Submission Guidelines for MPA Capstone Papers

Who Can Submit

NMU Commons MPA's Capstone only publishes Master of Public Administration capstone papers produced under the auspices of Northern Michigan University.

Formatting guidelines for capstone paper submission are available in the Northern Michigan University's Master of Public Administration Capstone Paper Format Requirements.

For additional information on any of these policies, please contact Northern Michigan University’s College of Graduate Studies and Research at or call 906-227-2300.

Using The Commons for Capstone Paper Submission

Create Your Commons Account

  1. Click on the Submit Research link in the left menu bar.
  2. Create a free account by clicking on the sign-up button under "Create new account" on the right hand side of the page.
  3. Complete the account registration form (required fields have an *).
  4. Click on Sign Up.
  5. You will receive a confirmation e-mail.
  6. Log-in to your account to submit your capstone paper.

Before Submitting Your Paper, Have the Following:

  1. Full text of your capstone paper in Word format.
  2. Your capstone paper reader's name and e-mail address.
  3. Subject Category. You must choose at least one main category from the supplied list. Three optional secondary subject areas may also be entered.
  4. Keywords (comma separated, maximum of 6).
  5. Abstract (250 words or less).

*Keywords and Abstract may be pasted into the submission fields.

Submission Instructions

Please read the instructions below carefully.

  1. Make sure your paper follows the formatting information available in Northern Michigan University's Master of Public Administration Capstone Paper Format Requirements.
  2. Do not enter anything in the signature section on the title page; this will be managed by the department after approval.
  3. Submit your FINAL paper electronically on this site following the instructions below.

NOTE - All changes/corrections requested by your capstone paper readers should be made to your capstone paper before submitting to this site. Please note that you must provide your capstone paper reader's name and e-mail address during the submission process. They will need to provide final electronic approval of your capstone paper before it will be reviewed by the College of Graduate Studies and Research.