Library: Thesis &amp; Project Guide: Home

Thesis & Project Requirements

It should have about 60-75 pages of content; with front matter, abstract, bibliography, etc., it should not exceed 100 pages.
It must be formatted and cited according to Chicago Style.
If you wish to have your project printed and bound in a book, it must have a 1.5 inch margins on the left side (to make room for binding); for more detailed formatting requirements, check out the Writing & Formatting tab
Final, pre-oral defense drafts are due by March 10 (for spring graduation) or three weeks before your defense, whichever comes first
Final, post-defense copies are due no later than April 1 (see the Defending & Submitting tab for more details)

It should have about 30-40 pages of content written in double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font (click on the Writing & Formatting tab for more specific information, including templates)
It must be formatted and cited using footnotes and a bibliography according to The Chicago Manual of Style's Notes-Bibliography style (see our Citation Guide for help).
The penultimate draft is due to your advisor in mid-March. You must consult with your advisor for any exact date!
You must make your final submission before commencement.

If you are preparing an MAR Project, consult with your thesis advisor about how to package your work. While an MAR Project may involve the use of multimedia, you will likely still be expected to prepare a short written statement about your Project.

Theses & Dissertation Repositories

One of the best ways to learn about what makes a good thesis or project is to read other theses, projects, and dissertations. Below are links to theses and dissertation repositories. If you come in person to the Wiggin Library, you can explore more than 100 years' worth of Meadville Lombard projects, theses, and dissertations!

Melodic
Melodic, or MEadville LOmbard DIgital Commons, is an openly accessible digital repository of the projects, theses, dissertations, anniversary exercise essays, and other works created by students of the Meadville Lombard Theological School and its predecessors, the Meadville Theological School and Lombard College.
Atla IR
The IR (Institutional Repository) run by Atla (the American Theological Library Association) is the platform hosting Melodic and a number of other theological schools post electronic copies of students' projects, theses, and dissertations.

Directory of History Dissertations
Hosted by the American History Association, this directory contains over 50,000 dissertations that were completed or are currently in progress at history departments in the United States and Canada.
EBSCO Open Dissertations
The channels by which today’s scholars discover relevant content are varied and wide. In this increasingly complex environment, institutions are seeking strategies to make their students’ theses and dissertations as widely visible and cited as possible. With EBSCO Open Dissertations, institutions and students are offered an innovative approach to meeting these goals by driving additional traffic to ETDs in institutional repositories. The program is free for authors and participating institutions with the desired end of making significant open-access content more readily discoverable to end-users within and beyond academic institutions.
Open Access Digital Theological Library
Open Access Digital Theological Library (OADTL) curates high-quality content in religious studies and related disciplines from publisher websites, institutional repositories, scholarly societies, archives, and stable public domain collections. The OADTL contains open access articles, dissertations, ebooks, and digitized historical documents.
PQDT Open
PQDT Open provides the full text of open access dissertations and theses free of charge. You can quickly and easily locate dissertations and theses relevant to your discipline, and view the complete text in PDF format.
Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN)
The Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN) is a library of over 24,518 theological thesis/dissertation titles representing research from as many as 147 different institutions. Titles may be ordered online through our search and order system.

Director of Library & Archives

John Dechant

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