Thesis & Dissertation

Welcome to the Northern Illinois University Graduate School Thesis and Dissertation webpage. The resources here will help you prepare and submit your thesis or dissertation.

All theses and dissertations must be submitted electronically. We use the acronym ETD to refer to electronic theses and dissertations in all our resources and support materials.

All students must prepare their papers according to the
Guidelines for Preparing and Submitting ETDs at NIU.

Note: As of July 1, 2012, the left margins of all ETDs must measure at least one inch. This is a change from the previous formatting requirements.

ETDs have many advantages, including:

• Ease of access. Students may submit work from any online computer anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day.
• Saves paper. The process after defense is completely paperless. (Doctoral students must still present a hardcopy draft version to the Associate Dean 3 weeks prior to the defense.)
• Saves cash. There is no fee to deposit ETDs with ProQuest, the nation's largest repository of graduate student scholarship. Students save the cost of reproducing final copies on expensive paper. Students may select additional services and products for a fee during the submission process, but these are entirely optional. The required submission is free.
• More flexible. ETDs allow for color graphics, animation, sound and video, and hyperlinks, none of which was possible with paper reproduction or microfilm.
• Widest possible distribution. You choose your level of accessibility, from traditional (royalties paying) to full-text web access with widest possible online searchability. See the Publishing Agreement for details on these options.