Students should consult the most recent version of the Graduate
Office's description of D.A. Procedures and
Forms for
writing the "research essay." Here at the English program, we call
it a dissertation. According to the current guidelines (last
updated in July 2002), students begin the process of writing a
dissertation by drawing up a 5-10 page
prospectus with a bibliography. The student chooses an advisor
and two readers to supervise the project, and submits their
signatures on Form 1 to the Graduate Office. The student then has
permission to begin writing the dissertation.
Several years pass. Births and Deaths. Psychiatrists consulted.
In the words of St. John of the Cross, "the dark night of the
soul." Students should stay in touch with their advisors. Sometimes
it helps to propose a schedule for individual chapters. Some people
say that small amounts of work each help push the process
along.
When the advisor agrees the draft is ready for readers, the
student sends copies to the readers and gets their signatures for
Form 2, "The Receipt of Reader's Copies." Present guidelines
request that students submit this form at least 4 months before
they would like to graduate. (This allows time for the readers to
respond to the draft, revisions to be made, and appropriate papers
shuffled, as will become clearer by reading further.) Students need
to give their readers copies of Form 3 with the drafts.
When the readers approve of the draft, and think the student is
ready to defend, they sign Form 3 "Professor's Report to the
Dean on Reader's Copy," which states that they have read the draft
and approve it for the defense.
Scheduling the Defense
The defense is a two-hour question-and-answer session.
Traditionally, defenses are open to the entire university
community, but in practice they are usually attended by only the
readers and advisor. Doctoral candidates are asked questions about
the philosophy, structure, and execution of their
projects.
When everyone is ready for the defense, students need to contact
their readers and advisor to find a two-hour period when everyone
can meet for the defense. A group email to the faculty involved
helps to negotiate a meeting time more efficiently than 10 phone
calls. Once the day and time has been agreed upon, the advisor
submits Form 5 with the signatures/emails from the readers,
scheduling the defense.
After receiving Form 4, the Dean sends Form 5 (ballots) and
Form 6 (cover sheet) directly to the advisor. These forms are
filled out after the defense.
Passing the Defense
There are three outcomes for the defense 1) pass 2) pass with
revisions 3) fail. If readers require revisions, Form 7 must
be submitted with the revisions.
Depositing the
Dissertation
After the dissertation is successfully defended and readers are
satisfied with the text, one copy is submitted to the Dean's office
to be edited by an outside editor. The student must pay for this
service. Once the edited copy is returned, the student finalizes
the changes and submits the edited version, Form 9, and at least
two final copies to the Dean on 25% rag paper for binding (the
school keeps one copy and the student gets the other). Please note
formatting requirements in Dean's Guidelines.