Preparing your thesis

There are some considerations that you should take into account when creating your thesis electronically so that your thesis can be added to ORA so that it displays correctly and can be digitally preserved.

Instructions for dealing with embargoed content in digital theses (if it contains copyright protected material which you do not have permission to make publicly available)

Sometimes it is not possible to make all content within your thesis freely available on the Internet via ORA. This may be because you do not have the copyright holders’ permission to make an image, map or journal article freely available via ORA. At other times it is only possible to make parts of a thesis, such as the front matter (title page, abstract, table of contents etc), freely available via ORA. This may be for reasons such as commercial sensitivity, a patent application or pre-publication concerns.

You should deposit two digital copies of your thesis in ORA:

1. Archival copy. The original source file (MSWord, Open Office, LaTeX etc) which will remain archived and publicly inaccessible for preservation only. This source file should remain unchanged and be identical to that which you submitted and was passed by the examiners.

2. Dissemination copy. A single PDF file version which (if permitted) will be made freely available. Even if your entire thesis is embargoed for a period, please submit a single PDF file that we may distribute at a later stage when permitted. It is the PDF copy that should be edited to remove content which cannot be made freely available on the Internet via ORA. Please note, you should only edit the thesis to remove offending content from view and add a note to say what has taken place. You should not make any other changes to the content of the thesis. In all other respects it should remain identical to the final passed version.

You have two options for editing the dissemination copy.

i. Make a copy of the original source file which you then edit to remove the problematic content and then convert to a PDF file. You should consider using the ‘Page Break’ function to retain the original pagination once material has been removed.

ii. Create a PDF copy of the original source file. Use a PDF creation tool (such as Adobe Acrobat Professional) to delete the offending pages.

NOTE: In both these instances please check that your pagination remains intact and your references and footnote numbering and links are not affected

HELP: For help contact Oxford University Computing Services. OUCS runs courses on using MSWord and in the construction of long documents.

Readers need to know that the material is not inaccessible by error or technical fault. Therefore a note should be added explaining why the material is not available and, if possible, where they may find alternative access to it. You can see an example of a thesis where some content has been removed from the freely available version here.

When an item (e.g. image, excerpt of text) cannot be made freely available

Either remove the image (or other content) or use the redacting tool to hide it. In its place insert a note explaining why the item has been removed and, if possible, an alternative location such as the original journal article or book where they reader may get access to it.

The [insert description here eg image/diagram/map/text] originally presented here cannot be made freely available via ORA because of [insert ‘copyright’ or other reason here]. The [image/diagram/map/text] was sourced at [insert details of where the item originated such as bibliographic reference, publication details, URL or other relevant details here]

When a section (e.g. chapter) cannot be made freely available via ORA

Sometimes it is necessary to embargo a whole chapter or a number of chapters. This might be because the chapter has been published as a journal article and the publisher will not permit online dissemination in the digital thesis. Or it could be for reasons of commercial or personal sensitivity. It might also be because the author wishes to publish the chapter or section as an article or monograph at a future date and the publisher will not accept content that has been previously disseminated on the Internet.

On the dissemination copy delete the embargoed chapter(s), if possible retaining the chapter numbers and headings. In place of each missing section add a note adapting the words in parentheses to suit your own circumstances. If deleting multiple chapters, add this note at the beginning of each chapter.

The chapter originally presented here cannot currently be made freely available via ORA. If applicable add: The content has been published as/will be published as [insert bibliographic reference or other publication details here]

When only the first part of the thesis can be made freely available via ORA

This may be the front matter (such as the title page, abstract, table of contents etc) with the remainder of the body of the thesis embargoed. This might be because a patent has been applied for, commercial or personal sensitivities, or because large quantities of the thesis has been published as journal articles and the publisher will not permit online dissemination in the digital thesis. It might also be because the author wishes to publish the thesis as a monograph at a future date and the publisher will not accept content that has been previously disseminated on the Internet.

On the dissemination copy delete the embargoed pages. At the end of the openly available section add a note adapting the section in parentheses to suit your own circumstances.

Please note that only [the abstract and table of contents] of this thesis can currently be made available in ORA