2. ProQuest asks if my dissertation is already or previously copyrighted. What does that mean? Do I answer yes or no? Sometimes, on rare occasions, a graduate degree is awarded based on a document that has already been published (and copyrighted) before it is deposited as an official dissertation. If that is the case, answer "yes." Otherwise (and normally), the answer should be "no."

3. ProQuest asks if I wish for them to register the copyright in my dissertation; what does that mean? Copyrights can be (but are not required to be) "registered" with the U.S. Copyright Office. This used to be required to get the protection of copyright for the full term, but that is no longer the case. Copyright belongs to the author automatically for the full 95-year term (currently) whether it is registered or not.
What is the point of registering? If you find someone has infringed on your copyright and you want to sue them and collect monetary damages, you can only collect damages back to the date of the official registration. You can stop them from infringing, but you cannot collect damages for infringement that happened prior to the registration date.
Is there a cut-off for registering? No, you can register your copyright at any time. You can register copyright yourself: Basic registration fee is $35 if done online, $65 if done on paper. ProQuest's charge for doing it for you at the time of deposit is $75. The United States Copyright Office is @ http://www.copyright.gov/
Registration, however, does not guarantee a work's copyright. For example, the Copyright Office might register your claim to copyright of a document that is actually taken from other (already copyrighted) sources or material that is legally in the public domain. In order for copyright to be valid, the material has to be legally subject to copyright, and registration does nothing for that one way or another.

So, should I have ProQuest register copyright for me? Short answer: for an academic dissertation, probably not. (But it's your money; better to spend it on that than to blow it on drugs, tattoos, and Nicki Minaj downloads.)

It is a macro-driven package that serves as an “add-on” to Microsoft Word or other editing programs.

MathType has significant compatibility issues, however, with Adobe Acrobat; and generating PDF files from documents containing MathType elements is far from straightforward. We recently encountered a dissertation that had used MathType to set 100+ mathematical expressions in an MS Word file, and all attempts to generate a PDF file from the Word document were unsuccessful.

Users may wish to refer to Design Science’s TechNote #69 for further information, although the solutions proposed there did not work for this user. These included such radical steps as deleting and replacing system fonts, enabling macros, etc.

Master’s and doctoral candidates who intend to submit a PDF file of their thesis or dissertation (as is required) should avoid using MathType software unless they are prepared (and able) to generate a proper and reliable PDF file on their own. I cannot (and will not attempt to) make a usable PDF file from Word documents with MathType elements.

We have not experienced problems with files using MS Word’s own equation editor or with files typeset using τεκ or LAτεκ.

If you have doubts or issues or concerns about other packages, I am happy to test any sample files before you go too far down any road. It is tragic to come up against the deposit deadline and find that some rogue software package is creating problems for everyone.

Good luck, and happy “mathing.”

Note: Deposit of doctoral dissertations is optional, but strongly recommended; deposit of master's theses is required, not optional.

Theses and dissertations are treated the same with respect to UNL DigitalCommons deposit procedures.

2. Embedding your fonts.

3. Page numbers appearing on pages where they’re not allowed.

Other issues: File too gigantic; Pagination reflows from MS Word to PDF version; Acrobat vs. Reader; Where to find Adobe Acrobat; If all else fails …