Graduate Education and the Evolving Genre of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

by Jude Edminister and Joe Moxley, Computers and Composition, 19 (2002) 89-104.

I think, after reading this article, that I am still not completely swayed that I should do an electronic dissertation, simply because the technology is available to do it. The most persuasive argument I can find in favor of publishing electronically, according to this article, is on page 90, where it states that print dissertations do not receive as much attention as might an electronic one that is more easily accessible to larger populations. And while there might be some benefit to me, both by being able to access other dissertations for information, and to have mine more readily accessible, I still have my doubts.

For instance, there is the question of copyright, and if the university might own my work simply because it's been published through their library. It feels like less of an ownership question if they've simply archived it; I can still publish it elsewhere, or chapters of it in different journals. But if I get lucky enough to find an academic publisher who might want to publish it as a book, will they be less likely to do so if the work is already available, free, on the Internet?

Also, my thesis was a creative work-in-progress, and frankly I don't want it available at all until it is finished. Still, it is available through our library for anyone to read, and I'm not completely happy with that. The work could change substantially before it's finished, and while I doubt it's being accessed constantly, I'd rather keep it to myself until it is done.