Thesis and Dissertation Information

Congratulations on reaching the final stage in your graduate education at UA Little Rock! Successfully completing your thesis or dissertation research means you are joining a global community of researchers working to create and share new knowledge with the world.

To satisfy the graduation requirements for your degree, you must publish your thesis or dissertation to the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global database. This database allows you to share your research with over 4 million researchers at more than 3000 institutions worldwide.

This webpage explains how to format your manuscript to meet both the university’s requirements and the requirements of ProQuest Global. Follow these steps carefully! They will save you time and stress after you complete your thesis or dissertation defense, and they can reduce the time required to receive your diploma and official transcripts.

After you format your thesis or dissertation and upload it to ProQuest, please send us feedback about the resources on this page so we can make them more helpful for all graduate students.

Formatting requirements, templates, and videos

Your thesis or dissertation manuscript must meet the requirements outlined in the current UA Little Rock Thesis and Dissertation Guidelines. You can download the guidelines document to use as a reference. You can also use our templates, videos, and instructional handouts below to make the process easier.

Approved templates for UA Little Rock theses and dissertations

Video tutorials for UA Little Rock theses and dissertations

  • YouTube tutorial videos for the new templates coming soon!

Deadlines for submitting your manuscript

You must complete your thesis or dissertation defense AND submit your manuscript to the Graduate School for formatting review by one of the deadlines below:

  • Spring graduation: May 1 at 5 pm
  • Summer graduation: August 1 at 5 pm
  • Fall graduation: December 1 at 5 pm

If one of these dates falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the deadline will be extended to the following Monday at 5 pm.

Submitting your manuscript for formatting check

Step 1: After successfully completing your thesis or dissertation defense, submit the PDF of your defended manuscript using our Thesis and Dissertation Google Form.

Step 2: One of our editors — Ms. Hannah Bernard or Ms. Chloe Moses — will review your formatting. They will send you an email describing what changes (if any) you need to make to meet our requirements. In most cases, you’ll receive this email within 3-5 business days. Replies may take longer if you submit your manuscript close to the defense deadline, because that’s when we receive large numbers of manuscripts.

Step 3: Complete the changes requested by our editors and resave your PDF.

Uploading your manuscript to ProQuest and completing revisions

Step 1: Create your account for the ProQuest dissertation and thesis database by clicking the button labeled “Sign up and get started today!”

Step 2: You must complete several screens of information before uploading your manuscript. The Thesis and Dissertation Guidelines PDF will soon offer details about which options to choose if you need help with this step.

When you complete the Contact Information page, be sure to sign up with an email address that you check regularly. You will receive time-sensitive emails from ProQuest about your manuscript, and you must respond quickly in order to avoid delays in getting your diploma and transcripts.

Step 3: After you upload your PDF to ProQuest, our editors and your committee chair will review the manuscript to ensure that you completed all content and formatting changes.

Note: You may need to revise the document based on comments from either your committee chair or our formatting editors. Comments from our formatting editors will come to your email from ETD Administrator.

Please respond to these comments and re-upload a corrected version of your PDF quickly. If you don’t make corrections quickly, your diploma or your official transcripts for the degree may be delayed.

Getting your diploma and transcript for your degree

After you submit your manuscript for formatting review, the Graduate School will place a thesis or dissertation hold on your student account. While the hold is in place, your diploma cannot be mailed to you. You are also unable to receive official transcripts for the degree.

You must complete the entire thesis or dissertation review process outlined above to get the hold removed from your account. When all your changes are approved, we remove the hold. Then you can get your official transcripts, and your diploma can be mailed.

In most cases, you’ll receive your diploma approximately 4 weeks after commencement (or 4 weeks after August 15 in the summer) — but only if you have uploaded your manuscript to ProQuest and made all changes required by both the Graduate School and your committee chair. Please ensure your mailing address is correct in BOSS to avoid any delays in receiving your diploma.