Electronic Signature Pages
Signature pages are now created and signed via Docusign, an online platform for signing and sharing documents.
Before You Begin
- Check with Department: Check with the chair of your committee about any procedures or deadlines that have been set up within your department. Be sure to check with the college designee as well, especially if that person is not in your department, about what is expected of you to get the final signature.
- Tell Committee 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 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 the Thesis and Dissertation Office with any questions or concerns. This is a new procedure for us and we want to know about anything that we can do to improve it. Your input will help students in the years to come.
Complete the Docusign Powerform
The link below accesses the DocuSign PowerForm Signer Information page, which has 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.
- First, fill in your name and official CSULB email address.
- Next, fill in the name and official CSULB email address for the chair of your committee plus two committee members. Most people will not have to fill in any boxes past “Thesis Committee Member 2.”
If you have more members in your committee, there are extra boxes to include their names and email addresses.
Always use the official CSULB email address for committee members. If a committee member does not have a CSULB email address, use another email address. The email they receive will have instructions on how to create an account in order to use an electronic signature through DocuSign.
- Finally, at the bottom of the page, there is a box to fill in the name and CSULB email address of the College Designee. If you do not know the name of the person who signs last on your signature page, check this list.
Once all the information is filled in, click on the “Begin Signing” button to bring up the electronic signature page form.
Access the Docusign PowerForm Signer Information (link will open in new tab) web page.
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.
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.”
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:
- Your Name—Your name should be the name that is recognized by Enrollment Services
- Your student ID
- Your CSULB email address
- Your telephone number
- Check box to indicate Thesis, Dissertation, or Project Report
- Title of your paper—Be sure the title is acceptable to all committee members, or you may have to create a new signature page and send it out again
- Your department
- The last month of the semester when you submit your paper (pull-down menu)
- The year when you submit your paper
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 Designee for Final Signature
Emails with the signature page PDF attached are sent to your committee chair and the committee members at the same time. The subject line will be: Please DocuSign: Thesis Approval Form. These signatures can be added to the signature page PDF in any order. That is, committee members can sign the document before the committee chair or the committee chair can sign before committee members.
After your committee chair and committee members have added their signatures, an email is sent to the college designee 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 college designee, the thesis chair, the committee members, and the student. The subject line of the student’s email is: Signed: Please DocuSign Thesis Approval Form
Thesis Office Receives Completed Signature Page and Contacts You
Once all signatures have been added to the signature page PDF, it is emailed to the Thesis and Dissertation Office. We will email you within the next business day of receiving the email. The email will include information about uploading a PDF of your manuscript to the ProQuest website. Information about uploading the PDF and the review process is available.
Keep in mind that the Thesis and Dissertation Office staff does not have any notification that a student plans to submit a signature page until we get this email. If you are aware of anything that may complicate the process of obtaining signatures, please contact us to let us know of the situation.
