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Theses and Dissertation Guide

Information about Theses and Dissertations at The City College Libraries

Information about Embargoes

Master's theses and Dissertations are deposited in CUNY Academic Works. Grove School of Engineering Dissertations are also deposited in the ProQuest Digital Dissertations and Theses database

You can embargo (temporarily block public online access) to your dissertation or thesis in neither, either, or both databases — it’s up to you. If you embargo in both databases, you can select the same embargo length for both or choose different embargo lengths. For both databases, your initial embargo options are:

  • no embargo
  • six-month embargo
  • one-year embargo
  • two-year embargo

Limitations of Embargoes

Embargoed dissertations and theses are not completely invisible or inaccessible. 

  • Print copies
    • Print copies (if applicable) of embargoed works may be available in the CCNY Libraries.
  • Microfilm copies
    • Microfilm copies (if applicable) of embargoed works may also be available in the library and may be lent through interlibrary loan.
  • Electronic copies
    • Electronic copies of embargoed works remain accessible to individual researchers through interlibrary loan.
  • Metadata
    • Author, title, abstracts, and metadata are available even if an author chooses to embargo.

Changing your Embargo

If you want to change your embargo settings after you've deposited or graduated, you must contact ProQuest and the City College Library separately.

  • ProQuest
    • Contact ProQuest’s Author and School Relations group at disspub@proquest.com or 1-800-521-0600 x77020 to change your embargo settings at no cost. Provide your name, your dissertation/thesis title, your school, and, if possible, the publication number assigned by ProQuest to your dissertation/thesis. (You should have received this by email.)
  • City College Library
    • Email Digital Scholarship Librarian Ching-Jung Chent at cchen@ccny.cuny.edu to change your embargo settings in CUNY Academic Works, CUNY's institutional repository. Again, your options are no embargo, a six-month embargo, a one-year embargo, or a two-year embargo. As your embargo nears expiration, you can contact the library again to extend your embargo, if you wish. Options for renewal are the same as the initial embargo options: six-month renewal, one-year renewal, or two-year renewal.

Embargo Resources

Open Access and the Graduate Author: A Dissertation Anxiety Manual by Jill Cirasella and Polly Thistlethwaite. This chapter was originally published in: Smith, K. L., & Dickson, K. A. (Eds.). (2017). Open access and the future of scholarly communication: Implementation. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Hear and read some key thoughts from the CUNY Graduate Center's event “Share It Now or Save It For Later: Making Choices about Dissertations and Publishing,” featuring the MLA's Director of Scholarly Communications, two university press editors, and two alumni.

Content credit: Roxanne Shirazi, CUNY Graduate Center