BENEFITS OF DOING AN ETD

Creating your thesis/dissertation in electronic format and publishing it online has several benefits compared to writing a traditional paper thesis or dissertation.

1. Improved presentation
   You can create a visually appealing thesis/dissertation that presents your ideas and work better by including photos, graphs, and drawings. You can use any popular word processing software program.
   
   
2. Increased visibility
   You can make your work available to faculty, potential employers, and a larger audience of readers interested in your work.
   
   
3. World-wide access
   Once your thesis/dissertation has been processed and electronically published by UMI/ProQuest, it will be available electronically to interested readers around the world through the ETD website. Since it will be in electronic format, your thesis/dissertation will be available on demand for simultaneous viewing by multiple readers.
   
   
4. Increased control
   You can control the availability of your thesis/dissertation by choosing:
   
   • to embargo it (i.e. to make it unavailable to anyone for a specified period of time). For instance, if you want to patent an invention revealed in your dissertation or secure a contract to publish a book based on your dissertation
   • or to make it available to interested readers worldwide
     
     
   The only potential disadvantage of publishing an ETD is that some publishers may not want to publish a work that is already published on the Internet. However, when this problem exists, it is usually manageable. (see Publisher Issues)
   
   
5. Lower printing and copying costs
   You are likely to save on printing and copying costs through electronic publishing and information exchange.
   
   
6. More efficient interaction with faculty
   You can complete your thesis/dissertation more efficiently if you and your professors exchange information and ideas through the Internet.
   
   
7. Increased opportunity for creativity
   You can use advanced software programs to produce animations and sounds for use in your thesis/dissertation. Your thesis and dissertation can have highly interactive multimedia and simulations.
   
   
8. Increased understanding of electronic publishing
   You will advance your knowledge and skills in electronic publishing by creating your thesis/dissertation as an electronic document (or set of electronic documents) and publishing your work online through the ETD website.
   
   
9. Increased attention to your work
   Your work will be read by more people; statistics from other universities show that ETDs are accessed many times more than paper-based theses/dissertations.
   
   
10. Increased impact on your field
    You will be part of a movement to make scholarly work more accessible. You will advance scholarship in your field by making it easier for other students and scholars to benefit from what you learned in your research.