Students are provided significant guidance and support throughout
the dissertation process.
Thesis Advisory Committee
Once the qualifying exam has been passed, the advisor helps the student and mentor choose three faculty members to join the mentor on the thesis advisory committee. When appropriate, a colleague from outside the program or outside the university may be added to the thesis advisory committee. This committee has primary responsibility for advising the student until graduation.
Each student prepares a thesis proposal to guide discussion during the initial dissertation committee meeting; this proposal is updated as the thesis progresses, and it should be sent to the thesis committee several days before each meeting. The proposal should be 3-5 pages, and can be in detailed outline form, but must contain a brief background to the project, detailing the gaps in the subject addressed in the thesis. For each Aim, provide a rationale, an outline of methodology, and potential outcomes and interpretations. Describe progress and work remaining for each experiment. For each Aim added or abandoned, state why. Powerpoint presentations can supplement, but not substitute for, the proposal.
During the student's dissertation years, thesis committee meetings serve to monitor the progress of the student and to provide expert advice. These meetings should occur at least annually, and at least every six months after completion of the fourth year of graduate school, but students can best progress through the program by ensuring that thesis advisory committees are set up in a timely fashion and meet as frequently as needed to help keep the thesis project on track. The head of the thesis advisory committee (chosen by the advisor) submits a written report along with a copy of the student’s thesis report to the Graduate office and the Student Progress Committee summarizing the results of the meeting and recommending whether the next meeting should occur in 3, 6 or 12 months.
To better track the student's progress, students must inform the Program administrators of the composition of the committee, including the name of the chair, as soon as these are established. Dates of each planned meeting must be communicated to the administrators as soon as these are known. After each meeting, students are responsible for returning the signed meeting report to the administrators.
Dissertation Requirements
The Introduction should be a 25-50 page scholarly review of the (several) fields that are brought together in the dissertation. The Introduction often forms the basis for a review article. The Introduction is to be followed by a series of Results chapters, each of which covers a major portion of the research. Each Results chapter describes the research that generally forms the basis of one publication. The Methods section of the dissertation may be a chapter that follows the Introduction, or it may be incorporated into each Results chapter. The final Summary and Conclusions chapter should tie together the individual Results chapters and may point the way for future studies.
A collection of past dissertations by students in the program is available in the 7th floor conference room in the Kolb Annex for consultation.
Students may also wish to consult the formal requirements for the dissertation set by the GSAS: Click Here
