Does this replace the PDF I have to deposit?

No. Your institution requires a specific document in a specific format, and that submission is the official record. The link is the readable copy you send to people: a supervisor, a collaborator, a hiring panel, someone who asked about one chapter at a conference.

Why would anyone prefer a link to the PDF?

Because of what they usually want. Almost nobody reads a thesis end to end. They want chapter four, or the methods section, or one figure. A link can point directly at any of those, and opens on a phone on a train rather than after a 40 MB download.

What about citation? People need page numbers.

Cite the deposited version, which has fixed pagination and usually a permanent identifier. Say so on the page: name the official record and link to it. The web copy is for reading, the deposited file is for citing, and stating that plainly prevents confusion.

Can I put it up before the embargo lifts?

Check your institution's rules and any publisher agreements first. Embargoes usually exist because a chapter is under review or a partner requires it, and posting early can jeopardise publication. When in doubt, share privately with an unguessable address rather than publishing.

How do I handle equations and figures?

Figures work better on a page than in a PDF because they can be shown at a sensible screen size with the full-resolution original a click away. Equations need a typesetting library if they are heavy; for a handful, images with proper alt text are simpler and more reliable.

Thesis Link: Share a Thesis People Can Actually Read

A thesis link is a web copy of a thesis kept alongside the deposited PDF, so a reader can open one chapter directly instead of downloading the whole document.

The deposited file is the record. The link is what makes the work readable by people who are not obliged to read it.

A thesis chapter in a browser. A contents list at the side, the chapter heading and text in the main column.

This guide covers linking to individual chapters, keeping figures legible, the relationship between the web copy and the citable one, and what to check before posting anything.

Almost nobody reads a thesis in order

Understanding who opens a thesis explains why the PDF is the wrong container for most of them.

Reader	What they want	What the PDF gives them
A supervisor	The chapter they just commented on	The whole file
A collaborator	Your methods section	A download, then a search
A hiring panel	Evidence you can write	200 pages, no entry point
Someone from a conference	One figure you showed	The file, and a hunt
A future student	The literature review	The file again

Each of those is one link if the chapters have addresses.

<section id="ch-4">
  <h2>4. Methods</h2>
  <section id="ch-4-2">
    <h3>4.2 Sampling strategy</h3>
  </section>
</section>

Now "the sampling strategy is in 4.2" becomes something you can send, and the reader lands on it.

A thesis without a contents list on the page is a scroll bar with 200 pages behind it.

Put the list at the top, link every chapter, and make it collapsible so it does not push the text below the fold on a phone. The pattern is in an HTML table of contents, and a details element handles the collapsing without any JavaScript.

Keep section numbering identical to the deposited version. A reader moving between the two should never have to work out which 4.2 is which.

Figures, at two sizes

This is where a web copy is clearly better than a PDF.

In a PDF, a figure is fixed at whatever size the layout allowed. On a page you can show it at a comfortable screen width and link the full-resolution original underneath, so a reader who wants to examine it can.

<figure>
  <a href="/thesis/fig/4-3-full.png">
    <img src="/thesis/fig/4-3.webp" alt="Sampling sites across the catchment, 2024-2025"
         width="1200" height="820" loading="lazy">
  </a>
  <figcaption>Figure 4.3 &mdash; Sampling sites across the catchment.
    <a href="/thesis/fig/4-3-full.png">Full resolution</a></figcaption>
</figure>

Write the alt text as a real description rather than "Figure 4.3". It is what a screen reader announces and what appears if the image fails.

Say which version is citable

This is the one thing that must be explicit.

The deposited thesis has fixed pagination and usually a permanent identifier. That is what anyone citing your work should reference. A web copy can be edited, so it cannot serve that purpose.

Put a line near the top naming the official record and linking to it. Something plain: "The version of record is deposited at the university repository, DOI 10.xxxx/xxxxx. This web copy is for reading."

That sentence takes ten seconds to write and prevents a citation problem that is tedious to unpick later.

A phone opened directly at section 4.2, the subsection heading at the top of the screen.

Check before you post

Two things are worth verifying rather than assuming.

Embargo. If any chapter is under review at a journal, or a funder or industrial partner required a delay, posting can breach an agreement and in some cases blocks publication. Check your institution's policy and any agreements you signed.

Third-party material. Figures reproduced from other papers are usually licensed for the thesis rather than for republication. Either obtain permission, replace them, or leave them out of the web copy and refer to the original.

Keep it up

A thesis link that works in five years is worth far more than one that works this month.

Use a stable address and leave it alone. People find theses years later, often through a single figure or a methods section, and the ones that stay reachable are the ones that get used.

Put it at an address

Write the chapters as pages, paste them into a document, create a share link, and name the deposited version at the top.

Then when somebody asks about chapter four, send them chapter four rather than the whole thesis.

How to share a thesis as a link