dissertation authors do not need to complete this field.

License Information

Creative Commons License

On the drop-down menu, students should choose the license type that they prefer. Here is a helpful resource to better understand the various Creative Commons License types: https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/cclicenses.

Copyright Statement

This should be entered in the following format:

© [year] [firstname lastname]., i.e. © 2024 John Doe.

I Grant the Distribution License*

“I agree” must be selected in order to submit to the repository.

Identifiers

Generate new DOI*

Check this box to generate a persistent identifier for your thesis or dissertation

Other identifiers

Dissertation authors do not complete this field.

Notes

Administrative notes

For internal use only. Dissertation authors should not complete this field.

File Uploads

Dissertation PDF
Oftentimes, a thesis or dissertation will be submitted without any additional files. Attach the file in PDF format and choose the appropriate access level for the document under Access. Learn more about the different types of Access in Knowledge@UChicago here.

Supplementary Files
If a thesis or dissertation has a supplementary file, upload the thesis or dissertation file first and describe it as “Thesis” or “Dissertation” in its description field. Then, upload the supplementary file using the descriptor “Supporting information” in the description field.

Departmental Approval Form
Your dissertation is not considered filed without the correct, completed Departmental Approval Form, signed by the department chair. Joint or dual degrees require signatures from both programs. Each dissertation needs to have an approval form attached signifying that the dissertation has been approved for upload. This will be approved by the department’s program director or equivalent The Access level for this type of file will be “Restricted to Admin Use” and Description “Approval Form”.

Permission for Content Use
If any content is used that is not the property of the student submitter, documentation permitting re-use of the content must be attached to the record. These types of files can be described as “Permissions” and can be zipped into one file.

Manage File Metadata

Files uploaded will appear in this section, and the metadata may be edited.

Wait to Hear from the Dissertation Office

Check your email on a daily basis.  We will let you know if we need additional material from you, and we will let you know when your submission is complete and in order.