Graduate Thesis Submission Guide

All theses submitted to Pratt’s ETD will eventually be discoverable in ProQuest Theses and Dissertations Global (PQDT).  PQDT is a subscription database and is the largest repository of graduate dissertations and theses. It includes millions of works from thousands of universities. Full-text coverage spans from 1743 to the present, with citation coverage dating back to 1637. Access to PQDT is limited to subscribing institutions.

Once a work is submitted to the ETD, ProQuest will generate machine readable PDFs and create catalog records.    

Any work submitted to PQDT will automatically become available via Google Scholar as well, which expands its discoverability to researchers worldwide! 

For questions about Pratt student theses submitted prior to 2021 please consult this research guide. 

Using PQDT as a digital repository makes it easier for libraries to preserve and provide continued access to student theses and dissertations. 

This level of access also applies for the vision-imparied because the PDFs created from the original electronic document are readable by transcription software.  

Lastly, having your work included in this database makes it easier for researchers to discover and appreciate your work!

When theses and dissertations are submitted to PQDT they ultimately become part of a  valuable conversation referred to as “Scholarly Communication”.  The Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) defines this as “ "the system through which research and other scholarly writings are created, evaluated for quality, disseminated to the scholarly community, and preserved for future use. The system includes both formal means of communication, such as publication in peer-reviewed journals, and informal channels, such as electronic listservs."

Image courtesy of ACRL Libguides https://acrl.libguides.com/scholcomm/toolkit/home

Pratt Institute encourages the publication of graduate theses and dissertations in the interests of open dissemination of research results and scholarship. 

Occasionally, a graduate student may have a need to request a thesis or dissertation embargo for up to 2 years. 

Why would you need to do this? ProQuest provides the following reasons in their manual:

• Patentable rights in the work or other issues in which disclosure may be detrimental to the rights or interests of the author.

• The ethical need to prevent disclosure of sensitive or classified information about persons, institutions, technologies, etc.

• The interest of an academic or commercial press in acquiring the rights to publish your dissertation or thesis as a book.

• Content that is likely to be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal.

If an embargo is needed for any of these reasons make sure to select “No” under the question “Delaying release in ProQuest” during the submission process and follow the prompts.