INSTRUCTIONS FOR PREPARATION OF Etd Grad

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INSTRUCTIONS
For Preparation Of

MASTERS THESES
and
DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS

SOUTHWESTERN GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER AT DALLAS

Revised, Fall 2016

GENERAL GUIDELINES
FOR THE CONTENT AND ORGANIZATION OF Ph.D. DISSERTATION
The dissertation is to be a scholarly document. It must reflect the student’s thoughts, words and
deeds. Data presented are to be from experiments conducted by the student. The results of the dissertation
research should represent an original contribution to knowledge in the field. The student is the sole author
of the dissertation and thus must assume responsibility for its integrity.
More so than is the case for publication in scientific journals, the student has the opportunity to
explore alternate interpretations in depth, to point out nuances or idiosyncrasies of methods and to discuss
the meaning of “failed” experiments. The dissertation should be viewed as a very personal account of the
development of a line of research. “We” is not the appropriate pronoun to use. The document should
serve as a rich source of detailed information for those who will follow in further development of the
project.
The organization of the dissertation will depend in large part on the specific circumstances.
However, every student is expected to provide a critical review of the literature of the topic area,
culminating in a statement of the hypothesis to be tested in the research to be presented.
The methods of investigation should be described in detail at an appropriate point within the
document. Reference to descriptions of methods to the exclusion of a detailed presentation published in
the dissertation should be avoided except for standard procedures used without modification. Data
presented should be generated by the student. In instances when data from other sources are presented,
e.g., data generated by a technician working under the direct supervision of the student, or the data of
others presented for purposes of reference or comparison, such data should be clearly marked as to
source.
Sometimes a copy of a published paper may be used as a chapter in the results section of the
dissertation. In so doing, the general guidelines stated above must be adhered to. The paper must have
been authored by the student alone, or the student and mentor; the experimental results must be
exclusively those of the student.
A part of the dissertation should present a critical discussion of the overall significance of the
work. Suggestions for future directions of research based on the dissertation research findings should be
included.
In an ideal situation, students should take time away from active laboratory work to collect their
thoughts, reexamine the literature and prepare the dissertation.

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ARRANGEMENT
Each dissertation or thesis should normally be arranged as follows:
Title-Fly – for title and listing of committee members. See sample, page 11.
Do count this page in numbering.
Dedication
Title Page – see sample, page 12.
Copyright – see sample, page 13.
Abstract – see sample, page 14.
Table of Contents
Prior Publications
List of Figures / List of Tables / List of Appendices – each figure, table and appendix should be listed
by title and page number.
List of Abbreviations
Text – should be divided into as many books, chapters or sections as necessary.
Appendices
Bibliography – in general, references should be listed according to the alphabetical order of the author’s
names, using a format like that used by a major journal in the field. The supervising professor should be
consulted about special forms preferred.

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GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS
What is your official name?
The candidate for the masters or doctoral degree must use the same name on all materials exactly
as it appears on the official transcript of The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.
If the candidate has recently had a name change, then this change will need to be updated in two
systems on campus. (Unfortunately, neither system “talks” to each other, so the separate requests will
need to be made.)
The first system is PeopleSoft, and changes will usually be handled through the Registrar’s
Office, a division of Student and Alumni Affairs. Changing names in this system ensures that the new
name is accurately reflected on official documents.
The second system is Microsoft Outlook, and changes to this system are handled by the Services
Access Management (SAM) group in Information Resources (IR). Changing the name in this system
ensures that the display name and email alias are correctly applied in the UT Southwestern Electronic
Thesis & Dissertation Submission System, which is also known as Vireo. To make this change, the
candidate will need to submit a ticket to change the display name and email alias by either calling the IR
Service Desk at 8-7600 or emailing SERVICEDESK. Note: There is usually a seven-day processing time
for SAM requests.
Title of thesis/dissertation
Your thesis/dissertation can be a valuable reference and research source for scholars, providing it
can be located easily. Retrieval is accomplished by matching key words selected by scholars and
researchers to keywords in your title. These are English language words common to a given field of
interest. It is, therefore, of utmost importance that the words you use in the title of your thesis/dissertation
are meaningful and descriptive of its contents.
In the title of scientific and engineering theses/dissertations word substitutes for formulas,
symbols, superscripts or subscripts, Greek letters, etc. should be used. For example, “Fission-Fragment
Synthesis of K3MN (CN) 6” is written “Fission-Fragment Synthesis of Potassium Manganicyanide.”
Organization of the text
The student’s supervising professor should be consulted throughout the process of organizing
research findings and drafting the thesis or dissertation, and his/her advice adhered to in such matters.
Various overall organization plans are appropriate. All dissertations and theses should have a general
introduction/literature review and a general discussion/conclusion as separate chapters.

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Where a document contains several separate studies, each project may be presented as a separate
chapter, each with its own specialized introduction, methods, results and discussion. Where a document
contains several stages in the analysis of a single project, there may be a single chapter for all methods
and then each section of the study can be presented as a single chapter devoted to the presentation and
explanation of the experimental design, results and specific discussion of those findings.
Margins and spacing
Margins should be 1 inch and be maintained through the body of work. Double-spacing is
standard but 1½ inch spacing may be used. Each paragraph should be indented eight to ten spaces. Prose
quotations over four lines should be in block quote and single-spaced, indented on the left side only.
Quotation marks are not to be used if the quotation is single-spaced, except for quotations within the
block quote.
Numbering of pages
No page number should appear on the title-fly (signature page), copyright page, dedication page,
or title page, although all should be included in the counting. Be sure to count every sheet that is part of
the dissertation or thesis, even if it has only one word on it. Beginning with the abstract, all pages should
be numbered according to the following method: preliminary pages (abstract and table of contents) may
be numbered in lower-case Roman numerals (e.g. the preface would start on page v. if both copyright and
dedication are used). The counting starts over beginning with the first page of Chapter I, and Arabic
numerals should be used, i.e., the first page of Chapter I is page 1.
Page numbers must be placed one inch from the top and right edges of the sheet, except on the
first pages of (a) the preface, (b) the table of contents, (c) each new chapter or major section of the text,
(d) appendices and (e) the bibliography. On these pages, the numbers are to be centered one inch from the
bottom of the page. All Roman numerals should be centered at the bottom of the page. Legend or title
pages that face illustrations or figures, if numbered, should have their page numbers one inch from the top
and left edge of the sheet. Only the front of each page should be numbered.
Dissertation abstracts
The abstract should be a succinct account of the dissertation, indicating its significance as a piece
of research. It should be a continuous résumé, not disconnected notes or an outline, and should not exceed
350 words in length.

[5]

Most abstracts contain:
1)
2)
3)
4)

Statement of the Problem
Procedure or Methods
Results
Conclusions

The candidate must make certain that the abstract title is the same as the title on the finished
dissertation. Mathematical formulas and words in foreign languages should be set down clearly and
accurately so that they may be printed without error; otherwise the abstract may be withheld temporarily
from publication until the author can be queried. Abstracts must follow the format shown on page 13.
Please note that abbreviations are not permitted in the text of the abstract.
Tables and illustrations
Tables, maps, graphs and illustrations are to come within the limits of the page margins already
mentioned. Figures and tables may be collected at the end of a chapter or interspersed with the text. A
figure or table may be on a text page or within the text if the figure and its legend take up less than half of
the page. Legends should be singled-spaced. The legend should be positioned directly under the figure; if
its size does not allow for this then the following page should be used.
Footnote citations, references and bibliography
Any standardized form for footnote citations or references and bibliography is acceptable if
approved by the supervising professor and followed consistently. Footnote citations or references should
be sufficiently exact to enable the reader to find the source with ease. The bibliography should indicate
materials actually used (and the edition, if that used is not the first). By this means, accuracy of quotation
and citation may be readily verified. Numerous manuals of style are available, such as Turabian’s
A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses and Dissertations, Bolker’s The Page You Made: Writing
Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day and Goodman’s The Chicago Manual of Style.
Besides this necessary advice and the use of standard writing manuals, the student may find help
by considering the practice of one of the major learned journals in the field or the form of a recent
authoritative book on a related subject. Having decided upon the method of research presentation and
mechanics of form, the student should remember that accuracy and consistency are the all-important
matters.
Appendices
Sometimes a thesis/dissertation contains collections of data that support the study but are not
necessary to be part of the main presentation (e.g., extensive sets of micrographs, original computer

[6]

programs, collected crystallography or spectroscopy data, etc.). Such information may be included in the
thesis/dissertation as appendices.
Copyright
Copyright may be arranged if the student so desires. It is not required, and an additional fee is
assessed. For those who wish to have their theses/dissertations copyrighted, please refer to Lloyd J. Jassin
and Steve C. Schecter’s The Copyright Permission and Libel Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide for
Writers, Editors and Publishers, Jessica Litman’s Digital Copyright: Protecting Intellectual Property on
the Internet or Edward Samuel’s The Illustrated Story of Copyright.
Because the work will be accessible through the Internet, writers of theses/dissertations will be
held fully responsible for their use of any copyrighted materials in their manuscripts. Accordingly, all
candidates for degrees are hereby cautioned that they must obtain written permission for the use of any
copyrighted materials in their theses/dissertations.
If you copyright, a separate copyright page must be included in each copy of the
thesis/dissertation, giving complete legal name and year of graduation. Those interested in copyrighting
their ETD can download the necessary information at http://copyright.gov/forms/formtx.pdf. The student
should submit the form directly to the Library of Congress.

PREPARATION OF THE ETD
Both South and North Campus Libraries have computers available for students to use in preparing
their ETDs, and these computers include the following software applications: Microsoft Office, EndNote,
MATLAB, SAS, SPSS, GraphPad Prism, Abobe Creative Suite, and Acrobact Reader. (Note: Some
software may be installed only on specific workstations; consult the South Campus Library and North
Campus Library floorplans for specific software locations.)
The Library has designated staff to assist with preparing and converting ETDs; please contact Jon
Crossno either by phone at 8-2562 or by email at jon.crossno@utsouthwestern.edu . (Please note: Library
staff will not complete the conversion process for the student.) The process to convert files to the Adobe
Postscript Document Format (PDF) format is a valuable tool required by graduate students in all research
aspects of science and is therefore an essential, learned skill.
Style and Format
Students should choose a commonly used typescript, or font, such as Times or Helvetica, and
should not use a font that is proprietary for a specific program. They should use Symbol font for Greek
letters or other specialized characters, if possible. Use the preference setting within Acrobat to embed the

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fonts. If the student has some concerns about specific characters or formatting issues, he/she should test
the PDF document on different computers to be sure the characters are read properly.
Color is encouraged in figures since it often helps readability and understanding. Common
formats for illustrations (e.g., CGM, GIF, JPG, PDF or TIF) should be used. Students should keep in
mind the possibility of a reader printing the document in black and white; in this case, the information
provided in color may be lost. Therefore, students are encouraged to verify the retention of information by
printing important color figures in black and white.
Multimedia
Multimedia content – sound, movies, etc. – should be submitted as separate files. The multimedia
files must be in formats that can be read by common applications that are readily available across
platforms without charge (e.g., video: MPG, QT, MOV; audio: AIF, MIDI and SND). The Library
consultants will provide relevant updates to this information. Links to these files from the main PDF
document can be made, assuming they are in the same subdirectory, or folder.

The First Step
For the greatest ease in producing an ETD, it is suggested that students obtain the Microsoft
Word master document, or style template, from the Library consultants and install it on their computer.
This template is also available on the Library's Electronic Theses and Dissertations Portal
(http://library.utsouthwestern.edu/portals/etd.cfm) and has been developed to streamline the conversion of
the Word document to PDF. Please note there are three templates on the Library’s ETD site; be sure to
use the Graduate School template and NOT the ones posted for use by medical or health professions
students.
The template is formatted according to the guidelines of these instructions. If a working
document has already been prepared to conform to the graduate school's formatting guidelines, then it
might be necessary to clear any existing formatting that might conflict with the template's formatting.
This can be done by copying the text from the original document and then placing the cursor in the
destination document and right-clicking the mouse button. Select either “Merge Formatting” or “Keep
Text Only” under “Paste Options”. Alternately, the text may be copied into an ASCII text editor before
pasting it into the destination document; PC users may use Notepad, and Macintosh users should use
TextEdit or SimpleText.

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Conversion to PDF
Once the document has been placed into the template, it is now ready to be converted into PDF.
Automatic conversion of documents is possible on a PC directly within Microsoft Word (version 2010 or
above) by clicking on the File tab, selecting “Export” from the menu on the left, and then clicking on the
“Create PDF/XPS” button.
To automatically generate a list of navigational bookmarks from the template, click on the
“Options…” button in the “Save As” dialog window. Then, select the checkbox next to “Create
bookmarks using” and make sure that “Headings” is selected. (Note: If the checkbox is grayed out and
can’t be selected, that means that the Word document does not have any active chapter headings.)
To convert a document from Word on a Macintosh (OS X), select “Save As” from the File menu
and select “PDF” as the file type. Please note that this only converts the file to a basic PDF file;
adjustments of image resolution and assignment of navigational bookmarks will require the full version of
Adobe Acrobat.
The Library's consultants are available to assist with any step in this process.

Submission of the ETD
A PDF file of your thesis/dissertation will be submitted online through UT Southwestern
Electronic Thesis & Dissertation Submission System (Vireo), which is available at https://utswmedetd.tdl.org/. You will log in with your UTSW ID. During the submission process, there will be an
opportunity to include your abstract, which may be cut and pasted from your original word document.
During the process, you will be asked to indicate an “embargo” preference for your
thesis/dissertation. The embargo determines when submissions are published to – and become publicly
available in – the UT Southwestern Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection, which is part of the
UT Southwestern Institutional Repository and is available at https://repositories.tdl.org/utswmedir/handle/2152.5/203. Available embargo options include:


“Two Year Embargo” means that the thesis/dissertation will be delayed for publication
by two years from degree conferral; this is the default preference for all submissions.
o

An optional one-year extension of the two-year embargo may also be available,
but this request must be submitted in writing to the Graduate School before the
two-year embargo expires.



“None” means that the thesis/dissertation will be published after degree conferral.



“Permanent Embargo” means that the thesis/dissertation will never become publicly
available.

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As mentioned above, the two-year embargo is preferred by the Graduate School; however, if any
other option is chosen, your mentor must be in agreement. Please refer to the Student Help Guide for
instructions on the on-line submission process.
Once you have submitted your document, an administrator in the Dean’s Office will check it for
possible formatting issues and will notify you whether any changes are required. She will let you know
when your document is approved.

Additional requirements
1.) Report of Final Oral Exam, signed by your Committee Members and the Chair of your
graduate program. (Signed document may be scanned and emailed to ________________ )
2.) Survey of Earned Doctorates – must be completed on-line.
https:\\sed.norc.org\survey
3.) Payment of $120 Diploma Fee – to be paid on-line via PeopleSoft Student Self-Service or by
check at Office of Student Accounting, B Bldg., Ground Floor

Citing your ETD
An ETD is not publicly available until the embargo expires. At that time, the ETD is published in
the UT Southwestern Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection, and a citable URI is assigned.
Contact the Graduate Office at 214-633-1319 if no citable URI is available, or if you no longer have a
Southwestern ID.

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TITLE OF DISSERTATION
(13 spaces down from top, in capital letters, double spaced, and inverted
pyramid form, if more than one line long)

APPROVED BY SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE
(14 spaces down)

NOTE: The top line is for the
Supervising Professor’s signature. There
should be as many lines as there are
members of the committee. All
signatures must be original and in ink.
Adjust “Approved by Supervisory
Committee” line upward if the
committee list is very large.

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TITLE OF DISSERTATION
(8 spaces down, in capital letters, double spaced, and inverted
pyramid form if more than one line long)

(5 spaces)
by
(3 spaces)
STUDENT’S FULL OFFICIAL NAME

(8 spaces)
DISSERTATION /THESIS

Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Degree of

(4 spaces)
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY / MASTER OF SCIENCE / MASTER OF ARTS

The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas
Dallas, Texas
June, 2002
(Degree conferral month & year)

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Copyright
by
STUDENT’S FULL OFFICIAL NAME, GRADUATION YEAR
All Rights Reserved

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TITLE OF ABSTRACT
(13 spaces down, in capital letters, double spaced, and inverted
pyramid form if more than one line long)

(6 spaces down)
STUDENT’S FULL OFFICIAL NAME, Ph.D./M.S./M.A.
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Year of Degree Conferral
(3 spaces down)
MENTOR’S FULL OFFICIAL NAME, M.D./Ph.D., etc.
(3 spaces down)
The text of the abstract begins at this point; the abstract should be a continuous résumé, not
disconnected notes or an outline, and should not exceed 350 words in length.

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