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Submitting your Thesis or Project to the Library

This guide contains all of the information that you will need to submit your thesis, project, or dissertation to the library.

Step 1: Prepare your thesis or project

This process is not difficult, but there are several steps and details. Please use the checklist above to make sure you aren't missing anything.

  • You must have your completed thesis or project saved as an ADA accessible Word document and should follow the style guidelines set forth by your academic program. If you are not sure what the style guidelines are, please consult with your faculty adviser. Please keep at least one back-up copy of this file in another location that is NOT on your computer. 

 

  • The library will make your Word document ADA compliant for you. Please go to the ADA formatting tab of this guide for more information on how to get help. 

 

  • Your accessible Word file should have the unsigned departmental signature page as the first page of the document.  For your convenience, the library will insert a signature page into your document at the ADA formatting stage. If you want to insert it yourself, templates are available on the Signature Page Templates tab of this guide.  Signed signature pages are for department use only.

 

  • Once you have completed your defense or presentation and your committee has signed off on your thesis or project, you can upload the Word file using the library’s web form. (link to new form to come) If you have any issues uploading your file, please email Carmen Mitchell.

Group Submissions

Group projects should only be uploaded once and must include all the authors' names on the signature page. It may be easiest to designate someone to submit the project on behalf of the entire group. Each student is still responsible for paying the fee! 

Multimedia/Website Submissions

If your project or thesis has multimedia files (audio or video) or a website component, please let Carmen Mitchell know as soon as possible. For websites, it will take two business days for us to prepare a copy of your website. For captioning video files, it may take up to a week. Please plan accordingly!

Step 2: Pay the Fee

Paying Online: To pay online, you may use an electronic check. This method is free. Or you may pay using a credit card. If you use a credit card, a convenience fee of 2.9% will apply. MasterCard, American Express, Discover, and Visa are all accepted. You will receive a receipt by email for your online payment.  

When you pay the fee online, a copy of your receipt is sent to Carmen Mitchell. If you cannot pay online, please email Carmen to discuss paying on campus at the cashier’s office.  

Step 3: Confirmation of Acceptance

Carmen and Amy will process the submissions in the order that they are received. If you have paid the fee and submitted your file by May 11th, you have met the submission deadline. Make sure that during this time, you are still checking your CSUSM email. Carmen and Amy will email you if they have any questions about your thesis or project. Keep in mind that it can take up to one week for all files to be processed. If they don’t have any questions, they will process your file and then send you a confirmation of acceptance. This email will include a link to your finished thesis or project. This may take a couple of days, so plan accordingly!