Information for Graduate Students: Thesis / Dissertation Support

Literature Reviews

• Access titles focused on assisting you with the literature review

Dissertations and Thesis Calculator

• Tool to help you plan your research project with guidance specific to UC Merced

What does copyright cover? (More info)

• Original work of authorship
• Expression fixed in a tangible medium
• Creative work, including literary, musical, dramatic, choreographic, pictorial, graphic, sculptural, audiovisual, & architectural works

How do I know if something is under copyright?

• Digital Copyright Slider

Do I need to seek permission?

• UC Guidance on Fair Use

• ProQuest UMI Guide to Copyright, includes sample permission letter (PDF)

Are you planning to include an article--or a figure--that you've published in a journal as part of your dissertation?

Be sure you review the author agreement you signed with the journal publisher to determine if you have the right to do so. Publishers typically acquire copyright, unless you published in an open access journal.

• Publisher Policies: Thesis content and article publishing (MIT Libraries)
• SHERPA RoMEO: Publisher copyright policies

You retain copyright of your thesis or dissertation. The copyright law of the United States protects your rights in your work automatically, from the moment it is fixed in tangible form (including storage as an electronic file). Your copyright is valid for your lifetime plus 70 years, and the rights remain yours, unless and until you transfer them to another.

Options to consider:

• Including a copyright notice identifying copyright owner and year of publication is not necessary, but beneficial.
• Registering your work (directly with US Registrar of Copyrights) or through ProQuest/UMI is necessary for bringing a legal claim of infringement.

• Understanding Creative Commons (CC) Licenses
• Choosing a CC License
• eScholarship & Creative Commons

Factors to consider:

• Funding agency obligations
  • SHERPA/JULIET database of funding agency policies
  • OSTP memorandum and US federal funding agencies - March 2014 update
• Publication agreements
• Commercialization of your research

You have free access to University of California dissertations and theses:

Graduate Division: Dissertation/Thesis Preparation and Filing

Library Databases by Format: Dissertations