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• Graduate school
• Information for postgraduate research students
• Submitting your thesis

This section contains essential information and guidance for the preparation and submission of your thesis.

Preparation and Submission of your Thesis

IMPORTANT - When preparing your thesis please ensure that you have taken into account any copyright or sensitive content issues, and dealt with them appropriately. 

COVID-19  Additional academic support – Supporting Students to Submission

Additional academic support is available for postgraduate research students impacted by the pandemic. If your research has been disrupted by COVID-19, it will now be possible to have this taken into account in viva examinations.

Tips on planning your thesis

At an early stage you should:

• Prepare a detailed work plan for your research in consultation with your supervisor.
• Build some flexibility into your plan. It is difficult to give general advice about the allocation of time on theory‑oriented projects, because the nature of these is so variable. In the case of experiment‑based research projects, you should normally allow up to six months to write a DPhil thesis, or three to four months for a corresponding MSc by Research thesis.
• Consider attending available skills training courses, for example  Thesis and Report Writing .

It is not advisable to leave all the writing to the end, for several reasons:

• You will need practice at writing over a period of time in order to develop a good style.
• There will inevitably be hold‑ups in experimental work and it is better to use that time to work on part of your thesis, rather than to waste it. If you do some writing earlier the final completion of your thesis will not seem such a daunting task.
• Approaching your submission date will become more stressful than necessary.

About your thesis

The best way to find out what is required for a successful thesis in your subject area is to look at some written in recent years. You should obviously look particularly closely at theses written by previous members of your own research group, which are available in the University library.

The formal requirements for obtaining your degree are set out in detail in the ‘ Examination Regulations ’. The standard required for success in the DPhil examination is defined as follows: that the student present a significant and substantial piece of research, of a kind which might reasonably be expected of a capable and diligent student after three or at most four years of full‑time study in the case of a full-time student, or eight years in the case of a part-time student. For the MSc by Research the standard required is that the candidate should have made a worthwhile contribution to knowledge or understanding of the relevant field of learning after a minimum of one year or two years of full-time study.

Thesis structure - Integrated Thesis

Subject to approval, students registered on research programmes (DPhil, MSc (Res) and CDTs) in the following departments may submit an integrated thesis rather than a conventional thesis: Biology, Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Engineering Science and Statistics. Where a student is admitted to an interdisciplinary doctoral training programme (CDT/DTP), the regulations for the department that the student is hosted in will therefore determine whether an integrated thesis may be applied for.

An integrated thesis may either be a hybrid of conventional chapters and high-quality scientific papers, or be fully paper-based. Regardless of the format, the content of the thesis should reflect the amount, originality and level of work expected for a conventional thesis. It should not be assumed that the act of publication (in whatever form) means the work is of suitable academic quality and content for inclusion in a thesis, and students should discuss all papers in detail with their supervisor before including. It would be anticipated that the candidate would be a lead contributor, rather than a minor author, on at least some of the papers in order to consider this format. There is no minimum, or maximum, number of papers a candidate is expected/allowed to include as part of such a thesis and it will remain a matter for the examiners to conclude whether the contributions are equivalent to that which would be expected of a standard DPhil.

Any papers utilised must concern a common subject, constitute a continuous theme and conform to the following guidelines:

 (i) If a candidate for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy wishes to be examined through an integrated thesis (in the departments listed above), they should apply for permission to be examined in this way when they apply for confirmation of status, as detailed in the relevant departmental handbook. A candidate for the Degree of Master of Science by Research should normally apply to the DGS for permission to be examined in this way six months before submitting their papers for examination. To revert to being examined by a conventional thesis rather than an integrated thesis, the candidate must inform their department of the change as detailed in the relevant departmental handbook.

(ii) Work can be included regardless of its acceptance status for publication but candidates may be questioned on the publication status of their work by the examiners.

(iii) Any submitted/published papers should relate directly to the candidate’s approved field of study, and should have been written whilst holding the status of PRS or a student for the MSc (by Research), or DPhil.

(iv) The collection of papers must include a separate introduction, a full literature review, discussion and a conclusion, so that the integrated thesis can be read as a single, coherent document.

(v) The candidate must ensure all matters of copyright are addressed before a paper’s inclusion. A pre-print version of any published papers should be included as standard.

(vi) Joint/multi-authored papers are common in science based subjects and thus acceptable if the candidate can both defend the paper in full and provide a written statement of authorship, agreed by all authors, that certifies the extent of the candidate’s own contribution. A standard template is available for this purpose.

• Download the Statement of Authorship template as a Word document
• View the Statement of Authorship template as a webpage  

The length and scope of theses, including word limits for each subject area in the Division are set out in Departmental guidelines.

In all departments, if some part of the thesis is not solely your work or has been carried out in collaboration with one or more persons, you should also submit a clear statement of the extent of your contribution.

• Download the guidance for submitting an Integrated Thesis as a Word document
• View the guidance for submitting an Integrated Thesis as a webpage

Thesis page and word limits

Several departments place a word limit or page limit on theses. Details can be found in the  Examination Regulations  or  GSO.20a Notes of Guidance for Research Examinations .

Permission to exceed the page and word limits

Should you need to exceed your word/page limit you must seek approval from the Director of Graduate Studies in your department. You and your supervisor must submit a letter/email requesting approval, giving reasons why it is necessary to exceed the limit. This must be sent to the MPLS Graduate Office ( [email protected] ).

Proof-reading

It is your responsibility to ensure your thesis has been adequately proof-read before it is submitted.  Your supervisor may alert you if they feel further proof-reading is needed, but it is not their job to do the proof-reading for you.  You should proof-read your own work, as this is an essential skill in the academic writing process. However, for longer pieces of work it is considered acceptable for students to seek the help of a third party for proof-reading. Such third parties can be professional proof-readers, fellow students, friends or family members (students should bear in mind the terms of any agreements with an outside body or sponsor governing supply of confidential material or the disclosure of research results described in the thesis).   Proof-reading assistance may also be provided as a reasonable adjustment for disability.    Your thesis may be rejected by the examiners if it has not been adequately proof-read.  

See the University’s Policy on the Use of Third Party Proof-readers . The MPLS Division offers training in proof-reading as part of its Scientific Writing training programmes.

Examiners and Submission Dates

You are strongly advised to apply for the appointment of examiners at least four to six weeks before you submit your thesis.

Appointing examiners for your thesis

Approval of the proposed names of examiners rests with the Director of Graduate Studies. Two examiners are normally appointed. It is usual for one of the examiners to be a senior member of Oxford University (the ‘internal examiner’) and the other to be from another research organisation (the ‘external examiner’). The divisional board will not normally appoint as examiners individuals previously closely associated with the candidate or their work, representatives of any organisation sponsoring the candidate’s research, or former colleagues of a candidate. Your supervisor will make suggestions regarding the names of possible examiners. Before doing so, your supervisor must consult with you, in order to find out if you have any special views on the appointment of particular examiners. Your supervisor is also allowed to consult informally with the potential examiners before making formal suggestions. Such informal consultation is usually desirable, and is intended to determine whether the people concerned are willing in principle to act, and if so, whether they could carry out the examination within a reasonable period of time. (For example, there may be constraints if you have to return to your home country, or take up employment on a specific date).

See information on examiner conflicts of interest , under section 7.3.3 Examiners.

What forms do I need to complete?

You will need to complete the online  GSO.3 form. Supervisors complete the section indicating names of the proposed examiners, and they should provide alternatives in case the preferred examiners decline to act.

Timing for appointment of examiners

You are advised to submit your appointment of examiners form in advance of submitting your thesis to avoid delays with your examination process. Ideally you should apply for the appointment of examiners at least 4-6 weeks before you expect to submit your thesis for examination.

There are currently no University regulations requiring examination to take place within a certain time limit after thesis submission. However, your examiners would normally be expected to hold your viva within 3 months. If you need to have your examination sooner than this, you may apply for an early viva , by completing the 'Application for a time specific examination' section on the appointment of examiners form, this section must be endorsed by your supervisor and DGS in addition to their approval in the main body of the form. The request must be made at the time of completing and submitting the appointment of examiners form, it cannot be done after this.

Please bear in mind that the examination date requested must not be earlier than one calendar month after the date on which the thesis has been received by the Research Degrees Team or after the date on which the examiners have formally agreed to act, whichever is the latest. The actual date of the examination will depend primarily on the availability of both examiners. In the Long Vacation, a longer time is normally required. It is therefore essential that you leave sufficient time for your forms to be formally approved, and for your examiners to be formally invited.  If sufficient time has not be given this could impact on your early examination request .

If, for any reason, examiners wish to hold a viva within four weeks of receiving their copy of the thesis, permission must be sought from the Director of Graduate Studies. The internal examiner will need to give details of the proposed arrangement and the reasons for the request. Under no circumstances will a viva be permitted to take place within 14 days of receipt of the thesis by the examiners.

Special considerations

Your supervisor is permitted to indicate to the Director of Graduate Studies if there are any special factors which should be taken into account in the conduct of your examination. For example, a scientific paper may have been produced by another researcher which affects the content of your thesis, but which was published too late for you to take into account. The Director of Graduate Studies will also need to be told of any special circumstances you may require or need to inform your examiners of which may affect your performance in an oral examination, or if any part of your work must be regarded as confidential. The Director of Graduate Studies will then forward (via the Graduate Office), any appropriate information that they think should be provided to the examiners. The Graduate Office will also seek approval from the Proctors Office if required.

Change of thesis title

If during your studies you want to change the title or subject of your thesis, you must obtain the approval of the Director of Graduate Studies using the online form GSO.6 . If you are requesting the change at the time of submitting your thesis, you may do this on the application for appointment of examiners form. A change of title is quite straightforward; it is common for students to begin with a very general title, and then to replace it with a more specific one shortly before submitting their thesis. Providing your supervisor certifies that the new title lies within the original topic, approval will be automatic. A change of the subject of your research requires more detailed consideration, because there may be doubt as to whether you can complete the new project within the original time‑scale.

If following your examination your examiners recommend that your thesis title be changed, you will need to complete a change of thesis title form to ensure that your record is updated accordingly.

From MT19 y ou must submit your digital examiners’ copy of your thesis online, via the Research Thesis Digital Submission (RTDS) portal, no later than the last day of the vacation immediately following the term in which your application for the appointment of examiners was made.   If you fail to submit by this date your application will be cancelled and you will have to reapply for appointment of examiners when you are ready to submit. Y our thesis should not be submitted until your application for confirmation of status has been approved (this applies to DPhil students only) . For MSc by Research students you should ensure that your transfer of status has been completed .

If you are funded on a research council studentship, you will have a recommended end-date before which your thesis must be submitted. If you do not know this date, please consult your supervisor.

Please note that you must not submit copies of your thesis directly to your examiners as this could result in your examinations being declared void and you could be referred to the University Proctors.

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Search the Library

On this page is information for anyone wanting to find theses written by other people and also information for PhD students about their online thesis.

Finding theses

Copyright and your online thesis.

This section is for researchers who would like to find and read theses from Oxford Brookes or other universities.

Oxford Brookes theses

A copy of every Oxford Brookes PhD and MPhil thesis is deposited with the Library in print format (also known as a 'hardcopy'), online format (also known as 'electronic' theses or eTheses), or in both print and online formats. Oxford Brookes theses submitted from 2021 onwards are only available from the Library in online (or 'electronic') format.

To find print and online Oxford Brookes theses you can search LibrarySearch  by author, title, keyword, while for only the online theses you can browse or search  our repository RADAR .

Locating theses from other institutions

• ProQuest Dissertations & Theses provides access to multi-disciplinary dissertations and theses from around the world, offering over 5 million citations and 3 million full-text works from thousands of universities.
• EBSCO Open Dissertations : enables you to search for thousands of open access dissertations
• British Library’s EThOS project : a theses digitisation project. You can search across 500,000+ theses for free and download / order full text where available. You will need to register and log in if you want to download a thesis or to order digitisation of a thesis.
• CORE : CORE (COnnecting REpositories) is an aggregation of open access content from UK and worldwide repositories and open access journals. It includes access to theses.
• DART-Europe : provides details of European theses with access to full text where available.
• National Library of Australia Trove Service : a free repository of Australian material, including almost a million Australian theses.
• Global Electronic Theses and Dissertation Search : a database of open-access electronic theses and dissertations worldwide from the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.

Academic Liaison Librarians

For help finding theses contact your Academic Liaison Librarian (select course resource area from list on page)

This section is for postgraduate researcher students who will be submitting an online PhD thesis as part of their doctorate degree.

What is 'third party content'?

Many theses will include text, images, or other materials that were originally created by other people - this is known as 'third party content'. Material that might be in your thesis and which could be considered third party content includes:

• Lengthy quotations and extracts from publications such as books or journals even if you have attributed them correctly.
• Patented material
• Models/diagrams copied as found from books, even if attributed correctly
• Maps, such as Ordinance Survey photocopies, or taken from books, even if attributed correctly
• Photocopies/scans of paintings and other artworks, or manuscripts and historical documents.

Sometimes students believe they can reproduce third party material in their thesis if they provide a reference to the original - but this is not the case. See the next section for more details.

Using third party content in your online thesis

Third part content is the intellectual property of other people, which means you may need the permission of the copyright holders before including the material in the version of your thesis that will be publicly available on the institutional repository of Oxford Brookes. Here are some conditions under which you can use third party content in your online thesis:

• The third party content has been given a licence (e.g. a Creative Commons licence) which allows you to use the material in your online thesis without contacting the copyright holder.
• A formal legal exception to copyright law means you can include the third party content in your online thesis without the permission of the copyright holder.
• The work is 'out of copyright', meaning that the duration of copyright protection has expired.

You have contacted the copyright owner of the third party material and they have given you permission to include the material in your online thesis. To request permission first establish who the copyright holders are (there may be more than one), try to contact them ( here is a template letter  that you can adapt), and keep records of all communications (separately from your Oxford Brookes email).

If none of the above conditions apply then you must remove the third party content from your the version of your thesis that will be publicly available before you upload it to RADAR. This can be done individually or in bulk:

• Individually: remove each item of third party content that you do not have permission to use in your online thesis but leave a similar amount of blank space so that the pagination is unchanged.
• In bulk: when writing your thesis put all the third party content that you do not have permission to use in the publicly available version of your thesis within a single section of your thesis (e.g. an appendix), then remove that particular section before uploading that version of the thesis to RADAR. For example, Thompson's thesis The furrowed face originally had an Illustrations section (see the Contents List) that is not actually included in this online version of the thesis (though the bibliographic details of the sources are included in the List of Illustrations).

Whichever way you remove the third party content, please remember these two key points:

• Remember to include the bibliographic details of all the third party content in the main body of the text and/or in a separate section so that the readers of your online thesis can easily find the original sources for themselves. Ideally this will also include an electronic hyperlink to each resource (preferably a persistent link, e.g. a DOI).
• For any third party content that you do have permission to use in your online thesis, ensure you state this clearly directly underneath the third party content (e.g. 'Used with permission of the author / publisher /photographer / author /creator' or 'Used under the terms of the licence...', etc.).

Sources of information relating to using third party content:

• General guidance on using third party content by the Intellectual Property Office of the UK Government
• Duration of copyright by Copyright User
• Quotation and copyright by Copyright User
• Using images by Oxford Brookes as part of a Moodle course called 'Copyright and Publication'
• Digital images, photographs, and the internet by the Intellectual Property Office of the UK Government
• Creative Commons licences are often used by publishers and authors to state how online materials can be reused by other people

Personal data and issues of confidentiality

Personal data and confidentiality are usually separate issues from copyright and third party content, but the involvement of human participants in your research (or the inclusion of material that identifies individuals in your thesis) also requires special consideration when submitting the electronic version of your thesis.

Sources of information on personal data:

• Data protection and privacy : considerations for research by Oxford Brookes
• Guidelines for informed consent by Oxford Brookes
• GDPR and Research – An Overview for Researchers (PDF) by UK Research and Innovation

[email protected]

For help with your online thesis contact the Scholarly Communications Team

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Physical & Digital Collections

Theses & dissertations: home, access to theses and dissertations from other institutions and from the university of cambridge.

This guide provides information on searching for theses of Cambridge PhDs and for theses of UK universities and universities abroad. 

For information and guidance on depositing your thesis as a cambridge phd, visit the cambridge office of scholarly communication pages on theses here ., this guide gives essential information on how to obtain theses using the british library's ethos service. .

On the last weekend of October, the British Library became the victim of a major cyber-attack. Essential digital services including the BL catalogue, website and online learning resources went dark, with research services like the EThOS collection of more than 600,000 doctoral theses suddenly unavailable. The BL state that they anticipate restoring more services in the next few weeks, but disruption to certain services is now expected to persist for several months. For the latest news on the attack and information on the restoration of services, please follow the BL blog here:  Knowledge Matters blog  and access the LibGuide page here:  British Library Outage Update - Electronic Legal Deposit - LibGuides at University of Cambridge Subject Libraries

A full list of resources for searching theses online is provided by the Cambridge A-Z, available here .

University of Cambridge theses

Finding a cambridge phd thesis online via the institutional repository.

The University's institutional repository, Apollo , holds full-text digital versions of over 11,000 Cambridge PhD theses and is a rapidly growing collection deposited by Cambridge Ph.D. graduates. Theses in Apollo can be browsed via this link . More information on how to access theses by University of Cambridge students can be found on the access to Cambridge theses webpage.   The requirement for impending PhD graduates to deposit a digital version in order to graduate means the repository will be increasing at a rate of approximately 1,000 per year from this source.   About 200 theses are added annually through requests to make theses Open Access or via requests to digitize a thesis in printed format.

Locating and obtaining a copy of a Cambridge PhD thesis (not yet available via the repository)

Theses can be searched in iDiscover .  Guidance on searching for theses in iDiscover can be found here .   Requests for consultation of printed theses, not available online, should be made at the Manuscripts Reading Room (Email:  [email protected] Telephone: +44 (0)1223 333143).   Further information on the University Library's theses, dissertations and prize essays collections can be consulted at this link .

Researchers can order a copy of an unpublished thesis which was deposited in print form either through the Library’s  Digital Content Unit via the image request form , or, if the thesis has been digitised, it may be available in the Apollo repository. Copies of theses may be provided to researchers in accordance with the  law  and in a manner that is common across UK libraries.  The law allows us to provide whole copies of unpublished theses to individuals as long as they sign a declaration saying that it is for non-commercial research or private study.

How to make your thesis available online through Cambridge's institutional repository

Are you a Cambridge alumni and wish to make your Ph.D. thesis available online? You can do this by depositing it in Apollo the University's institutional repository. Click here for further information on how to proceed.    Current Ph.D students at the University of Cambridge can find further information about the requirements to deposit theses on the Office of Scholarly Communication theses webpages.

UK Theses and Dissertations

Electronic copies of Ph.D. theses submitted at over 100 UK universities are obtainable from EThOS , a service set up to provide access to all theses from participating institutions. It achieves this by harvesting e-theses from Institutional Repositories and by digitising print theses as they are ordered by researchers using the system. Over 250,000 theses are already available in this way. Please note that it does not supply theses submitted at the universities of Cambridge or Oxford although they are listed on EThOS.

Registration with EThOS is not required to search for a thesis but is necessary to download or order one unless it is stored in the university repository rather than the British Library (in which case a link to the repository will be displayed). Many theses are available without charge on an Open Access basis but in all other cases, if you are requesting a thesis that has not yet been digitised you will be asked to meet the cost. Once a thesis has been digitised it is available for free download thereafter.

When you order a thesis it will either be immediately available for download or writing to hard copy or it will need to be digitised. If you order a thesis for digitisation, the system will manage the process and you will be informed when the thesis is available for download/preparation to hard copy.

See the Search results section of the  help page for full information on interpreting search results in EThOS.

EThOS is managed by the British Library and can be found at http://ethos.bl.uk . For more information see About EThOS .

World-wide (incl. UK) theses and dissertations

Electronic versions of non-UK theses may be available from the institution at which they were submitted, sometimes on an open access basis from the institutional repository. A good starting point for discovering freely available electronic theses and dissertations beyond the UK is the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) , which facilitates searching across institutions. Information can also usually be found on the library web pages of the relevant institution.

The DART Europe etheses portal lists several thousand full-text theses from a group of European universities.

The University Library subscribes to the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses  (PQDT) database which from August 31 2023 is accessed on the Web of Science platform.  To search this index select it from the Web of Science "Search in" drop-down list of databases (available on the Documents tab on WoS home page)

PQDT includes 2.4 million dissertation and theses citations, representing 700 leading academic institutions worldwide from 1861 to the present day. The database offers full text for most of the dissertations added since 1997 and strong retrospective full text coverage for older graduate works. Each dissertation published since July 1980 includes a 350-word abstract written by the author. Master's theses published since 1988 include 150-word abstracts.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The University Library only subscribes to the abstracting & indexing version of the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database and NOT the full text version.  A fee is payable for ordering a dissertation from this source.   To obtain the full text of a dissertation as a downloadable PDF you can submit your request via the University Library Inter-Library Loans department (see contact details below). NB this service is only available to full and current members of the University of Cambridge.

Alternatively you can pay yourself for the dissertation PDF on the PQDT platform. Link from Web of Science record display of any thesis to PQDT by clicking on "View Details on ProQuest".  On the "Preview" page you will see an option "Order a copy" top right.  This will allow you to order your own copy from ProQuest directly.

Dissertations and theses submitted at non-UK universities may also be requested on Inter-Library Loan through the Inter-Library Loans department (01223 333039 or 333080, [email protected] )

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If you live in England, your child will learn to read using phonics . Their school is very likely to use either the Letters and Sounds phonics framework or the Read Write Inc. programme. Check with your school if you’re not sure which one they use.

If your child is using Letters and Sounds, you can find this list of eBooks by Letters and Sounds Phases useful. Bear in mind the following:

• If you don’t know your child’s Phase, you can check with your school. As a guide, most Reception children will be on Phases 1–4 and most Year 1 children will be on Phases 4–5. Beyond Phase 5, your child will be able to decode most books.
• In Letters and Sounds, there are ‘sets’ within the Phases – so your child might not know all the sounds in every book within their Phase.
• Some series contain occasional ‘tricky words’ that your child can’t decode using phonics. Use the inside front cover notes to teach your child these words before they start the book.
• Find out more about Letters and Sounds >

If your child is being taught to read using the Read Write Inc. programme, you can find books suitable for them by clicking on the ‘Levels’ menu below and using the 'Read Write Inc.' filter to select the right level.

Find more support and resources for Read Write Inc. in our parents' guide to Read Write Inc. >

• Our Read with Oxford range of levelled readers help children develop reading confidence at home: Read with Oxford books >
• Parents of children using Read Write Inc. Phonics may be interested in our home learning kits and flashcards: Read Write Inc. Phonics kits >

Not reading to practise phonics?

If your child is reading simply for enjoyment, comprehension, or practice, just browse the library or use any of the other filters. You can check which level is right for your child with this simple test from Read with Oxford .

• You can find lots of book recommendations over on our blog: Oxford Owl book lists >
• You can also find some highlights from Oxford Children's books in our Books section: Oxford Children's Fiction >

Are you a teacher? Find out about the Oxford Owl for School eBook library.

Schools who are registered with Oxford Owl can provide pupils with access to an additional 30 Oxford Primary eBooks, plus a separate library of 50 Read Write Inc. titles all for free using a class login associated with their Oxford Owl for School. How to set up a class login >

If you need more eBooks, Oxford Owl for School has introduced a new annual subscription of up to 550 titles. For more information, please visit the OUP website .

Are you looking for your class login?

The class log in link has moved. If your teacher has given you login details to use your class library at home, please use the log in link at the very top of this page and select 'Students'.

Browse the library

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• Essential Phonic Readers

Tell us what you think!

Spare five minutes to let us know how you’re using Oxford Owl and our support for learning at home for your chance to win one of three £50 vouchers* to spend on Oxford University Press books! Take part in our survey

*The prize draw is only open to UK Residents, but the survey is open for anyone to complete and we'd love to hear from all of you – wherever you are in the world!

Books to support learning at home.

Biff, Chip and Kipper

Our Read with Oxford series features the much-loved characters who have been helping children learn to read for over 30 years.

Levelled phonics books from the fabulous Julia Donaldson, author of The Gruffalo .

Read Write Inc. Phonics

A step-by-step phonics programme to support reading. Learn at home with Read Write Inc. Phonics

Alien Adventures

An award-winning independent reading series for ages 4–11 from Project X .

Progress with Oxford

Develop core maths and English skills with these fun activity books .

Bond SATs Skills

Prepare for the KS2 SATs with these SATs Skills workbooks, flashcards and test papers .

Oxford dictionaries

Help your child build their vocabulary and develop spelling skills with age-appropriate dictionaries from Oxford children's dictionaries .

Children's fiction

Fantastic fiction books for children of all ages from Oxford Children's Books .

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Search Oxford Libraries Online (SOLO) is the online catalogue for Oxford University’s libraries, including the Bodleian Libraries and most college and faculty libraries.

What is on SOLO?

You can use SOLO to search:

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Submitting your thesis to ORA: Requirements

• Eligible degrees
• Requirements
• What to deposit
• Pre-deposit checklist
• Hardcopy thesis submission
• How to deposit
• Open Access
• Pre-publication concerns
• Restricted access to your thesis
• Edited/dissemination copy of your thesis
• Oxford Research Theses and predatory publishers
• Funder/sponsor requirements
• Third party copyright
• Fair dealing
• RightsLink®
• Google Maps/Permissions
• Creative Commons
• Unable to get copyright permissions
• Separate appendix
• Plagiarism concerns
• Information for Supervisors
• Digital preservation
• Visibility of your thesis
• Persistent URLS

This page outlines when a thesis can be deposited to ORA, and the requirements which must be met in order for the deposit to be eligible.

When to deposit

Current students must have been granted  leave to supplicate  following examination of their thesis to be eligible for deposit.

Theses should be deposited in good time (a minimum of five working days) in advance of graduation so that they can be processed by the ORA team.

Alumni and Oxford staff/researchers can deposit their thesis to ORA at any time.

Conditions of deposit

The following conditions must be met in order to deposit your thesis:

• The degree for which your thesis was written is eligible for deposit (see:  eligible degrees )
• The deposited file should be the final examined version as it was passed by the examiners with all corrections included (see: what to deposit)
• Inclusion of the thesis in ORA must not infringe copyright or any other rights including those rights of material included in the thesis where copyright is held by a third party. This is the responsibility of the depositor to check (see:  copyright )
• The author must agree to the ORA deposit statement for theses
• A digital version of the thesis must be submitted by the depositor (ORA cannot offer a digitisation service at the present time)
• A thesis record, including the thesis abstract, will be created for your theses and made publicly available via ORA, unless specific dispensation has been granted (see: dispensation ) 

Additionally, for current students:

• Any embargoes on access beyond 3 years must be approved by the supervisor or another appropriate person in the department which granted leave to supplicate.

For alumni and Oxford researchers/staff who graduated before the COVID-19 pandemic:

• A print copy of the thesis must have been deposited in the Bodleian Library

ORA reserves the right to refuse any item if any of these conditions are not met, or in any other exceptional circumstances.

Hardcopy Thesis Submission

Conditions regarding the deposit of physical theses to the Bodleian Libraries as detailed within the requirements surrounding a degree at Oxford have been changing. For information on physical theses deposit please see the section ' hard copy theses ' and refer to the requirements of your degree.

Oxford Glossary

Supplicate : Ask for a degree to be conferred at a degree ceremony.  E.g. candidates who satisfactorily complete a DPhil are granted ‘Leave to supplicate’, meaning they have passed.

• Oxford Glossary of terms Weblink to Oxford Glossary
• University of Oxford glossaries PDF containing a glossary of Oxford terms, acronyms and obsolete Oxford usages.
• << Previous: Eligible degrees
• Next: What to deposit >>
• Last Updated: Aug 20, 2024 3:16 PM
• URL: https://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/digitaltheses

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