Advancement to candidacy for the Ph.D. requires both passing the Qualifying Examination and filing the dissertation proposal. 

Initial Steps

The Dissertation Committee

At the proposal stage, only the director and the two readers from the department need be selected. The outside reader, whether from another department within the university or from outside the university, can be chosen when the dissertation is under way. After an outside reader has agreed to serve, the student should notify the Graduate Office, who will inform the Graduate School. The degree to which outside readers are involved in the chapter-by-chapter progress of the dissertation varies. They may be as involved as the department readers, but sometimes they are in a position to read only the final dissertation.

The Dissertation Proposal

The dissertation proposal is an initial and exploratory attempt to formulate the dissertation project. It should identify a problem or issue that previous scholarship has overlooked or treated inadequately and it should set out a program of research that is likely to lead to an original and illuminating treatment of the question it addresses. The proposal should not attempt to be that treatment, or even a summary of it; its function is to raise the issue and sketch an approach to it. It should address any major publications that have dealt with the same issue in order to indicate what remains to be done, and set out the various stages of the work that lie ahead. The proposal is just that: a set of suggestions that will inevitably prove inadequate once the real work begins. What is required is sufficient evidence that there is a real question, or set of questions, being

asked – questions of the kind that are appropriate to a dissertation and thus neither too narrow nor too ambitious.

The proposal should be no more than 5 pages or 1250 words, not including the bibliography. The bibliography (30-40 entries) should include works both read and unread that are likely to be important for the project.

Timing and Procedure

The dissertation proposal is due no later than the third week of the semester following the completion of the Ph.D. qualifying examination.

The student will prepare this proposal in consultation with the committee. The director will guide the student through a series of discussions and drafts. When the director agrees that the student has projected a clear and workable project, and that the bibliography is sufficiently developed, the student will prepare a final draft. The student will then hand in the completed proposal to the Graduate Office and this will constitute advancement to candidacy.

Defense of Dissertation

When the dissertation director is satisfied that the dissertation is complete, the student will submit a copy, together with an abstract, to each member of the committee, including the outside reader. Once all committee members have read and are satisfied with the dissertation, final responsibility for approving the submission of the dissertation and proceeding to the defense rests with the dissertation director.  Upon the director's approval, the student may then schedule a defense date.  When all committee members and the student agree on a date and time, the student must inform the Graduate Office. 

In addition, the student must make arrangements to meet with the Graduate School's administrator prior to their defense to ensure the following:  that the dissertation style conforms to the Graduate School's requirements, which are set out in a booklet available from the Graduate Office, and to receive the paperwork necessary for filing of the dissertation and of the diploma application.

The defense consists of a one-hour meeting of the committee with the student. Upon completion of a successful defense the student must submit one (1) electronic copy of the dissertation to the Graduate School and one (1) bound copy to the Graduate Office.