If you are using materials or reproductions in your thesis that are copyright protected, a statement from the copyright owner granting you permission to use the material must be submitted with the thesis. Examples of copyrighted material may include any images that are not your own - tables, figures, graphs, photographs, maps - as well as extensive portions of text, such as the reproduction of journal articles. Graduate Studies and Research will accept permission letters that were received by a student via email; however, the Sample Permission Letter For Use of Previously Copyrighted Material (pdf) provided by the publisher of your thesis, ProQuest, is recommended. The permission letter must state that the copyright owner is aware that ProQuest may supply single copies upon request and may proceed under the contract on the publishing agreement that you select for your thesis. Permission may need to be sought from the author, publisher, or repository (i.e., museum or archive) depending on who owns the copyright.
If your thesis utilizes a number of copyrighted materials, or if your thesis contains a mixture of your own images and copyrighted images, it is recommended that you create a list, separate from your thesis, that outlines the source of each image and whether or not permission is needed/included when submitting your thesis for initial review to GS&R. If multiple permission letters are submitted, they must be labeled so that it is clear which figure/image within the thesis the permission corresponds to.
All copyrighted material must include the correct citation within your thesis (i.e., Reprinted with permission from…, Adapted from…, Modified from…) regardless of what other style guides require. The formatting of the citation will depend on the preferences of the copyright owner.
In addition to supplying evidence of having received permission to reproduce copyrighted material at the time you submit your thesis for review by GS&R, you must also attach copies of the permission letters as supplementary files when posting the final version of your thesis to the ETD Administrator (once your thesis has been approved by GS&R). If you do not submit letters of permission with the final digital copy of your thesis, the copyrighted material must be omitted from your thesis. Please scan the permissions and attach them using the supplemental files feature when uploading your thesis to the ETD administrator.
In some unusual circumstances, students may not have sole ownership of their thesis. Such circumstances may include co-authorship of part of the thesis, support from a foundation or grant that may specify terms of ownership for the resulting work, previous publication of parts of your thesis in a journal or book, or the inclusion of copyrighted material with restrictions on commercial distribution. If you have published in a journal, you may have assigned the copyright to those portions of your thesis to the publisher. In addition to informing GS&R of these unusual circumstances, please make sure to review your past agreements and secure permission if necessary.
For more information about copyright law and publishing visit:
Copyright Law and Graduate Research
http://www.umi.com/products_umi/dissertations/copyright/
US Copyright Office
ProQuest Information and Learning / UMI
http://il.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/authors.shtml
1-800-521-0600
Other Topics:
Additional Thesis Related Resources and External Links:
Graduate Admissions and Program Evaluations
ProQuest Information and Learning / UMI
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