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Viewing Results for

2005-2006 ETD Author Survey


1. While preparing your ETD, where did you find answers to your questions?
Please select all that apply.

1%\% at an ETD workshop (17/1697 responses)
10.25%\% from my committee (174/1697 responses)
17.8%\% from friends (302/1697 responses)
0.94%\% from New Media Center staff (16/1697 responses)
4.01%\% by telephone (68/1697 responses)
3.65%\% through e-mail (62/1697 responses)
2.59%\% other Web site(s) (44/1697 responses)
52.68%\% VT ETD Web site (894/1697 responses)
1.59%\% from ETD tech support (27/1697 responses)
5.48%\% Other/Comments (93/1697 responses)
95.34% of the people who took this survey
(1002 / 1051) answered this question.

Other Responses (93 for this question)
"classified staff"
"computer programmer"
"Copied from my MS thesis"
"D. Pluska at the Grad School"
"David helped a lot"
"David Pluska and Gwen Ewing were very helpful"
"didn't have any questions"
"ETD personnel"
"friend"
"from committee advisor"
"from Graduate School personnel"
"Gerrie Ewing was great."
"Grad School"
"Grad School Staff"
"Graduate Packet"
"graduate school"( 3 ) responses
"Graduate School Office"
"Gwen Ewing"( 2 ) responses
"Gwen Ewing and David Pluska were very helpful!"
"handout from graduate school"
"Hannah Swiger, Math Dept."
"library staff member"
"Lots of conflicting information from various and supposedly "official" sources"
"Mr. David Pluska, Grad. School"
"Ms. Gwen Ewing in the graduate school was quite helpful"
"my supervisor Dr. Berry"
"none"
"Northern Virginia Center Library staff"
"other"( 45 ) responses
"other grad students in dept."
"packet from grad school"
"Past students' thesses"
"personal communication with Gwen Ewing"
"personal communication with the grad office peole"
"previous theses"
"printed material in exam packet"
"School Secretary"
"some of the copyright websites were down"
"Southern Piedmont AREC Program Support Technician Margaret Kenny"
"Tech Support at WKU"
"the UMI "Publishing Your Dissertation" booklet"
"The VT EDU tutorial is awesome!!!"
"The website was very vague and did not provide enough detail yet, had too much unneccessary information to sort through... Directions and tutorials did NOT correspond with current Adobe software. The website needs to be updated!"
"trial and error"
"Trial/Error based"
"VT grad school staff, comp. lab staff"

2. If you consulted the VT ETD Web site, please indicate if the site was useful.

2.4%\% Not useful (24/1001 responses)
20.18%\% Useful (202/1001 responses)
31.77%\% Somewhat useful (318/1001 responses)
40.76%\% Very useful (408/1001 responses)
4.9%\% Did not consult VT ETD Web site. (49/1001 responses)
95.24% of the people who took this survey
(1001 / 1051) answered this question.

3. If you attended an ETD workshop, please indicate if you found the workshop useful.

0.31%\% Not useful (3/961 responses)
1.77%\% Useful (17/961 responses)
2.08%\% Somewhat useful (20/961 responses)
3.43%\% Very useful (33/961 responses)
92.4%\% Did not attend ETD workshop. (888/961 responses)
91.44% of the people who took this survey
(961 / 1051) answered this question.

4. If you used the New Media Center, please indicate if the staff was helpful.

4.47%\% Very helpful (43/961 responses)
2.39%\% Somewhat helpful (23/961 responses)
2.5%\% Helpful (24/961 responses)
0.42%\% Not helpful (4/961 responses)
90.22%\% Did not use the New Media Center. (867/961 responses)
91.44% of the people who took this survey
(961 / 1051) answered this question.

5. How many ETDs did you consult while preparing your ETD?

3.39%\% more than 10 (34/1003 responses)
17.05%\% Did not consult any ETDs. (171/1003 responses)
31.9%\% 3-5 (320/1003 responses)
40.98%\% 1-2 (411/1003 responses)
6.68%\% 6-10 (67/1003 responses)
95.43% of the people who took this survey
(1003 / 1051) answered this question.

6. Compared to what you expected, how difficult was it to create a PDF file?

2.98%\% Much more difficult (30/1006 responses)
10.04%\% Somewhat more difficult (101/1006 responses)
21.77%\% Somewhat less difficult (219/1006 responses)
36.48%\% Much less difficult (367/1006 responses)
28.73%\% Neither more nor less difficult (289/1006 responses)
95.72% of the people who took this survey
(1006 / 1051) answered this question.

7. My computer is a

1.78%\% Other (18/1013 responses)
2.07%\% Unix (21/1013 responses)
90.42%\% PC (916/1013 responses)
5.73%\% Mac (58/1013 responses)
95.53% of the people who took this survey
(1004 / 1051) answered this question.

Other Responses (18 for this question)
"Labtop"
"Linux"( 6 ) responses
"other"( 9 ) responses
"PC with Linux"
"WINDOWS"

8. Where were you when you submitted your ETD?

33.12%\% Off-campus residence (355/1072 responses)
12.41%\% off-campus workplace (133/1072 responses)
1.12%\% Northern Virginia Center (12/1072 responses)
32.37%\% Campus office (347/1072 responses)
1.12%\% Campus residence hall (12/1072 responses)
1.21%\% New Media Center (13/1072 responses)
2.71%\% Tech Connect lab (29/1072 responses)
2.43%\% Another university (26/1072 responses)
13.53%\% Other (145/1072 responses)
95.72% of the people who took this survey
(1006 / 1051) answered this question.

Other Responses (145 for this question)
"Annapolis, MD"
"Another country"
"Arizona"
"Bollo's"
"campus laboratory"
"campus research lab"
"Canada"
"CEARS Lab"
"chemistry lab"
"ChemP"( 2 ) responses
"CIMSS office"
"comp. lab at WMH"
"company"
"computer lab in Whittemore"
"cowgill"
"Cowgill Hall"( 2 ) responses
"CT"
"D.C."
"Department"
"Department computer lab"
"Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology"
"Extended Campus"
"Faculty office"
"Friends home."
"Home"( 6 ) responses
"home (md)"( 3 ) responses
"in my car"
"laboratory computer"
"LAR studio"
"library"( 2 ) responses
"Library on the Blacksburg Campus"
"My company"
"my office"( 2 ) responses
"my residence in other state"
"New Hampshire"( 2 ) responses
"OFFICE"( 5 ) responses
"other"( 68 ) responses
"Out of State"
"outside USA"
"Personal Computer"
"place of work"
"research lab"
"Research Lab at VT"
"Sandy Hall"
"Southern Piedmont AREC"
"Studio"
"stustustudio"
"Stuttgart, Germany"
"Torg 1080"
"Torgerson Bridge"
"Town Library in South Jersey"
"United Kingdom"
"university research lab"
"vet school"
"Veterinary Medical building"
"VMRCVM"
"VT-CPES Computer Lab"
"VTTI"
"WAAC"
"wireless lan cowgill hall"
"Wireless Laptop"
"work"

9. Compared to what you expected, how difficult was it to submit your thesis/dissertation electronically?

19.94%\% Neither more nor less difficult. (200/1003 responses)
1.69%\% Much more difficult (17/1003 responses)
10.87%\% Somewhat more difficult (109/1003 responses)
29.71%\% Somewhat less difficult (298/1003 responses)
37.79%\% Much less difficult (379/1003 responses)
95.43% of the people who took this survey
(1003 / 1051) answered this question.

10. Throughout the development of your ETD, what formats (i.e.paper, electronic, other) did you use to share your dissertation with your committee?

13.42%\% Electronic----pdf (135/1006 responses)
50.1%\% Mix of electronic and paper (504/1006 responses)
26.24%\% Paper---just a printout (264/1006 responses)
9.84%\% Electronic----text document (99/1006 responses)
0.4%\% Other (4/1006 responses)
95.72% of the people who took this survey
(1006 / 1051) answered this question.

11.How did your commitee chair and/or committee add comments to your document during the writing process?

Text Responses (882 for this question)
""notes tool" in Adobe Acrobat"
"'notes tool' in Adobe Acrobat"
"1) E-mail, comments referenced to document 2) Annotations in PDF file"
"2 weeks"
"acrobat notes"
"add comments in word or write in printout"
"Add comments to the paper draft"
"Added comments after my PhD defense."
"added comments in the pdf file."
"Added comments on pdf"
"added comments on the printed copy" - ( 2 responses)
"added comments on the text-files. otherwise indicated on the paper copies"
"Added comments using the Microsoft Word comment feature"
"Added remarks on the printouts and the electronic files."
"adobe Acrobat"
"Advanced editting PDF"
"advisor made changes prior to defense, committee members made suggestions after"
"All committee members added comments on the printout document during the reviw process."
"All committee members reviewed my thesis individually and made comments by writing on the hardcopies I gave them."
"Annotations on paper copies of the thesis"
"As edits on the side of the work."
"as Word.doc edited files" - ( 2 responses)
"both by writing on a hardcopy and on electronic word file"
"both by writing on paper copies and notes on doc and pdf files"
"Both electronic and paper written comments"
"Both electronic and paper."
"both electronically and on paper"
"Both electronically and on paper."
"Both from the computer and handrwritten via postal service."
"Both in writing and text editing in Microsoft word."
"Both on paper and using tracking on Word"
"both on paper copies and electronically."
"Both on paper, and electronically (paper and pdf)"
"Both on printed version of the current colpy and on the LaTeX sourse file."
"both on the electronic text document and on a printed out version"
"Both on the paper and also electronically"
"Both paper and electronic."
"both through "track changes" on MS Word and paper and pen"
"Both through direct editing of a paper printout and through the critique process."
"both through track changes in word documents and on the paper copy depending on the draft and the committee member"
"Both using electronic and hand-written comments."
"both written and using comments in MS word"
"Both written comments on paper and using the editing features in word"
"Both written comments on printouts and tracking changes in word."
"Both written on printed PDFs and electronic comments on digital PDFs."
"by adding comments to both the word document and a printed copy."
"By commenting directly on the printout"
"By commenting on the printout I gave him"
"by email and in person"
"By email and meetings"
"By email."
"by email; editing within text document; by telephone; in person"
"By emailing me a text document containing the comments or by writing them on the paper copy."
"by hand" - ( 7 responses)
"By hand and electronically using track changes."
"By hand and electronically."
"by hand on a hard copy (printout)"
"by hand on a hard copy and also commmunication by telephone"
"By hand on a Word document."
"By hand on the hard copy and by email for the PDF that was emailed."
"By hand."
"By handwriting"
"By handwritten comments on printed drafts"
"By marking a paper copy"
"By marking a printed thesis with pen"
"By marking up paper drafts."
"By markup language and pen/pencil."
"By paper" - ( 2 responses)
"by paper and email"
"By pensil."
"by red lining the printouts"
"By telephone and commenting within the document"
"By telling me to do this/that-you know..."
"By tracking changes in it."
"By using 'track changes' and entering comments via Word."
"By using ink pen/using comp programm"
"By using the "track changes" option in MS Word, or hand-written changes to paper copies."
"by using the reviewing and comment features of Microsoft Word"
"by writing comments on a printed out copy of the document and e-mailing a pdf copy of it back to me"
"By writing on the dissertation."
"By writing on the paper copy" - ( 2 responses)
"by writing on the paper copy of the thesis"
"By writing on the paper version."
"By writing on the printout"
"By writing the comments on the draft."
"By writing the corrections on paper and handing them back."
"By writing their comments on the printout of the manuscripts"
"By writing them on the dang ol' thing"
"by writing them on the hard copy"
"by writting and electronically"
"Chair: Comments added to the .doc file and emailed back and forth. Committee: Markings on the final printed copies."
"Chair: microsoft word track changes and hand-written on paper version Committee Members: hand-written on paper version"
"Changes on the paper copy."
"check changes in microsoft word"
"Commented on the hard copy."
"Comments added on the Paper fprmat"
"Comments in the PDF (available through the full version of Acrobat). At other times, he'd print out the document and write on it."
"Comments in Word and on paper."
"Comments in Word, mostly written comments on hard copy and verbal"
"Comments on hard copies and/or email"
"Comments on hard copies. Comment feature in Microsoft Word."
"Comments on hard copy and by e-mail mark-up of MSWord files."
"Comments on printed manuscripts."
"Comments on printouts"
"comments on the hard copies or through internet"
"Comments on the paper version."
"Comments on the printed hardcopy of dissertation draft"
"Comments to text pages that were given for me to edit"
"Comments were addded electronically, paper, and in person."
"Comments were added directly on the paper printout"
"Comments were added to the draft printouts of the thesis in pencil and also verbally communicated"
"Comments were added using "Track Changes" in msword and also on paper."
"Comments were handwritten."
"Comments were made on a hard copy of the thesis"
"Comments were noted in writing on hard copies. E-mails were also exchanged suggesting changes."
"Comments were submitted to me via email."
"comments were written in the margins"
"Comments were written on the ETD or listed separately."
"Comments written on paper"
"Comments written on the printouts and verbally."
"Committee chair asked for my word file, and added comments to the word file. Other committee members wrote comments on printout thesis."
"committee chair tended to add comments in the word doc using track changes feature; other committee members added comments on paper copies"
"Committee made corrections on the printed matter."
"committee meetings"
"committee members printed out the pdf file, wrote on the paper, and then sent it to me via postal service."
"Computer and Paper"
"correct in paper then i change my thesis follow by their comment"
"corrected word files"
"Corrections on paper"
"corrections on printed copies"
"Corrections on the paper copy of the dissertation"
"direct interaction by giving feedback after reading the printed form and electronically through highilighting and commenting on the submitted document."
"Directly on the paper copy"
"Discussing on the print outs" - ( 2 responses)
"discussion and hand editing"
"during weekly sessions"
"e-mail"
"e-mail and in-text notes and comments"
"e-mail and written comments on printed copies of documents"
"e-mail and wrote comments on printed out copies of documents"
"E-mail for the electronic submissions, written comments on the paper submissions"
"e-mail messages; track changes in MS Word; and written comments on print out of file that I e-mailed them."
"Each committee member shared comments by handwriting them on to paper copies. Committee chair used the track changes option in MS Word to add comments too."
"edit tracking function in word"
"Edited text in Microsoft Word"
"Edited various text given."
"editing of paper copies"
"Editor tool in PDF"
"Editorial hand-written on hard copy prints"
"edits on text"
"edits through email, and on hard copies"
"Either edits in Word or handwritten on paper."
"either inserted comments in electronic files or wrote comments on paper copies"
"Either through comments of track changes features on word documents if electronically and then written comments on the paper copy used for the defense"
"Either using track changes in Word documents or red ink on paper copies of the thesis."
"Electonically and paper format comments."
"Electronic"
"electronic & paper suggestions" - ( 2 responses)
"Electronic ---- text document"
"electronic and hand written comments"
"electronic and paper" - ( 5 responses)
"electronic and paper comments" - ( 2 responses)
"Electronic and paper."
"electronic and print"
"electronic comments in the file and through email"
"Electronic comments in Word by my committee chair, written comments on paper draft by committee members"
"Electronic comments in Word, hand written comments then scanned and sent as a pdf"
"Electronic comments through MS Word"
"Electronic corrections in MS Word, written comments on hardcopy."
"Electronic track changes and marked up printouts."
"Electronic tract changes in Word and written comments on paper copies."
"Electronic using track changes in Microsoft Word."
"Electronic, Phone communication"
"Electronic-pdf"
"electronically" - ( 6 responses)
"electronically (email attachment) and hand written on paper copy"
"Electronically adding comments to pdf file"
"Electronically and as handwritten notes on paper documents."
"electronically and in writing"
"electronically and paper"
"Electronically or verbally"
"electronically reviewed"
"electronically through email and on prined copies"
"electronically to WORD file" - ( 2 responses)
"Electronically via Word.doc change tracker"
"Electronically, as well as printed format"
"Electronically, hardcopy exchange and by telephone"
"electronically, on paper and in person"
"electronically, pdf"
"Electronically, verbally, print"
"Electronically, with the comments toolbar in Adobe Acrobat"
"Electronically. Either in Word or PDF."
"electronis response and hand-written notes on the paper document"
"email" - ( 5 responses)
"email and in person"
"email changes"
"Email, handwritten, and comments within Microsoft Word text"
"email, telephone"
"email, telephone conversations"
"emailed comments"
"Face to face and by e-mail"
"face to face meeting and correct the files by hand."
"fairely good"
"fine"
"First: They wrote or redline the preliminary thesis documents on hardcopy paper, second, They meeting and phone conversations, and third: via. emails."
"For paper versions just the normal way, for electronic version s in doc form used the reviewing mode in Word."
"gave comments"
"gave suggestions"
"General comments such as format, ideas and grammar."
"general discussion and email messages"
"Generally in discussion or hand-written revisions"
"give comment on paper and/or file"
"good pace." - ( 2 responses)
"grammar mistakes"
"Had a meeting with each one and discussed the changes necessary."
"hand comments on printed version"
"hand edit"
"Hand notes in pages"
"Hand writen"
"hand writing" - ( 2 responses)
"hand writing with a pen"
"Hand written" - ( 6 responses)
"hand written and acrobat"
"Hand written and verbal communications."
"hand written comments"
"Hand written comments and other general comments on form etc. were given verbally"
"Hand Written Comments, Verbal Feedback"
"Hand written corrections on a printed paper copy."
"Hand written corrections to a hard copy(paper)"
"Hand written notes and phone calls"
"Hand written notes on printed copy followed by scanning onto the computer and emailing it back to me."
"hand written notes, face-to-face discussions"
"hand written on paper copies"
"hand written on paper copy"
"hand written, or via email"
"Hand written, scanned and sent back by email"
"Hand wrote on the paper dissertation"
"hand-written comments on a hard copy of drafts, also email correspondence"
"Hand-written comments on printouts"
"Hand-written comments on the hard copy I submitted to them."
"Hand-written comments."
"hand-written notes"
"Handed back marked up paper copies."
"Handwriten"
"handwritten" - ( 5 responses)
"Handwritten comments" - ( 2 responses)
"Handwritten comments and track change function in MS Word"
"Handwritten comments on dissertation printout and added pages."
"Handwritten comments on hardcopy of thesis"
"Handwritten corrections on document print-out"
"handwritten notes"
"handwritten notes in the margins"
"Handwritten notes on hard copy (paper printout)"
"Handwritten notes on paper copy of document."
"handwritten on print out"
"Handwritten on the hard copy and Track Changes feature in MS Word for electronic document."
"Handwritten or using "Track Changes" in Microsoft Word"
"hard copy" - ( 3 responses)
"hard copy comments"
"hard copy edits"
"hardcopy"
"hardcopy notes, emails, and telephone conversations"
"He wrote comments on a printed copy, scanned the revision into PDF document, and emailed the PDF document back to me."
"He wrote on my printout"
"Helpful"
"I gave them all printed copies for them to write comments on."
"I got a lot of good feedback"
"I had received good responses from my committee members on my thesis. The commitee chair said "It's one of the best thesis's I ever read""
"I presented a hard copy to them on which they made notes. I then retrieved it and made the corrections."
"I printed out and/or e-mailed them copies of my drafts and they sent corrections back either via e-mail or via hard copies placed in my departmental mailbox."
"I provided them with a print out of the paper, and they marked written comments on the hard copy. They then returned their version to me after review."
"I worked together with my advisor chair until we had the main idea of the whole thesis. Then I asked each of the members of my thesis committee in order to provide input in their area of experise as necessary. Finally, I gave each of them a draft of my thesis 2 weeks before my thesis defense and received corrections afterwards. It took me one week of iterations between my chair advisor to submit my final ETD."
"I would print it out, and they would correct it on the printed form with a pen, and read their comments to me."
"In email messages."
"In paper"
"in paper and in the electronic document"
"In pencil"
"In person/public meetings, discussions, pin-ups, reviews, and critques."
"In red both in paper and electronic."
"In writing" - ( 8 responses)
"in writing and electronically" - ( 2 responses)
"In writing and verbally"
"In writing on a paper copy or just verbally"
"in writing on hard copy"
"in writing on paper; discussion meetings"
"In writting on the paper copies of my dissertation"
"in-person discussion and written comments on hardcopy"
"Ink from a pen"
"ink on paper OR editing the electronic text with red"
"Inserted comments in Word files or pdf files"
"It is good."
"just wrote comments directly on the physical draft and we had several conversations"
"less electronically and more on paper"
"made comments along the way"
"made comments on hard copy"
"Made comments on printed copy, scanned revisions into PDF document, and emailed them to me." - ( 2 responses)
"Made comments on printed document."
"Made comments on the printed out report I submitted."
"Made comments through the digisender or other electronic means; provided feedback on hard copies, too."
"Made editing comments to Microsoft Word"
"Made revisions to printed out drafts of my thesis."
"Mainly electronic markup of Word documents shared by email Some hard copy markup"
"Mainly on paper. One member submitted comments using PDF."
"Major comments were always in writing on the document itself"
"Make notes on the printed drafts and personal discussions."
"Manual markup of printed copies"
"Manually" - ( 2 responses)
"Manually by hand on paper and electronically via email"
"manually on printed copy"
"Manually with a red pencil"
"Many detailed, valuable and useful comments. These comments help improve my dissertation quite a bit."
"mark on printout"
"mark on the manuscript"
"Mark-ups in the paper copies that were supplied"
"Mark-ups with red pen"
"marked copy and made notes on seperate paper"
"Marked it on the printout."
"marked paper copy and made notes on seperate paper"
"Marked up copy of the thesis." - ( 2 responses)
"Marked up the printouts."
"Marked-up paper copy."
"Marked-up the paper drafts that were provided"
"Marks on paper, and comments through email."
"meetings"
"Microsoft Word Track changes"
"Microsoft Word track changes/comment"
"Mix of electronic and hard copy comments"
"mix of electronic and paper" - ( 4 responses)
"mix of electronic and paper comments"
"Mix of electronic and paper."
"Mix of paper comments and electronic via e-mail."
"mix of proofing tools in word, scanning a document with written comments, and written comments on a printout."
"Mix of written comments and Word markup."
"Mixed in both ways (paper and ppenscial & computer)"
"Modifying the Word file; written comments in the hardcopy"
"Modifying the Word file; written remarks in hardcopies"
"Most comments were given on paper in person."
"Most on paper; some electronic"
"Mostly electronically, but also handwritten."
"Mostly on paper, some verbally and electronically"
"Mostly using the editing tools in Word."
"Mostly using using the "Track Changes" functionality in MS Word"
"mostly verbal feedback, some wirtten feedback"
"MS Word" - ( 3 responses)
"MS word comments and hand written"
"MS Word editing tools"
"MS Word insertions"
"MS Word Review and Commenting Tool"
"MSword track changes feature- exclusively"
"much weightage may be given"
"My advisor commented via word files. My committee commented on paper versions supplied to them prior to the defense."
"My advisor regularly reviewed my thesis as I developed it over several months. This was through a 1-on-1 verbal process. My committee gave me additional general verbal feedback during my defense."
"My advisor sent me corrections using MS Word's edit tracker. The rest of my committee shared their recommended changes verbally during my oral defense."
"My chair and I used .pdf files with imbedded comments. The rest of the committee provided comments to me on printed copies of the work"
"My Chair shared his comments in writing via email, oral comments during our regular meetings. My committed sent comments via email."
"My commitee chair gave me the most comments before and after my defense both by tracking changes/comments in word and by marking up paper. My other committee members gave me comments at my defense orally."
"My commitee chair used the comment part of word. My other committe members penciled in comments on the paper printouts."
"My commitee char and committee memebers added comments on my papered printed out. They gave me excellent comments to improve the quality of my research."
"my committee add comments on the printout."
"MY COMMITTEE ADDED COMMENTS IN THE PDF FORMAT"
"My committee and chair provided comments on a print out of my document or verbally."
"My committee chair and memebers were very helpful during the editing phase. Most comments were hand written on drafts, some were verbal."
"My committee chair made comments by marking up a hard copy version of my thesis."
"My committee chair provided editorial comments throughout the writing process." - ( 3 responses)
"My committee chair used the "track changes" features on Word and also gave me written and verbal feedback."
"My Committee Chair was so helpful with his valuable comments."
"My committee members actively involved in my writing process, and they gave me a lot of feedback for the technical contents."
"My committee wrote comments directly on the paper printout"
"My thesis was emailed to my professor and he faxed his comments to me."
"N/A"
"no comments" - ( 2 responses)
"non"
"not many comments"
"not that much" - ( 2 responses)
"Noted on printed pages"
"notes in the paper copy"
"notes on a pdf"
"Notes on paper version of ETD (received on paper and on scanned pages). Emails. Verbal communication."
"notes on paper, comments in the DOC file..."
"Notes on the paper copy and electronic notes numbered to match numbers they wrote on the paper copy."
"Notes written on the printout, and emails with questions."
"OK"
"Old-fashioned red pen mark-ups."
"On a hard printed copy. By listing changes."
"on a printout"
"on electronic document"
"On hard copy" - ( 4 responses)
"ON MY HARD COPY THESIS BOOK"
"On paper" - ( 19 responses)
"on paper and electronically(occasionally)"
"on paper and using electronic ink"
"On paper and via e-mail refering to a pdf I had sent him."
"on paper copies" - ( 2 responses)
"on paper copy" - ( 2 responses)
"On paper or via email"
"on paper print out"
"on paper printouts"
"On Paper version."
"on paper, through email, and in review format in word"
"On paper." - ( 2 responses)
"on printed copies"
"on printed paper"
"on printout"
"On the hard copy"
"On the hard copy itself."
"On the paper"
"On the printed version of the text."
"once"
"One of the co-chairs added comments on the electronic documents. The remaining members printed the documents out and wrote their comments on the paper versions."
"One on one consultations after their review of a hard copy of the work. One committee member preferred an electronic version. He contributed by phone after his review of the work."
"One paper or on PDF file"
"One wrote comments on paper, two others listed changes on a separate sheet/email, and one provided verbal feedback."
"orally - we discussed anything that needed to be addressed"
"paper" - ( 4 responses)
"Paper and discussion."
"Paper and electronic"
"paper comments"
"paper comments and both .pdf and MS word commenting"
"paper comments, editing book draft on the paer format"
"Paper copies only"
"paper correction"
"Paper edits (ink)"
"paper feedback"
"Paper printout"
"paper revisions"
"Paper versions were commented on the document. Comments on electronic versions were emailed to me, or the pages needing comments were printed and given to me."
"pdf"
"PDF comments, written comments, email"
"PDF review features."
"PDF review features... still wish Latex had a more interactive MS Word review feature, but it is a text processor after all."
"Pen and ink"
"pen and ink on paper copies"
"Pen and paper" - ( 2 responses)
"Pen and paper on hardcopies"
"pen and paper, and the reviewing tool in microsoft word"
"Pen and paper."
"pen comments on paper hard copy and also email"
"pen on paper" - ( 3 responses)
"pen on paper form of thesis..."
"pen on printouts, meetings"
"pen written notes"
"pencil"
"Pensil corrections and "track changes" in MS Word"
"Personal contact and remarks on the printout."
"personal meetings"
"Physically edited printouts during weekly meetings"
"primarily electronic comments using MS Word document tracking"
"Primarily wrote on the paper manuscript I submitted. Very occasionally used email, too."
"printed copy"
"printed it out and made comments"
"Printed out and annotated a copy of the .pdf paper"
"Printed out the electronic version, marked it up, and sent it to me via regular U.S. mail."
"Printed out then hand given edits. Pictures scanned in. Email."
"printout corrections"
"Proofread drafts and corrected with pen"
"Quite often"
"Received electronic text document, then they would print it out, marked it up, and return the hard copy to me for corrections"
"red ink"
"Red ink on paper and using some type of MS Word editor"
"Red ink."
"Red markings on paper printouts."
"red pen"
"red pen and post-its"
"Red pen on paper method"
"red/black pen in the spaces between lines on a printout"
"redlines on printouts" - ( 2 responses)
"Reviewed"
"Revision by written copy and text documents"
"revisions were hand written onto printouts"
"Satisfactory"
"Sent me paper copies of corrections. Also highlighted what needed to be changed in microsoft word and sent via attachment"
"She used markup language editing and returned to me via email to correct. She also used the traditional pencil/paper correction method."
"some"
"Some comments were added by flags in a Word document, others were done with pen and paper."
"Some comments written on paper documents, other comments incorporated into MS Word document."
"Some did it electronically through email and others gave me hard copy"
"Some printed it out and wrote on it, and some made corrections on it electronically."
"Sometimes I received written comments on a printout of the document. Sometimes I received comments within my dissertation Word file. Sometimes I received separate e-mails with comments."
"talk face to face"
"Text notes via email and written corrections on printed pages"
"The commitee chair revised verbally, (and tracked changes) in Microsoft Word, and through comments on paper versions. After the defense, revisions by all commitee members were writen on the paper document."
"The commitee wrote comments on the thesis book print out that I submiited to them before defence. Then they responded through emails during subsequent changes."
"The committee made corrections on the paper document with a pen or pencil."
"The means of commenting varied per member. Through the process I recieved hand written comments, typed comments by email, and commented .pdf's."
"The track changes options in Word."
"The wrote notes on the preliminary versions."
"They add comments to my electric version of document."
"They added a few things and were very helpful"
"They added comments on the hard copy of my thesis."
"They added comments to paper hard copies of my thesis."
"They added the comments to the printout."
"They added written comments directly to their copy of the dissertation."
"They both used a combination of microsoft word "track changes" on an electronic copy and paper/ink comments on a hard copy."
"They commneted on my dissertation."
"They gave a lot good suggestions"
"They gave advices during my program. They marked and commented on the hardcopies of the proposal and dissertation. They gave suggestions during my defense." - ( 2 responses)
"They gave me a list of corrections in paper"
"They gave me many valuable comments and helped me to improve my dissertation quite a bit."
"They gave me their comments on the day of the thesis defense."
"They have given very constructive comments."
"they looke it over and made comments"
"They made (1) copy from my PDF and put all of their mark-ups on the (1) copy."
"They made comments directly on the paper copy of the thesis"
"They made writen suggestions on the paper copy of my dissertation."
"They made written comments on my paper copy of the dissertation." - ( 2 responses)
"They made written comments on paper copies of the thesis. They also gave their comments during meetings and during the final defense."
"They marked it with ink and I revised it from their hard copy mark-ups."
"They marked on the paper copies."
"They marked their corrections on the printout of the dissertation."
"They marked up paper copies of my thesis with changes. I incorporated the changes and gave them fresh copies of my thesis. This was done across many iterations."
"They marked up the paper copy I had printed for them."
"They primarily made written edits on a printed copy"
"They print out my draft and add their comments by hand on that."
"they printed it out and wrote comment on the paper"
"They put notes on my book."
"They put their comments on the draft (print-out)"
"They relied heavily on email and track changes in Word."
"THey responded via email and comments written directly on chapters."
"they said it was good"
"They used track changes in MS Word and edited by hand."
"They usually wrote on the printout and sometimes used "track changes" in Word."
"they were very helpful"
"They were very helpful and made very good suggestions."
"They would print off the document and then write comments on that."
"they write comments in the hard copy of my dissertation"
"They write their comments on paper"
"They wrote comments in the margins of the printout version"
"They wrote comments on my dissertation."
"They wrote comments on the margins of the printout version"
"They wrote comments on the paper copy."
"They wrote directly on the draft paper that I handed in."
"they wrote down comments."
"They wrote it on the paper printout that I supplied to them."
"they wrote on paper"
"They wrote on paper copies."
"They wrote on the paper copy I submitted to them."
"They wrote the comments on the hardcopies of the dissertation I gave them."
"They wrote their comments on a printed version of the thesis"
"They wrote their comments on printed copies of the document (their choice, not my preference)."
"They wrote their comments on the draft."
"Through Adobe"
"Through adobe acrobat"
"Through critiques throughout the semester."
"Through e-mail, suggestions by phone, and print-outs"
"through email"
"Through email and directly by paper."
"Through email and written comments on my actual chapters."
"Through email correspondence, since I am currently off-site"
"Through email, face-to-face discussions, and marginalia"
"Through giving direct feedback and written comments on the printed document, and giving suggestions highlighted on the electronic format."
"through his paper input"
"Through microsoft word reviewing features and comments"
"Through paper or emails."
"through weekly meetings"
"through word and comments on final draft copy (paper)"
"Through Word Doc"
"Through written comments"
"To hard copy of dissertation draft provided."
"To improve writing for the best understanding"
"Too busy to work on it"
"took notes during defense"
"Track Changes"
"track changes and emails"
"Track changes and hand written comments"
"track changes and written comments in hard copies"
"Track changes feature in Microsoft Word"
"track changes feature in ms word"
"track changes in microsoft word and on paper"
"Track changes in MS WORD"
"Track changes in WORD"
"Track changes in Word and written comments on paper forms."
"track changes in word, oral feedback"
"track changes made on the word file of my dissertation"
"track changes on Microsoft Word"
"Track changes option"
"Track changes through WORD"
"track changes to electronic files and additional notes"
"track changes, manual editing on paper"
"Tracking changes as a word document and commenting on paper."
"Tract changes in Word and written comments on paper copies." - ( 2 responses)
"Unfortunately, they did not use track changes in MS Word. They used the ol' red pen technique."
"Used "track changes" in word and by hand written comments in the rough draft."
"Using editions directly on a paper printout as well as the editions that can be added in WORD"
"Using Microsoft Word's track changes or by handwritten comments or email."
"Using microsoft words comment and track changes menu."
"using pen"
"Using the comment function within Microsoft Word and also comments on the paper copy. We also discussed changes in person."
"Using the Track Changes function in Word"
"Using Track Changes on Word or written on a hard copy."
"using Word "Track Changes" feature and via email"
"Using word document editor"
"Various copies got different treatments. First drafts were handed in in paper and received comments in ink. Later comments were submitted via email with comments in text."
"Verbal and written."
"Verbal comments, edits under track changes"
"verbal communication only"
"Verbal communications and write directly on papers"
"Verbal during the final defense and follow up discussions after the final defense."
"verball, electronically, and written comments on printed text"
"verbally" - ( 5 responses)
"Verbally and by written comments on paper copies of the dissertation."
"verbally and Microsoft Word comments"
"Verbally and written"
"Verbally in formal and informal meetings."
"verbally in set meetings" - ( 2 responses)
"Verbally or by email"
"verbally, electronically, and on paper"
"Verbally, in formal and informal presentations." - ( 2 responses)
"verbally; and by jotting notes on paper"
"Verbily and Directly onto my rough Draft"
"via e-mail"
"Via e-mail, and in person."
"Via e-mail, edits to the document file, and edits to a hard copy of the document."
"via email" - ( 2 responses)
"via email and correction on paper"
"via email and on paper copy of thesis"
"Via email and or notes on printed copies."
"via emails and writing on hard copies"
"Via hard copy"
"Via MS Word "Tracking" and notes on hardcopies"
"Via paper and faxing/scanning items back to me. It was slow."
"Via printed copies and with commenting tools found in Adobe Acrobat and MS Word"
"We communicated verbally throughout the process of writing the paper and revisiions were made."
"We discussed it in person and I took notes by hand or electronically."
"We discussed my writing through e-mails and face to face conferences."
"Well written and some needs revision"
"well..."
"With a pen on a paper copy."
"with ink on post-its"
"With Microsoft Word comments."
"With MS Word they used the track changes function and the reviewing menu. In addition, some committee wrote on the paper copy of the document."
"With pen or pencil on hardcopy."
"With pen."
"with the comment feature built into microsoft word"
"With the microsoft word track changes function"
"with track changes."
"Word revision tracking"
"Word revision tracking"
"write comments on my hard copy of thesis before the defense date."
"write comments on the printed drafts and personal discussions."
"Write on my printout."
"write on the draft"
"write on the print out"
"write on the printout paper"
"Write the comments on the paper draft." - ( 2 responses)
"Write their comments on the printout, emailed me or orally told me their comments."
"write them in"
"writing" - ( 2 responses)
"writing comments on hard copies."
"writing comments on print outs"
"writing directly on the copy"
"Writing directly on the printout" - ( 3 responses)
"writing on hard copies"
"writing on paper document and sending emails with electronic file with suggestions"
"Writing on paper drafts, and track changes on electronic drafts"
"Writing on paper drafts, and Track changes on electronic drafts."
"Writing on paper drafts, track changes on electronic drafts"
"Writing on paper format"
"Writing on paper print outs and electronically. Paper was prefferred."
"Writing on printouts"
"writing on the document or tracking changes in word"
"Writing on the paper copies"
"writing on the printout" - ( 2 responses)
"Writing the comments on the paper copy"
"writing the comments, meeting to discuss about it"
"Writing with paper drafts, and track changes with electronic drafts"
"written" - ( 10 responses)
"written and electronic"
"written and verbal" - ( 4 responses)
"written and verbal communication"
"Written comment within the paper copies"
"written comments" - ( 6 responses)
"Written comments and meetings"
"Written comments and notes added to the Microsoft Word document"
"Written comments by Chair and Committee Members for revisions."
"Written comments in emails, or they called me on the phone"
"written comments in margins"
"written comments on a hard copy"
"written comments on a printout."
"written comments on draft printout"
"Written comments on draft versions"
"written comments on hard copies of dissertation"
"Written comments on hard copy" - ( 3 responses)
"written comments on hard copy printouts"
"written comments on hard copy; showed comments on electronic copy"
"written comments on paper docs"
"WRITTEN COMMENTS ON PAPER DOCUMENT" - ( 2 responses)
"Written comments on paper documents"
"written comments on paper, electronic comments in word file"
"written comments on printed copies"
"Written comments on printed draft."
"written comments on printout" - ( 2 responses)
"Written comments only."
"Written corrections on printed document."
"written down on the paper"
"Written edits on paper copies, e-mail messages, and verbal communication."
"Written feedback"
"Written in printouts and review tracker in word"
"written on copy" - ( 2 responses)
"Written on hard copy" - ( 2 responses)
"Written on hard copy."
"written on paper" - ( 2 responses)
"Written on paper and added notes to PDF."
"Written on paper copies of dissertation"
"Written on paper copies or just verbally"
"written on paper copy" - ( 2 responses)
"Written on paper copy and MS word track changes function."
"Written on paper copy."
"written on paper printout"
"Written on the document and by phone"
"written on the draft"
"Written on the paper document and in person, after reviewing the electronic version."
"written text"
"Written text on print-out."
"written, electronic"
"Written/Oral comments."
"Writting on the volumes I submitted"
"Wrote comments on a paper copy"
"Wrote comments on paper copies of the thesis."
"Wrote comments on paper drafts"
"Wrote comments on printed drafts"
"wrote comments on printouts"
"wrote comments on the paper as well as gave verbal instructions"
"wrote comments on the print outs."
"Wrote directly onto paper copies."
"Wrote directly onto the printout"
"Wrote edits on a printout and sent it to me."
"wrote email and made comments on defense"
"wrote it down on the print outs"
"wrote notes on the print-outs or add to the pdf file"
"Wrote on a paper copy"
"wrote on copy"
"wrote on hard copy and then mailed back to me"
"Wrote on my paper version of my thesis."
"wrote on paper"
"Wrote on paper copies."
"wrote on paper copy" - ( 3 responses)
"wrote on printed version, scanned and sent as pdf"
"wrote on printout" - ( 2 responses)
"Wrote on the document" - ( 2 responses)
"Wrote on the manuscript and coverted to pdf for transmitting back to me."
"wrote on the paper print out and in conversation."
"wrote on the paper printout of the dissertation"
"Wrote on the printout."
"Wrote out comments on printed copy"
"Wrote them out in the margins of printed copies of my thesis."
"Yes"

12. Within the next 1-2 years, what do you intend to publish from your ETD?
Please select all that may apply.

18.38%\% Don't know yet (243/1322 responses)
18.23%\% Conference proceedings (241/1322 responses)
4.54%\% Will not publish (60/1322 responses)
50.98%\% Journal article (674/1322 responses)
2.72%\% Book chapter (36/1322 responses)
3.63%\% Book (48/1322 responses)
1.51%\% Other (20/1322 responses)
95.34% of the people who took this survey
(1002 / 1051) answered this question.

Other Responses (20 for this question)
"Everything I can!"
"Exploring options"
"LEA workshops"
"magazine articles"
"N/A"
"other"( 11 ) responses
"PORTFOLIO"
"review paper"
"Technical Notes"
"Whereever I can!"

13. If you restricted access to your VT ETD, what did you base your decision on?
Select all that apply.

11.1%\% Other (85/766 responses)
23.63%\% Personal choice (181/766 responses)
7.83%\% Advice of others (60/766 responses)
4.96%\% Advice of publisher (38/766 responses)
4.18%\% Patent pending (32/766 responses)
48.3%\% Advice of faculty (370/766 responses)
55.47% of the people who took this survey
(583 / 1051) answered this question.

Other Responses (85 for this question)
"Commercial grant, proprietary"( 2 ) responses
"company researched for thesis"
"Did not restrict"( 3 ) responses
"Did not restrict access"( 2 ) responses
"didn't restrict"
"didn't restrict it"
"Does not apply"
"for publication purposes"
"Haven't restricted"
"I am expecting to publish a journal paper and don't want to make the thesis public until the paper is accepted"
"I did not restrict access"
"n/a"( 3 ) responses
"NA"( 2 ) responses
"NASA restriction"
"no restriction"( 3 ) responses
"none"
"none restricted access"
"Not applicable"
"Not restricted"
"Not restricted."
"other"( 46 ) responses
"other grad students in dept."
"Pending clearance from Sponsoring Agency"
"proprietary data"
"Proprietary Reasons"
"Publication pending"
"PUBLISHED WORLD WIDE"
"Requested by committee"
"research sponsor agreement"
"Sponsor"
"thought it would limit chances of publication"

14. Please include any comments or questions that you have about ETDs.

Text Responses (200 for this question)
"A more organized style guide somewhere on the ETD website would be helpful. I feel I have very little idea what the requirements are."
"actually i submitted the etd after the deadline for submission has passed. but my advisor, i.e. dr. joseph falkinham had already emailed the graduate school about the same.if not, please contact him .his email is jofiii@vt.edu his contact numbers are Office: (540) 231-5931 Local: (540) 552-0707 or else contact me on 540-467-3516 email-butalan@vt.edu"
"Additional information on naming the PDF to facilitate transfer of files would be helpful."
"Although a bit difficult to use, the people I spoke to at Media and Gwen from the grad school were quite helpful because I live in California"
"At one point I wanted to speak with someone directly. I left a voicemail message and never received a call back."
"Being an off-campus returning student I was quite nervous about the process of submitting a large thesis (52 MB) office campus, but everything went without a hitch. I also, received most to all I needed via. the ETD website."
"Being away from campus and submitting an ETD over dial-up can take quite a long time. By compressing the file to under 20MB you risk losing quality of your photos. Other than that the process was pretty painless."
"Better LaTex template files."
"Better LaTex template for ETD."
"better Latex template."
"Better website would be great, very generic looking and the flow is not easy to follow. Examples of common mistakes and corrections would be good too."
"Can we upload the whole thesis at one time or do we have to upload the parts under different file names and the computer automatically converts them into one pdf file?"
"cookies is horrible"
"Cute PDF writer is available on download.com for free. Can coordinate with microsoft document writer to get everything in PDF format."
"Don't have any"
"Easier than anticipated. Should be a good system for future research"
"Easy to followed and well organized procedure"
"ETD authority should provide guideline on naming thesis/dissertation file for upload. Or, when uploading thesis file, your system should be instructed to check file name first and, if file name is OK, upload the file. I spend a long time upload via phone modem because of the comment stated above. I had to upload twice."
"ETD list given after successful prospectus meeting would be helpful."
"ETD submission is so easy and simple. In addition, searching other ETDs to consult works great for me."
"ETD workshop should be mandatorily included in the curriculum."
"ETDs are really good!" - ( 2 responses)
"excellent and easy to understand directions"
"Faculty need to be informed of the requirements for the ETD. Or, at the very least they need to be informed to tell their students to contact the graduate school regarding requirements as soon as they begin writing their theses. While faculty give great advice and guidance regarding content, research, etc., very few have had the experience of submitting an ETD. Most faculty remember very strict guidelines concerning margins, font style, etc. from when they had to submit paper versions to be bound. Yes, the ETD allows for more flexibility, but that translates to ambiguity for the student. I still cannot understand what are requirements and what are only suggestions regarding the ETD. When graduation is pending on the approval of the ETD, students want and need a clear, concise check-list of guidelines. It is EXASPERATING to have to sort through all of the options on the ETD website. Give me a clear list of guidelines and then I will happily visit the tutorials, because then I will have a purpose for doing it."
"Filling out a survey did not get reflected on status page in my previous attempt"
"Glad to be done!"
"good" - ( 2 responses)
"Good idea. Get other universities to do it."
"Good tools for use, easily-accessiable."
"good."
"Grad. School formatting/submission requirements link hasn't been accessable for at least a week. The formatting I've used was accepted by my committee members."
"Great process once you get started"
"Guidance should be given that Adobe website will allow you to convert to .pdf on a trial basin (up to 5 documents)"
"had problems with logging in no matter how I set my computer time and cookie setting when using Explorer. Had to download Firefox to be able to do it"
"Happily, a lot less pain than I expected..."
"How long does it normally take to get feedback?"
"How many of these surveys will I need to complete before one finally registers and I can graduate?"
"I am frustrated at the lack of clear and definitive guidelines for ETD content and format that establish what the Graduate School expects of me. There is information available at the ETD and Grad School websites, but the information is scattered, sporadic, and incomplete. I see variation among accepted ETDs, some which violates the currently published ETD rules. There are are also some unwritten, unpublished, and unadvertised guidelines imposed by the Graduate SChool. I will include my name and e-mail address below incase there are any questions as to the above. I would be happy to work to further explain the comments above in order to establish clear ETD content and format rules for future students."
"I am not quite sure if I successfully submitted it?"
"I am unsure about the review process, how will I know when the ETD has been accepted, and will this affect me receiving my diploma on time?"
"I do not have further quesitons"
"I don't think you need bookmarks and, besides, some of us don't have access to Adobe Explorer."
"I found it difficult to make the special symbols (such as degree sign, and less than and equal to sign) appear correctly in the abstract."
"I found the Adobe online trial for the pdf writer was very poor quality. A lot of figures and tables didn't come out right. I tried a few times with different settings. So I downloaded CutePDF from www.cutepdf.com and it was a breeze. Came out exactly like I wanted the first try. And there is no limit on the number of times you can create pdf's."
"I have filled out this survey, but it still is in red in the requirements checklist."
"I hope I did it right, I've heard it's diffcult but it was actually quite easy."
"I hope the reviewing process will get little bit faster"
"I think it is a very well designed system. I like it. Paperless is the way to go,"
"I think that it would be good to include in the listing of HTML markup codes, the ones for italics and underline. I had to look it up on a different website and I had to use it quite frequently since I am in Microbiology and have to write species names quite often."
"I think what we do with the approval forms needs to be more clear. We need to know where we send the forms specifically and how we need to send them (i.e. postmail, fax)."
"I thought it was easy."
"I turned in the ETD application form the day I defended. I'm pretty sure my committee wanted me to check the box that instructed for the ETD to be available to the VT community for two years, but that option is not available on the "title page" section of this online application. Please check and verify restrictions. Thanks"
"I wanted my committee names to go up in a certain order. when I did the practice submission, they appeared in reverse order of data entry so this time i proceeded in backwards order and they came out wrong. this should be fixed or some sort of automatic alpha order imposed."
"I was courious to the extent you feel these will remain usufull with the speed technology changes"
"I was unable to upload the files and have them organized in the correct order."
"I wish the entire paperwork could be this easy!"
"I wish the file names were not so picky."
"I would like to see more specific information on formatting on the website."
"If you could provide more ETD samples covering more departments, it would be better."
"If you have to use the back button to fix a mistake or after looking at information on a field the entire page must be redone."
"Is my ETD submission fee automatically billed to my account, or do I need to send a check?"
"Is that really all there is to it? Is my ETD really now submitted and done?"
"it does not tell you when i need to submit the whole thesis document..."
"It is a good process for submitting large documents."
"It is a good source of information."
"it is a very easy way to get the job done."
"It is a very good system and convinient too"
"It is good and fast."
"It is good. But why seperate etd.vt.edu and scholar.lib.vt.edu"
"It is great for students"
"It is Very easy to use."
"it is very useful for my project work"
"It might be useful to have a manual that would explain in detail how to do the page numbers."
"It seemed overly complicated."
"It seems like there is differing information in differing places. Some information such as the preferred line spacing appears only in one place that I did not come across until I was ready to submit the document requiring me to reformat the document. Putting all the important information and one and only one place might alleviate this issue."
"It should be more clear regarding the documents you are to upload. The instructions do not specifically state you are to upload the text version of the abstract but another area says you are to create one."
"It was a lot easier than I thought it would be"
"It would be helpful that a suggested format or style of ETD is described for each department/school."
"It would be helpful to add a LaTex template, as alot of engineering students are now using that instead of Word or WordPerfect"
"It would be nice if the faculty understood more about the ETD process. They really don't seem to know much about it."
"It would be really nice to have all the instructions in one place. This could include all documents necessary for graduation. I did find it dificult to locate the ETD webpage and navigating the Grad School home page. Things were not easily found. also, it would be beneficial to have departmental and university requirements the same, up to date and accessible."
"It would be very helpful if the standard upload format was an ftp site. I had half a Gb of info and carving it up into smaller files was time-consuming!"
"It's a long and informative process, but well worth the time in the end!"
"It's hard to find out if there is any problem of the submissoin. It may cause delay without awarness untill the last minutes."
"its really a good system"
"KEEP IT UP!!!"
"Make site more user friendly."
"More detailed instructions and software availability needs provided on the ETD website for converting from Word to pdf. The current info is poor."
"More information should be included on the ETD website regarding style requirments. Also additional options for creating PDF documents besides Acrobat should be given becuase I found that Acrobat would not properly convert my document easily whereass PDF599 did it with ease."
"Much preferable to paying a publisher and great way to share information"
"N/A" - ( 2 responses)
"Need a full list of HTML entities (like Greek letters)"
"Need more clarification how to submit the abstract"
"Need to have a ETD workshop at NVC. If my co-chiar did not know how to do it, I would have had much difficulty."
"no"
"No additional comments." - ( 2 responses)
"No comment"
"no comments"
"no comments or questions."
"No question"
"No questions. No comments."
"None" - ( 29 responses)
"none - fast and simple"
"None."
"None. Thanks for making it easy enough for everyone."
"Not that bad"
"Numbering of dissertation"
"NVC Library staff is awesome!! They are so outstanding and were completely willing to help me out!"
"Overall a good experience. A little more information for LaTeX users would be helpful (such as providing a standard VT dissertation style file or updating the existing LaTeX template)."
"page numbering requirements difficult"
"PDFing files is not a flawless process. It is somewhat frustrating to work so hard to perfect a file in Word, and then have Adobe cause formatting glitches."
"Please make sure you keep the student up to date during the review process"
"Quite painless. I wish the rest of the process were as logical and clearly spelled out."
"Reading the steps outlined in the tutorial partof the ETD process did not make sense at first. I had a total disconnect with the process. I remember being told about this process, but it was soooo long ago. I was nervous and upset when I received the terse message about my MS Word documents. I did not know what to do first. When I calmed down and re-read the web pages, I was able to finish. I am not too sure about how the pages should be numbered. This will probably be a "do-over" for me. Oh Well!"
"Regarding the ETD Web site: I found the Wed site's organization to be lacking in terms of design and ease of negotiation. This led to problems in reading about policy regulations, and instructions on how to follow procedures. Can we work on simplifying the view for those using the site?"
"Request for committee members is confusing. "Add New Committee Member" was interpreted as add another member to replace an existing member."
"Seems like a pretty user-friendly interface, although I got stuck after adding my title page info. Had to hit "refresh" to be able to click any links."
"Sharing research is one of the most important functions of academe, but I strongly object to this kind of ETD system that subjects scholars to what is essentially an involuntary, compulsory prior publication of their work, or involves them in a process that restricts the availability of their own work for their own purposes."
"Should all jpg images included in the ETD pdf be submitted as individual jpg files in addition to the pdf copy?"
"should make the format more flexible"
"Single or 1 1/2 rule is stated as "should". I assume it means we can still go by double-spacing but lesser is better."
"Site can be made much more user friendly."
"Site was very easy to use. Downloading was very slow." - ( 2 responses)
"Somewhat more difficult than is necessary"
"Submission of the ETD has little to do with how the architecture department teaches. It is seen as an extra step to make the university happy. In some ways the printed material and the ETD are seen as two different documents."
"Submitting a pdf was a real pain because some of my documents flipped and there are many different ways to get a pdf file. I found that I finally had to use a coworkers Acrobat to get the results that I needed because only that program gave me the desired results."
"Terrific"
"thank you for your help"
"Thank you."
"thanks"
"Thanks!"
"The common requirements for submission seem to be too involved, especially since different fields use different formats. I think the format of the ETD should be more discipline-specific. For example, in my field, the use of the term "chapter" is not used when referring to an introduction or methods section. Most students prepare their thesis or dissertation based on the formats used within their field of study. The ETD requirements make the editing process somewhat taxing in relation to common requirements (e.g., table of contents, page numbering sequence, etc.). I guess I am wondering whether a common format is necessary. It seems like committees could decide what format is appropriate for the respective field."
"The deadlines used by the graduate school and departments need to be better coordinated"
"The ETD process has been quite friendly. I hope the approval happens soon too.:)"
"The ETD submission form doesn't exactly agree with the paper version, which is annoying."
"The ETD was extremely user friendly in my opinion."
"The guidelines for what is required of each ETD are very unclear. You should make more of an effort to communicate the necessary parts (table of contents, abstract etc.) and the parts that are optional. I was never sure what had to be included."
"The hardcopy etd approval form differed from the web version in the options for restricting access. I was confused by the options on the webpage."
"The instructions were helpful but I found formating requirements to be somewhat vague. I guess I will find out how well I prepared the draft one I hear back from the Graduate School."
"The link sites on style guides was extremely useful especially the link for APA style on Unv of WI's site."
"The process by VT is very simple and clearly defined."
"The requirement for documents to be in pdfs makes submission difficult if you do not have Adobe Writer."
"The staff at this site was very helpful"
"The submission site should keep sending out reminders to help students keep track of submission process and anticipated delays like your ETD will be queued for 10 days before review, your ETD submission is # behind the currently reviewed ETD. This will help plan any unforseen delays for the student"
"The submission website did not function correctly when using a new version fo firefox from Linux. I had no options after completing the first form. It works well under windows."
"The survey submission doesn't seem to work, I have submitted many times but it keeps showing it as incomplete and doesn't allow me to submit the ETD."
"The website could be better organized. Also, it's not clear how quickly the ETD is due after the defense."
"The website is a little confusing in terms of formatting and issues about material that is already published. I eventually found the material that I was looking for, but I think a checklist of how things should be formatted will help greatly (e.g. Is you abstract 350 words? Do you have 5 keywords, etc..)"
"There needs to be more specific formatting instructions. The examples on the various VT websites are insufficient and lack real detail, such as capitalization of captions, placement of figures, format styles, etc. It is not acceptable for VT to "leave this up to your advisor" since the final acceptance is left up to the Grad School."
"this is a good system"
"This is a miserable and frustrating experience. Someone has got to make it more user friendly, particularly for those of us having to use Macs (it wasnot my choice to use a Mac, but the choice of our college in terms of formats)."
"This survey is not working properly. I have submitted this survey two times already, and the option to complete survey is still shown in red on my to-do list of ETD submission."
"Too much overlapping information as shown in many other websites such as graduate student website, hokie SPA, and others that make it hard and confusing for students like me who is at a remote center in Northern Virgina to follow through. For me, I'd like just one single dedicated page that tells me a check list of what I need to do and how to do it. I have with me at least 3 check list instructions now. Or if it is published at many sites, please make sure that they are consistent."
"Transferring from Word to pdf was somewhat difficult. Perhaps a method of editing pdf would be helpful."
"Very eassy"
"very easy and quick to submit."
"very efficient, easy to use."
"Very good."
"Very helpful to have samples of ETDs and templates." - ( 2 responses)
"very little information online about styles that are acceptable. Online ETD's used as an exampe in the ETD pages often do not follow guidelines set in the EDT preparation pages!"
"website was confusing"
"website was confusing. I had trouble finding necessary information"
"What is the reviewing time set by the school as it is a month since the ETD has been submitted? International Students land up with visa issues to stay in the US because the ETD isn't reviewed in time and the completion certificate not received in time to keep international students in legal status."
"Whole process of completing graduate degree requirements needs to be well documented in ONE location. All neccessary forms, instructions, sample formats, phone numbers, info about running copies and binding thesis, etc etc in ONE place. Wasted a tremendous amount of time looking all over the web sites, calling, and asking friends how to do this or that specific procedure."
"Would have been nice if I could have added all of my committee members in at once."
"You should give more time than 2 weeks."


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