Theses and Dissertations
Note: Many links in these descriptions are all located in Blackboard sites, and therefore, password protected. To access these sites, a UTHSC NetID and password along with site membership is required. If you are a student not required to provide a thesis or dissertation or a graduate faculty member interested in the content of these resources, you may request access via Blackboard.
Theses (for Master's degrees) and dissertations (for Doctoral degrees) must adhere to content guidelines established by the student's faculty advisor and committee and format guidelines established by the College of Graduate Health Sciences and the University of Tennessee.
All Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) students must provide an electronic dissertation as part of their degree requirements. Specified Master degree (MS) students are required to submit an electronic thesis as part of their degree requirements.
It is the responsibility of the research committee and student to ensure that the scientific and English language content of a thesis/dissertation are as accurate as possible; it is the responsibility of the student and College to ensure that the thesis/dissertation format is as accurate as possible. The final version of a thesis/dissertation submitted to and approved by the College is the official version and will not be changed in any way (including substantive and typographic changes).
NOTE: Before submitting your thesis/dissertation for format review, you must
- Access Blackboard – https://blackboard.uthsc.edu with your NetID and password. The following Blackboard sites contain all of the instructions
and digital tools needed for you to understand how to create your ET/D as well as
submit your completed document for CGHS format review. Note: You must login to Blackboard before accessing any Blackboard links on this page.
Electronic Theses and Dissertations – Workshops, Lectures, and Tutorials (ET/D Portal). To begin, click the link following "Start Here" on the ET/D Portal page.
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Online Tutorials . Interactive instructional Blackboard site for tutorials, exercises, and SafeAssign.
When you are ready to begin your format review process, email the Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs (ltague@uthsc.edu) and the ET/D Formatting and Publishing Manager (shancoc3@uthsc.edu). A private, collaborative review group will be created for your use in Blackboard: ETD Reviews YYYY (current year). - Create a ProQuest account (see instructions in the Student Publishing Process for Use with Guide 1 or the CGHS Publishing Process for Use with Guide 2 located on the ET/D Portal home page).
- Submit your documents (ET/D Signature Page and ET/D) via Blackboard and ProQuest.
Critical information: If information in your thesis/dissertation will undergo patent review, you must inform the Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs via email and request an embargo when you submit your document for a preliminary or formal format review. You must also indicate an equivalent embargo in your ProQuest account. See the publishing process documents for specifics.
Requirement: On the ET/D Signature Page, the names of your research advisor and all committee members must be included with a line for each signature. When submitting your ET/D for formal format review, you must include the Memorandum of Understanding and the Signature Page (without signatures) if those have not already been approved by CGHS. A Signature Page Word template is on the ET/D Portal home page.
Current degrees and majors for the ET/D Signature Page: Students in the Biomedical Sciences should use only the wording “Biomedical Sciences” for their major. For purposes of the signature page, Biomedical Sciences tracks are called “concentrations.” Listing the concentration is required if CGHS lists a specialty/track for your program.
Current degrees:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Master of Science
- Master of Dental Science
Current majors:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Biomedical Sciences
- Dental Sciences
- Epidemiology
- Health Outcomes and Policy Research
- Nursing Science
- Pharmaceutical Sciences
- Pharmacology
- Speech and Hearing Science
Current tracks:
- within Biomedical Engineering:
- Biomechanics, Movement Science, and Rehabilitation
- Biomaterials and Regenerative Technology
- Biosensors and Electrophysiology
- Cellular Biochemical Responses
- within Biomedical Sciences:
- Cancer and Developmental Biology
- Cell Biology and Physiology
- Genetics, Genomics, and Informatics
- Microbiology, Immunology, and Biochemistry
- Molecular and Systems Pharmacology
- Neuroscience
- Regenerative and Rehabilitation Sciences
- within Dental Sciences:
- Endodontics
- Orthodontics
- Pediatric Dentistry
- Periodontology
- Prosthodontics
- within Health Outcomes and Policy Research:
- Pharmacoeconomics
- Health Policy
- Health Services Research
- Health Informatics
- within Pharmaceutical Sciences:
- Bioanalysis
- Medicinal Chemistry
- Pharmaceutics
- Pharmacometrics
- within Speech and Hearing Science:
- Audiology
- Hearing Science
- Speech and Language Pathology
- Speech-Language Science
(20 September 2016)
We have two methods of format review for ET/Ds. The traditional review is based on the student functioning as the publisher of their ET/D. This method uses Guide 1: For Student Publishing along with the Student Publishing Process for Use with Guide 1. The second method is described in detail in the Guide 2: For CGHS Publishing along with the CGHS Publishing Process for Use with Guide 2. The second method is very similar to that used by journal publishers; text, figures, and tables are submitted in separate documents.
ET/D digital tools include a set of Microsoft Word templates with the majority of formatting requirements configured, Microsoft instructional tutorials and Word template exercises are now delivered as a digital resource only and face to face workshops are no longer provided, in addition to digital communication tools available via Blackboard, we also utilize Zoom for real-time collaborative communication, and a digital calendar is maintained to provide both estimated starting times for ET/D processes and fixed deadlines or event schedules.
Forms which must be completed for graduation are located in a link on the ETDLP page "Assistance with Word, EndNote, and More" under the “Forms required for graduation” item.
For policy and standards assistance:
Larry Tague
Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs
920 Madison Avenue, Suite 807 (CGHS) Phone: 901.448.7152
Email: ltague@uthsc.edu
Zoom (UT Zoom Account): Larry Tague Zoom Room
Note: For an online real-time Zoom meeting, please email and make an appointment.
For format review and publishing assistance:
Shirley Hancock
ET/D Review and Publication Manager
Off-campus
Phone: 901.757.2663
Email: Shirley.Hancock@gmail.com
Zoom (UT Zoom Account): Shirley Hancock Zoom Room
Note: For an online real-time Zoom meeting, please email and make an appointment.
Hilliary DeGive
ET/D Reviewer Off-Campus
Email: hdegive@uthsc.edu
In cooperation with your research advisor, schedule your oral defense with your committee and program chair; notify the CGHS Office of the date, time, title, and location of your defense. The defense must be scheduled early enough to allow you time to make revisions, have them reviewed by your committee, and get original signatures on your Approval page. Be sure to allow for committee members who are out of town, at conferences, on vacation, etc.
Distribute your thesis/dissertation to every member of your committee for review.
Electronic thesis/dissertation format review instructions.
Take the Report of Final Examination form to your defense to obtain signatures from your committee.
After you have successfully defended, make an appointment with the CGHS Office to discuss graduation requirements and to complete paperwork.
Note for students at St. Jude: After you have successfully defended your dissertation, you must also make an appointment for an exit interview with the Director of Academic Programs (495-2750).
On or before the thesis/dissertation deadline, deliver one signed copy of the "Report of Final Examination" form with original signatures of your committee to the CGHS Office. All committee members must have signed. Note: the form can be taken or mailed to the CGHS Office. Faxes or e-mailed copies are not permitted.