Submitting your ETDR

Your electronic thesis, dissertation, or report (ETDR) must be completed and submitted by the posted deadline in order to graduate and participate in commencement for a designated term. Refer to the graduation and commencement checklists at the beginning of the term in which you intend to graduate to make a plan for completing all requirements on time.

Submit to K-REx
All students who are writing a thesis, dissertation or report must upload their document to the K-State Research Exchange (K-REx)
How to submit to K-REx 
Submit to ProQuest
All doctoral students also must submit their dissertation to ProQuest.
How to submit to ProQuest 

Submit your ETDR to K-REx

The K-State Research Exchange (K-REx) is the digital repository where your manuscript will be stored and made available to other researchers. The actual submission process takes only a few minutes, but it requires some preparation.

Get ready

  1. Have a PDF version of your ETDR and any supplemental files you want to submit handy.

    The file must be named in this format: FirstnameLastnameYear.pdf. The two important details of the PDF are that your formatting remains intact and your Table of Contents, Lists of Figures and Tables, and other links are clickable and go to their destination.

    There are number of ways to convert a Word document to PDF, but the IT Help Desk recommends using a recent version of Word. For details, see "PDF Conversion" for your Word version. See instructions under "Outputting your ETDR as a PDF from Online Word" on the Frequently Asked Questions page.

  2. Open the Word or PDF version of your ETDR so you can copy/paste information into K-REx.
  3. Have your keywords and key phrases selected (1 minimum, 6 maximum). See guidelines for selecting keywords for more information.

Log in

  1. Go to the K-REx homepage.
  2. On the "Graduate students" tile, select Submit ETDR. You may be prompted to enter your K-State eID and password, not your entire e-mail address. Click the Sign in button.
  3. Next to Collection, pull down the menu and click K-State Electronic Theses, Dissertations, and Reports: 2004-.

If you have problems logging in, contact the IT Service Desk: Submit a Ticket or Start a Live Chat.

Information about your ETDR

  1. On the Describe Item section, enter or select the information listed below.
  2. If the pull-down menus for degree name, department, or major professor do not contain the selection you need, select the "Not Listed" option which appears at the top of each list and continue with your submission. The correct information will be added to your submission when it is reviewed by the Library.

Keywords and abstract

  1. On the next screen, enter the following information and then click Next:
    • Subject Keywords and Phrases: (1-6). Enter a keyword, then click Add. Repeat this process for each keyword. See the guidelines for selecting keywords and phrases.
    • Abstract: Copy and paste your abstract into the Abstract box. Do not include the word "Abstract".
    • Sponsors: (Optional) If an agency provided funding for your research, enter the name of the agency in the Sponsors box. Give the full name of the agency (no acronyms or abbreviations).
  2. Once an ETDR is submitted and accepted, you won't have the option to make any edits to your abstract or keywords. If you need to correct an error in your submission, please request assistance.

Upload file(s)

Upload a Single File and then click Next:

  • On the Upload File(s) screen, click Choose File to locate the PDF file for your ETDR on your computer.
  • Leave the File Description box blank.

Upload Multiple Files and then click Next:

  • On the Upload File(s) page, click Choose File button to locate the first file to upload.
  • In the File Description box, enter a brief description of the file. If the file is the PDF of your ETDR, enter "Dissertation," "Thesis," or "Report," as appropriate. If the file is a video recording, enter a brief description of the topic, for example, "Video of lab technique."
  • Click the Add another file button.
  • Repeat these steps until all your files are uploaded.

Review submission

  1. On the Review Submission page, review the information and file(s) you've submitted. Click one of the Correct one of these buttons to edit any of the information or to select a different file.
  2. If you click any of the Correct one of these buttons, you will be taken back to the submission form to make revisions.
  3. If all the information is correct, click Next.

Distribution license and submission

  1. At the bottom of the page, click I grant the License checkbox. This gives K-State permission to distribute your ETDR, but does not affect your copyright.
  2. Click Complete submission.
  3. You should now see the Submission Complete page. Be sure to Logout on the left side of the page.

Graduate School review

  1. Your submission will now be reviewed by the Graduate School. Within 1-2 days, you should receive an email notice from "dspace-noreply@ksu.edu" on the status of your submission.
  2. If your submission is approved, you will receive an email with the subject line "K-REx: Submission Approved and Archived." You can then go on to the next step in the submission process.
  3. If your submission is not approved, you will receive an email with the subject line "K-REx: Submission Rejected." This message will describe the revisions you need to make to your ETDR. You will need to make the revisions, save your file as a PDF, and submit the revised PDF file.

Revise and resubmit

  1. When you are ready to submit your revised PDF, click the link in the email you received from the Graduate School. Alternatively, you can go directly to the K-REx homepage and Login.
  2. When you sign in, you will see your ETDR listed in the Unfinished Submissions section. Click the title of your ETDR and then click Resume.
  3. K-REx retains all previous information you entered about your ETDR. Click Next at the bottom of each screen until you see the Upload File(s) screen.
  4. Toward the bottom of the page, you will see an entry for the file you uploaded originally. Click the square checkbox just to the left of the filename, then click Remove selected files to remove the previous PDF.
  5. Click Choose File and locate the revised file on your computer. If you had entered text in the File Description box previously, re-enter that text. Click Next.

Within 1-2 days, you will receive an email from the Graduate School. If your submission is approved, you can go on to the next step in the submission process. If you submission is rejected, you will need to repeat steps 1 through 5 above.

3. Have your keywords and key phrases selected (1 minimum, 6 maximum). See guidelines for selecting keywords.

Submit your dissertation to ProQuest

Doctoral students are required to submit a PDF version of their dissertation to ProQuest. Masters students only submit to KREx. Submit your dissertation to the K-State Research Exchange (KREx) and wait until it is approved before submitting to ProQuest.

ProQuest maintains the Dissertation Abstracts database, which provides access to dissertations back to 1861. Many dissertations are accessible online at no cost. For others, copies of dissertations can be purchased through ProQuest. Students are paid royalties on the sale of their dissertations. ProQuest also provides archival storage of your dissertation, ensuring that it will remain accessible far into the future.

ProQuest subject categories

Subject categories are used to classify theses and dissertations in the ProQuest dissertations database. From the list of ProQuest subject categories, select 1-3 that represent the major subject area of your paper. Many theses and dissertations have only one subject category, but you can select up to three.

Steps for ProQuest submission

Start the ProQuest submission process by creating an account. Follow these steps:

  1. Go to the ProQuest site
  2. Click Submit my dissertation/thesis in the Ready to begin box on the right side of the screen.
  3. In the New user? box, click Create an account.
  4. Enter your e-mail address, name, and country of citizenship.
  5. Select and enter a username and password. Remember your username and password, as you will need them to login.
  6. Click Sign Up.
  7. Within a few minutes, you will receive a verification e-mail message with a link to complete the registration process.
  8. Click on the link in the body of the e-mail to confirm your account. This will take you to the homepage, and you will be logged in.
  9. Follow instructions on the screen to complete the submission process.
  10. If you need to exit the system before completing your submission, click the Sign Out link in the upper right corner. Your work is automatically saved.
  11. You will receive an e-mail to inform you that the submission is being reviewed by the Graduate School. You may be asked to make revisions to your submission.
  12. You will receive another e-mail confirmation when your submission has been reviewed and accepted. If you elected to register for copyright through ProQuest, you will need to make your $55 payment to the Cashier's Office before your submission can be completed.

Notes on the ProQuest submission process

The ProQuest submission process is similar to the K-REx submission process, with some differences. Pay particular attention to these items in the ProQuest submission process:

  • Publishing Option: On the Publishing Options page, select Traditional Publishing and No Restrictions.
  • Copyright: You will be asked if you want ProQuest to file for copyright on your behalf for an additional charge of $55. You are not required to register for copyright, and your dissertation is protected under copyright law even if you do not register. If you do decide to copyright your dissertation, please contact your degree specialist so that the appropriate fee may be added to your university account. See the ETDR Copyright page for additional information.
  • PDF: You may see instructions on how to convert your Word document to PDF. You do not need to follow these instructions, but simply submit the same PDF file that you submitted to K-REx.