Honors Senior Project Submission Guide

Submission Steps 

Create an Account

• Go to the UNL Digital Commons
• Click on “My Account” in the navigation bar at the top of the page. Set up an account using an email address you will keep and continue to use after you leave UNL. 
• Note: If this is a multi-author project (as is true for some team-based Honors capstone courses), all authors need to create an account, but only one author will need to upload the project. 

Choose Your Repository

• Honors Senior Projects (Public): In this repository, anyone can access the full project via the internet. You will also have a URL you can share in the future, such as on a resume. Most projects qualify for the public repository.
• Honors Senior Projects (Embargoed): In this repository, only your name, project title, and abstract will be publicly visible; the project will not be downloadable. 
  • Note: You must choose this repository if you or your faculty mentor(s) intend to publish work related to this project in the future or if your project involves an external partner (organization or business) for which there are privacy concerns. You may also choose this option if you simply do not want your work publicly available. 

Upload Your Project

• Once you are on the homepage for the repository to which you are submitting your project, click on "Submit your paper or article” on the left-side navigation menu (towards the bottom of the menu). 

Upload Page Details

• Title: Please use regular title capitalization, meaning you capitalize all first words and all first words after colons (:). Also capitalize other words that are not a preposition (for, by, to, in, etc.) or an article (the, a, an), unless the preposition or article are the first word or the first word after a colon. 
• Authors: Your name should populate, but you will likely need to click on the silhouette with a pencil (to the right of your name) to add your institution. In the “Institution” box, type “University of Nebraska-Lincoln.”
  • If this is a co-authored project, please search for your co-authors (using the email account attached to their Digital Commons account works best) and add them. Make sure their institution is also displayed.
• Advisor(s) Information: Please list your faculty mentor(s) names and department, separated by a comma. Example: “Jane Smith, Department of Psychology.”
• Date of this Version: Please put the month and year of graduation. Do not put specific day or season. 
• Document Type: Please choose “Thesis” if it is not already selected, regardless of what type of Honors Project you have completed. 
• Keywords: Please enter the keywords you identified on the abstract/keyword page of your project. There should be at least 3-5, but there may be more. These are the search terms by which someone might find your project in the repository, so choose them accordingly. 
• Disciplines: Add from the list of disciplines anything relevant to the content of your project. These are essentially additional search terms by which someone might find your project. Note that the way disciplines are organized in the “Available” list does not always line up with how we organize disciplines at UNL, so look through the options fully to ensure all appropriate disciplines are selected.
• Citation: Write a citation as through someone is citing your project. Use the citation style that matches the style used in your project. Your citation should also indicate this is an “Undergraduate Honors Thesis” and the place of publication should be “University of Nebraska-Lincoln.” Here are examples of the most used citation styles:
  • APA: Last name, first initial. Year. Title. Undergraduate Honors Thesis. University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
    • APA Example: Smith, J. 2026. The Force is with the Environment: Engineering an Environmentally Friendly Lightsaber. Undergraduate Honors Thesis. University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
  • MLA: Last name, first name. Title. Undergraduate Honors Thesis, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, year. 
    • MLA Example: Jones, Taylor. When “Go Big Red” Was a No Go: The Red Scare at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the 1950s. Undergraduate Honors Thesis, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2026. 
• Comments: Please enter “Copyright Your Name Year.” Example: Copyright Taylor Jones, 2026.”
• Abstract: Copy and paste the abstract from your project’s abstract and keywords page. 
• Upload File: Upload your file as one document (including cover page, abstract and keyword page, dedication/appreciation page (optional), body of project, and citations). Please upload as a Word document if at all possible. Do not upload as a PDF unless you have received prior approval from Honors. 
• Publication Status: Answer honestly. (It is rare for the answer to be “yes”)
• Additional Files: If your project involves additional files (such as video or audio files), include those here. 
• Submit: Once you have entered all information as described on this page, click “Submit.” It may take a minute to process everything, so be patient.