Depositing your thesis to UNSWorks

To receive your testamur on the graduation date, you must follow the steps on this page.

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Step 1: Prepare your thesis files for deposit

You must deposit two digital copies in PDF format of the final and examined version of your PhD or Masters by Research thesis - a master copy and a public version.

Note: You only need to complete the thesis deposit process once. However, you must deposit two files even if both copies are identical.

The 'master copy' is the full complete final examined version of your thesis. This copy will be archived and will not be publicly accessible.

The 'public version' is the final examined version of your thesis that has been amended for public viewing by removing third-party copyright material or confidential/sensitive content. This version will be made available to the public online. Remove personal information such as signatures, zID and residential address.

If you wish to restrict access to the public version, refer to the Restricting access to your thesis tab below.

Preparing thesis files

Watch this video on how to prepare your thesis files for deposit to UNSWorks.

Restricting access to your thesis

By default, your thesis is public immediately upon deposit. If you want to restrict access to the public version, you can nominate an embargo period and indicate the date the restriction will be lifted in the UNSWorks thesis deposit form:

  • Restrictions up to 24 months do not require approval (date to be calculated from the date on the completion letter you received from the Graduate Research School).
  • Restrictions beyond this date will require approval - for more information see UNSW Higher Degree Research Hub (requires login).
  • Once a thesis is publicly available in UNSWorks, an embargo cannot be applied. The university will not approve any requests to re-embargo a thesis by a publisher or on behalf of a publisher for articles or manuscripts under consideration. Graduates may contact the Library Scholarly Content team for further guidance.
  • Note that the embargo only applies to the thesis file - the title and abstract of your thesis will be publicly available upon deposit.
  • Watch this short video on how to add an embargo.

 

File 1: The 'master copy'

1. Include the following mandatory documents in both copies of your thesis:

  • Originality statement, Copyright and Authenticity statements
  • Inclusion of Publications Statement

All candidates will have completed these forms online when submitting your thesis for examination via GRIS. You can access these documents via the GRIS Alumni portal.

  • To include these documents in your files, you must print to PDF or take screenshots of the mandatory statements and insert them behind the title page of your final thesis.
  • Select the checkboxes, including the green 'Candidate's Declaration' as shown in the example mandatory document screenshots below.
  • If you no longer have access to the GRIS Alumni Portal, contact the Graduate Research School. Do not include the older signed statements if you can include screenshots of these statements from the GRIS Alumni Portal.

2. Make sure your thesis has a title page with your full name, faculty and school - only one title page is required.

3. Clearly name your file e.g. mastercopy.pdf - ensure it is saved as a PDF and not as a Word document.

File 2: The 'public version'

1. Go to Save As from your Master Copy file and create a duplicate PDF copy of your thesis, with a clearly labelled file name e.g. publicversion.pdf.

2. This version is available to the public online. Remove any confidential or sensitive content including personal information, such as signatures, zID and residential address.

Tips for removing content:

  • To avoid disrupting page numbering and citation management, redact material from a PDF file rather than from Word. If preferred, you can edit in Word and then convert to PDF, but this could affect your layout and numbering.
  • Edit PDFs in Adobe Pro which is available to current UNSW students from UNSW IT. Follow the Adobe instructions on redacting sensitive material. You can also use the Edit PDF tool to delete content.

3. Check for third-party copyright. Ensure you adhere to the Copyright guidelines and modify the public version to exclude any third-party copyright material for which permission has not been given.

  • It is important to retain copies of permissions you have received.
  • You can include Copyright permission granted by publishers and copyright owners in the master copy of your thesis that is submitted to the Library. However, they should be removed from the public version as they often contain sensitive content such as personal information.

 

Step 2: Submit digital copies of your thesis


Deposit your thesis

This button takes you to UNSWorks where you can select to deposit a thesis from the Deposit menu.

You only need to complete the thesis deposit process once however, you must deposit two files even if both copies are identical.

You need to log in with your UNSW zID and password. If your zID access has expired at the end of your candidature, complete the temporary login request form. We will process this request and send UNSWorks temporary login details to your nominated email address by the following working day.

Depositing your thesis: Top tips

Watch this video for our top four tips on how to deposit your thesis to UNSWorks.

Graduating soon?

Congratulations on your achievement! To ensure you are eligible to graduate, remember to return all UNSW Library books and Interlibrary loans, and pay any outstanding Library fines.
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