Dissertations/Theses (2024)

Submitting Theses and Dissertations at WSU

As a public land-grant institution, Washington State University values the free publication of its research outputs. As such, the university requires graduate students to make electronic copies of their completed theses and dissertations (ETDs) available to the general public.

Graduate students at WSU submit their theses and dissertations to ProQuest, where they are indexed and made accessible via ProQuest’s Dissertations and Theses database. These documents are also made available through the Research Exchange and are permanently stored by the WSU Libraries.

ProQuest Submission Process

To get started, click onUpload Your Thesis/Dissertation. You will need to create an account in the ProQuest ETD Administrator system. The following overview may be useful for understanding licensing options, embargoes, and copyright in relation to the thesis/dissertation submission process. Submitting your thesis or dissertation to ProQuest is free for graduate students; however, anyone selecting optional services from ProQuest must complete payment when uploading their thesis/dissertation draft.

Licensing Options

When submitting to ProQuest, graduate students can choose between two licensing options:

  1. Traditional (PDF):
    1. What is the licensing arrangement?Students grant ProQuest a non-exclusive license to publish abstracts and distribute theses/dissertations through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database, where the general public can access them for a fee.
    2. Where will the dissertation be distributed?ProQuest’s Dissertations and Theses database.
    3. What about copyright?Student retains their copyright.
    4. What about royalties?Should ProQuest sell the student’s dissertation, they will pay the student royalties.
    5. What about cost?This option is free to WSU students.
  2. Open Access (PDF):
    1. What is the licensing arrangement?Students grant ProQuest a non-exclusive license to publish abstracts and dissertations through ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Open, where the general public can access them for free.
    2. Where will the dissertation be distributed?ProQuest’s Dissertations and Theses Open.
    3. What about copyright?Student retains their copyright.
    4. What about royalties?ProQuest will not pay royalties for open-access dissertations.
    5. What about cost?This option costs $95. To be clear, WSU Libraries also makes dissertations openly accessible via Research Exchange at no charge to the student.

You can find a summary of these two options inthis document (PDF).

Copyright and Embargoes

Students will be presented with the following two additional decisions when submitting their thesis/dissertation:

  1. Copyright registration:Per U.S. copyright law, students automatically own copyright to the ETDs that they create. However, registering the thesis or dissertation with the U.S. Copyright Office can provide advantages, such as the ability to sue fordamagesin case of infringement back to the date when registration occurred. Note that authors may register themselves for $35 at theU.S. Copyright Officewebsite, or for $55 through ProQuest.
  2. Embargoes:In special cases, you may wish to restrict access to your work for a period of time after completion of your thesis or dissertation. This delay, known as an embargo period, may be appropriate in the following circumstances:
    1. You require time to submit for publication a manuscript based on your thesis or dissertation.
    2. You plan to publish all or part of your ETD with a publisher that considers public release of the thesis/dissertation to be “prior publication” and specifically requests delayed or restricted access to the ETD.
    3. You require time to seek a patent on a process or device that emerged from your thesis or dissertation.
    4. You received research funding from a commercial company that has requested a delay in access to your thesis or dissertation.
    5. Your thesis or dissertation describes a process or idea that if developed could be financially lucrative to you and/or the university.

Embargoes may be requested from ProQuest for six months, one year, or two years. In addition to indicating your embargo preference with ProQuest, you must also fill out the “Embargo Option” section of theHold Harmless and Copyright Acknowledgment (PDF)form and submit it to the Graduate School. These forms allow WSU to honor embargo requests through the WSU Libraries, Research Exchange, as well as ProQuest.

Accessibility

As you prepare your thesis/dissertation, please be sure to follow best practices for accessibility. Document accessibility is important so that people who rely on assistive technology can also read and engage with your work. Find more information at the following:

Next Steps: The Publication Timeline

After submitting your thesis or dissertation to ProQuest, you will be prompted to make any necessary corrections by the Graduate School. Approximately 45 days after commencement, the Graduate School strives to complete reviews of all ETDs. ProQuest sends the approved documents to the WSU Libraries to be made available via Research Exchange.

Research Exchangeis a digital repository that preserves research materials produced by faculty and students at WSU. The repository provides free access to ETDs; however, should you request an embargo, your thesis or dissertation will not appear in Research Exchange until the embargo period has elapsed.

Access to ETDs is also provided throughSearch It. Both the WSU Libraries and Graduate School work to make your dissertation available in as timely a fashion as possible; however, this process often takes several months. Should you have questions about the publication timeline for your dissertation, please contact us at one of the the email addresses below.

Help

For help with files other than pdfs or with pdfs that have other embedded formats, please contact Jerry Becker, 509-335-2012,beckerg@wsu.edu
For assistance with Research Exchange, please contact Talea Anderson, 509-335-2266,talea.anderson@wsu.edu
Learn more aboutFinding WSU Theses/Dissertations
Please address questions about embargoes and submission policies to the WSU Graduate School, 509-335-6424,gradschool@wsu.edu

Dissertations/Theses (2024)

FAQs

How many survey responses do I need for my dissertation? ›

When a study's aim is to investigate a correlational relationship, however, we recommend sampling between 500 and 1,000 people. More participants in a study will always be better, but these numbers are a useful rule of thumb for researchers seeking to find out how many participants they need to sample.

Should my thesis answer my research question? ›

Although you will not include your research question in your paper, this is nonetheless a critical step because your thesis statement, one of the most important pieces of your research project, will answer your research question.

What percentage of dissertations fail? ›

Anywhere from a third to half of those that enroll at a PhD university will not end up graduating and finishing their dissertation. In fact, the figure of 40%-50% of failing PhD students has been fairly stable over the…

Is one research question enough for a dissertation? ›

You undoubtedly have seen dissertations or journal articles in which there is more than one research question. Should you have more than one question in your study? Maybe, but it is discouraged.

Is 50 survey responses enough? ›

Factors that impact this include, how engaged your customers are with your brand, and whether you're delivering surveys in a way that's easy for them. Nevertheless, a good survey response rate ranges between 5% and 30%. An excellent response rate is 50% or higher.

Is 30 responses enough for a survey? ›

While 30 is a good starting point for sample size, it is important to note that the optimal sample size will vary depending on the specific statistical test being used, the desired level of confidence, and the amount of variability in the population.

How to tell if a thesis is good? ›

Rather, the claim should be plausible, but in need of argument and evidence to establish its veracity. A thesis should not be overly abstract or general. It must be specific enough to be arguable, that is, specific enough to support with the evidence available to you.

What are three questions a thesis claim should answer? ›

Thus three important questions to ask yourself are: What is my claim? How is my claim supported? So what – why does my claim matter?

Should a thesis answer the prompt? ›

Every assignment has a question or prompt. It's important that your thesis statement answers the question.

What happens if you fail your dissertation but pass everything else? ›

At most universities, a student who fails the dissertation first time would get the opportunity to rewrite to secure a bare pass. Again, check the rules that apply to your Master's programme, but the majority of programmes will provide a resit opportunity.

Why is it so hard to finish a dissertation? ›

The dissertation writing process can quickly become paralyzing because of its size and importance. It is a project that will be reviewed rigorously by your advisor and your committee, and your graduation depends on your successful completion and defense.

What part of dissertation gets most marks? ›

In either case, high marks come from being able to theoretically justify the approach you have adopted, something you will do briefly in Chapter One: Introduction, but mainly in Chapter Two: Literature Review and the appropriate sections of Chapter Three: Research Strategy.

How hard is it to get a 1st in a dissertation? ›

Unless you choose a topic which you are familiar with and passionate about, it is very hard to get a first class score. At the same time, your dissertation should have a topic that is researchable and does not have issues with data availability.

What is the easiest part of a dissertation? ›

You don't have to start with the introduction – start at the chapter that seems the easiest to write – this could be the literature review or methodology, for example. Alternatively you may prefer to write the introduction first, so you can get your ideas straight.

How many interviews are enough for a dissertation? ›

Taking everything into consideration, the answer to the number of interviews is “it depends.” Based on the research, ten interviews can be more than enough for one researcher, while a hundred can be too little for another.

How do I know how many survey responses I need? ›

To calculate the number of people you need to invite to take your survey based on your expected response rate, use the following equation:
  1. Respondents needed. Take the number of people you need to answer your survey.
  2. ÷ Response rate. Divide by the expected response rate (use 25 for 25%, if you use .25 skip step 3)
  3. x 100.

What is a good sample size for a dissertation survey? ›

So, what's the golden mean? Many statisticians concur that a sample size of 100 is the minimum you need for meaningful results. If your population is smaller than that, you should aim to survey all of the members.

What is a good percentage of survey responses? ›

The right survey response rate often depends on the survey's type and who you're asking. Generally, a response rate of 25-30% is good for online surveys. The average survey response rate is usually around 20-30%. This can change based on how long the survey is, what it's about, and how you send it out.

Is 30 respondents enough for quantitative research? ›

If the research has a relational survey design, the sample size should not be less than 30. Causal-comparative and experimental studies require more than 50 samples. In survey research, 100 samples should be identified for each major sub-group in the population and between 20 to 50 samples for each minor sub-group.

References

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