Gaduates must publish thesis
Utah State University graduate students are required to defend their dissertations and theses and prepare them for publication before commencement.
While students spend anywhere from two to eight years in a master’s or doctoral program, they compose theses or dissertations that demonstrate their knowledge and research.
It’s important these papers are high quality, because they will be sent to UMI Dissertations Publishing or Bell & Howell Information and Learning, in Michigan for the world to read, Beck said.
Some have a hard time with the idea of being required to pay to hand over their dissertations or theses to UMI, Beck said.
According to UMI’s publishing booklet, students give the company rights to reproduce and distribute their work as desired. The student maintains the copyright, but isn’t allowed to decide whether or not he or she wants to work with UMI in the first place.
UMI promises to give a 10 percent royalty to the author of purchased works, but royalties must exceed $10 in a calendar year to be paid. Dissertations sell for anywhere from $15 to $32, according to the booklet. The student must pay for the copying of his or her paper and run the risk of it not selling.
Penny Byrne, professor of media law at USU, said, “[With this requirement] you don’t have to sign all your rights away, but at least some.”
According to The USU General Catalog, “A thesis or dissertation must not contain material that cannot be disclosed publicly.”
Byrne said, “That shouldn’t mean it must be publicly disclosed.”
Many universities work with UMI in publishing their students’ dissertations, including the University of Utah and Ohio University.
Beck said there is motivation behind requiring students to give away their theses or dissertations.
“Why do the research if no one is going to read it?” he said.
Steve Beck, thesis coordinator, is in charge of editing every one of around 250 papers that go through the graduate school each year.
“There are a lot of interesting things students are researching,” he said. “We’ve got students doing cancer research here.”
A single thesis or dissertation goes through two or three rounds of editing in Beck’s office alone. It takes him a day to read just one. Prior to that, the papers are read and critiqued by committees who hear the student’s defense, he said.
“It’s a ‘free editing’ service for the students,” Beck said.
When the papers have been approved, the students copy and bind them according to a strict set of rules regarding margins and spacing. Two copies of the thesis or dissertation go to the library, one of which is given to UMI, along with $45 (master’s) or $55 (doctoral), he said.
“They don’t get their degree posted to their transcript until this process is finished,” Beck said.
The graduate school does everything possible to help students get to the finished product.
“We really try to be student-oriented,” he said. “It’s a painless process.”
Having their dissertation read may be less important to some students than having a say as to when, where and by whom it is copied.