Deadline Guidelines and submission Contact us

Understanding Iowa Research Online: The UI Institutional Repository

What happens to an undergraduate thesis or project after it has been completed and graded? Students and the faculty mentor may decide to give permission to have the thesis or project added to the UI Iowa Research Online, a repository of work produced at UI by students and faculty, with the site provided as a service by the UI Libraries.

Iowa Research Online allows public access to the posted materials, with people in Iowa, the United States, and from around the world able to read and download a thesis or other project. Since 2016, there have been over 55,000 downloads of this undergraduate work, with this number increasing on a daily basis.

Students will want to add their work to this site not only in order to share it with others but also to preserve it for years to come, adding to the knowledge and creative work produced at UI. We love reading your work as do those from around the globe!

Deadline

The deadline for submitting both the submission agreement form and the thesis is Friday of Final Examination Week at 11:59 p.m. The thesis cannot be published without the permission form. Submit each document below at the two related links.

Use is optional

This is an option to consider but submission to this site is not required to earn either Honors in the Major or University Honors.

Likewise, The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences does not require an honors thesis to be submitted to a central CLAS office, and the thesis is no longer submitted to University Honors. Some departments collect and save theses in a departmental library while others save them online.

Students thus choose to publish the thesis at the UI Iowa Research Online site so that it may be shared with others worldwide.

Guidelines for submitting a thesis

Please follow these guidelines to submit a thesis; more specific information on this process is in the next section.

These procedures are only for undergraduate students wishing to publish their Honors in the Major thesis/program at Iowa Research Online. Publication is not required to earn Honors in the Major.

  1. Both the student and the faculty thesis advisor MUST give permission for this intellectual property to be shared and made public at Iowa Research Online (IRO) by using the required Submission Agreement Form.
  2. The deadline to submit the required Submission Agreement Form is always the FRIDAY of Final Examination Week at 11:59 p.m.
  3. The student must write an abstract (no more than four hundred words) and must upload the abstract and the completed thesis to IRO.
  4. There are no particular formatting rules for the thesis or project; however, the title should not be entered by the student into IRO using all capitalized letters.
    • Correct: Chaucer and the Form of the Narrative
    • Incorrect: CHAUCER AND THE FORM OF THE NARRATIVE

Steps for adding a thesis or project to Iowa Research Online

  1. The student and the faculty thesis advisor who is overseeing the student's work for the thesis or related project must agree that this work should be made public through the Iowa Research Online site (IRO).
  2. DURING THE SEMESTER IN WHICH THE STUDENT GRADUATES, the student should submit the Submission Agreement Form. The deadline for submission is FRIDAY of Final Examination Week at 11:59 p.m. Please do not submit the Submission Agreement form or thesis prior to the semester of graduation. All graduation and Honors in the Major requirements must be met before the thesis will be uploaded to IRO.
  3. The form is sent from the student, showing the student's approval of the publication of the thesis at IRO, and is automatically routed to the faculty thesis advisor via email at the uiowa.edu address. The faculty thesis advisor must approve this form in order to indicate agreement about posting this work at IRO.
  4. As soon as the faculty thesis advisor approves the form, it is automatically routed to the faculty Honors in the Major advisor who coordinates Honors in the Major for the department or program offering the student's major. This faculty Honors advisor must also approve this form.
  5. Next, the form is routed to its final destination, the CLAS Undergraduate Programs Office in 120 Schaeffer Hall.
  6. The academic advisor of the related major and the student will be able to view the form and print a copy if needed.
  7. Once the form has been submitted, the student may upload the abstract and the thesis. Please note that the student will have to create an account first at the site and will need to answer a series of questions, including the title of the thesis, major, and the type of degree (such as BA or BS) before uploading the documents.
    • Note that uploading the abstract and the thesis or other project is the student's responsibility.
  8. A thesis or project will not be visible at Iowa Research Online unless the required submission form has been submitted by the student and approved by the faculty thesis advisor and by the departmental Honors advisor.
  9. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences will complete the publication of the thesis with its abstract once the submission form has been approved and has completed its routing. If the student has not submitted the Submission Agreement Form or if it has not been approved by the faculty thesis advisor and the departmental Honors advisor, the thesis or project will not be visible at the Iowa Research Online (IRO). When the form is received, CLAS will complete the posting of the materials to the IRO, so that they can be viewed and downloaded by the public.
Submission agreement form Thesis or project upload

Contact information for questions

120 Schaeffer Hall (SH)
319-335-2633
diane-hauser@uiowa.edu or clas-undergrad@uiowa.edu