Introduction to ETD Submissions

The Catholic University of America requires ETD submission for all theses, doctoral dissertations, treatises, and evidence-based projects.

Overview of the Submission Process

For a presentation showing the step-by-step procedure for submitting your ETD, please click here.

You must be in contact with the Office of the Senior Vice Provost for Academic Administration and Dean of Graduate Studies at cua-graduatestudies@cua.edu, to complete the deposit process BEFORE the University deadline as posted on the Academic Calendar.

  • The final deadline to deposit for summer 2023 graduation is Friday, July 28, 2023.
  • The final deadline to deposit for fall 2023 graduation is Friday, December 8, 2023.
  • The final deadline to deposit for spring 2024 graduation is Friday, April 26, 2024.

Formatting Requirements

Please be sure to consult the Master's and Licentiate Thesis Handbook for complete information on the formatting requirements from ProQuest and the Office of the Senior Vice Provost for Academic Administration and Dean of Graduate Studies. This handbook is updated yearly to reflect changes made by the Graduate Studies office, ProQuest, and the Mullen Library.

Creating an Adobe PDF file:

To create a PDF, you can follow this link from Adobe (using Adobe CreatePDF), or this link from the University of Cambridge for further direction and guidance.

Combining multiple Word documents into one complete Adobe PDF document:

If your submission consists of multiple documents (such as a Word or WordPerfect file, graphics, spreadsheets, etc.), it is best to consolidate them first in one document, and then print that one document as a PDF document.

Students in the past have found that this process of using multiple files works best when facing the challenge of numbering pages according to the Master's and Licentiate Thesis Handbook. By saving a manuscript as individual files for the abstract, chapter one, chapter two, bibliography, appendix, etc., the student-writer can adjust page numbers and page location with ease, without having to adjust the entire text time after time. Just be sure to keep everything in order as you write!

If you are not able to consolidate the files before creating the PDF file, it is possible to combine the multiple PDF files using the commands in Adobe Acrobat. The administrator of the Office of the Senior Vice Provost for Academic Administration and Dean of Graduate Studies will not be able to make corrections or comments on multiple PDF files, so it is essential to send only one completed file.

  • Open the main PDF file in Adobe Acrobat.
  • Go to the page where you want to insert the additional page or pages.
  • Choose "Insert Pages" from the Document menu.
  • Select and open the PDF file that contains the pages to be inserted.
  • Verify the settings in the dialog to be sure that you are inserting the pages in the correct location. If the settings are correct, click OK.

For Microsoft Word tutorials, visit the Word training website.

Completing the Thesis Submission Process: ETD@CUA

As part of the thesis deposit, students must complete the ETD@CUA Submission Licensing Statement. This form must be completed by the student before the deposit is considered complete. If you have questions surrounding ETD@CUA, please consult the ETD@CUA website from the Mullen Library or contact the Office of the Senior Vice Provost for Academic Administration and Dean of Graduate Studies.

Frequently Asked Questions on Online Submissions

If you have any further questions concerning online submissions, ProQuest, and ETD@CUA, feel free to follow the following links: