Digital Signature Pages for Theses or Dissertations at ECU

Read these directions carefully before initiating the process, links to the Powerforms for DocuSign immediately follow these directions.

Signature pages are now created and signed via DocuSign, an online platform that ECU has adopted for signing and sharing documents, through embedded Powerforms.

Before You Begin

  • Check with Department/Unit: Check with your mentor/chair of your thesis or dissertation committee about any procedures or deadlines that have been set up within your department. Confirm with your unit Graduate Program Director as well, to ensure you are familiar with your unit procedure, and to confirm your committee members have the appropriate graduate faculty status. Allow adequate time before the thesis/dissertation submission deadline.
  • Tell Committee Members to Expect Emails: Also, keep in mind that the emails that are generated through DocuSign look like any other email. Let your committee members know shortly before you create an electronic signature page PDF in PowerForm via the DocuSign web page, so they will be aware that this very important PDF will be emailed to them soon.
  • Ask Questions: Feel free to contact Marquerite Bond (bassm@ecu.edu) in the Graduate School with any questions or concerns.

Complete the DocuSign Powerform

The link below accesses the DocuSign PowerForm Signer Information pages, which have been set up specifically for graduate students to create a signature page PDF and send it to everyone who needs to sign it. Before you click on the link, you may want to gather information that you’ll need to complete the form.

  1. First, check to ensure you are using the THESIS FORM if you are completing your master’s degree, or that you are using the DISSERTATION FORM if you are completing your doctoral degree. Do not confuse the two or you will need to re start the signature process with the appropriate form.
  2. Next, fill in your name and official ECU student email address.
  3. Next, type in the name and official ECU faculty email address for all of your committee members. If you have an external committee member, add their email address as well. You must have at least three ECU Graduate and/or Associate Graduate Faculty status on your committee. PLEASE CHECK ALL EMAILS FOR ACCURACY. DO NOT ASSUME YOU HAVE TYPED IT CORRECTLY.
    • If you have more than three total members in your committee (some units also require additional members), there are extra boxes to include their names and email addresses.
    • Always use the official ECU email address for committee members. If you have a committee member such as an external member, who does not have an ECU email address, use their (non-ECU) email address.
  4. Finally, at the bottom of the page, there is a box to fill in the name and ECU email address of the unit or departmental Chair. If you do not know the name of the person who signs last on your signature page, check with your mentor or Graduate Program Director
  5. Do not route to, or ask for, the Graduate Dean’s signature. Leave that box blank. The Graduate Dean will only sign your signature sheet AFTER final graduate school review of your thesis or dissertation and forwarding to the Registrar’s office. At that time, if you would like a copy of a signature sheet with the Graduate Dean’s signature, please check with Tania Alvarez (alvarezt@ecu.edu).

Once you have completed all the information needed to start the signing process, click on the “Begin Signing” button to bring up the electronic signature page form. This brings the form up.

Image showing where to provide name and email of submitter

Create a Signature Page PDF

After you click on the “Begin Signing” button, a new page will appear. The signature page PDF form is shaded out. Click in the “Got it” button on the right side of the screen to get started.

Image showing how to save and finish later

Then, on the left side of the screen, there is a gold arrow and a link to the “Electronic Record and Signature Disclosure” document. You can review the document before you click on the white box to the left of the statement “I agree to use electronic records and signatures.”

Image of area to sign agreement with using form

Then click on the gold “Continue” button and the signature page PDF will be unshaded and you can fill in the information. Notice the “Other Actions” box to the right of the gold “Continue” button. You can click here to find the “Finish Later” option. If you click on “Finish Later,” an email is sent to you with a link to pull up the form and fill in more information.

This is the information to be added to the Signature page PDF:

  • First, fill in the title of your thesis or dissertation. If you have special characters such as Greek letters, copy and paste your title with those characters intact, into the PowerForm. Italics and some other characters are not supported in PowerForms and DocuSign. In those cases, your PowerForm title may spell-out any special characters or use quotes. Your official title for the Registrar will be taken from your actual thesis or dissertation. This PowerForm is to ensure we have the official and documented signatures of your mentor and committee members for ECU approval.
  • Your name will go in the box below your title
  • Name and terminal degree should be included below the signature box that they will use to officially sign
    Image of location of Director Name with Degree
  • Hovering over any of the boxes will show you what information is needed there.

Once you have filled in all the information, click the “Finish” button to activate the emails.

Emails Go Out to Committee Members and then to Unit Director/Department Chair for Final Signature

Emails with the signature page PDF attached are sent to your Director of Thesis or Dissertation and then committee members in the order they are listed on the form. The subject line will be: Please DocuSign: Thesis Signature Page or Please DocuSign: Dissertation Signature Page.

After your committee chair and committee members have added their signatures, an email is sent to the department chair/unit director with the signature page PDF attached. Once the last signature is added to the signature page PDF, everyone receives an email confirming that the signature page is complete: the department chair/unit director, the thesis chair, the committee members, and the student. The subject line of the student’s email is: Signed: Please DocuSign Thesis Signature Page or Signed: Please DocuSign Dissertation Signature Page

The ECU Graduate School Receives Your Completed Signature Page and Your Thesis or Dissertation PDF

Once all signatures have been added to the signature page PDF, you will upload it along with a PDF of your thesis or dissertation. The Graduate School Thesis and Dissertation web page includes direct links to thesis and dissertation formatting and to the Vireo submission site for uploading your TWO documents. An automatic email replay will be sent once documents have been uploaded to Vireo.

Links to DocuSign Powerforms to Start Your Signature Page: