Electronic Delivery of Thesis for Higher Degree by Research

Launched 19th May 2008

Late last year a pilot trial was conducted within the Faculty of Engineering Computer and Mathematical Sciences to test the feasibility of Electronic Collection of theses by examiners (E-Collect), which has returned very positive results. It has now been decided to phase in electronic delivery of student's thesis to examiners in several stages. We welcomed the Faculty of Sciences to the process in September 2008 and Faculty of Health Sciences in April 2009. We would now like to welcome students and staff from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Benefits of the process
General information
Intent to submit
Certification form
Submission and the Electronic copy
AdLib PDF Relay service
Things which haven't changed
Additional Information for staff
Forms
FAQ

Benefits of the process

There are many benefits of electronic thesis delivery, which have positive implications for administrators, departments and students alike. Some of the potential benefits include:

• Improved accessibility as examiners are able to download the thesis from wherever in the world they are, avoiding delays due to examiners being absent from their delivery address.
• More travel friendly for examiners who may be travelling extensively during the examination period, as examiner are not required to carry heavy volumes around in their luggage potentially costing them money.
• More timely reports as examiners have improved access to the thesis throughout such times.
• The ability to track the receipt of the thesis avoiding extensive delays, where reminders are sent when the thesis is due only to discover the examiner has been on leave for a month and the thesis has remained untouched at their delivery address.
• Reduced cost of sending the thesis freeing up funding for other improvements
• A potential reduced cost to students as they would not be required to fund two sets of thesis.

One more step in being an environmentally friendly university, in line with State and National Priorities.

General information

Intent to submit

There are no changes to the Intent to Submit process.

For students who have already put in an Intention to Submit (but have not yet submitted) and Examiners have been Nominated, we will be contacting these examiners to advise of this new added option of electronic delivery. To facilitate the process we ask that all students provide the electronic copy at submission.

Certification form

There is a minor change to the Certification of thesis for Examination form, where students are requested to indicate if they have supplied a cd with a pdf version of their thesis identical in all respects to the hard copies. This appears on the form as below.

Submission and the Electronic copy of your thesis

When a student submits the physical copies of his or her thesis, with the Certification of Thesis for Examination form (available on this site), a pdf version of the thesis must be included on disk in the following format:

• On CD (A CD is provided in this package. We are not able to accept your thesis on a memory stick),
• In PDF format (If you are not able to create pdf’s you can use the University’s Free PDF service
• In one file including appendices (we are not able to accept your thesis in multiple files as we require the file to be verified by the student as acceptable for examination upload including in the correct order),
• Identical in all respects to the physical copies (your examiners will only receive the electronic copy),
• Without document security (we will add security before we upload the thesis).
• PC Compatible (even if it is burned using a Mac).

Please note that the examination process will not continue until the Graduate Centre has received an electronic pdf file of the candidates' thesis. This must comply with the conditions detailed in the document "Specifications for Thesis" (see Appendix 6), as your examiners will be using this copy for their assessment and grading of your research.

On receipt of the electronic thesis we will place the thesis and all relating documentation on our Collection Site for the examiner to download and the examination will proceed as usual.

Things which haven't changed

Exit survey
The exit survey is still compulsory for all students.

Hard and soft copies
We will still require the three standard hard or soft bound copies of the thesis, as this is a current requirement of examination, in addition to the pdf electronic copy. This also has the benefit that, should an examiner subsequently request a physical copy of the thesis, one can then be provided

Confidentiality
The confidentiality of the examination process has not changed. Staff and students are advised that in the interests of maintaining the confidentiality of examiners and protecting the integrity of the examination process, examiners' names must not be released to the candidate before the completion of the examination process (ie. until the Research Education Development Committee has approved the result of the examination). Should an examiner indicate that he/she wishes to remain anonymous, his/her identity must never be revealed to the candidate.

Similarly potential examiners details should not be made available to other examiners. We have designed our secure site and forms to maintain this.

Additional Information for staff

We will still require the three standard hard or soft bound copies of the thesis, as this is a current requirement of examination, in addition to the pdf electronic copy. This also has the benefit that, should an examiner subsequently request a physical copy of the thesis, one can then be provided”

On the Nomination of Examiners form departments are asked that, when making the initial contact with a potential examiner, to discuss the possibility of receiving the thesis electronically. We ask that you indicate this on the Nomination of Examiners form downloadable from our website, which will be recorded in our system for submission.

This form has been re-designed to comply with the standards of our information system and to allow more room for the indication of delivery preference.

Forms

These forms are specifically for the staff and students currently under the E-Collect system. For the standard examination forms please refer to the A- Z of forms on the graduate Centres Website, under T.

Certification of thesis
Thesis specification
Nomination of examiners Editable PDF form: This form has been created as a electronic pdf form which may be filled out on screen. To highlight editable fields click "Highlight Field" in the top right hand corner.

AdLib PDF Relay service

This service enables you to convert documents into one pdf file and is available to all staff and students at the University of Adelaide. Please see E-Collect AdLib website for more information.

FAQ

What do I need an Electronic copy for?
The electronic copy will be provided to the examiner through a secure site, if they have chosen to receive it this way.

Does the electronic copy need to have a scanned signature?
The electronic copy does not currently require a signature (however you may include it if you would like) as we will scan the Declaration page of your physical copy, with your Certification of Thesis for Examination form and send it to the examiner electronically. The signature in the physical copy of your thesis however must still be original as this is a current requirement.

All I have is a word version, can you use that?
We require that the copy of your thesis is in PDF format as this is more secure and less easy to edit. If you are unable to create a PDF, you can use Adlib, the university's Free PDF service available from this website. We prefer you create the PDF yourself so you can check it and verify that the Electronic copy is identical to the physical copies.

Please feel free to email the Adelaide Graduate Centre if you have any questions.