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Frequently Asked ETD Questions
and Answers
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About
Electronic Submission
Preparing
the ETD
Conversion
to PDF
Adobe
Acrobat Extras
Help!
About Electronic
Submission
Policies Regarding Electronic Submission
Who is responsible for the decision whether an ETD
is acceptable?
Do I have to have my advisory committee signatures
in my ETD?
Preparing the
ETD
Aligning Table of Contents
Embedding Fonts
Should I keep my ETD as one file, or separate it and link the files together?
Where can I access a Scanner?
What are recommended file formats for the ETD and multimedia content?
Conversion to
PDF
Where can I access Adobe Acrobat?
For Best Results: Create PDF File using Acrobat Distiller
Using a PostScript Printer and Acrobat Distiller for higher quality
PDF files created with LaTeX: The font looks blurry
Problems with pages shifting in conversion to PDF
Adobe Acrobat
Extras
Combining Multiple PDF Files
Rotating Pages
Adding Images and Notes to PDF Files
Creating Links or Bookmarks in a PDF File
Set "Open View" Preferences (Adobe Acobat 5.0)
Help!
Help with Word Processors
Help with Guidelines for Theses and Dissertations
Help with ETD Submission
ETD Home | Questions
| Graduate School Home
The following policies apply to all thesis / dissertation reviews. We will not be able to review your thesis or dissertation if you do not adhere to the following policies:
- Within 24 hours of successfully passing the final oral exam (defense) -AND- the committee signing the title page, the student must upload the two required PDF files into the ETD Submission System for the thesis / dissertation review. PDF File 1 - the draft thesis / dissertation file in the required Graduate School format and PDF File 2 - the complete signed title page.
- When the thesis editor receives both required PDF files in the ETD Submission System, the thesis editor will acknowledge receipt. The date that both required PDF files are received is the date of the thesis / dissertation review.
- The thesis editor will review the draft file within 3-5 business days (*longer during deadline times) and upload any corrections into the ETD Notice System as well as e-mailing the student a copy of the corrections with the review checklist.
- As of July 9, 2002 (Fall 2002 graduation), electronic submission
is required.
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Who is responsible for the decision whether an ETD
is acceptable?
- It is the responsibility of the student's advisory committee
to judge the acceptability of the thesis/dissertation from all standpoints,
including writing quality, neatness, mechanical considerations, and technical
and professional competency. Committee members attest to acceptability when
they sign the title page. Therefore, it is important that they be provided with
a copy of the thesis or dissertation before the student's defense.
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Do I have to have my advisory committee signatures
in my ETD?
- No, the title page in the submitted ETD file, does not include the actual signatures.
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In Microsoft Word:
- Click Format
- Click Tabs to open the following window:
- Set the correct "Tab Stop Position"
- Set the "Alignment" to "Right"
- Select a leader, if desired
- Click "Set"
- Click "OK"
Your tab key will now right-align your page numbers. Remember you may
need to reset your tab for use in other parts of your document.
In Corel WordPerfect 8:
- Click Format
- Click Line
- Click Tabs to open the following window:
- Set "Tab Type" to "Right"
- Set desired "Tab Position"
- Set your "Dot Leader Tabs" and "Decimal Alignment"
if desired.
Your tab key will now right-align your page numbers. Remember you may
need to reset your tab for use in other parts of your document.
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Should I keep my ETD as one file, or separate
it and link the files together?
- There are no rules telling whether to have one file or multiple files.
Some things to keep in mind when making your decision:
- Keep the file sizes reasonable for faster readability.
- Each file must be linked directly from your main file etd.pdf
- If you have links, you should make them obvious by changing the text
color, or by keeping some consistent format for linked text.
- When submitting multiple files, pay attention to how the reader may
comprehend the organization of your work. You don't want the reader
to miss sections of your thesis/dissertation because it was not obvious
that those sections were there. One way to be sure of this: don't be
skimpy on your links! You can have multiple links to the same place.
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Sometimes it may be necessary to scan external documents into your ETD.
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Please refer to Recommended File Formats for additional information.
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- Unity Lab
Locations
- College of Education
& Psychology: Adobe Acrobat Distiller is available on Macintosh
computers in room 420 and room 414-A Poe Hall. Scanners are also available.
These facilities are open to all NC State students, faculty and staff.
- The Adobe Acrobat Student Edition software package is available for purchase
in the NC State Bookstores for $99.
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Please refer to Word to PDF
(MS Word) for additional information.
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If you are having problems with the quality of your thesis or dissertation
when you convert to PDF, you may need to print to a PostScript file before
converting to PDF. To do this, you will need to:
- Download and install a PostScript Printer driver by clicking on the
link for your operating system and following the instructions given
there:
Windows
Macintosh
- Open the thesis or dissertation (in the program it was created in).
- Under File select Print.
- A window similar to the following should appear:
- Select the PostScript printer you added from the pull-down list.
- Check the Print to file box (unless it is already checked)
and click OK.
- The following window should appear:
- Choose the location you want to save the PostScript file to. Select
All Files under Save as type. Choose the File name
with a ".ps" (PostScript) extension and click on OK.
- Open Adobe Acrobat Distiller.
- Under the File menu select Open and choose the PostScript
file you just created.
- A new window will open and you will need to choose the name and location
you want to save the PDF file to. When you are ready, click on the
Save button.
- Acrobat Distiller will output the PDF file to the location you chose.
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- Unfortunately, most installations of LaTeX use bitmapped fonts instead
of postscript fonts. The difference is unnoticable for printing; however,
the resulting PDF files are barely legible when viewed on screen.
- To avoid the problems caused by bitmapped fonts, you must download
the appropriate postscript fonts and correctly configure your installation
of LaTeX before attempting to generate a PDF file. There are a number
of variants of LaTeX, the procedure for installing the correct fonts
differs according to the variant and version of LaTeX you are using.
- The following websites have additional information:
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Sometimes when you convert to PDF using Acrobat Distiller
the pages in your file are shifted. This causes problems with the sections
of your thesis/dissertation matching the places that are outlined in the
Table of Contents. If this happens, try converting to PDF using the Acrobat
PDFWriter method outlined for Word and WordPerfect.
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- Open the etd.pdf file in Adobe Acrobat
- Under the Document menu select Insert Pages
- The following window should appear:
- Select the file you want to insert and then click on the Select
button. (Note: it is easier to insert the files in order, for example,
the first file you insert should be the file that comes right after
the etd.pdf file)
- You should now see a window that looks like this:
- Under Location select After if this file comes after
the file you are inserting into or choose Before if this file
goes before the file you are inserting into.
- Under Page select the page where you want the file inserted.
For example: if you want to insert a file after the last page of the
etd.pdf file, and the etd.pdf file is 5 pages long, you
would select After under Location and Page: 5 of 5
under Page.
- Repeat the steps to insert as many files as needed.
- Review the file to make sure that all of the files were inserted
properly.
- When you are finished, save the file as etd.pdf.
- You should now have only one file (etd.pdf) to submit online.
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- Open the etd.pdf file in Adobe Acrobat (not Adobe
Reader)
- Under the Document menu select Rotate Pages
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Adding Images
Note: if you want images, charts, graphs, etc. within the text of
the file, you should insert them when you are developing the thesis or
dissertation, before you convert it to PDF. The method outlined below
only works for adding images to the end of a PDF file or capturing them
into a separate PDF file.
- Open the PDF file you want to add images to in Acrobat.
- Under the File menu, select Import and then Image.
- The following window will appear:
- Select the image(s) you want to insert in the file and click Open.
- You should get this window:
- Select Append images to current document if you want the image(s)
added to the end of the current PDF file. Select Create new document
if you want the image(s) to be inserted into a new PDF file.
- Save the PDF file when you are done.
Adding Notes
- Under the Tools menu, select Note.
- The mouse cursor should now look like a large plus sign.
- Click and drag a rectangle in the area where you want to add a note.
- You should get a box like this:
- You can type your note inside the box and click on the minimize button
in the top left corner when you are done.
- Your minimized note should look like this:
- Highlight the note by clicking on it and then right-click on the
note and select Properties.
- You should see this window:
- You can change the Label and Color of your note in
this window.
- When you are finished, click OK.
- You can edit the content of your note at any time by double-clicking
on the note icon.
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Note: Please DO NOT include external links in your ETD. Any links should
be to files that are submitted with the main ETD file. Keep in mind if you
are submitting and linking to different types of multimedia, that not all
users might have the software needed to view your multimedia.
To create links in a PDF file:
- Open the etd.pdf file in Adobe Acrobat.
-
Under the
Tools menu, select
Link (the
cursor should now look like a large plus sign)
Or click on the
Link Tool.
- Using the mouse, click and drag a rectangle around the word(s) that
you want to make a link
- The following window should appear when you release the mouse button:
- In the Appearance section, select how you want the link to
look and in the Action section choose Open File from
the pull-down menu. The bottom of the window will now have a button
that says Select File. Click on the Select File button
and choose the file you want to link to.
- Now click Set Link
- Repeat these steps for as many links as you want to create. Remember
that when you submit your ETD online you will need to submit ALL of
the files you are linking to as well as the etd.pdf file for
the links to work!
To create bookmarks in a PDF file to another document:
- Open the etd.pdf file in Adobe Acrobat.
- Under Document select New Bookmark. If you're using
version 4.0 click Window, Show Bookmarks. Then right click in
the bookmark column and select New Bookmark.
- A bookmark icon will appear to the left of the window and will be
labeled Untitled. Highlight the bookmark by clicking on the
icon to the left of the words Untitled. Now click anywhere over
the words Untitled. You should be able rename the bookmark to
anything you want by typing over the existing name.
- When you are finished renaming it, highlight the bookmark again by
clicking on the icon to the left of the words Untitled. Now
"right-click" on the highlighted area and select Properties
- The following window will appear:
- You can select an Action such as Open File and then
click on the Select File button to choose the file you want
the bookmark to open
- When you are finished, click on the OK or Set Action
button
- You can repeat these steps and create as many bookmarks as you want.
Remember that when you submit your ETD online you will need to submit
ALL of the files you have bookmarks to as well as the etd.pdf
file for the bookmarks to work!
To create bookmarks within a PDF file:
- Open the etd.pdf file in Adobe Acrobat.
- Scroll to the location you'd like the bookmark to access.
- Select Window, Show Bookmark.
- Right click in the bookmark window and select New Bookmark.
- Right click on the name of the bookmark to rename the bookmark
by typing over the existing name.
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- When your PDF file is opened, do you want it to show the bookmarks?
Or does the page look too small? Here's how to set those preferences
so you KNOW what the reader is going to see.
- Choose File, Document Properties, Open Options
- Definitions of each option can be found in the Adobe Acrobat User
Manual.
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When creating PDF files using Acrobat PDFWriter (from the printer pull-down
list), you may be given the option of entering information about the PDF
file. The window for this information should look something like this:
There is a section in the window for you to enter Keywords.
Use caution when selecting keywords or phrases. Keywords and phrases
are used in conjunction with other information to determine what your
ETD is about. Keywords and phrases are also used to aid in searching.
They are often "searched on," meaning that when a search is
performed, the searches look at the keywords and phrases rather than
the whole document.
Keep in mind that you do not want to use keywords or phrases that can
already be found in your abstract or title, as those are also searched.
Make your keywords and phrases as descriptive and unique
as possible.
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- Issues that deal with Word Processors should be directed to The
Help Desk. (515-HELP)
- If you need help setting up margins, page numbering, etc. - See the step
by step tutorial
section on setting up your word processor.
- See additional tips in the tutorial:
- Consult the help installed with your word processor!
- You may find the help you need in this FAQs page under Preparing
the ETD.
- Consult a friend/mentor who has experience with the word processor you are
using.
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Help creating the PDF file:
Help with the ETD submission system:
- You may find the help you need in this FAQs page under Submitting
the ETD.
- If you are having difficulties logging in or need technical support with
the system itself, view the Library's ETD help
page.
- If you need help or have questions about a specific part of the ETD submission
system, email the Graduate School Webmaster.
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