Disquisitions

As you look towards graduation, you will likely be focused on completing and defending your disquisition, but you'll also need to prepare your disquisition for publication. As a professional document, your disquisition will be part of your professional portfolio for the rest of your career, and it also needs to meet the high standard of quality set by all previous disquisitions published by NDSU. Therefore, as a penultimate step before graduation, you will need to complete the Graduate School's publication review.

While the outcome of the review is your published disquisition, we also see it as one last opportunity to help you develop and practice a valuable skill: how to produce a professional document. To ensure your success, we maintain a number of resources available for you, including:

Getting Started?

Notice: Policy Changes for the Publication Review

Several policy changes affecting your disquisition and the Graduate School Publication Review will be rolling out over Summer 2026 and through the 2026-7 academic year.

If you have questions about these policies or how they will affect your publication review, please contact the Disquisition Coordinator.

What is the new policy?

Historically, disquisitions submitted after the initial submission deadline have been reviewed after all on-time submissions, as time allowed. Beginning Summer 2026, reviews for late submissions will be deferred until the following semester.

Please note that disquisition submissions will not be complete until all accompanying requirements have been received. Submissions completed before midnight of the initial submission deadline are considered on-time; if your submission is completed after the deadline, your submission is considered late.

Why is this policy being adopted?

This policy has technically been in place but will now be strictly enforced due to changes in the publication review and additions to disquisition requirements. For more information about deadlines, submissions, and policies, see the NDSU Academic Calendar, our DQKB entry on pre-submission requirements, and our Publication Review policies page.

What is the new policy?
  • Students will be required to meet with a Center for Writers graduate consultant for a disquisition health check as part of their pre-submission requirements.

Beginning Fall 2026, you will need to meet with a graduate consultant from the CFW, who will help you identify formatting and accessibility issues in your disquisition that should be addressed before your submit your disquisition to the Graduate School and begin the publication review. Appointments can made through our scheduling portal, which is also linked from our home page and the bottom of every page in the DQKB.

When should I have this meeting?

Some ideal times to meet with a consultant about your disquisition are:

  • At the beginning of your drafting process--we're happy to help you get started with one of our Word or LaTeX templates and the NDSU Publication Guidelines.
  • After you've drafted a major section. Bonus if the section has examples of the kind of content you intend to include in your disquisition.
    • For example, a results section with tables, figures, and equations is often more complex than a text-only section like the introduction, and therefore your consultant can provide more comprehensive feedback.
  • After you've submitted your disquisition to your committee before your final defense.

Since consulting hours are limited and congestion increases rapidly nearer to a semester's initial submission deadline, we recommend making your appointment early. Please note that your disquisition's submission will not be complete until all pre-submission requirements are met, including this one. Submissions completed before midnight of the initial submission deadline are considered on-time. If your submission is completed after the deadline, your review will be delayed until the following semester.

Why is this new policy being adopted?

This policy is being put in place due to two factors:

  1. Review times are expected to increase by up to 50% due to our digital accessibility requirements, effective Jan 1, 2027.
  2. On average, students who work with a graduate consultant at the CFW require one fewer review to complete the publication review process.

To mitigate the inflated turnaround times for disquisition reviews, we aim to improve the quality of submissions, thereby reducing the total number of reviews you require and ensuring you graduate on time.

What is the new policy?

The WCAG Guidelines prescribe a number of requirements for digital content, including PDF structure tags, alt-text for images and equations, table scoping, and color contrast for text. See our DQKB entry on digital accessibility for more information about implementing the WCAG Guidelines in your document.

Why is this policy being adopted?

This policy was introduced in Spring 2026, then subsequently paused for one year pursuant to the IFR issued by the US DOJ. Per this IFR, our digital accessibility requirements for disquisitions published by NDSU will resume Jan 1, 2027.

For more information, see DQKB entry on digital accessibility and the WCAG 2.1 guidelines .

Center for Writers

Email: ndsu.cfw@ndsu.edu Phone: (701) 231-7927 Campus location: Library 16 Contact Page Manager