BENEFITS OF AN ETD
Access, Budget,
and Creativity are the
three cornerstone benefits of ETD submission.
Rapid distribution and free availability of
ETDs on-line provide Access.
Paper theses and dissertations have traditionally been underutilized.
On average UNC Charlotte's archives receive a request for approximately
25 paper theses and 6 dissertation copies per month. Virginia Tech,
the frontrunner in electronic research in the United States, has efficiently
tracked the use of electronic theses and dissertations on their ETD
web site. In 1996, they reported 37,171 total successful ETD requests.
By 2006/07, the number of successful accesses had increased to 24,934,678.
Imagine that you are the author of a dissertation produced in 1998.
During 1999 and 2000, your electronic document received little attention
and limited access. However, in 2001 your dissertation received 16,169
accesses and in 2002 it received 30,832 accesses. By the end of 2003,
the number of accesses to your document increased to 72,440. This actually
occurred with one electronic dissertation produced at Virginia Tech.
ETDs are available without regard to time or place of the researcher.
Electronic documents are a crucial tool necessary if you desire others
to Access your research
more effectively.
Free conversion of word-processed files to final
documents influences Budget.
On average, a doctoral student producing four final copies submitted
on paper can plan to spend approximately $150.00 to produce a text document
not containing additional photographs or special illustrations.
Sample cost for a non-electronic dissertation:
$100.00 Binding fee for four, 250 page manuscripts
$50.00 Cost for 1000 sheets of 100% cotton 20 lb. weight paper (current
price reference from Staples).
$0.0 Duplication Costs (many students may also incur duplication costs
which have not been included in this example.)
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$150.00 TOTAL cost to student
Sample cost for an electronic dissertation:
The cost for an ETD is $0.00.
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$0.00 TOTAL cost to student
It is evident that the bottom-line to the student is more attractive
when submitting an ETD, but it is also better for the university. Paper
documents are costly to store and maintain. By submitting electronically,
you allow your university to fulfill more economically its responsibilities
of recording and archiving your thesis or dissertation. This is a key
responsibility of the university that is easier and less costly to fulfill
when the workflow involves electronic documents. Overall, ETDs reduce
the Budget demands for
the student and the university.
Multimedia, including sound, video, text layout,
and color foster Creativity.
In a non-electronic dissertation or thesis, the requirements for adding
illustrations are stringent. As an author, you are limited to items
like drawings, graphs, or photographs. If you choose to use any of these
items, you need to be certain to purchase a special type of ink and
you are limited to grayscale images. In addition, the processing and
mounting techniques for items like photographs are limited, and require
special processing paper and mounting methods.
With the introduction of the electronic version, the span of Creativity
has become much larger. Some students have used video and audio to capture
the essence of their research. Other students have used color photos
and landscape features to accentuate their documents. Many creative
options are available to you when submitting an electronic thesis or
dissertation. Including complex multimedia objects in an ETD is a relatively
new possibility, and those attempting this are pioneers. We challenge
you to go beyond the boundaries of the current frontier and expand your
realm of Creativity.