Dissertation

1. Each candidate for the doctoral degree is required to complete a dissertation concerned with a well-defined problem lending itself to a study of reasonable scope. The dissertation should represent a significant contribution to learning in the discipline concerned.
2. A student actively engaged in work on a dissertation, as determined by the student’s major professor, must be officially enrolled for dissertation credit, whether the student is on or off campus. Dissertation credit will be scheduled and recorded as agreed upon by student and major professor in light of the anticipated time and effort to be devoted to the dissertation project.
3. The dissertation must be prepared according to the requirements specified in the publication, Guidelines for the Preparation of Theses and Dissertations.
4. Prior to the final examination, the candidate must submit a copy or copies of the dissertation to the dissertation committee, in the form specified by the committee and according to a schedule set by the committee, to permit review by committee members.
5. The dissertation is officially accepted upon unanimous vote of the dissertation committee, unless the degree-granting department or program has specified in writing a different standard.
6. One perfect copy of the dissertation in final, finished format must be presented to the Graduate School office for the official approval of the Graduate Dean by the date designated in the schedule of classes. The required copy must conform to the requirements specified in the publication, Guidelines for the Preparation of Theses and Dissertations. Students are reminded that “perfect copy” refers to both content and format. Theses not meeting these guidelines will be returned. Failure to meet deadlines may delay graduation.
7. When the final copy of the thesis is presented to the Graduate School for the Dean’s approval, the student must submit one original certificates of approval signed by each member of the committee, to be signed later by the Dean of the Graduate School and incorporated into the final copy of the thesis. Original signatures in black ink are required on the approval sheet; copies of the approval sheet with duplicated signatures are not acceptable.
8. In instances where the Dean of the Graduate School is an official member of a student’s dissertation committee, the approval sheet of the dissertation will contain the name, rank, and signature of the Chair of the Graduate Council in the space normally provided for the Dean of the Graduate School. In such instances, the Dean will sign only as a member of the dissertation committee.
9. A dissertation abstract, not to exceed 350 words, must accompany the required copy of the dissertation. Two additional copies of the abstract must be furnished to the Graduate School office when the dissertation is presented.
10. Each candidate must pay a binding charge of $15.00 per copy for the required copy of the dissertation presented to the Graduate School office. In cases where special binding expenses are incurred, the student may be required to pay additional charges. The Graduate School office makes the arrangements for binding. The final copy of the dissertation will be provided to the Dupre Library. Additional copies are to be prepared as specified by the candidate’s department, or as desired by the candidate for personal use, at a binding charge of $15.00 per copy. Additional copies of the dissertation are not required to be printed on archival quality paper, as specified in the Guidelines for the Preparation of Theses and Dissertations, but are required to include original certificates of approval with committee members’ signatures.
11. In addition, all doctoral students must submit a PDF of the final version of the dissertation to Proquest/UMI ETD Administrator. All submissions must be published under the “Open Access” option through ProQuest/UMI Dissertations Publishing and students must pay the $95.00 publishing fee. If the “Traditional Publishing” option is selected, then the student will be required to resubmit their dissertation under the “Open Access” option. If the “Embargo” option is selected, the student must have already obtained permission for an embargo from the Graduate School. Students who select the embargo option without securing permission will be required to resubmit their dissertation with the “Embargo” option deselected. Students that request, for whatever reason, an embargo on the release of their work must still submit to ProQuest/UMI Dissertations Publishing. If the embargo request is approved by the Graduate School, then their dissertation will be stored within the ProQuest/UMI database until the schedule lift date of the embargo.
12. The doctoral student is encouraged but not required to have the dissertation registered with the Library of Congress. Proquest/UMI Dissertations Publishing provides a copyright filing service for an additional fee.