What is an ETD?

An ETD (electronic thesis or dissertation) consists of a PDF computer file, which is submitted to the Thesis Office electronically for review and is eventually stored in the TAMU Digital Archive as the official thesis or dissertation.

Preparing an electronic thesis/dissertation is no different than preparing a paper copy. The process will remain the same, except for the final steps. Instead of printing the final document to a printer, the document is converted to a PDF file using Adobe Acrobat.

Benefits of ETDs

• Student's research reaches a broader audience
• Research is immediately accessible after graduation
• Electronic copy is available to readers from anywhere at any time
• Electronic format allows for more search options
• Creative formats allow color, multimedia, interactive modeling
• Students gain valuable experience in electronic document preparation
• Archival expenses are lower