ABSTRACT
In the spring of 1999, the author volunteered to observe and participate in a research project that would examine how graduate students could use Microsoft Office 2000 to create and publish electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs). The purpose of the project was to investigate the composing processes of graduate student researchers as they designed and wrote ETDs using various software applications, changes in student/faculty mentor relationships, and the ongoing collaborative construction of the project by the dialogic interaction of participants in face-to-face meetings and asynchronous online communication. English studies has a role to play in encouraging the diffusion of ETDs. By providing the support graduate students in all disciplines need to prepare for careers (both inside and outside academe) that will increasingly require them to design and publish electronic documents of all kinds, English studies may succeed in creating new value in the academic community.
