Undergraduate Research Theses and Honors Research Theses

Instructions for students Instructions for Honors Program Directors

The Ohio State University develops and supports an environment that promotes the intellectual and personal development of high-ability undergraduate students. Undergraduate students submit their research theses and honors research theses to the Knowledge Bank. If you have questions or problems with the procedures below, please send a message to libkbhelp@lists.osu.edu.

 Instructions for students:

Topics:

Delay of Dissemination (embargo) policy and request form. (If you would like to delay dissemination of your thesis in the Knowledge Bank, you must request an embargo from the Honors and Scholars Center. Policy information and the request form can also be found at the Honors and Scholars Center).

Whether or not you request a delay, you must complete steps 1-5 to electronically submit your thesis. You will have an opportunity in the submission process to alert the Libraries that your thesis should not be made available in the Knowledge Bank immediately.

You can do steps 1 and 2 any time during the semester that you intend to submit your thesis to the Knowledge Bank.

1. Login to the Knowledge Bank to auto-register.

  • Go to: https://kb.osu.edu
  • Click on the "Login" dropdown.
  • Click on the "Login with Shibboleth" button.
  • Sign in with your OSU account (lastname.# and password)
  • OR if your OSU login is already in effect in your browser, you will be logged in automatically.
  • Once logged in, click on the Profile icon dropdown and select "MyKB" to be taken to your Submissions page.

NOTE: You will not be able to select a collection to submit to until you are authorized to submit to the appropriate collection (see step 2 below).

2. Fill out the web form below and click on [Submit] to inform the Knowledge Bank staff that you have registered. They will authorize you to submit your thesis to the appropriate collection. Knowledge Bank staff will send you an e-mail when you have been authorized. If you have not heard back from Knowledge Bank staff within two business days, please email libkbhelp@lists.osu.edu.

Once authorized, when you start a new submission after logging in you will see the name of your selected collection in the pop-up window dropdown. Before you are authorized this collection will not be available.

Please select the type of thesis you will be submitting:

 

Note: This form will not automatically authorize you.  The Knowledge Bank staff will receive your request via this form and they will authorize you.

3. Convert your thesis to PDF format. (Microsoft Word documents will not be accepted.)

Note: Please do not use spaces or special characters in your PDF filename. Spaces and special characters — such as [ , ] , ( , ) , ! , é , and ü — can prevent access to your thesis via the web once it is in the Knowledge Bank. Examples of properly named PDFs include: thesis.pdf, your_name_thesis.pdf, honors_thesis.pdf, HonorsThesis.pdf, myThesis_20080602.pdf. Also, please remember that the filename of your thesis will be visible to the general public.

4. Submit your thesis to the Knowledge Bank.

  • Go to https://kb.osu.edu
  • Click on "Login".
  • Click on the "Login with Shibboleth" button.
  • After logging in, hover over the plus sign at the top of the left-hand menu. Click "New" and select "Item" from the dropdown list.
  • In the new pop-up window, click on the name of the desired collection listed below the search box. Note: you will not be able to select a collection until you are authorized to submit (step 2 above).
  • Follow the steps of the submission form.

NOTE: During the submission process, you will be asked whether or not you requested an embargo (or delayed dissemination) for your thesis and for how long. You must request an embargo through the Honors and Scholars Center. Policy information and the request form are available online from the Knowledge Bank or the Honors and Scholars Center.

Note: As a repository for digital assets, OSU's Knowledge Bank acts as a permanent archive. All items submitted remain as is at the time of submission, just as books once published remain in the form in which they were printed. PDF files once placed in the Knowledge Bank will not be modified.

Problems? Email us at libkbhelp@lists.osu.edu.

5. Your work is done but it may take the Knowledge Bank staff 1 to 2 business days to add your thesis to the Knowledge Bank. The system will send an email to you when it has been added informing you of the web address of your thesis. If you have been granted an embargo, you will receive an email when your thesis is added to the Knowledge Bank after the embargo period. Items in the Knowledge Bank are indexed by Google but it may take two weeks before you will be able to find it in Google.

 Instructions for Honors Program Directors:

1. Near the beginning of every semester, send an email to your students with a link to the instructions above: http://go.osu.edu/kb-honors-instructions. (Near the beginning of every semester, you will receive an email from the Honors & Scholars Center with a link to this page of instructions. This should prompt you to forward the email to your students that will be submitting a thesis that semester.)

2. Subscribe to your collection to get an email alert when a student's thesis has been added to the Knowledge Bank. You only have to follow the procedures below once. If you continue to be the Honors Program Director for your college, you will automatically receive email alerts every semester. If you would like to be notified by email when a student's thesis has been added to the Knowledge Bank follow the procedures below:

  • Go to https://kb.osu.edu
  • Click on the "Login" dropdown.
  • Click on the "Login with Shibboleth" button.
  • Navigate to the desired collection home page and click the red bell icon at the top right. 
  • In the pop-up window, select your preferred schedule for receiving email updates, then click "Submit." You should now be subscribed.
  • To view your current subscriptions, click on the Profile icon dropdown and select "Subscriptions."

If you ever step down from being a Honors Program Director and do not wish to receive the email alerts any longer, you may unsubscribe from your collection:

  • Go to https://kb.osu.edu
  • Click on the "Login" dropdown.
  • Click on the "Login with Shibboleth" button.
  • Click on the Profile icon dropdown and select "Subscriptions."
  • Find the collection you wish to unsubscribe from, and click the red trash can icon to delete it from your list.

 

Link to this page: http://go.osu.edu/kb-research-and-honors-theses-instructions