Dissertation Office

The Dissertation Office will be closed during the interim between quarters, June 3-June 11.

Spring Quarter Doctoral Candidates: Please remain in contact with our office. We may have questions, and we will be in touch. Check your email regularly in case we need additional material from you. You should also check that messages from the ETD system are not filtered out as spam.

Summer Quarter Doctoral Candidates: Before Summer Quarter begins, you should review the University-Wide Requirements for the Ph.D. Dissertation and let us know if you have questions about the formatting requirements.

  • If your dissertation includes material protected by copyright and your use goes beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright holder to include the material. You should take care of this prior to the quarter you plan to graduate.
  • Register for an optional information session explaining Dissertation Procedures for Students.
  • Schedule your defense. The defense (and any revisions recommended by your dissertation committee) must occur before your department approves your dissertation and before you submit the final version to the Dissertation Office.
  • Do not submit your dissertation until after Spring Quarter ends.

The Dissertation Office provides information on the University's dissertation policies. We help doctoral students understand dissertation formatting and publication requirements, and we assist with the submission process. We support graduate program administrators as they manage dissertation submissions and departmental approval, and we audit completed dissertation submissions to ensure they meet University requirements. We coordinate dissertation publishing and embargoes with ProQuest and with Knowledge@UChicago. Our office is Room 309 on the third floor of Regenstein Library.