| Dissertation Defense
Preparing for the defense of the dissertation
involves several steps:
- Students should check with the
Dissertation Office to ensure that their M.Phil
forms are on file and that a “blue folder”
(containing the student’s application and
the committee's voting sheet) has been created for
them. The Dissertation Office forwards the blue
folder to the Doctoral Office in advance of the defense
date.
- At least four weeks prior to
the defense, students must forward copies of their
completed dissertation to their committee members.
In publishing their dissertation manuscripts, students
must follow University guidelines regarding the
acceptable format. The guidelines dictate everything
from the margin and spacing length to the style
of the font, footnotes, page numbering, title page,
and type of paper used to print the dissertation.
A list of these guidelines is available at both
the dissertation office in 107 Low Library and in
the Doctoral Office, as well as online.
- Students should then proceed
to contact their committee members and determine
a potential date for the defense, allowing at least
one month for the committee members to read and
evaluate the completed dissertation. The dissertation
defense will only be scheduled with the approval
of the sponsor and all other committee members.
- Once an agreeable time is determined,
students should contact the doctoral office to schedule a room in CUSSW for the
defense.
Students must notify the Doctoral Office of the
date and time of their dissertation defenses.
The defense normally lasts two hours. Generally,
the candidate begins by briefly summarizing the
study. The Chair monitors the time, allowing
each committee
member sufficient opportunity to examine the
candidate. Committee members may have editorial comments
and
suggestions, and they typically ask questions
that help the students expound on their rationale,
data
sources, findings, interpretations, methodology
and conclusions. Once the examination is completed,
the
candidate is excused while the committee has
a final discussion and registers a vote (see below).
Other stipulations concerning
the defense
- The dissertation defense is private;
it is not open to members of the public,
the student body, or to faculty members outside
of the dissertation committee.
- Students must be registered
during the term
in which they distribute the defense copies of their dissertation to their committee members. Students should consult with the doctoral office to determine whether they will need to register for the term in which they will defend their dissertation.
- Re: aforementioned concerns regarding
absent committee members:
The dissertation committee is permitted
to convene if one member must be
absent due
to an emergency
or other compelling circumstances.
If the Doctoral Chair grants permission
for the
defense to
take place, the absent member and
the student must
try to arrange
for the member’s participation in
the defense via conference call.
Failing
that, the member
must
write a detailed letter in advance
of the defense containing
all comments and questions that he
or she would raise at the defense.
The absent member
should
also provide
his or her provisional vote concerning
the dissertation (pass, fail, etc.).
The Chair
of the committee
will present these questions to the
candidate on the day
of the defense and rule on the candidate’s
responses. If circumstances that
prevent the member from
being present cannot be anticipated,
the absent member
is requested to comply with the above
regulations as soon as possible after
the defense. The
vote will not be considered final
until that person’s
letter has been submitted to the
Chair of the committee.
- Students and
committee members alike should
note that the original
copy
of the defense
evaluation form must be signed
by all committee participants
(even those who may have been unable
to attend the
defense) and submitted (by the Doctoral Office) to the Dissertation Office before a student can deposit
his/her dissertation.
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