Submitting Theses and Dissertations
The William H. Hannon Library permanently archives and makes available the theses, dissertations and research projects (ETDRPs) of graduate and undergraduate students and the University Honors Program to the Loyola Marymount University community and the general public through Digital Commons, the university's institutional repository.
Digital Commons @ Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School is an initiative of the William H. Hannon Library and the William M. Rains Library. The repository serves students, faculty, staff, administrators, and other institutional interests by collecting, organizing, preserving, and disseminating their scholarship and creative works in a digital, open-access environment. This initiative is consistent with the library's archival role and responsibility in preserving publications and other artifacts documenting the university's history and the activities of the LMU community.
Depending on the needs of authors, who may be looking to turn their thesis or dissertation into a publication or have proprietary concerns regarding the content of their work, access controls may be put in place.
-
Students grant the library permission to electronically archive, copy, or convert their ETDRPs for non-commercial use, for preservation purposes, and to ensure future accessibility. The ETDRPs in Digital Commons become university property and part of the library's permanent collections with a non-exclusive, perpetual right to electronically store and provide online access to the ETDRP.
-
Students retain copyright to the intellectual property of their works represented in Digital Commons. Students may choose to apply a Creative Commons License to their work.
-
Students should carefully consider, with their advisors, the access restrictions they place on their ETDRP. Students have three options to provide accessibility to their ETDRP: open access on the internet, limited access to only those on the LMU campus, or placing a temporary access embargo. The level of access can be changed after submission by contacting digitalcommons@lmu.edu.
-
Open Access is the free, immediate, and online availability of scholarship with limited constraints of reuse. By making your ETDRP open access, you increase the visibility and impact of your work. Public access removes the barriers to public access to scholarly content.
-
Most publishers consider ETDRPs as “student work” that will undergo extensive revision before publication. However, publisher policies pertaining to open access ETDRPs vary, review a journal or publisher’s policies beforehand. If you plan on publishing your ETDRP in a different form, consider selecting the embargo option.
-
The library no longer handles binding for print dissertations, theses, or research projects. Students can work directly with other companies that offer this service.
Submission
- Format thesis, dissertation, or research projects according to the Formatting Guidelines.
- Fill out the Electronic Theses, Dissertations and Research Projects Submission Form below. Instructions on how to fill out the form
- All group members must submit a submission form. Only one person needs to attach the project to a form.