Submission of Dissertation or Doctoral Project

PhD and DNP students must follow these steps. As of April 2020, most departments are using DocuSign for the forms linked below. Check with your department before printing or filling out a form. The links below connect to the forms on the Academic Forms page that were used before 2020, for reference.

Pre-Defense Forms

1. The Doctoral Dissertation/Project Reviewers Report (MS Word) (PDF) must be signed by your committee and advisor and received by the Graduate School at least one week prior to your defense date. At the same time, email your dissertation title and abstract to gradstudentservices@georgetown.edu.
2. Follow your program’s policies and procedures for defending your dissertation.
3. If you will need a letter confirming completion of all degree requirements for an employer, alert gradstudentservices@georgetown.edu along with the deadline. The letter can be issued after formatting review is complete.

Post-Defense Actions and Forms

1. Check the Requirements for Dissertation, Doctoral Project and Thesis Writers formatting requirements document before uploading your dissertation/doctoral project.
2. After you have defended and completed any other steps required by your program, submit the Cover Sheet (MS Word) (PDF) with all the appropriate signatures and the ETD Release Form form (MSWord) (PDF) to the Academic Affairs team in the Graduate School Dean’s Office at gradstudentservices@georgetown.edu
3. Create a profile on the ProQuest site and upload the PDF of your thesis, so that the Graduate School can begin formatting review once the cover sheet and ETD form are received. The deadlines for this initial upload are:
   • April 22, 2025 for spring graduation
   • August 18, 2025 for summer graduation
   • December 12, 2025 for fall graduation

ProQuest Submission Process

1. Create a profile and upload the PDF of your dissertation or Doctoral Project to the ProQuest site for formatting review by the Graduate School. Setting up the ProQuest profile and submission requires a number of decisions. The Library has information about uploading Dissertations, Doctoral Projects, and Theses into ProQuest. You can also check the Resources & Guidelines section of the ProQuest website for instructions on using the site. Additional information on copyright, publishing options and other topics is available on Lauinger Library’s Scholarly Communication website.
2. You will receive an email from an email address (etdadministrator@proquest.com) detailing the required formatting edits. Complete the edits and upload the new version of the PDF. There will likely be more than one round of edits. The best approach to streamlining the review process is to read the formatting requirements document and then modify your document accordingly before uploading it.
   • For LaTeX template users: Note that the LaTeX template handles many issues, but not all:
     • The Abstract must not appear in the Table of Contents.
     • All figures, tables and equations must fit within the regular page margins.
     • Capitalization is not controlled in headings and subheadings.
     • Even though subheadings appear in SMALL CAPS, capitalization still matters.
     • All subheadings at each level and across chapters must be capitalized in the same way.
     • Figure numbers and titles must appear UNDER the figures.
     • Table numbers and titles must appear ABOVE the tables.
3. These edits must be completed and the dissertation or doctoral project accepted by the Graduate School by the following dates for each graduation month. If it is not, your dissertation will not be accepted and you will not be eligible to graduate in that month.

Uploading and Completion Deadlines

Graduation in May 2025: The initial deadline to upload your thesis is April 22, 2025. The PDF of your thesis must be accepted by the Graduate School, after completing formatting review, by 6:00pm on May 1, 2025, in order to graduate in May.

Graduation in August 2025: The deadline to upload your thesis to the ProQuest site is August 18, 2025. All above steps must be completed and your thesis accepted by the Graduate School by by 6:00pm on August 15, 2025, in order to graduate in August

Graduation in December 2025: The deadline to upload your thesis to the ProQuest site is December 12, 2025. All above steps must be completed and your thesis accepted by the Graduate School by close of business on December 19, 2025, in order to graduate in December.