As you are preparing to submit your ETD (electronic thesis or dissertation), here are answers to common questions graduate students raise using the ProQuest ETD Administrator System:

How long do embargoes last? If you are delaying the public release of your work via an embargo, the standard options in the ETD Administrator are 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years. WFU also allows for a 5 year embargo. If you are selecting the 5 year embargo, see instructions on extended embargoes.

Do I need to register for copyright? You do not have to register for copyright, unless you want to. Under U.S. copyright law, your ETD automatically has copyright; you do not have to register or publish or have notice (i.e., © name date) to claim copyright – it just happens. There may be strong arguments for registering your copyright in certain circumstances, particularly in artistic fields. If you do want to register your copyright, you can do so at copyright.gov. ProQuest charges an additional service fee to register on your behalf. If you have questions about copyright registration, contact Molly Keener.

Can I use others’ copyrighted works in my thesis or dissertation? If you are including other copyrighted works in your ETD (e.g., an image from someone else’s publication; your previously published article), you need to ensure that you either are doing so under fair use (checklists can be useful guides) or have permission. If you have permission documents, it is often wise to include them in an appendix in your ETD. Note that publishers typically grant authors the right to include published articles in theses and dissertations; you can confirm at your journal’s website, in either the author guidelines or rights & permissions section.

Where do I submit my Student-Advisor ETD Agreement? The completed form is submitted to the Graduate School directly; it is not submitted via the ETD Administrator.

Have more questions? Contact Molly Keener, Director of Digital Initiatives & Scholarly Communication, Z. Smith Reynolds Library.