Preparing Your Materials - Undergraduate Theses
The self-submission process is used by all undergraduate depositors. Pre-approval is required to submit and submissions must be completed prior to graduation.
Deposited items should be thought of as equivalent to a printed and bound manuscript; thus, the paper you submit to DukeSpace must be in its final form, requiring no further review or editing, as this will serve as the permanent copy. Papers cannot be withdrawn except under extraordinary circumstances, such as plagiarism.
Information Required for All Submissions
Please have the following information available before beginning the submission process:
- Title of your paper
- Abstract/executive summary (a description of your paper with a 350-word limit; often the paper’s introduction will work)
- The paper to be submitted (PDF format with required title page elements)
- Supplementary files (optional)
- Keywords/phrases (up to 6)
Specifics for undergraduate honors theses
In addition to the items listed above, Duke requires undergraduate honors theses contain a title page with the following information in this exact order:
- Title
- Author
- Advisor
- Type of paper (e.g., A thesis submitted to the Department of Economics for honors)
- Duke University
- Durham, North Carolina
- Current year
Recommended File Formats
PDF/A is the preferred file format for the primary document submitted to DukeSpace. No compression or password protection should be used.
Additional supplemental files such as audio or video clips and digital images to which the submitter holds the copyright may be included with the paper submission. Each additional file must be smaller than 512MB.
Given the repositories’ aim to provide long-term access to the materials they hold, Duke University Libraries has adopted a list of recommended file formats for digital preservation. File formats are categorized under one of 3 different “levels” of digital preservation, with level 1 representing the most stable formats for long-term preservation and use. It is highly recommended that your supplementary files conform to levels 1 or 2. Please visit the above policy page to determine what levels your supplementary files fall under. It is generally possible to convert to a stable format.
Visit Duke University Libraries’ Digital Preservation Guide for more information.
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