do undergraduate thesis get published

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The latest news and answers to your questions about scholarly publishing and open access.

How can I publish an academic article as an undergraduate student?

Choosing where to submit your work as an undergrad.

As a researcher, where you submit will really depend on the details of the submission and where it best fits, as well as where you're likely to be successful at this point in your career. Journals will often consider any original research and will assess it based on the novelty and contribution to the field of research. However, there are a few steps you can take to increase your chances of being successful in getting your work published at this stage.

• Check out our post on Getting Published: Tips for choosing an academic journal for general suggestions about journal publishing, including where to look for possible journals and options for making your work open access.
• Check the journals' rejection rates. Journals with very high rejection rates may be more challenging to publish in as a student, simply because they accept fewer articles.
• Consider whether you can work with a faculty member to co-author the paper that you submit.
• Do some research to find out where other undergraduate students in your department have been successful in getting published.

Journals dedicated to publishing undergraduate research

More information about undergraduate publishing.

Visit the following resources to learn more about Scholarly Publishing, and contact your liaison librarian or [email protected] for additional support.

• Scholarly Publishing and Open Access webpages
• Introduction to Scholarly Publishing at SFU - Canvas Course
• Attend a Research Commons publishing workshop, such as the Publishing Symposium (while the Research Commons workshops are primarily offered to graduate students, undergraduate students interested in publishing are welcome to attend).

*Don't see an SFU student journal in your discipline? Consider starting one! Visit the SFU Library Digital Publishing webpages and contact [email protected] to learn more.

Contact us : For assistance with scholarly publishing, please contact  [email protected] .

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• Writing Tips

The Ultimate Guide to Getting Your Thesis Published in a Journal

• 7-minute read
• 25th February 2023

Writing your thesis and getting it published are huge accomplishments. However, publishing your thesis in an academic journal is another journey for scholars. Beyond how much hard work, time, and research you invest, having your findings published in a scholarly journal is vital for your reputation as a scholar and also advances research findings within your field.

This guide will walk you through how to make sure your thesis is ready for publication in a journal. We’ll go over how to prepare for pre-publication, how to submit your research, and what to do after acceptance.

Pre-Publication Preparations

Understanding the publishing process.

Ideally, you have already considered what type of publication outlet you want your thesis research to appear in. If not, it’s best to do this so you can tailor your writing and overall presentation to fit that publication outlet’s expectations. When selecting an outlet for your research, consider the following:

●  How well will my research fit the journal?

●  Are the reputation and quality of this journal high?

●  Who is this journal’s readership/audience?

●  How long does it take the journal to respond to a submission?

●  What’s the journal’s rejection rate?

Once you finish writing, revising, editing, and proofreading your work (which can take months or years), expect the publication process to be an additional three months or so.

Revising Your Thesis

Your thesis will need to be thoroughly revised, reworked, reorganized, and edited before a journal will accept it. Journals have specific requirements for all submissions, so read everything on a journal’s submission requirements page before you submit. Make a checklist of all the requirements to be sure you don’t overlook anything. Failing to meet the submission requirements could result in your paper being rejected.

Areas for Improvement

No doubt, the biggest challenge academics face in this journey is reducing the word count of their thesis to meet journal publication requirements. Remember that the average thesis is between 60,000 and 80,000 words, not including footnotes, appendices, and references. On the other hand, the average academic journal article is 4,000 to 7,000 words. Reducing the number of words this much may seem impossible when you are staring at the year or more of research your thesis required, but remember, many have done this before, and many will do it again. You can do it too. Be patient with the process.

Additional areas of improvement include>

·   having to reorganize your thesis to meet the section requirements of the journal you submit to ( abstract, intro , methods, results, and discussion).

·   Possibly changing your reference system to match the journal requirements or reducing the number of references.

·   Reformatting tables and figures.

·   Going through an extensive editing process to make sure everything is in place and ready.

Identifying Potential Publishers

Many options exist for publishing your academic research in a journal. However, along with the many credible and legitimate publishers available online, just as many predatory publishers are out there looking to take advantage of academics. Be sure to always check unfamiliar publishers’ credentials before commencing the process. If in doubt, ask your mentor or peer whether they think the publisher is legitimate, or you can use Think. Check. Submit .

If you need help identifying which journals your research is best suited to, there are many tools to help. Here’s a short list:

○  Elsevier JournalFinder

○  EndNote Matcher

○  Journal/Author Name Estimator (JANE)

○  Publish & Flourish Open Access

·   The topics the journal publishes and whether your research will be a good fit.

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·   The journal’s audience (whom you want to read your research).

·   The types of articles the journal publishes (e.g., reviews, case studies).

·   Your personal requirements (e.g., whether you’re willing to wait a long time to see your research published).

Submitting Your Thesis

Now that you have thoroughly prepared, it’s time to submit your thesis for publication. This can also be a long process, depending on peer review feedback.

Preparing Your Submission

Many publishers require you to write and submit a cover letter along with your research. The cover letter is your sales pitch to the journal’s editor. In the letter, you should not only introduce your work but also emphasize why it’s new, important, and worth the journal’s time to publish. Be sure to check the journal’s website to see whether submission requires you to include specific information in your cover letter, such as a list of reviewers.

Whenever you submit your thesis for publication in a journal article, it should be in its “final form” – that is, completely ready for publication. Do not submit your thesis if it has not been thoroughly edited, formatted, and proofread. Specifically, check that you’ve met all the journal-specific requirements to avoid rejection.

Navigating the Peer Review Process

Once you submit your thesis to the journal, it will undergo the peer review process. This process may vary among journals, but in general, peer reviews all address the same points. Once submitted, your paper will go through the relevant editors and offices at the journal, then one or more scholars will peer-review it. They will submit their reviews to the journal, which will use the information in its final decision (to accept or reject your submission).

While many academics wait for an acceptance letter that says “no revisions necessary,” this verdict does not appear very often. Instead, the publisher will likely give you a list of necessary revisions based on peer review feedback (these revisions could be major, minor, or a combination of the two). The purpose of the feedback is to verify and strengthen your research. When you respond to the feedback , keep these tips in mind:

●  Always be respectful and polite in your responses, even if you disagree.

●  If you do disagree, be prepared to provide supporting evidence.

●  Respond to all the comments, questions, and feedback in a clear and organized manner.

●  Make sure you have sufficient time to make any changes (e.g., whether you will need to conduct additional experiments).

After Publication

Once the journal accepts your article officially, with no further revisions needed, take a moment to enjoy the fruits of your hard work. After all, having your work appear in a distinguished journal is not an easy feat. Once you’ve finished celebrating, it’s time to promote your work. Here’s how you can do that:

●  Connect with other experts online (like their posts, follow them, and comment on their work).

●  Email your academic mentors.

●  Share your article on social media so others in your field may see your work.

●  Add the article to your LinkedIn publications.

●  Respond to any comments with a “Thank you.”

Getting your thesis research published in a journal is a long process that goes from reworking your thesis to promoting your article online. Be sure you take your time in the pre-publication process so you don’t have to make lots of revisions. You can do this by thoroughly revising, editing, formatting, and proofreading your article.

During this process, make sure you and your co-authors (if any) are going over one another’s work and having outsiders read it to make sure no comma is out of place.

What are the benefits of getting your thesis published?

Having your thesis published builds your reputation as a scholar in your field. It also means you are contributing to the body of work in your field by promoting research and communication with other scholars.

How long does it typically take to get a thesis published?

Once you have finished writing, revising, editing, formatting, and proofreading your thesis – processes that can add up to months or years of work – publication can take around three months. The exact length of time will depend on the journal you submit your work to and the peer review feedback timeline.

How can I ensure the quality of my thesis when attempting to get it published?

If you want to make sure your thesis is of the highest quality, consider having professionals proofread it before submission (some journals even require submissions to be professionally proofread). Proofed has helped thousands of researchers proofread their theses. Check out our free trial today.

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Life @ U of T

My Experience Writing an Undergraduate Thesis

This year, I’ve been working on a really exciting project… my undergraduate thesis! It's my fourth year of university, and I decided to write an undergraduate thesis in Political Science under the supervision of a professor. This week, I wanted to write about why I decided to take a thesis, how I enrolled, and how it’s been going so far! 

What is an undergraduate thesis?

An undergraduate thesis is usually a 40-60 page paper written under the supervision of a professor, allowing you to explore a topic of your interest in-depth. I primarily decided to write an undergraduate thesis to prepare me for graduate school - it's allowed me to get started on work I might continue in graduate school, hone my research skills, and test out whether academic research is for me.

How do I write an undergraduate thesis?

To write my undergraduate thesis, I had two options (this may vary depending on what department you're in!). First, I could join the Senior Thesis Seminar offered by department. These seminars group students together who are interested in doing a thesis and teach them research skills and background information. Students then simultaneously complete a thesis under the supervision of a professor. Senior Thesis Seminars often require applications to register in, so if you’re interested in this option, make sure you look into this in your third year of study!

Because I already had a close working relationship with a professor, I opted to instead do the second option, an Independent Study. An Independent Study allows you to work one-on-one with a professor and design whatever course you’re interested in. For either option, you’ll need to know what topic you're interested in writing your thesis on and ask a professor to work with you, so make sure you've figured this out. 

How's it going?

So far, I’m about half-way through my thesis and I’m having lots of fun. It’s a great way to get super involved in a topic I care about, and it's preparing me for graduate research much more than any course I’ve taken in my undergraduate degree. I’ve also been enjoying working one-on-one with a professor and learning a lot from them about the field of study I’m interested in, what being an academic researcher is like, and what my position in the field is. 

I will say that an undergraduate thesis is a considerable amount of work! It definitely requires more work than all my other classes, and because I’m working so closely with a professor, there’s no way I can slack on it or procrastinate.

Still, if you’re interested in a topic and want to pursue it after your undergraduate studies, I think writing an undergraduate thesis is an incredible opportunity. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments below!

1 comment on “ My Experience Writing an Undergraduate Thesis ”

Is an undergrad thesis mandatory in order to graduate or to get into a Masters program? Also, I’ve heard most Profs only help those with really high grades for their thesis?

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How do undergraduates get their research published?

By JACOB TOOK | November 30, 2017

COURTESY OF JACOB TOOK Students from various majors pursue research and try to get published.

Hopkins is considered to be the first research institution in the United States. The University stresses that research projects are accessible to undergraduates; however, many students feel that Hopkins could do more to help them pursue research and, ultimately, get published.

The University was founded in the late 19th century on the principle of integrating education and research, following the centuries-old model of Germany’s Heidelberg University.

Today, about two thirds of undergraduates engage in research, but they often find that publishing their results can be more difficult.

Some undergraduates also identified differences in pursuing and publishing research between humanities and STEM fields. The News-Letter spoke with three humanities and three STEM undergraduates to find out what challenges they face in getting published.

Mike Tritsch, a sophomore in the Near Eastern Studies department, researched bone remains at a slave site in southern Maryland. He said that one of his supervisors helped him get a paper on his research accepted in a peer-reviewed journal because it is typically difficult for undergraduates to get published.

“Most journals are only grad students or PhDs,” he said. “In other fields, you have a lab, and everyone who works on the project gets their name on the publication — archaeology is just one or two authors.”

Senior Hannah Cowley, a cognitive science major, researched how the brain perceives space by working with a young girl who is unable to differentiate between left and right.

She said that it can be difficult for undergraduates to find labs in which they can contribute to the research rather than only engaging with menial tasks.

“It’s easy to get pigeonholed into washing beakers,” she said. “If publication or contributing is your end goal, you have to work on not being complacent, which is hard because of the stress of Hopkins.”

She added that it is difficult for undergraduates to contribute to research projects in the lab because they may lack the necessary expertise.

Caroline Lupetini, a junior in International Studies, completed an independent study researching Russian interference in recent elections in Europe. She said she has not published her paper because it is too long.

Lupetini agreed that it can be difficult to be knowledgeable enough about a project as an undergraduate. She also added that humanities research is generally an independent and individualized effort.    

“My experience was finding a mentor and developing a relationship with the professor, whereas STEM research is more that you are part of a team,” she said. “You have to find your passion project in humanities or social science because no one else is necessarily working on that project.”

She also said that part of the University’s renown as a research institution is due to the work its students publish and said that those in humanities fields should get more recognition.

“If Hopkins wants to increase its prestige, it should focus on getting more humanities [students] published,” she said.

Mechanical engineering senior Sharon Maguire published a “how-to” paper after she designed a way to 3D-print a laryngoscope, a typically expensive piece of surgical equipment, for about $40.

Maguire said that she gets credit for her research and therefore can take fewer classes, which helps her manage her schedule and makes publication more accessible.

“It’s not the norm to have time for [research],” she said. “That’s the great thing about doing research for credit.”

Cowley believes that giving credit for researching is not sufficient and that the University should make sure students receive financial compensation.

“Credits are wonderful, but it doesn’t buy you food,” she said. “It is hard trying to balance research and work and getting money to pay your rent.”

According to Tritsch, it is easier to get credit for research in STEM fields. Taylor Veracka, a senior in Film and Media Studies, published a paper on democracy in Taiwan that she wrote for a class. She agreed that there’s more support for students in STEM to get published because they are expected to do research.

“My friend — she’s worked on research opportunities where she’s worked in the lab and helped write the final report, and has gotten published that way,” Veracka said. “For humanities and social sciences you could do that, but it’s not a track that a lot of people follow.”

She said that she took a class on how to complete research in social sciences and the humanities and would like to see more resources that provide students with that type of information.

“If those kinds of opportunities were offered to encourage students to think they might get published, that would be beneficial,” Veracka said.

Last spring, the Hopkins Office of Undergraduate Research (HOUR) was created in order to make research and publication opportunities more accessible to undergraduates.

HOUR Director Feilim Mac Gabhann, who is a biochemical engineer, said that they want to work with students across departments, not just those in STEM.

“The classic version of research, the cells in a dish, that’s one type of it, but so too is anything that involves discovery and creativity,” he said. “Music composition at Peabody we think of as part of this, original writing we see as part of this.”

Mac Gabhann said that students’ needs vary depending on their fields of study and their personal interests.

“The experience of undergraduates is very variable,” he said. “Some walk in and the first lab they knock on the door of they get a position and have a great experience, and some people find it harder to find a position or to be supported while they are in that position.”

HOUR manager Tracy Smith has had STEM experience, but she also holds a business degree and said she has a more general base rather than a true science background.

Smith said that HOUR hopes to facilitate positive relationships between students and their mentors, which she described as crucial for research.

“If you’re not connecting with a mentor, then you’re not stuck there,” she said. “We have a huge resource of faculty and postdocs and research associates across the University, and if you’re having a bad experience, find one that works.”

Mac Gabhann also said that the relationships students make with their mentors will follow them into their careers.

“Those mentor-mentee relationships last a very long time and they’re very important, so it’s helpful to get them right,” he said. “Not everyone is a perfect match. There are different types of personalities. Certain people work in certain ways.”

Smith said that they work to connect undergraduates with researchers in an effort to set up those relationships. She said that faculty from the medical school have contacted HOUR in search of undergraduates.

“By coming through us, we’re able to target specific departments where they’re going to get a better response rate,” she said. “They’ve been successful in finding undergraduates to work on their projects.”

Vice Dean for Humanities and Social Sciences Betsy Bryan, who has worked with Tritsch on some projects, said that it can be more difficult for undergraduate students to find a mentor to work with.

“What we see much less of, generally in the humanities, is a long line of names that are attributed to an article,” she said. “Most papers in the humanities are single-authored.”

However, Bryan said that there are faculty who are committed to working with undergraduates in the humanities.

“More people are working with undergrads and seeing that their contributions are research worthy,” she said. “In the humanities, I think the whole concept of undergraduate research and publication is changing.”

Students agreed that finding a mentor was helpful to their research and helping them get published.

Maguire said that her professors and advisors were supportive of her project and wanted her to be successful. She said that speaking with professors or advisors can help students get started or get their papers published.

“They remember their first time going into the lab and what it’s like to be clueless,” she said. “Chances are they have been published dozens of times, and they can help you. It’s all about not being afraid to ask for help.”

Veracka said that even though she published her paper after her class ended, she emailed her professor to ask if he thought she should try to publish it. She then continued to correspond with him during the submissions process.

“When I was submitting it, I would keep him updated, and he was like, ‘That’s great, send me a citation,’” she said. “It was just validation that it was a good idea, and that I should get it published.”

Senior neuroscience major Sam Allen is writing a textbook chapter and works closely with his lab’s principal investigator (PI).

“He’s been in this field for so long, he understands more of the complexities behind it, and so he just reviewed it,” Allen said. “You have to give credit to people that did a lot of the preliminary groundbreaking stuff, which a lot of the time you miss because there’s other stuff built on it.”

He said that their project is delayed because he and his PI have sent revisions and suggestions. He also said that managing his time has been challenging.

According to Allen, students should engage in research projects that they’re passionate about, even if they cannot get published.

“A lot of people who want to publish and they can’t — they see it as a failing,” Allen said. “The goal shouldn’t be to go to a professor and say you want to publish something. That shows that you’re looking for the end goal and not the research itself.”

He said that it was important to research something that interests you and added that he wouldn’t have been able to finish his textbook chapter had he not been interested in the subject.

However, Tritsch said that students should try to get published so that they can show that they have experience in the field.

“If you’ve finished your project, you should publish it. If you don’t publish it, why are you even doing it?” he said. “If you’re going on after undergrad, it’s even more important because it helps you getting into grad school.”

Bryan said that undergraduates no longer have to write book-length manuscripts in the humanities. She added that increasingly, more weight is given to undergraduate papers.

“An undergraduate can access deep information in a way that they couldn’t have done years ago,” she said.

Tritsch said that the deadlines that graduate students have in their classes are more flexible than they are for undergraduates.

“It just takes a while and you have to be persistent at it or you just won’t get published,” he said. “It’s harder to find time, even for me. I have trouble finding time to do the research I want to do.”

Cowley agreed that it could be difficult to manage her time as an undergraduate but said that it is important for students to pursue something that they are passionate about.

“If you don’t love it along the way then what’s the point?” she said. “Going in with the mentality that publishing is the end goal is really dangerous because you miss the opportunity to show what you’re passionate about.”

Trisha Parayil contributed reporting.

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Prize-Winning Thesis and Dissertation Examples

Published on September 9, 2022 by Tegan George . Revised on July 18, 2023.

It can be difficult to know where to start when writing your thesis or dissertation . One way to come up with some ideas or maybe even combat writer’s block is to check out previous work done by other students on a similar thesis or dissertation topic to yours.

This article collects a list of undergraduate, master’s, and PhD theses and dissertations that have won prizes for their high-quality research.

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Table of contents

Award-winning undergraduate theses, award-winning master’s theses, award-winning ph.d. dissertations, other interesting articles.

University : University of Pennsylvania Faculty : History Author : Suchait Kahlon Award : 2021 Hilary Conroy Prize for Best Honors Thesis in World History Title : “Abolition, Africans, and Abstraction: the Influence of the “Noble Savage” on British and French Antislavery Thought, 1787-1807”

University : Columbia University Faculty : History Author : Julien Saint Reiman Award : 2018 Charles A. Beard Senior Thesis Prize Title : “A Starving Man Helping Another Starving Man”: UNRRA, India, and the Genesis of Global Relief, 1943-1947

University: University College London Faculty: Geography Author: Anna Knowles-Smith Award:  2017 Royal Geographical Society Undergraduate Dissertation Prize Title:  Refugees and theatre: an exploration of the basis of self-representation

University: University of Washington Faculty:  Computer Science & Engineering Author: Nick J. Martindell Award: 2014 Best Senior Thesis Award Title:  DCDN: Distributed content delivery for the modern web

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University:  University of Edinburgh Faculty:  Informatics Author:  Christopher Sipola Award:  2018 Social Responsibility & Sustainability Dissertation Prize Title:  Summarizing electricity usage with a neural network

University:  University of Ottawa Faculty:  Education Author:  Matthew Brillinger Award:  2017 Commission on Graduate Studies in the Humanities Prize Title:  Educational Park Planning in Berkeley, California, 1965-1968

University:  University of Ottawa Faculty: Social Sciences Author:  Heather Martin Award:  2015 Joseph De Koninck Prize Title:  An Analysis of Sexual Assault Support Services for Women who have a Developmental Disability

University : University of Ottawa Faculty : Physics Author : Guillaume Thekkadath Award : 2017 Commission on Graduate Studies in the Sciences Prize Title : Joint measurements of complementary properties of quantum systems

University:  London School of Economics Faculty: International Development Author: Lajos Kossuth Award:  2016 Winner of the Prize for Best Overall Performance Title:  Shiny Happy People: A study of the effects income relative to a reference group exerts on life satisfaction

University : Stanford University Faculty : English Author : Nathan Wainstein Award : 2021 Alden Prize Title : “Unformed Art: Bad Writing in the Modernist Novel”

University : University of Massachusetts at Amherst Faculty : Molecular and Cellular Biology Author : Nils Pilotte Award : 2021 Byron Prize for Best Ph.D. Dissertation Title : “Improved Molecular Diagnostics for Soil-Transmitted Molecular Diagnostics for Soil-Transmitted Helminths”

University:  Utrecht University Faculty:  Linguistics Author:  Hans Rutger Bosker Award: 2014 AVT/Anéla Dissertation Prize Title:  The processing and evaluation of fluency in native and non-native speech

University: California Institute of Technology Faculty: Physics Author: Michael P. Mendenhall Award: 2015 Dissertation Award in Nuclear Physics Title: Measurement of the neutron beta decay asymmetry using ultracold neutrons

University:  Stanford University Faculty: Management Science and Engineering Author:  Shayan O. Gharan Award:  Doctoral Dissertation Award 2013 Title:   New Rounding Techniques for the Design and Analysis of Approximation Algorithms

University: University of Minnesota Faculty: Chemical Engineering Author: Eric A. Vandre Award:  2014 Andreas Acrivos Dissertation Award in Fluid Dynamics Title: Onset of Dynamics Wetting Failure: The Mechanics of High-speed Fluid Displacement

University: Erasmus University Rotterdam Faculty: Marketing Author: Ezgi Akpinar Award: McKinsey Marketing Dissertation Award 2014 Title: Consumer Information Sharing: Understanding Psychological Drivers of Social Transmission

University: University of Washington Faculty: Computer Science & Engineering Author: Keith N. Snavely Award:  2009 Doctoral Dissertation Award Title: Scene Reconstruction and Visualization from Internet Photo Collections

University:  University of Ottawa Faculty:  Social Work Author:  Susannah Taylor Award: 2018 Joseph De Koninck Prize Title:  Effacing and Obscuring Autonomy: the Effects of Structural Violence on the Transition to Adulthood of Street Involved Youth

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Research Guides

Submit and publish your thesis.

• The Graduate Thesis: What is it?
• Thesis Defences
• Deadlines and Fees
• Formatting in MS Word
• Formatting in LaTeX
• Making Thesis Accessible
• Thesis Embargo
• Review and Release
• Your Rights as an Author
• Re-using Third Party Materials
• Creative Commons Licenses for Theses
• Turning Thesis into an Article
• Turning Thesis into a Book
• Other Venues of Publication

Publishing from your thesis before or after graduation

"Will repository submission affect my publishing plans?"

... this is a common question for someone looking to publish from their thesis before or after graduation.

Most journals welcome submissions based on a thesis or dissertation. Some may have additional requirements, such as to:

• Let them know about the university’s requirement to make your thesis publicly available
• Submit a manuscript that is substantially different than the thesis content
• Embargo the thesis until after publication, etc.

Your steps will depend on the following scenarios:

Scenario 1 - you ARE NOT planning on publishing your thesis before or after graduation

In this case:

• You can submit your thesis without an embargo
• Your thesis will become publicly available in TSpace  and Library and Archives Canada after your convocation and will be widely indexed via search engines and indexes
• Use the TSpace-generated permanent URL to share and cite your thesis - see example of such citation below

Tajdaran, K. (2015). Enhancement of Peripheral Nerve Regeneration with Controlled Release of Glial Cell Line-derived Neurotrophic Factor (GDNF) (Master’s Thesis, University of Toronto). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1807/74747

Scenario 2 - You ARE planning on publishing your thesis AFTER graduation

Most journals are interested in “original, previously unpublished” research. Some journals consider theses as a form of “prior publications”, others do not, and the majority does not have a clear definition. It will be best to check journal policy before you submit your thesis.

Nature Research will consider submissions containing material that has previously formed part of a PhD or other academic thesis which has been published according to the requirements of the institution awarding the qualification.

►►►How to check journal policies:

• MIT Libraries' list of policy excerpts from major publishers
• Journal’s website - usually under Information for Authors or Copyright / Permissions or Editorial Policy; or in the publication agreement if available online
• If such information cannot be located online, contact the editors directly
• If the journal requires that you place an embargo on your thesis until after publication, see the SGS instructions on how to request an embargo on your thesis .

Scenario 3 - You ARE planning on publishing (or have already published) from your thesis BEFORE graduation

You may want or be expected to publish parts of your thesis before your thesis is submitted, such as with an integrated/publication-based/sandwich thesis. The most important thing to keep in mind here is copyright. You own copyright of your written materials, and a publisher may require copyright transfer of your manuscript.

You need to ensure you retain certain rights or obtain permission in order to satisfy the university’s requirement of making your thesis openly accessible via TSpace, ProQuest and Library and Archives Canada (LAC). For more details on these repositories, see the  Review and Release  section of this guide.

Check whether the journal requires prior notification about U of T’s open access requirement for theses. Some journals want to be notified of this mandate whether or not they restrict the re-use of articles in theses.

Check whether the publisher requires copyright transfer . This should be stated on their website, in the publication agreement, or you can inquire directly with the journal.

If the publisher does not require copyright transfer , i.e. author retains copyright, then you can reuse your article/chapter in your thesis; no permission needed.

If the publisher requires copyright transfer , follow these steps:

Check if the publisher has special provisions for reusing your published work in your thesis. They may permit the inclusion of a non-final version, such as your submitted or accepted manuscript. See more below on understanding different article versions for sharing .

►►►How to check journal policies:  See MIT Libraries' list of policy excerpts from major publishers or the journal/publisher website.

For example, Taylor and Francis policy allows to:

Include your article Author’s Original Manuscript (AOM) or Accepted Manuscript(AM) , depending on the embargo period in your thesis or dissertation. The Version of Record cannot be used. https://authorservices.taylorandfrancis.com/copyright-and-you/

Check if the article is distributed under a Creative Commons license. This may allow re-use.

►►►How to check journal's CC license:  See the journal/publisher website or contact the journal directly.

If the publisher requires copyright transfer, has no special provisions and does not publish under a CC license, you will need to contact them to request permission to include your article in your thesis. You can:

• Negotiate making the article available as part of the thesis in TSpace, ProQuest, and LAC Theses Portal; 
• Request an embargo [link to Lisa’ section on embargo] if the publisher only permits open sharing after some time post-publication;
• If permission is denied you may include in place of the chapter an abstract and a link to the article on the journal website.

If you have specific questions about your situation, publisher policy or author rights, contact the Scholarly Communications and Copyright Office at [email protected] for a consultation (best before you publish!)

Understanding different versions of a published article

A publisher may distinguish between the versions of an article that you may be allowed to include in your thesis:

• Submitted manuscript / pre-print - version you initially send in (often permitted)
• Accepted manuscript / post-print - version after peer review but before copyediting, layout editing, formatting, etc. (sometimes permitted; publisher may require an embargo/access restriction for a period of time)
• Version of record / final publisher’s PDF - version that appears in the journal (many publishers do not permit sharing this version)

►►►How to check article versions permitted for sharing:

• MIT Libraries’s list of policy excerpts from major publishers
• Sherpa/RoMEO database of publisher policies
• Journal’s website - usually under Information for Authors or Copyright/Permissions or Editorial Policy; or in the publication agreement if available online
• << Previous: Creative Commons Licenses for Theses
• Next: Turning Thesis into an Article >>
• Last Updated: Sep 15, 2023 3:23 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.utoronto.ca/thesis

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How to Get Your Thesis Published

Writing a thesis is tough. Current or recent graduate students understand the time and effort required to successfully complete their research program. Indeed, graduate training involves extensive amounts of research that often reflects years of failures and successes. This research often leads to some type of novel insight, which is organized into either a t hesis paper or dissertation.

When writing a dissertation or a thesis , there is much to consider. Both require extensive amounts of work and reflect the years of research conducted by the student. Some universities require that students publish this final research in peer-reviewed journals prior to being considered eligible to graduate. Meanwhile, others do not require the thesis to be officially published. Ultimately, regardless of the graduation requirements, certain career tracks for PhDs or Master’s students require publication in peer-reviewed journals.

Graduate Writing

The type of graduate writing that is required by a student’s university depends upon where the graduate student has studied. In Europe, a doctoral thesis reflects original research, whereas, in the USA, a thesis is often a shorter document associated with a Master’s degree.

Whatever the title, extensive research projects are organized into a final document. Some of these written documents can be formatted into a book. Before publishing, a graduate student should consider several factors prior to publishing. Namely, the student should ask, is my research

• Rigorous: Is it methodical, scholarly work?
• Significant: Why does it matter to your potential audience?
• Original: Is it novel and unique?
• Marketable: Are there potential customers?

When to Publish?

In the past, universities have published theses graduation research summaries in only a hard copy format, such as a bound book. Now, some theses or dissertations are available online, often with a Creative Commons license. This can be a problem due to the requirement by journals that manuscripts contain only unpublished and original data. However, generally, a thesis or dissertation consisting of original, previously unpublished research that has been made available by your home institution does not prevent you from publishing. Rather, journals will consider these theses and dissertations that were published by universities as, understandably, still sufficiently novel data. Furthermore, peer review is an integral component of publication. To pass the muster of peer review, it is important to consider the feedback of dissertation or thesis committee. The critiques of your committee will often mirror the potential concerns of your peer reviewers.

Related: Planning to publish your Ph.D. research in a good journal?  Check these journal selection guidelines now!

Tips and Common Concerns

When going to publish your dissertation, there are generally some common errors made by graduate students.

First, it is generally a good practice to reference or acknowledge the thesis. Since the dissertation may be available publicly, it is important to be transparent about the source of the data.  Similarly, always inform journals that some research contained within a thesis or dissertation was published either in a print-only version or in an online repository.

You can publish your thesis as a monograph or a series of articles. It can depend on the type of thesis.

• Traditional thesis: It is usually in the form of chapters and is an original work written by an individual student.
• Thesis by publication: It consists of papers that have already been published in a journal.

According to COPE guidelines , when thesis contains original unpublished work, it should not be considered as prior publication. Therefore, it is acceptable to be published as a manuscript or a monograph in a journal, even if it is available freely in university repositories and Creative Common license may or may not apply.  However, if the thesis is of the second type, then the papers will be considered as prior publication and are not acceptable as original works for publication. As a research lab hosts student’s work, it is important to first review the policies of your host university. Similarly, since fields transform rapidly, don’t wait too long before publishing. If you do, you run the risk of your literature review or methodology becoming outdated.

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How to write an undergraduate university dissertation

Writing a dissertation is a daunting task, but these tips will help you prepare for all the common challenges students face before deadline day.

Grace McCabe

Writing a dissertation is one of the most challenging aspects of university. However, it is the chance for students to demonstrate what they have learned during their degree and to explore a topic in depth.

In this article, we look at 10 top tips for writing a successful dissertation and break down how to write each section of a dissertation in detail.

10 tips for writing an undergraduate dissertation

1. Select an engaging topic Choose a subject that aligns with your interests and allows you to showcase the skills and knowledge you have acquired through your degree.

2. Research your supervisor Undergraduate students will often be assigned a supervisor based on their research specialisms. Do some research on your supervisor and make sure that they align with your dissertation goals.

3. Understand the dissertation structure Familiarise yourself with the structure (introduction, review of existing research, methodology, findings, results and conclusion). This will vary based on your subject.

4. Write a schedule As soon as you have finalised your topic and looked over the deadline, create a rough plan of how much work you have to do and create mini-deadlines along the way to make sure don’t find yourself having to write your entire dissertation in the final few weeks.

5. Determine requirements Ensure that you know which format your dissertation should be presented in. Check the word count and the referencing style.

6. Organise references from the beginning Maintain an alphabetically arranged reference list or bibliography in the designated style as you do your reading. This will make it a lot easier to finalise your references at the end.

7. Create a detailed plan Once you have done your initial research and have an idea of the shape your dissertation will take, write a detailed essay plan outlining your research questions, SMART objectives and dissertation structure.

8. Keep a dissertation journal Track your progress, record your research and your reading, and document challenges. This will be helpful as you discuss your work with your supervisor and organise your notes.

9. Schedule regular check-ins with your supervisor Make sure you stay in touch with your supervisor throughout the process, scheduling regular meetings and keeping good notes so you can update them on your progress.

10. Employ effective proofreading techniques Ask friends and family to help you proofread your work or use different fonts to help make the text look different. This will help you check for missing sections, grammatical mistakes and typos.

What is a dissertation?

A dissertation is a long piece of academic writing or a research project that you have to write as part of your undergraduate university degree.

It’s usually a long essay in which you explore your chosen topic, present your ideas and show that you understand and can apply what you’ve learned during your studies. Informally, the terms “dissertation” and “thesis” are often used interchangeably.

How do I select a dissertation topic?

First, choose a topic that you find interesting. You will be working on your dissertation for several months, so finding a research topic that you are passionate about and that demonstrates your strength in your subject is best. You want your topic to show all the skills you have developed during your degree. It would be a bonus if you can link your work to your chosen career path, but it’s not necessary.

Second, begin by exploring relevant literature in your field, including academic journals, books and articles. This will help you identify gaps in existing knowledge and areas that may need further exploration. You may not be able to think of a truly original piece of research, but it’s always good to know what has already been written about your chosen topic.

Consider the practical aspects of your chosen topic, ensuring that it is possible within the time frame and available resources. Assess the availability of data, research materials and the overall practicality of conducting the research.

When picking a dissertation topic, you also want to try to choose something that adds new ideas or perspectives to what’s already known in your field. As you narrow your focus, remember that a more targeted approach usually leads to a dissertation that’s easier to manage and has a bigger impact. Be ready to change your plans based on feedback and new information you discover during your research.

How to work with your dissertation supervisor?

Your supervisor is there to provide guidance on your chosen topic, direct your research efforts, and offer assistance and suggestions when you have queries. It’s crucial to establish a comfortable and open line of communication with them throughout the process. Their knowledge can greatly benefit your work. Keep them informed about your progress, seek their advice, and don’t hesitate to ask questions.

1. Keep them updated Regularly tell your supervisor how your work is going and if you’re having any problems. You can do this through emails, meetings or progress reports.

2. Plan meetings Schedule regular meetings with your supervisor. These can be in person or online. These are your time to discuss your progress and ask for help.

3. Share your writing Give your supervisor parts of your writing or an outline. This helps them see what you’re thinking so they can advise you on how to develop it.

5. Ask specific questions When you need help, ask specific questions instead of general ones. This makes it easier for your supervisor to help you.

6. Listen to feedback Be open to what your supervisor says. If they suggest changes, try to make them. It makes your dissertation better and shows you can work together.

7. Talk about problems If something is hard or you’re worried, talk to your supervisor about it. They can give you advice or tell you where to find help.

8. Take charge Be responsible for your work. Let your supervisor know if your plans change, and don’t wait if you need help urgently.

Remember, talking openly with your supervisor helps you both understand each other better, improves your dissertation and ensures that you get the support you need.

How to write a successful research piece at university How to choose a topic for your dissertation Tips for writing a convincing thesis

How do I plan my dissertation?

It’s important to start with a detailed plan that will serve as your road map throughout the entire process of writing your dissertation. As Jumana Labib, a master’s student at the University of Manchester  studying digital media, culture and society, suggests: “Pace yourself – definitely don’t leave the entire thing for the last few days or weeks.”

Decide what your research question or questions will be for your chosen topic.

Break that down into smaller SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound) objectives.

Speak to your supervisor about any overlooked areas.

Create a breakdown of chapters using the structure listed below (for example, a methodology chapter).

Define objectives, key points and evidence for each chapter.

Define your research approach (qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods).

Outline your research methods and analysis techniques.

Develop a timeline with regular moments for review and feedback.

Allocate time for revision, editing and breaks.

Consider any ethical considerations related to your research.

Stay organised and add to your references and bibliography throughout the process.

Remain flexible to possible reviews or changes as you go along.

A well thought-out plan not only makes the writing process more manageable but also increases the likelihood of producing a high-quality piece of research.

How to structure a dissertation?

The structure can depend on your field of study, but this is a rough outline for science and social science dissertations:

Introduce your topic.

Complete a source or literature review.

Describe your research methodology (including the methods for gathering and filtering information, analysis techniques, materials, tools or resources used, limitations of your method, and any considerations of reliability).

Summarise your findings.

Discuss the results and what they mean.

Conclude your point and explain how your work contributes to your field.

On the other hand, humanities and arts dissertations often take the form of an extended essay. This involves constructing an argument or exploring a particular theory or analysis through the analysis of primary and secondary sources. Your essay will be structured through chapters arranged around themes or case studies.

All dissertations include a title page, an abstract and a reference list. Some may also need a table of contents at the beginning. Always check with your university department for its dissertation guidelines, and check with your supervisor as you begin to plan your structure to ensure that you have the right layout.

How long is an undergraduate dissertation?

The length of an undergraduate dissertation can vary depending on the specific guidelines provided by your university and your subject department. However, in many cases, undergraduate dissertations are typically about 8,000 to 12,000 words in length.

“Eat away at it; try to write for at least 30 minutes every day, even if it feels relatively unproductive to you in the moment,” Jumana advises.

How do I add references to my dissertation?

References are the section of your dissertation where you acknowledge the sources you have quoted or referred to in your writing. It’s a way of supporting your ideas, evidencing what research you have used and avoiding plagiarism (claiming someone else’s work as your own), and giving credit to the original authors.

Referencing typically includes in-text citations and a reference list or bibliography with full source details. Different referencing styles exist, such as Harvard, APA and MLA, each favoured in specific fields. Your university will tell you the preferred style.

Using tools and guides provided by universities can make the referencing process more manageable, but be sure they are approved by your university before using any.

How do I write a bibliography or list my references for my dissertation?

The requirement of a bibliography depends on the style of referencing you need to use. Styles such as OSCOLA or Chicago may not require a separate bibliography. In these styles, full source information is often incorporated into footnotes throughout the piece, doing away with the need for a separate bibliography section.

Typically, reference lists or bibliographies are organised alphabetically based on the author’s last name. They usually include essential details about each source, providing a quick overview for readers who want more information. Some styles ask that you include references that you didn’t use in your final piece as they were still a part of the overall research.

It is important to maintain this list as soon as you start your research. As you complete your research, you can add more sources to your bibliography to ensure that you have a comprehensive list throughout the dissertation process.

How to proofread an undergraduate dissertation?

Throughout your dissertation writing, attention to detail will be your greatest asset. The best way to avoid making mistakes is to continuously proofread and edit your work.

Proofreading is a great way to catch any missing sections, grammatical errors or typos. There are many tips to help you proofread:

Ask someone to read your piece and highlight any mistakes they find.

Change the font so you notice any mistakes.

Format your piece as you go, headings and sections will make it easier to spot any problems.

Separate editing and proofreading. Editing is your chance to rewrite sections, add more detail or change any points. Proofreading should be where you get into the final touches, really polish what you have and make sure it’s ready to be submitted.

Stick to your citation style and make sure every resource listed in your dissertation is cited in the reference list or bibliography.

How to write a conclusion for my dissertation?

Writing a dissertation conclusion is your chance to leave the reader impressed by your work.

Start by summarising your findings, highlighting your key points and the outcome of your research. Refer back to the original research question or hypotheses to provide context to your conclusion.

You can then delve into whether you achieved the goals you set at the beginning and reflect on whether your research addressed the topic as expected. Make sure you link your findings to existing literature or sources you have included throughout your work and how your own research could contribute to your field.

Be honest about any limitations or issues you faced during your research and consider any questions that went unanswered that you would consider in the future. Make sure that your conclusion is clear and concise, and sum up the overall impact and importance of your work.

Remember, keep the tone confident and authoritative, avoiding the introduction of new information. This should simply be a summary of everything you have already said throughout the dissertation.

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Theses: Getting published

• Queen's e-thesis
• Embargoes and making your thesis open
• Copyright: seeking permission
• Training & support

Getting published

• Finding theses

During the course of your thesis you may wish to get your research published. In the past, and for certain disciplines, this tended to occur once your thesis was almost, or finally, completed. Now, it is not uncommon for researchers to publish some of their research before submission of the thesis. This is usually in the form of a journal article. Certain chapters of the thesis may naturally lend themselves to being worked into separate journal articles. Or, perhaps, you wish to create a monograph (book) based on your entire thesis.

Based on your research, discipline, discussions with your supervisor, peers and other experts in your field, you will be well placed to make decisions regarding publication e.g. where to publish, what type of format etc. This can, however, be very daunting for researchers.

Reasons to publish your thesis

• There are a number of reasons why you might consider publishing all, or part of your thesis:
• Share the results of your research with others. This will directly benefit other researchers, scholars or practitioners in your field.
• If you research has uncovered something noteworthy, novel, or important, there is added impetus to publish.
• It may be a requirement of your funder.
• It may help to secure future employment, particularly if you wish to pursue an academic career.
• Even if you decide to pursue employment outside of academia, publishing your research may be a helpful way to end mark your time as a research student.
• Even if you decide not to get your thesis published as an article, series of articles/chapters or a book, even by making it Open Access you are ensuring that your findings can be accessed and therefore will help future researchers.

Embargo information

Do not fear making your thesis Open Access. Why not?

If necessary, you can apply an embargo to your e-thesis at any point

Consult with funder, potential publisher, supervisor etc to inform decision if an embargo is required or not

Implications of making your e-thesis open access

Once you upload your e-thesis to Pure , barring any embargoes, it will be can be viewed and accessed online via Queen's Research Portal . This is a good thing! As a result, people may be able to contact you about your research, ask you to speak on your topic or engage with it on social media or scholarly publications. You are likely to have greater visibility as a result of making your thesis open access.

Some researchers are, however, concerned that by making their e-thesis online this will scupper their chances for monograph publication. This may not actually be the case. For example, a thesis may only come to the attention of a publisher or a commissioning editor exactly because it has been made open access first! Also, it is important to remember that it is possible to make your thesis open access while you consider your publication options and then later to apply an embargo if this is required.

Whether or not you apply an embargo to your e-thesis or not, it is important to remember that a dissertation will probably have to be quite significantly revised before it will be published. Different publishers moreover have different policies regarding Open Access theses. Included is some of the policies regarding some of the more prominent publishers.

Some publishers accept proposals based on PhD dissertations and are not overly concerned about a thesis being available in an institutional repository. Other publishers may ask for an embargo period. Some may have a blanket policy of not publishing dissertations. The policy will vary from publisher to publisher. If in doubt it is always best to contact the publisher to ask what is their policy.

Recent research indicates that almost 50% of university press welcome manuscripts that are revisions of Open Access e-theses, with a further almost 50% willing to publish on the basis of substantial revision. Open Access is rapidly evolving and changing the scholarly publication landscape.

Benefits of e-thesis

Some useful resources

Can Openly Accessible E-Theses Be Published as Monographs?

Can't Find It, Can't Sign It: On Dissertation Embargoes. Harvard University Press

Do Open Access Electronic Theses and Dissertations Diminish Publishing Opportunities in the Social Sciences and Humanities?

Electronic Theses & Dissertations: Publishing and policy based on fear

Open Access and the Graduate Author: A Dissertation Anxiety Manual

The Continuing Cautionary Tale of Creative Writing Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Open Access, Publishers and PhD Theses

PhD Theses - Drawing Attention to the Often Overlooked Articles in Open Access Repositories

Copyright, Open Access and your Thesis

Publisher policies

• << Previous: Training & support
• Next: Finding theses >>
• Last Updated: Feb 28, 2024 4:30 PM
• URL: https://libguides.qub.ac.uk/ethesis

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May 6, 2015

Warn students about publishing their undergraduate thesis

Posted by Laura Guertin

Warning! Don´t let them publish your thesis for free. Copyright expert warns students against thesis publishing offer http://t.co/QUOYJMuNTr — University Post (@UniversityPost) September 15, 2014

The purpose of this blog post is not to give a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down to having students share their undergraduate research results online – that is between a student and his/her mentor.  But when it comes to copyright issues, ownership of the data to a larger project, etc., we need to have this conversation with our students to discuss “what’s next?”  Students will be approached (some would say “spammed”) by publishing outlets, and students need our help filtering and navigating these uncharted waters.

Even what may seem as a safe/noncontroversial publishing location for a student may become an issue for future publishing opportunities. For example, maybe you have seen The HuffPost College Thesis Project that gives students “a chance to share with a wide audience the fruit of their hard academic work,” a thesis abstract between 800 and 1,000 words.  However, this Inside Higher Ed article details how a student was turned away from publishing in an academic journal because part of his work was already published elsewhere – specifically, on The Thesis Project site.

There are digital libraries that universities have created to archive student theses.  For example, Penn State’s Schreyer Honors College has an Electronic Thesis Library (here are geoscience theses from the archives).  And if requested, the Honors College will restrict access for two years after a thesis is completed for patent or proprietary purposes, but then the thesis is released online to the public once the two-year period is complete.  The theses for non-honors students in the geosciences can be uploaded under a Creative Commons license and accessed in Penn State’s e-repository called ScholarSphere (see geoscience examples ).

I recommend departments and thesis advisers be pro-active in alerting students to these potential email requests for publishing and discussing “ownership” of data and research outcomes.  At a minimum, please encourage students to get in touch with you, even after graduation, when they are contacted by a potential source for presenting and/or publishing.

Additional sources for exploration

Collins, C. (2010, June 7). Lambert Academic Publishing Continues to Spam. Not Really a Mainlander [blog post] ( Post online )

Levy, F., R. Pyles, C. Szarejko, L. Wyatt. (2012). Developing an Electronic Repository for Undergraduate Theses. Honors in Practice – Online Archive. Paper 160. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/nchchip/160

Stromberg, J. (2014, March 23). I Sold My Undergraduate Thesis to a Print Content Farm. Article available at Slate.com ( Article online )

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Research Publishing & Impact: Getting Published

• Introduction
• Getting Published
• American Institute of Physics
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• Claim Your Name: Researcher IDs & Profiles
• Engage with Your Community: Networks & Social Media
• Journal Metrics
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• Books & Other Formats
• Open Textbooks Project

Getting published

Getting published requires a publishing strategy!

Identifying where to submit your work can be challenging; a publishing strategy will help to get your work accepted, and then read by the right audience.

Target your audience

C onsider your readers and your writing style if you're thinking about publishing your research .

• Who should read your work?
• Is your work suited to specialists in your field, or to a wider or general audience? 
• Talk with your colleagues, supervisor, mentor or peers about their publishing experiences
• Writing for academic journals by R Murray
• A guide to publishing for academics by J Liebowitz
• Academic writing and publishing by J Hartley
• How to Publish in Biological Sciences by J. Measley 
• The Research Whisperer
• Phd2Published: Academic publishing advice for first timers
• Tips from editors

Choose where to publish

• Where to begin...
• Journal finding tools
• Conference tools
• Peer Review
• Open Access
• Submitting your manuscript
• Author rights
• Publisher Ethics
• ISBN, ISSN, ISMN or DOI

Identify strategically which format, publication and publisher best suits your research output and audience. This due diligence can enhance your chances of being read, cited more frequently, and your work being reused.

Knowing what research topics are in demand by journal publishers can give you an edge when it comes to getting your research 'out there'.

How frequently a journal, or publication, is cited is a measure of its importance within the research community. Where possible, it is best to aim to publish in a journal with a  high  impact or rating, unless your research is very niche or specialised.

New and emerging journals, including open access titles, may not have been ranked yet. Assess the quality of such titles by verifying editorial board quality, verifying publishing body authority, thoroughly checking the papers that are being published, impact factors, acceptance rates, and publication timeframes.

• Elsevier Journal Finder helps find journals best suited for publishing your scientific article.
• Master Journal List helps find the right journal for your needs (free), hosted on the Web of Science platform, or use Manuscript Matcher
• Manuscript Matcher finds the best potential publications for your article, searching the Web of Science journals. Start from EndNote Online, EndNote X9 desktop, or Word>EndNote X9 toolbar .
• JANE (Journal/Author/Name Estimator)  helps you match your article to a suitable journal for publication (Biomedical).
• Journal Guide.com is a multidisciplinary journal database that you can use to search, filter, sort and compare journals from over 46,000 titles. Choose the best journal for their research. Learn more - FAQ's
• Open Journal Matcher -(no longer being updated as of July 2022) this tool matches a draft abstract with the best-matching open access journals.
• Springer Journal selector provides detailed instructions for authors, information about the aims and scope and the types of papers that are published in a specific journal.  Journals are listed by subject area and then alphabetically.
• Springer Journal suggester   helps you to find the right journal for your paper. All you need is an abstract or description of your article to find matching journals.
• The Serials Directory provides bibliographic information, and pricing strutures, for popular US and international journals and newspapers.
• Wiley Journal Finder can suggest Wiley journals that may be relevant for your research.
• Cabell's Directories selection policy - check the standards and criteria used to evaluate journal publishing opportunities.
• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) - are there good, peer reviewed, open access journals in your field? There may be an article processing fee, but your work can be freely read by any researcher in the world.
• Learn more about Open access - publishing models, quality assurance, directories, repositories, advocacy and support
• What to consider when choosing which journal to submit your paper to - by Patrick Dunleavy

Knowing what research topics are in demand by journal publishers and conference organisers can give you an edge when it comes to getting your research 'out there'.

Attending conferences is a useful method of keeping up to date and invaluable for networking with colleagues in your research field.

• Create a poster to promote your research
• Submit a conference abstract
• Talk with your colleagues
• Think-Check-Attend - helps you decide whether to go
• Join researcher networks
• Find calls for papers (CFP's) for journal articles and conference presentations:

Definition:

 A preprint is a scholarly manuscript posted by the author(s) in an openly accessible platform, usually before or in parallel with the peer review process. Source:  COPE .

Source:  National Library of Medicine Preprint Pilot

Where are these Preprint Servers/Repositories?

Many platforms archive preprints; some are subject-specific, others include preprints from multiple disciplines. Search multiple platforms to find the latest research on a specific topic. Preprints can also be found searching PubMed and Google Scholar.

arXiv  is a preprint server for physics, math, computer sciences, quantitative biology and statistics.

Authorea  is a platform for publishing articles, data, figures and preprints.

bioRxiv  is a preprint server for biology.

ChemRxiv  is a preprint repository for chemistry.

Figshare  is a repository where users can make all of their research outputs available in a citable, shareable and discoverable manner.

F1000 Research  is an Open Research publishing platform for scientists, scholars and clinicians offering rapid publication of articles and other research outputs without editorial bias.

Google Scholar  contains preprints and each result will need to be checked to confirm the preprint status.

medRxiv  is a preprint server for the health sciences.

Open Science Framework (OSF)  is a free, open platform to support your research and enable collaboration. OSF contains over two million preprints from a number of preprint repositories. 

OUR Archive is the University of Otago's research repository. Add your PDF, or Author accepted manuscript, whichever your journal contract allows.

Preprints.org  is a platform dedicated to making early versions of research outputs permanently available and citable. Content on Preprints is not peer-reviewed and can receive feedback from readers.

PsyArXiv  is a free preprint service for the psychological sciences.

PubMed  - Use the query of: "preprint"[Publication Type] to find records for preprints in PubMed. PubMed records include a link to PubMed Central to view the full text of the preprint.

PubMed Central (PMC)  - Use the query of: preprint[filter] to find preprints in PMC.

RePeC disseminates research in Economics and related sciences.

Research Square  contains over 25,000 preprints and allows authors to submit preprints and make edit prior to peer review in a journal.

SciELO Preprints  is a multidisciplinary international preprint server.

SSRN  is a multidisciplinary preprint server, with social science strength.

Listing of Preprint Servers  maintained by Martyn Rittman from Preprints.org.

Disciplinary repositories - includes preprint and postprint repositories.

Learn more about Citing Preprints, Recommendations and Responsibilities for Authors, and Other Preprint resources .

This page was adapted from resources at Bernard Becker Medical Library and Levy Library .

• APC Fact Sheet from the AOASG
• DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals
• ROAR: Directory of Open Access Repositories
• Learn more about Open access in this Library handout
• Pick your pathway to OA publishing - interactive tool

Congratulations - you're ready to submit to a target journal or publication, one at a time.

• Have you attended a writing workshop on publishing readiness? Check the Graduate Research School workshop series
• Get a final appraisal from a colleague, preferably one with publishing and editing experience
• may include detailed checklists and forms regarding methodologies, ethics, conflict of interest, financial disclosures
• may include plans for data archiving
• may include suggesting referees
• E.g. Graphical Models (Elsevier)
• E.g. Bioscience Writers editing service
• E.g. Template and Tips from Taylor & Francis

Make the editor's job as easy as possible!

It's important to  understand your rights when you sign a publishing agreement because this can affect how you can use your own work later. Apart from the initial publication of your work, you may also want to put copies on your own website, share it via social media, republish it, use it in your teaching, etc.

What order should the authors be in, if a paper is co-authored? Check the ICMJE Vancouver Protocols for criteria.

Check out the author's information on the publisher's website to see if they have information or a sample contract, e.g. an open access journal where authors retain copyright  or a journal where copyright is assigned but some rights are retained by the author.

If your publication is open access then you will have the right to reuse your own work (as will others). In most cases you retain the copyright and give a licence to the publisher to use the work.

Many more traditional agreements will involve 'transfer' or 'assignment' of copyright to the publisher. If this is the case then carefully check what things you can do with your work.

• Can you publish articles related to your thesis ?
• Can you use it in your teaching?
• Or deposit in OUR Archive (some explicitly forbid this)?
• Is there an embargo period that prohibits sharing until a certain time has passed?
• Can you add it to an academic networking site like Academia.edu or ResearchGate, or discipline-based repositories?
• If no mention is made of these things then raise this with the publisher.  You can negotiate and amend your  agreement with any publisher. Use the Author's Addendum hosted by SPARC to negotiate the rights you need or check out more detailed advice about contracts and wording from the Authors' Alliance .

Check publishers' policies about rights in the different versions of a work, e.g. Sherpa/Romeo database.

Find out about funders' policies in the Sherpa/Juliet database.

Contact the University's Copyright Officer or your Business Development Manager or Research Advisor for assistance with interpreting publisher contracts.

Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) - identifies principles of transparency and best practice for scholarly publications. COPE provides advice to editors and publishers on all aspects of publication ethics, in particular how to handle research and publication misconduct. COPE members are expected to follow a code of conduct for journal editors. Search 'Member' page for journal or publisher.

Learn more about  Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing

'Predatory publishing' is an abuse of the 'author-pays model' where deceptive publishers claim to be Open Access in order to collect payments from prospective authors. There are other deceptive publishing practices to look out for as well. Suggested reading:

• Predatory Publishing: Discussion document, COPE, 2019

Check what you should be aware of with  publishing offers .

• Chronicle of Higher Education: Dissertation for sale - A cautionary tale US-based advice about paying close attention to third party publishing options
• Slate : I sold my Undergraduate Thesis to a print content farm [article] Article about rogue publisher, Lambert Academic Publishing (LAP), which offer to 'publish' and sell theses without peer review.

Publishing a book requires legal deposit of a copy with the National Library of NZ. You need an International Standard Book Number (ISBN or e-ISBN) if you self-publish; otherwise your publisher will organise this. The number does not indicate quality of your research output.

Apply for an ISBN online

Publishing a new journal requires legal deposit of the print copy, or access to the online copy. You will need an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN or e-ISSN).

Apply for an ISSN online

Publishing a score or piece of music requires a legal deposit of the printed score,or its parts. You will need an International Standard Music Number (ISMN) for the score or parts. 

Apply for an ISMN online

Learn more about registering your research output.

Publishing an article in an online journal will receive a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) supplied by the journal publisher. If self-publishing online note the URL.

Publish your research

Increase your visibility.

There are a number of ways in which you can promote your research, to increase your discoverability and scholarly visibility. 

• Retain your right to post an open access (OA) preprint, final manuscript, or published version of your article - see Author Rights tab above.
• Use your full name, standard institutional name/address, and author Identifier to assure citations to your work - see Researcher Profiles
• Pay attention to crafting a descriptive title and an informative abstract.
• 10 easy ways to make sure your article gets read
• Using social media for research collaboration and public engagement
• Research commercialisation: Tips for starting your journey

Track your research impact

It's important to keep a track of what you publish and how frequently your research is being cited. There are a number of tools available for doing this:

• Researcher Profiles and Networks
• Books & Other Formats
• track alerts to your own work
• track recent research in your specialist field
• << Previous: Introduction
• Next: Read and Publish Agreements >>
• Last Updated: Feb 21, 2024 2:25 PM
• URL: https://otago.libguides.com/research_publishing_impact

Honors Theses

What this handout is about.

Writing a senior honors thesis, or any major research essay, can seem daunting at first. A thesis requires a reflective, multi-stage writing process. This handout will walk you through those stages. It is targeted at students in the humanities and social sciences, since their theses tend to involve more writing than projects in the hard sciences. Yet all thesis writers may find the organizational strategies helpful.

Introduction

What is an honors thesis.

That depends quite a bit on your field of study. However, all honors theses have at least two things in common:

• They are based on students’ original research.
• They take the form of a written manuscript, which presents the findings of that research. In the humanities, theses average 50-75 pages in length and consist of two or more chapters. In the social sciences, the manuscript may be shorter, depending on whether the project involves more quantitative than qualitative research. In the hard sciences, the manuscript may be shorter still, often taking the form of a sophisticated laboratory report.

Who can write an honors thesis?

In general, students who are at the end of their junior year, have an overall 3.2 GPA, and meet their departmental requirements can write a senior thesis. For information about your eligibility, contact:

• UNC Honors Program
• Your departmental administrators of undergraduate studies/honors

Why write an honors thesis?

Satisfy your intellectual curiosity This is the most compelling reason to write a thesis. Whether it’s the short stories of Flannery O’Connor or the challenges of urban poverty, you’ve studied topics in college that really piqued your interest. Now’s your chance to follow your passions, explore further, and contribute some original ideas and research in your field.

Develop transferable skills Whether you choose to stay in your field of study or not, the process of developing and crafting a feasible research project will hone skills that will serve you well in almost any future job. After all, most jobs require some form of problem solving and oral and written communication. Writing an honors thesis requires that you:

• ask smart questions
• acquire the investigative instincts needed to find answers
• navigate libraries, laboratories, archives, databases, and other research venues
• develop the flexibility to redirect your research if your initial plan flops
• master the art of time management
• hone your argumentation skills
• organize a lengthy piece of writing
• polish your oral communication skills by presenting and defending your project to faculty and peers

Work closely with faculty mentors At large research universities like Carolina, you’ve likely taken classes where you barely got to know your instructor. Writing a thesis offers the opportunity to work one-on-one with a with faculty adviser. Such mentors can enrich your intellectual development and later serve as invaluable references for graduate school and employment.

Open windows into future professions An honors thesis will give you a taste of what it’s like to do research in your field. Even if you’re a sociology major, you may not really know what it’s like to be a sociologist. Writing a sociology thesis would open a window into that world. It also might help you decide whether to pursue that field in graduate school or in your future career.

How do you write an honors thesis?

Get an idea of what’s expected.

It’s a good idea to review some of the honors theses other students have submitted to get a sense of what an honors thesis might look like and what kinds of things might be appropriate topics. Look for examples from the previous year in the Carolina Digital Repository. You may also be able to find past theses collected in your major department or at the North Carolina Collection in Wilson Library. Pay special attention to theses written by students who share your major.

Choose a topic

Ideally, you should start thinking about topics early in your junior year, so you can begin your research and writing quickly during your senior year. (Many departments require that you submit a proposal for an honors thesis project during the spring of your junior year.)

How should you choose a topic?

• Read widely in the fields that interest you. Make a habit of browsing professional journals to survey the “hot” areas of research and to familiarize yourself with your field’s stylistic conventions. (You’ll find the most recent issues of the major professional journals in the periodicals reading room on the first floor of Davis Library).
• Set up appointments to talk with faculty in your field. This is a good idea, since you’ll eventually need to select an advisor and a second reader. Faculty also can help you start narrowing down potential topics.
• Look at honors theses from the past. The North Carolina Collection in Wilson Library holds UNC honors theses. To get a sense of the typical scope of a thesis, take a look at a sampling from your field.

What makes a good topic?

• It’s fascinating. Above all, choose something that grips your imagination. If you don’t, the chances are good that you’ll struggle to finish.
• It’s doable. Even if a topic interests you, it won’t work out unless you have access to the materials you need to research it. Also be sure that your topic is narrow enough. Let’s take an example: Say you’re interested in the efforts to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and early 1980s. That’s a big topic that probably can’t be adequately covered in a single thesis. You need to find a case study within that larger topic. For example, maybe you’re particularly interested in the states that did not ratify the ERA. Of those states, perhaps you’ll select North Carolina, since you’ll have ready access to local research materials. And maybe you want to focus primarily on the ERA’s opponents. Beyond that, maybe you’re particularly interested in female opponents of the ERA. Now you’ve got a much more manageable topic: Women in North Carolina Who Opposed the ERA in the 1970s and 1980s.
• It contains a question. There’s a big difference between having a topic and having a guiding research question. Taking the above topic, perhaps your main question is: Why did some women in North Carolina oppose the ERA? You will, of course, generate other questions: Who were the most outspoken opponents? White women? Middle-class women? How did they oppose the ERA? Public protests? Legislative petitions? etc. etc. Yet it’s good to start with a guiding question that will focus your research.

Goal-setting and time management

The senior year is an exceptionally busy time for college students. In addition to the usual load of courses and jobs, seniors have the daunting task of applying for jobs and/or graduate school. These demands are angst producing and time consuming If that scenario sounds familiar, don’t panic! Do start strategizing about how to make a time for your thesis. You may need to take a lighter course load or eliminate extracurricular activities. Even if the thesis is the only thing on your plate, you still need to make a systematic schedule for yourself. Most departments require that you take a class that guides you through the honors project, so deadlines likely will be set for you. Still, you should set your own goals for meeting those deadlines. Here are a few suggestions for goal setting and time management:

Start early. Keep in mind that many departments will require that you turn in your thesis sometime in early April, so don’t count on having the entire spring semester to finish your work. Ideally, you’ll start the research process the semester or summer before your senior year so that the writing process can begin early in the fall. Some goal-setting will be done for you if you are taking a required class that guides you through the honors project. But any substantive research project requires a clear timetable.

Set clear goals in making a timetable. Find out the final deadline for turning in your project to your department. Working backwards from that deadline, figure out how much time you can allow for the various stages of production.

Here is a sample timetable. Use it, however, with two caveats in mind:

• The timetable for your thesis might look very different depending on your departmental requirements.
• You may not wish to proceed through these stages in a linear fashion. You may want to revise chapter one before you write chapter two. Or you might want to write your introduction last, not first. This sample is designed simply to help you start thinking about how to customize your own schedule.

Sample timetable

Avoid falling into the trap of procrastination. Once you’ve set goals for yourself, stick to them! For some tips on how to do this, see our handout on procrastination .

Consistent production

It’s a good idea to try to squeeze in a bit of thesis work every day—even if it’s just fifteen minutes of journaling or brainstorming about your topic. Or maybe you’ll spend that fifteen minutes taking notes on a book. The important thing is to accomplish a bit of active production (i.e., putting words on paper) for your thesis every day. That way, you develop good writing habits that will help you keep your project moving forward.

Make yourself accountable to someone other than yourself

Since most of you will be taking a required thesis seminar, you will have deadlines. Yet you might want to form a writing group or enlist a peer reader, some person or people who can help you stick to your goals. Moreover, if your advisor encourages you to work mostly independently, don’t be afraid to ask them to set up periodic meetings at which you’ll turn in installments of your project.

Brainstorming and freewriting

One of the biggest challenges of a lengthy writing project is keeping the creative juices flowing. Here’s where freewriting can help. Try keeping a small notebook handy where you jot down stray ideas that pop into your head. Or schedule time to freewrite. You may find that such exercises “free” you up to articulate your argument and generate new ideas. Here are some questions to stimulate freewriting.

Questions for basic brainstorming at the beginning of your project:

• What do I already know about this topic?
• Why do I care about this topic?
• Why is this topic important to people other than myself
• What more do I want to learn about this topic?
• What is the main question that I am trying to answer?
• Where can I look for additional information?
• Who is my audience and how can I reach them?
• How will my work inform my larger field of study?
• What’s the main goal of my research project?

Questions for reflection throughout your project:

• What’s my main argument? How has it changed since I began the project?
• What’s the most important evidence that I have in support of my “big point”?
• What questions do my sources not answer?
• How does my case study inform or challenge my field writ large?
• Does my project reinforce or contradict noted scholars in my field? How?
• What is the most surprising finding of my research?
• What is the most frustrating part of this project?
• What is the most rewarding part of this project?
• What will be my work’s most important contribution?

Research and note-taking

In conducting research, you will need to find both primary sources (“firsthand” sources that come directly from the period/events/people you are studying) and secondary sources (“secondhand” sources that are filtered through the interpretations of experts in your field.) The nature of your research will vary tremendously, depending on what field you’re in. For some general suggestions on finding sources, consult the UNC Libraries tutorials . Whatever the exact nature of the research you’re conducting, you’ll be taking lots of notes and should reflect critically on how you do that. Too often it’s assumed that the research phase of a project involves very little substantive writing (i.e., writing that involves thinking). We sit down with our research materials and plunder them for basic facts and useful quotations. That mechanical type of information-recording is important. But a more thoughtful type of writing and analytical thinking is also essential at this stage. Some general guidelines for note-taking:

First of all, develop a research system. There are lots of ways to take and organize your notes. Whether you choose to use note cards, computer databases, or notebooks, follow two cardinal rules:

• Make careful distinctions between direct quotations and your paraphrasing! This is critical if you want to be sure to avoid accidentally plagiarizing someone else’s work. For more on this, see our handout on plagiarism .
• Record full citations for each source. Don’t get lazy here! It will be far more difficult to find the proper citation later than to write it down now.

Keeping those rules in mind, here’s a template for the types of information that your note cards/legal pad sheets/computer files should include for each of your sources:

Abbreviated subject heading: Include two or three words to remind you of what this sources is about (this shorthand categorization is essential for the later sorting of your sources).

Complete bibliographic citation:

• author, title, publisher, copyright date, and page numbers for published works
• box and folder numbers and document descriptions for archival sources
• complete web page title, author, address, and date accessed for online sources

Notes on facts, quotations, and arguments: Depending on the type of source you’re using, the content of your notes will vary. If, for example, you’re using US Census data, then you’ll mainly be writing down statistics and numbers. If you’re looking at someone else’s diary, you might jot down a number of quotations that illustrate the subject’s feelings and perspectives. If you’re looking at a secondary source, you’ll want to make note not just of factual information provided by the author but also of their key arguments.

Your interpretation of the source: This is the most important part of note-taking. Don’t just record facts. Go ahead and take a stab at interpreting them. As historians Jacques Barzun and Henry F. Graff insist, “A note is a thought.” So what do these thoughts entail? Ask yourself questions about the context and significance of each source.

Interpreting the context of a source:

• Who wrote/created the source?
• When, and under what circumstances, was it written/created?
• Why was it written/created? What was the agenda behind the source?
• How was it written/created?
• If using a secondary source: How does it speak to other scholarship in the field?

Interpreting the significance of a source:

• How does this source answer (or complicate) my guiding research questions?
• Does it pose new questions for my project? What are they?
• Does it challenge my fundamental argument? If so, how?
• Given the source’s context, how reliable is it?

You don’t need to answer all of these questions for each source, but you should set a goal of engaging in at least one or two sentences of thoughtful, interpretative writing for each source. If you do so, you’ll make much easier the next task that awaits you: drafting.

The dread of drafting

Why do we often dread drafting? We dread drafting because it requires synthesis, one of the more difficult forms of thinking and interpretation. If you’ve been free-writing and taking thoughtful notes during the research phase of your project, then the drafting should be far less painful. Here are some tips on how to get started:

Sort your “evidence” or research into analytical categories:

• Some people file note cards into categories.
• The technologically-oriented among us take notes using computer database programs that have built-in sorting mechanisms.
• Others cut and paste evidence into detailed outlines on their computer.
• Still others stack books, notes, and photocopies into topically-arranged piles.There is not a single right way, but this step—in some form or fashion—is essential!

If you’ve been forcing yourself to put subject headings on your notes as you go along, you’ll have generated a number of important analytical categories. Now, you need to refine those categories and sort your evidence. Everyone has a different “sorting style.”

Formulate working arguments for your entire thesis and individual chapters. Once you’ve sorted your evidence, you need to spend some time thinking about your project’s “big picture.” You need to be able to answer two questions in specific terms:

• What is the overall argument of my thesis?
• What are the sub-arguments of each chapter and how do they relate to my main argument?

Keep in mind that “working arguments” may change after you start writing. But a senior thesis is big and potentially unwieldy. If you leave this business of argument to chance, you may end up with a tangle of ideas. See our handout on arguments and handout on thesis statements for some general advice on formulating arguments.

Divide your thesis into manageable chunks. The surest road to frustration at this stage is getting obsessed with the big picture. What? Didn’t we just say that you needed to focus on the big picture? Yes, by all means, yes. You do need to focus on the big picture in order to get a conceptual handle on your project, but you also need to break your thesis down into manageable chunks of writing. For example, take a small stack of note cards and flesh them out on paper. Or write through one point on a chapter outline. Those small bits of prose will add up quickly.

Just start! Even if it’s not at the beginning. Are you having trouble writing those first few pages of your chapter? Sometimes the introduction is the toughest place to start. You should have a rough idea of your overall argument before you begin writing one of the main chapters, but you might find it easier to start writing in the middle of a chapter of somewhere other than word one. Grab hold where you evidence is strongest and your ideas are clearest.

Keep up the momentum! Assuming the first draft won’t be your last draft, try to get your thoughts on paper without spending too much time fussing over minor stylistic concerns. At the drafting stage, it’s all about getting those ideas on paper. Once that task is done, you can turn your attention to revising.

Peter Elbow, in Writing With Power, suggests that writing is difficult because it requires two conflicting tasks: creating and criticizing. While these two tasks are intimately intertwined, the drafting stage focuses on creating, while revising requires criticizing. If you leave your revising to the last minute, then you’ve left out a crucial stage of the writing process. See our handout for some general tips on revising . The challenges of revising an honors thesis may include:

Juggling feedback from multiple readers

A senior thesis may mark the first time that you have had to juggle feedback from a wide range of readers:

• your adviser
• a second (and sometimes third) faculty reader
• the professor and students in your honors thesis seminar

You may feel overwhelmed by the prospect of incorporating all this advice. Keep in mind that some advice is better than others. You will probably want to take most seriously the advice of your adviser since they carry the most weight in giving your project a stamp of approval. But sometimes your adviser may give you more advice than you can digest. If so, don’t be afraid to approach them—in a polite and cooperative spirit, of course—and ask for some help in prioritizing that advice. See our handout for some tips on getting and receiving feedback .

Refining your argument

It’s especially easy in writing a lengthy work to lose sight of your main ideas. So spend some time after you’ve drafted to go back and clarify your overall argument and the individual chapter arguments and make sure they match the evidence you present.

Organizing and reorganizing

Again, in writing a 50-75 page thesis, things can get jumbled. You may find it particularly helpful to make a “reverse outline” of each of your chapters. That will help you to see the big sections in your work and move things around so there’s a logical flow of ideas. See our handout on  organization  for more organizational suggestions and tips on making a reverse outline

Plugging in holes in your evidence

It’s unlikely that you anticipated everything you needed to look up before you drafted your thesis. Save some time at the revising stage to plug in the holes in your research. Make sure that you have both primary and secondary evidence to support and contextualize your main ideas.

Saving time for the small stuff

Even though your argument, evidence, and organization are most important, leave plenty of time to polish your prose. At this point, you’ve spent a very long time on your thesis. Don’t let minor blemishes (misspellings and incorrect grammar) distract your readers!

Formatting and final touches

You’re almost done! You’ve researched, drafted, and revised your thesis; now you need to take care of those pesky little formatting matters. An honors thesis should replicate—on a smaller scale—the appearance of a dissertation or master’s thesis. So, you need to include the “trappings” of a formal piece of academic work. For specific questions on formatting matters, check with your department to see if it has a style guide that you should use. For general formatting guidelines, consult the Graduate School’s Guide to Dissertations and Theses . Keeping in mind the caveat that you should always check with your department first about its stylistic guidelines, here’s a brief overview of the final “finishing touches” that you’ll need to put on your honors thesis:

• Honors Thesis
• Name of Department
• University of North Carolina
• These parts of the thesis will vary in format depending on whether your discipline uses MLA, APA, CBE, or Chicago (also known in its shortened version as Turabian) style. Whichever style you’re using, stick to the rules and be consistent. It might be helpful to buy an appropriate style guide. Or consult the UNC LibrariesYear Citations/footnotes and works cited/reference pages  citation tutorial
• In addition, in the bottom left corner, you need to leave space for your adviser and faculty readers to sign their names. For example:

Approved by: _____________________

Adviser: Prof. Jane Doe

• This is not a required component of an honors thesis. However, if you want to thank particular librarians, archivists, interviewees, and advisers, here’s the place to do it. You should include an acknowledgments page if you received a grant from the university or an outside agency that supported your research. It’s a good idea to acknowledge folks who helped you with a major project, but do not feel the need to go overboard with copious and flowery expressions of gratitude. You can—and should—always write additional thank-you notes to people who gave you assistance.
• Formatted much like the table of contents.
• You’ll need to save this until the end, because it needs to reflect your final pagination. Once you’ve made all changes to the body of the thesis, then type up your table of contents with the titles of each section aligned on the left and the page numbers on which those sections begin flush right.
• Each page of your thesis needs a number, although not all page numbers are displayed. All pages that precede the first page of the main text (i.e., your introduction or chapter one) are numbered with small roman numerals (i, ii, iii, iv, v, etc.). All pages thereafter use Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.).
• Your text should be double spaced (except, in some cases, long excerpts of quoted material), in a 12 point font and a standard font style (e.g., Times New Roman). An honors thesis isn’t the place to experiment with funky fonts—they won’t enhance your work, they’ll only distract your readers.
• In general, leave a one-inch inch margin on all sides. However, for the copy of your thesis that will be bound by the library, you need to leave a 1.25-inch margin on the left.

How do I defend my honors thesis?

Graciously, enthusiastically, and confidently. The term defense is scary and misleading—it conjures up images of a military exercise or an athletic maneuver. An academic defense ideally shouldn’t be a combative scene but a congenial conversation about the work’s merits and weaknesses. That said, the defense probably won’t be like the average conversation that you have with your friends. You’ll be the center of attention. And you may get some challenging questions. Thus, it’s a good idea to spend some time preparing yourself. First of all, you’ll want to prepare 5-10 minutes of opening comments. Here’s a good time to preempt some criticisms by frankly acknowledging what you think your work’s greatest strengths and weaknesses are. Then you may be asked some typical questions:

• What is the main argument of your thesis?
• How does it fit in with the work of Ms. Famous Scholar?
• Have you read the work of Mr. Important Author?

NOTE: Don’t get too flustered if you haven’t! Most scholars have their favorite authors and books and may bring one or more of them up, even if the person or book is only tangentially related to the topic at hand. Should you get this question, answer honestly and simply jot down the title or the author’s name for future reference. No one expects you to have read everything that’s out there.

• Why did you choose this particular case study to explore your topic?
• If you were to expand this project in graduate school, how would you do so?

Should you get some biting criticism of your work, try not to get defensive. Yes, this is a defense, but you’ll probably only fan the flames if you lose your cool. Keep in mind that all academic work has flaws or weaknesses, and you can be sure that your professors have received criticisms of their own work. It’s part of the academic enterprise. Accept criticism graciously and learn from it. If you receive criticism that is unfair, stand up for yourself confidently, but in a good spirit. Above all, try to have fun! A defense is a rare opportunity to have eminent scholars in your field focus on YOU and your ideas and work. And the defense marks the end of a long and arduous journey. You have every right to be proud of your accomplishments!

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Atchity, Kenneth. 1986. A Writer’s Time: A Guide to the Creative Process from Vision Through Revision . New York: W.W. Norton.

Barzun, Jacques, and Henry F. Graff. 2012. The Modern Researcher , 6th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Elbow, Peter. 1998. Writing With Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process . New York: Oxford University Press.

Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein. 2014. “They Say/I Say”: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing , 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton and Company.

Lamott, Anne. 1994. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life . New York: Pantheon.

Lasch, Christopher. 2002. Plain Style: A Guide to Written English. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Turabian, Kate. 2018. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, Dissertations , 9th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Five great tips to start publishing as an undergraduate

If the PhD and masters’ students are the flesh of any university, undergraduates are its laboring bones and joints. They are what forms the supporting structure of the academia. An average undergrad will go through college with a lots of study pressure, exams, assignments and occasional snippet of research for theses. Occasionally, an ambitious undergrad may be work on a nice piece of project or create one of their own research questions that has great implications. This is a good chance for this student to show the world the fruits of their efforts.

In my bachelors, I had an opportunity to work as a research assistant on multiple projects, two of which, resulted in scientific publications with my name as one of the authors. They were neither prestigious articles nor belonged to a high-impact journal but nevertheless, it was an inspiration for me to continue my journey in the academia. I have written this blog to highlight some aspects of publishing whilst being an undergrad student. So, here goes--

Why publish as a bachelor student?

If you are a bachelor student who wants to pursue a career in academia or in a research rich environment, it is generally a good idea to aim for a publication in the course of your undergraduate education. It won’t guarantee you a good postgrad position or a job in prestigious industry but will definitely give you a taste of what it is like to publish and obviously, an opportunity to showcase your work. But it is not a simple job and hence will require a lot of effort on your part in addition to the burdens that you carry being an undergrad student.

What to publish?

This is an important question. Although, the judgements and reputations of a successful academic career seem far off, a publication will be a permanent addition to your resume. Thus, it is very important to be sure of what stuff you should put out there. Generally, undergrad research is a part of a team project or a subproject of a much larger scheme. If you are sure that the work being done is sufficiently because of your individual contribution , it is a good idea to go ahead. You can be a part of a bigger list of authors in an over-arching paper that contains your work. Very rarely, you might do something that entitles you as a sole contributor of a research piece.

When to publish?

This is another important aspect of your decision. The question of directing your attention to working on a publishable manuscript whilst studying full-time for a graduation can be a difficult one. In my case, I spent a better part of last two years of my bachelors struggling with full time courses along with trying to get drafts of manuscript on the paper at the same time. Remember, your studies have the priority over all else while graduating. When you are sure that you have some ‘publishable’ research material available with complete results, then it is a good idea to look into the option for publishing.

Where to publish?

Most commonly, this is a question that your guide or supervisor will give you the best suggestions about. There are very specific domains outlined by journals that you can publish in. Sometimes, however, it can be a good idea to look for specific places where undergraduate research is highlighted. In such journals or magazines, you are reviewed on undergrad standards and not on those of the broader scientific world. Some details of such research journals can be found here . Sometimes though, it is a good idea to aim for a higher journal depending on quality of your research because, if you have a publication in a prestigious journal, it makes your resume more alluring for future prospects.

How to publish?

This is a question that I saved for the last. Let’s start with ‘what is a publication?’. More often than not, it is a report of research work that was done towards a specific goal. The report or research ‘paper’ generally includes description of the goal and gaps in knowledge (introduction), what was done to fill that gap or achieve that goal (methodology), what was the result (results) and the interpretation of the result in existing knowledge along with its future implications (discussion). This research paper will start out as a manuscript that you write and get reviewed from your supervisor, then it gets reviewed by group of other qualified people (either peers or editors of journal, depending on the nature of journal) and then after making necessary alterations, gets accepted to be published. A publication is complete when you have this manuscript printed in the official volume of the journal in question. It is always a good idea to ‘ target a journal’ while preparing the manuscript.  See the figure below for an example of a peer review flow chart. Source: APEM 

We hope this blog will help you make your first steps into the publishing world. Do you want to read more articles by Pranav Kurkani? See his other blog posts How to become a PhD student and First steps in the PhD program . 

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