Research Process and Scholarship

 ProQuest's Dissertations and Theses Global is a database that hosts 2.5 million projects in full-text. If you're a master's or PhD student at National University, and have written a successful thesis or dissertation for your capstone project, you can submit your work to their database. That means other students and academics around the world will have access to your work.

You can see a list of National University capstones in ProQuest here.

Note that National University does not participate in ProQuest's institutional program. This means that you can't submit your project using their online ETD Administrator. However, you can still submit by contacting them directly at disspub@proquest.com.

Keep the following in mind as you prepare your submission:

1. Make sure your formatting is correct. Your project needs to conform to ProQuest's submission guidelines, which can be found here.  ProQuest doesn't require the use of any specific citation style, but remember that the Writing Center will help you polish your APA formatting.
2. You may need permission to use copyrighted materials. For example, if you've replicated somebody's images, quoted very long sections of text (more than 1.5 pages), or used a piece of software in a way that doesn't conform to its license agreement, ProQuest might ask you to get permission from the original creator(s) in writing before publishing your capstone. This is true even if you've cited the creator(s) correctly! You can learn more about this here.
3. Prepare to sign your author agreement. During the submission process, you'll be asked to sign a non-exclusive publishing agreement with ProQuest. You'll also have the option to choose between certain publishing options (see more information here). National University does not require an embargo or delay.
4. If you want to, register your copyright. Note that you own the copyright for your capstone whether or not you actually register it, but registering with the U.S. Copyright Office has some benefits outlined here. ProQuest can arrange this for you.
5. You can order physical copies of your project through ProQuest, but you don't have to.

If you need further help with your submission, get in touch with a librarian at refdesk@nu.edu.