Use the login page to log in
to the ETD submission process. If you do not have an account, you will
be given the opportunity to create one.
Once you have begun the process of submitting your ETD, you will be
able to use the same username and password to continue making changes
to your information until your ETD is approved by the Graduate School.
The security system used by the submission process requires that your
browser support and allow cookies.
The submission process uses a persistent ETD Status message to keep
you aware of what you've already done, and what still needs to be done
before your ETD can be approved. You should also use this status window
to navigate among the different steps of the submission process.
In order to be considered complete, your ETD must:
- Have all of its title page information (author, title, keywords,
etc.) entered.
- Have at least one advisor.
- Have at least one file.
- Be accompanied by a completed survey
- Not have any notices from the graduate school
that need to be dealt with.
Pay special attention to any items in the status message which are
displayed in red, these are items that
need to be dealt with before your ETD can be approved.
Sample ETD Status message (links removed)
| ETD Status Items
in red represent information that
must be added or changed before your ETD can be approved.
- Start Over
- View Main Record
- Update Main Record
- Update Committee Information
- Add File Information
- Log Out
|
Adding Files
The ETD submission process requires you to upload files using a Web
browser.
File uploads through a browser window are supported by all versions
of Netscape greater than 3.0 and all versions of Internet Explorer greater
than 4.0.
As a rule, a correct filename will not contain any spaces or slashes.
Use the following naming convention for your file: lastnamefirstinitialmiddleinitial_month_year.pdf.
This would result in a file name that looks like the following: jonesjd_05_2002.pdf.
Entering Abstract
In general, you can copy and paste your abstract from a standard word
processing program into the abstract field in your browser window. Be
aware that special characters such as é and this section sign,
§, often will not copy correctly if you cut and paste them into
the form. Instead of these special characters, you should use the equivalent
HTML entity (i.e. " instead of
" and é instead of é).
Entering Keywords
To improve access to your ETD, select keywords or phrases that are
NOT already in your abstract or title page. All of those words are already
indexed for searching. Selecting additional words and phrases that are
descriptive and unique will increase the probability that searches
will retrieve your ETD. Consult your chapter subheadings and conclusion
for different but appropriate search terms. The MESH
(Medical Subject Headings) Browser is available for selecting subject
terms related to medicine. If you cut and paste your keywords from your
word processor, you should be aware of any special characters (umlauts,
accent marks, quotation marks), and replace them with the appropriate
HTML entity.
HTML entities
Some special characters do not display in
a browser window. For a number of these cases, there are HTML entities
which can be used to safely display the special characters. An HTML entity
consists of an ampersand (&), a word or number (quot, for example),
and a semicolon (;). The following is a short list of special characters
and the HTML entity equivalents.
| Name |
Syntax |
Character |
Description |
| aacute |
á |
á |
Small a, acute accent |
| agrave |
à |
à |
Small a, grave accent |
| ccedil |
ç |
ç |
Small c, cedilla |
| eacute |
é |
é |
Small e, acute accent |
| egrave |
è |
è |
Small e, grave accent |
| ntilde |
ñ |
ñ |
Small n, tilde |
| ouml |
ö |
ö |
Small o, dieresis or umlaut mark |
| uuml |
ü |
ü |
Small u, dieresis or umlaut mark |
| (double) quotation mark |
" |
" |
(double) quotation mark |
| ampersand |
& |
& |
ampersand |
| less-than sign |
< |
< |
less-than sign |
| greater-than sign |
> |
> |
greater-than sign |
For a more complete list of HTML entities, please visit the following
URL, which is maintained by the World Wide Web Consortium:
http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-html40-970708/sgml/entities.html
In order to use the ETD submission process, your browser must support
cookies and file uploads.
There are currently known incompatibilities with the Macintosh version
of Netscape version 3.02, you will need to upgrade if you are using
this version.
A cookie is a bit of information about a user or session that is stored
in a cookies.txt file by a compatible browser. Whenever the browser
requests a page from a host for which it has cookie information, it
also sends the cookie information along, which can be used by any scripts
or CGI programs capable of processing cookie data. In our case, this
cookie is used to store a unique session ID, so that it is not necessary
for you to log in repeatedly before visiting each subsequent page in
the process.
Most recent browsers come with cookies enabled, but people often disable
them for various reasons. If your browser has cookies disabled, consult
the documentation (online or otherwise) that comes with your browser
for instructions on reenabling cookies.
The session cookies issued by our scripts are set to expire in 15 minutes,
but are renewed by each subsequent script. If you remain on the same
page for more than 15 minutes, your cookie will expire, and you will
be required to log in again. If this happens, you
can still use the "back" button on your browser to return to the page
you were working on before your cookie expired.
If you are using AOL, you must download and use a newer version of
either Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer in conjunction with your
AOL account. For more information on proxies and setting up AOL for
use without a proxy, please visit
http://www.lib.vt.edu/extended/extendedcamp.html#dbs.
Once you have submitted all of the minimum information needed to make
up an ETD, your ETD will be reviewed by the Graduate School. Changes
to the ETD can be made online until the ETD has been approved. Once
the ETD has been approved, changes require the permission of the Graduate
School.
Notices
If anything about your ETD needs to be changed before it can be approved,
the Graduate School may send you a notice, which is a brief message
describing the steps you need to take to complete your ETD. Notices
are generally delivered as email messages to whatever author email address
you entered for your ETD. Notices may also be sent to your committee
chair if there are problems reaching you. Once you receive a message
indicating that you have a notice, you should login
again and make the requested changes. Once you have made the requested
changes, it is very important that you send a response to the Graduate
School, so that they will know that your ETD has been updated and is
ready to be reviewed again.
If you would like to stop work on a partially completed ETD and completely
start over, the "Start Over" link in the ETD
Status block that appears on most pages will give you the ability
to completely remove all of the files and information you have already
added and start again.
Converting a Word File to PDF
Two methods can be used within Word to convert Word files to PDF format.
Both require that the file be displayed on the screen. One method uses
the print function, the other uses an Adobe icon that displays at the
top of the screen.
