Electronic Delivery/Collection of Higher Degree by Research Thesis (E-Collect)

An examiner can elect to have a thesis sent electronically ("E-collect"), by post (hard copy), or by both methods. The "E-collect" process potentially can reduce postage time from a few days to instant delivery. In addition, examiners who are travelling might view an electronic thesis copy as being more portable than a hard copy.

Students are required to submit three hard- or soft-bound copies and one electronic copy for examination. The electronic copy must be a PDF on disk and must be identical in all respects to the hard copies of the thesis.

Benefits of the process
General information
Notification of Intention to submit
Submission and the Electronic copy
AdLib PDF Relay service
FAQ

Benefits of the process

There are many potential benefits of electronic thesis delivery, which have positive implications for administrators, Schools/Disciplines and students alike.  Some of the potential benefits include:

• Improved accessibility because examiners can download the thesis from anywhere in the world.  This can avoid delays which may result if examiners are away from their physical delivery address;
• More travel-friendly as examiners do not have to carry heavy volumes in their luggage (which could also potentially result in cost savings);
• More timely examiners’ reports as a result of the improved accessibility to the thesis;
• When examiners’ reports are not received by the due date, reminders are sent.  Delays result when it is found examiners have not been at their physical delivery address and have received neither thesis nor reminders.  Receipt of electronic theses can be tracked and the delays mentioned above avoided;
• Reduced cost of sending theses, which frees up funding for other improvements;

General information

Notification of Intention to Submit

You are required to give at least three months' notice of your intention to submit your thesis.  When your completed form is processed you will be sent a signed copy of the form with a package which comprises "Specifications for Thesis"; "Certification of Thesis for Examination" form; "On-line Exit Survey information" sheet; "Inclusion of Theses in ADTP" sheet; "Electronic copy of thesis" sheet; and a CD.

There are no changes to the Intent to Submit process.

For students who have already put in an Intention to Submit (but have not yet submitted) and Examiners have been Nominated, we will be contacting these examiners to advise of this new added option of electronic delivery. To facilitate the process we ask that all students provide the electronic copy at submission.

Submission and the Electronic copy of your thesis

Three soft- or hard-bound copies and a PDF version of the thesis on disk must be submitted, together with the "Certification of Thesis for Examination" form.  The disk will have been sent to you previously as a response to your lodging the “Notification of Intention to Submit” form.  The electronic thesis copy must:

• be on CD (previously provided to you).  The Graduate Centre is not able to accept a thesis on a memory stick;
• be in PDF.  If you cannot create PDFs, you can use the University’s free PDF service;
• be in one file, including appendices .  Multiple files are not acceptable.  The student is required to verify that the one file contains the complete thesis in correct order and that the file is acceptable for examination upload;
• be identical in all respects to the hard copies;
• be without document security (the Graduate Centre will add security before the thesis is uploaded); and
• be PC-compatible (even if it is burned using a Mac).

On receipt of the thesis, the Graduate Centre will place the thesis and all related documentation on the Collection Site for the examiner to download and the examination will proceed as usual.

AdLib PDF Relay service

This service enables you to convert documents into one PDF and is available to all staff and students at the University of Adelaide.  Please see the E-Collect AdLib website for more information.

FAQ

Can an examiner discover the identity of his/her co-examiner via the "E-collect" website?
No.  The site and forms uploaded to it have been designed so that examination confidentiality is maintained.

Why must I submit both hard and electronic thesis copies?
Because examiners have a choice with regard to how the thesis is delivered to them.  They may choose an electronic copy, or a hard copy, or both electronic and hard.  If the examiner has chosen to receive the thesis electronically, a copy will be provided via a secure site.  If the examiner chooses hard copy, the thesis will be delivered via courier.

Must I include a scanned signature in my electronic thesis copy?
Currently you do not (but if you wish, you may include it).  The Graduate Centre will scan the Declaration page of your hard copy and send it to the examiners.  Please note that original signatures ARE required in the hard copies of your thesis.

All I have is a word version of my thesis.  Can the Graduate Centre use that?
The copy of your thesis must be in PDF as this is more secure and harder to edit.  If you cannot create a PDF, you can use Adlib, the University's Free PDF service, which is available from this website.  The Graduate Centre prefers that you create the PDF yourself so you can check it and verify that the electronic copy is identical to the hard copies.

Is placing a thesis on the “E-collect” site considered on-line publishing?
The websites used by the Graduate Centre are not available to anyone other than the nominated examiners and material placed on the sites is not considered to be "published".

My thesis has appendices (media files, specialist software, etc) that are impossible to put in a PDF.  What do I do?
Please burn them on to your disk with clearly marked file names and inform the staff at the Graduate Centre at the time of submission.  The Graduate Centre will determine, on a case-by-case basis, the best way of dealing with this.

Please feel free to e-mail the Adelaide Graduate Centre if you have any questions.