Each student who submits a thesis or dissertation is required to complete a brief Online ETD Training and submit an electronic verification form.
About the training
The training has information directly aimed at students writing an ETD. The content includes:
- The ETD writing, submission, and review process.
- The role of the IRB office and the need for early IRB review.
- Information on copyright relevant to ETD writers.
This information applies to all students. Each program may have more specific information relevant to the discipline.
Electronic verification form
At the end of the training, you will be asked to submit an electronic verification form. This form will ask you to indicate your ETD chair (thesis advisor) and ETD committee (thesis committee). If these change later, you do not need to resubmit the form.
Conflict of interest
The form will also ask you to disclose any potential conflict of interest between you and any member(s) of your committee. Not every conflict of interest disqualifies someone from being on a committee. The purpose of the disclosure is to give the department chair and dean the opportunity to review the potential conflict and determine any ways that the conflict could be mitigated. Context is important.
The most common conflicts of interest for ETDS include family, employment, or financial relationships between you and a member of your ETD committee. These include:
- Being close family with a member of your committee.
- Working for the same external company, or having an employee/employer relationship.
- Having any other significant financial ties.
- Having current or past personal relationships.
If you are unsure whether something needs to be reported, please reach out to your program director or department chair, and they can help you.
How to access the ETD training
The training is located in an Organization in MU Online. Each semester, students who are registered for thesis or dissertation hours are added as members.
You can also access the organization at any time by following these steps:
- Open a new tab in your browser and use it to log in to MU Online, e.g. using the link muonline.marshall.edu.
- Come back to this tab without closing the browser, and follow the link ETD Training Direct Link.