Towards the Dissertation
This section outlines the steps needed to get from passing your qualifying examination to a signed dissertation.
After passing the doctoral qualifying exam and having satisfactorily completed all degree requirements including your portfolio and cognate minor, you must prepare a proposal for your dissertation and defend it before a faculty committee. The proposal document, which typically runs 30 to 50 pages plus references, describes what you plan to do.
The proposal should include:
1. A statement of the problem
2. A survey of the relevant literature
3. A plan for carrying out the research, including a description of the research methods to be used and the analyses to be preformed.
4. A discussion of the significance of the research if it is completed successfully.
In preparing you proposal, you should work closely with your dissertation advisor. The next section contains detailed guidelines for developing your proposal, and describes the mechanics of:
· finding a dissertation advisor
· selecting a doctoral committee
· setting up a proposal defense
· defending the proposal
As implied by the foregoing, you are required to defend your proposal before your doctoral committee. The defense usually consists of an oral presentation of your proposal, followed by a question period. Immediately upon the completion of your defense, your doctoral committee will meet and determine whether or not you passed.
Once your proposal is accepted, the proposal is in effect and agreement between you and the faculty. If you accomplish what you promised to do in your proposal to the satisfaction of the faculty, you will be ready to defend your dissertation.
You are formally admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. after successfully completing your proposal defense and having the “Form Two - Advancement to Candidacy” form signed.
The committee which supervises your dissertation is usually identical to the one for your proposal defense. The following principles apply to both the proposal defense and your dissertation committee with the exception of the outside examiner. Outside examiners are not needed at the proposal stage.
The committee consists of a Chair and two or three other members. Three committee members, including the Chair, must be members of the graduate faculty at CGU. At least one member must have his or her primary aoppointment in the School of Information Systems and Technology. If the committee has a fourth member, he or she will be regarded as an "outside examiner." He or she may be any CGU faculty member, a faculty member from another institution, or a qualified practitioner. The outside examiner has a vote in the committee’s proceedings only with the consent of the Dean of Information Systems and Technology.
It is your responsibility to form your committee. Your dissertation advisor also will serve as your committee chair. Choosing your dissertation advisor is a critical step. The Ph.D. dissertation process is intensely personal and has many aspects of the ancient “craftsman-apprentice” relationship. You and your dissertation advisor will usually remain friends for life.
Your dissertation advisor should have a personal interest in your research area. In selecting committee members, make sure that they can help you. For example, if you plan to run a survey, make sure at least one of the committee members is skilled in surveys. Just as for the proposal, you ask faculty members to serve on your dissertation committee. Be aware that faculty members have the right to decline to serve. Your dissertation advisor will help you in the process of selecting a committee.
Your dissertation proposal is your road map to writing your dissertation. You will typically have completed almost all of the literature survey other than adding new papers and books that appear while you are writing. Your hypotheses will have been formed and your data methods defined. The work now is to accomplish what you promised.
The key to finishing a dissertation is working on it actively at a steady pace. If at all possible, take time off from other activities (such as working for a firm or teaching) and devote full time to the dissertation.
Do not work in isolation. Keep in regular touch with the Dean of your dissertation committee, reporting on progress and letting your dissertation Chair know of any difficulties you encounter. And you will encounter some difficulties. Very few dissertations go exactly as planned. Your dissertation Chair can help you over the rough spots and will work with you if you need to redirect your efforts.
Preparing drafts outlining your findings as you go along. It is much better to accumulate the dissertation piece than to try to do all the work and then write it up. Most people who try to do it all at the end experience great difficulty finishing their work. Also, people tend to forget some of the details of what they have done and often cannot recreate it later. Having your dissertation Chair read draft material as you go along is an excellent way of communicating your work.
The need to communicate cannot be over-stressed. You are expected to be able to write your dissertation in a clear, easy-to-read and easy-to-understand style. A poorly written dissertation, no matter how brilliant in content, will not be accepted by the faculty.
In information systems, a dissertation usually results in one or more papers published in the literature. Some faculty, in fact, judge whether a dissertation is completed by determining whether it contains publishable results.
The next to the last step in obtaining the degree is the final oral defense. Three weeks before you defend your dissertation you must file your “Final Oral Examination” form with the program administrator. A 350-word abstract must accompany your form. Once you and your dissertation committee have established a date and time convenient for all, notify the program administrator who will in turn reserve a room for your defense. The defense takes place in front of your doctoral committee. Like the proposal defense, it consists of a presentation by you of your findings, followed by a question period. The committee will examine you only on the contents of your dissertation.
Immediately upon completing your defense, your doctoral committee will meet and determine whether or not you passed. The members of the committee will sign the “Final Oral Examination” form.
On occasion, as a result of your final oral defense, you may be told by your doctoral committee to make specific modifications in your dissertation. Usually, if such changes are requested, you will be passed conditional upon such changes being made in the final copy of your dissertation.
1. Create the final copy of your dissertation according to the instructions from the registrar. These instructions deal with the format, paper, abstract, order, and pagination of your dissertation.
2. Obtain the signatures of each of your doctoral committee members on the signature page of the final copy of your dissertation and of the Dean on the title page. It is prudent to bring several signature pages with you, that way, if the original is lost you will have a back-up.
3. Pay necessary fees for the microfilming, binding, and (optional but not recommended) copyright fees.
4. It has been the custom for candidates to make additional bound copies for the department office as well as your dissertation committee members. The department copy is kept in the program administrator’s office.
Upon successfully completing the oral defense, you can request a letter certifying that you have completed all requirements for the Ph.D. This letter, sent by the registrar’s office is often useful for candidates who plan to teach or want to notify their employer (or prospective employer) that they now have their Ph.D.
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