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•       Resources       Publish or Perish: Graduate Students' Guide to Publishing

Publish or Perish: Graduate Students' Guide to Publishing

In addition to endless piles of reading, demanding expectations in the classroom, student teaching responsibilities, and the always-looming awareness that they need to research, write, and edit a high-quality dissertation before graduating, today’s Ph.D. students also commonly feel stress about another topic: publishing. As more prospective employers expect degree seekers to get their names in academic journals and conferences while still in school, many learners feel overwhelmed by the prospects of making the grade. The following guide answers some of their most pressing questions, provides guidance on the ins and outs of publishing while still in school, and offers expert advice from a professor who knows better than most what it takes to publish rather than perish.

Understanding Publishing in Graduate School

Getting published as a grad student can feel overwhelming at first, because there’s so much to learn about the process and expectations surrounding it. With a bit of research, however, students can familiarize themselves with the specific language surrounding publishing and make in-roads towards getting their first paper published.

What Does it Mean to Get Published?

Within the context of graduate school, publishing refers to getting essays, papers, and research findings published in one of the academic journals or related forms seen as a leader in the field. As jobs in academia continue to become more competitive, it isn’t enough for learners to simply do well in their coursework. The degree seeker who hopes to land an important post-doctoral fellowship or find a teaching position at a college or university must make themselves stand out in other ways.

When Should a Ph.D. Candidate Get Published?

Getting a paper published takes a lot of time and effort, and those students who wait until the final year or two of a doctoral program may fail to actually have any published materials by the time they graduate. According to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Graduate Connections program , getting a paper published – especially if it’s your first – can take up to three years. In addition to the fact that most journals publish quarterly, the panel review process typically takes a significant amount of time and those submitting for the first or second time usually need to make a large number of edits and complete rewrites in order to reach a publishable standard.

How to Get Published

In order to get published, students submit their work to the journal or conference of their choosing. They frequently also provide a cover letter outlining their research interests. Most journals put out generic calls for submissions once or twice a year, while some may ask for papers addressing specific topics that have a much shorter turnaround time. Grad students may find it intimidating to go up against more seasoned academics, but another option revolves around partnering with their dissertation supervisor or another professor with whom they work closely with to co-author a paper. This not only helps ensure the validity of their findings, but alerts the academic world know that this other, more recognized faculty member believes in the research the student is doing.

Who Should Get Published?

Learners most anxious to get published are those who see their future careers in teaching and research. Because the world of academia is relatively small when divided into individual subjects, it’s important for students who want to break into these ambitious arenas to make a name for themselves early on and create a curriculum vitae that captures the attention of hiring committees.

Where Should Students Get Published?

When deciding which publications to pursue, students should consider the research aims of each and their likelihood of getting published. Newer journals tend to take more submissions as they are still working on building up their roster of contributors. While less venerated than other publications, getting printed in these can help build up name recognition and make it easier to break into the top-tier publications over time.

In terms of where work is published, the majority of students look to academic journals when sending out cover letters and examples of their work. But other options exist as well. Presenting papers at conferences is a popular avenue, as are chapters in books. The following sections takes a more in-depth look at how and where to publish.

Realities & Challenges of Getting Published

Getting published, especially while still in grad school, takes tenacity, focus, and a thick skin. Those who continue working on their craft, presenting at conferences, collaborating with others, and not taking no for an answer, however, frequently find success. Some of the challenges students may encounter include:

Lack of time

It’s no secret that doctoral students have busy schedules that seldom allow for outside – or sometimes, even related – interests to take up much of their days. Because publishing is not a degree requirement, carving out the time needed to research, write, and edit the type of paper required for publishing can feel impossible. With this in mind, student should look for ways to multitask. If presenting at a conference, think about how that paper could be transformed into a journal article.

Lack of confidence

Studies have shown that mental stress and illness frequently increase in grad school as students feel intense pressure to stand out from their peers. These feelings are often intensified when considering publishing, as learners are going up against academics and researchers who have been working in the field far longer than them. It’s important to remember that each of those renowned individuals had to start somewhere.

Lack of funding

Completing the research needed for a competitive paper doesn’t only take time – it requires money. Whether traveling to archives or printing all the necessary documentation, funding for outside research can be scarce while in school. Some programs provide competitive grants for research travel to help offset these costs.

Intense competition

As discussed earlier, competition for publishing is fierce. Academic journals and conferences only have space for so many authors and trying to get noticed can feel like a losing battle. In addition to seeking out newer publications and co-authoring with more notable figures, consider taking part in symposiums at the school you attend to get your foot in the door. While research on the average number of rejections is lacking, don’t feel discouraged if it takes a long time to be chosen for publication.

Finding the right publisher

While getting your name in print within an academic journal you greatly admire is the ultimate goal, it may take some years for it to come to fruition. One of the biggest mistakes students make is applying to ill-suited publications. Look for journals with editorial board members whose names you recognize. If a professor knows one of them, don’t be afraid to ask if they can help get your paper in front of them.

Adequately addressing feedback

Getting a paper published often requires intense editing and even completely restructuring and rewriting what you conceived in the initial abstract. If an academic journal shows interest in your essay but suggests rewrites, pay close attention to their requests and try to work with an advisor to ensure you meet all the stated requirements.

What do Graduate Students Publish?

Academic journals may receive the lion’s share of discussion in the publishing world, but graduate students can actually choose from numerous outlets and paths for getting their work to a larger audience. Students should review the options listed below and think about which format might showcase their work best.

Tips for Publishing

Despite the great amount of work required to publish, students who meet the challenges and persevere stand to position themselves favorably for future job opportunities. The following section addresses some of the most common questions about the process and alleviates general fears about how publishing (or not) reflects upon them.

How many papers should a Ph.D. student try to publish before graduating?

According to scholar-practitioner Dr. Deniece Dortch, no single answer exists. “There is no hard and fast rule as to the number of publications students should have prior to graduation,” she notes. “The reality is students in STEM disciplines and those who use quantitative methods are more likely to have publications prior to graduation because they often work in research teams and labs. This is not to say that qualitative scholars or those in other disciplines aren’t, but it’s a much more standardized practice in STEM for students to graduate with two or three publications. Personally, I had one sole-authored publication accepted prior to graduation, one first-authored piece, and one second-authored piece.”

How many journal articles is it possible to publish during a PhD?

“The answer varies and is determined by factors such as length of program, research team access, and faculty relationships,” says Dr. Dortch. “I’ve seen folks finish with as many as 10 publications, although this is extreme and doesn’t happen often.” She continues, “Imagine you are in a four-year program and you get your idea to write an article in year two. You submit that article in year three after getting approval, collecting data, analyzing it, and then writing your paper. Year three you submit that paper; it may be accepted in year four after months of revisions at the request of the editor. You finally have one published paper as you graduate.”

Are there PhD students who have no journal publications? Should they be worried about that?

“It depends on the type of employment the student is seeking upon graduation,” says Dr. Dortch, “Students applying to or wanting to work in institutions and organizations with the highest levels of research productivity who have no publications may want to consider post-doctoral positions so they have the time and space to work on increasing their publication record after graduation.” She continues, “Postdocs are a very common practice in many disciplines and are used as a way to gain additional training and expertise in research and teaching.”

Is it absolutely essential to have publications to apply for a PhD program?

In a word, no. Individuals working toward doctoral degrees have many reasons for doing so, not all of which require them to publish. Admissions panels also recognize that students focus their efforts on many different goals (e.g. jobs, internships, presenting at symposiums) throughout bachelor’s and master’s programs. As long as learners can demonstrate an ongoing commitment to scholarship, publishing is not an absolute requirement.

Does publish or perish begin before starting a PhD program?

It’s true that many students begin worrying about publishing before starting a Ph.D. program, but the reality is that they have ample time during and after completing a doctorate to make their mark on the world of scholarship. According to a recent article by Inside Higher Ed , some individuals in the academy now wonder if too much emphasis is being placed on grad students publishing. Learners unsure about this should speak to a trusted advisor or mentor to figure out when to focus on getting published.

What is the difference between a published article and a Ph.D. thesis?

While a Ph.D. thesis is required for satisfactory completion of a degree, a published article is not. A Ph.D. also takes a much longer form than a published article, averaging approximately 90,000 words. Academic journal entries, conversely, are usually between 4,000 and 7,000 words.

Should I first write my Ph.D. thesis or publish journal articles?

Though publishing at the doctoral level is increasingly seen as a requirement in the job market, it is not part of degree requirements. With this in mind, students should prioritize the research and writing of their thesis above all else. If they have the time and mental clarity needed to publish journal articles, this can be a secondary focus.

From the Expert

Dr. Deniece Dortch is a scholar-practitioner known for her commitment to diversity, social justice and activism. Dr. Dortch holds a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an Ed.M. in Higher & Postsecondary Education from Columbia University, an M.A. in Intercultural Service, Diversity Leadership & Management from the School for International Training and a B.A. in Spanish from Eastern Michigan University. Hailed a graduate school expert by NPR, she has published numerous articles on the experiences of historically underrepresented undergraduate and graduate students. She is the creator of the African American Doctoral Scholars Initiative at the University of Utah and currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Higher Education at The George Washington University .

Publishing as a student can feel intimidating. Why is this process important for learners to go through?

Long gone are the days of getting a good job by just having a solid dissertation or an award-winning thesis. Publishing your work while in school demonstrates a commitment to answering and understanding our world’s most complex problems. Further, institutions want to know that you have the capacity to publish. Now, publishing doesn’t mean you have to be first author or that you must publish sole-authored pieces only. Collaboration is also sufficient and often encouraged. The publishing process is intimidating for folks because it involves critique and, most often, rejection.

Receiving and giving critical feedback is part of the learning process and students should not shy away from it because it will only serve them well in the end as they learn to cope with disappointment and reward. But more importantly, there is no point spending months and years conducting research if you are just going to keep your findings to yourself. What you learn is meant to be shared.

What are some common mistakes these learners make when preparing their first papers?

Common mistakes that individuals make include not adhering to the guidelines outlined in the submission process. Examples of this can include ignoring formatting requirements (e.g. APA, MLA, etc.), going over the stated word count, inadequately proofreading, and not submitting a cover letter. This is probably the most important one.

What specific advice do you have for them in terms of finding the right outlet, preparing their work, and submitting to journals?

Students should have multiple individuals read over their work before submission. Writing is a process and even after it is submitted, it will need to be revised many more times before you will read it in print. It is part of the process. To find a good outlet for your work, pay attention to where other scholars are submitting their work. If you’re subject is aligned with theirs, you have a shot. Make a list of at least three outlets that fit your article. Also look out for special calls. A special call for submissions usually goes a lot faster than the regular submission process, so if you’re a student who is about to go on the job market, submit to those first. Also, the more competitive the academic, the longer the process, so keep that in mind. If you are rejected, just re-submit to the the next journal on your list.

In addition to publishing in journals, how else might a student go about getting recognition in their field while still in school?

Apply for all fellowships, grants, and awards that are specific to you and what you do. People in the academy love an award winner and they especially love people whose work has been recognized and/or funded by outside groups. A great way to increase a student’s visibility is to publish outside academic journals and publish in other media outlets. Also attend conferences in your field. Try to get on the program as a presenter or facilitator so that people in your field will start to know who you are and your research interests.

How To Write A Dissertation Or Thesis

8 straightforward steps to craft an a-grade dissertation.

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) Expert Reviewed By: Dr Eunice Rautenbach | June 2020

Writing a dissertation or thesis is not a simple task. It takes time, energy and a lot of will power to get you across the finish line. It’s not easy – but it doesn’t necessarily need to be a painful process. If you understand the big-picture process of how to write a dissertation or thesis, your research journey will be a lot smoother.  

In this post, I’m going to outline the big-picture process of how to write a high-quality dissertation or thesis, without losing your mind along the way. If you’re just starting your research, this post is perfect for you. Alternatively, if you’ve already submitted your proposal, this article which covers how to structure a dissertation might be more helpful.

How To Write A Dissertation: 8 Steps

• Clearly understand what a dissertation (or thesis) is
• Find a unique and valuable research topic
• Craft a convincing research proposal
• Write up a strong introduction chapter
• Review the existing literature and compile a literature review
• Design a rigorous research strategy and undertake your own research
• Present the findings of your research
• Draw a conclusion and discuss the implications

Step 1: Understand exactly what a dissertation is

This probably sounds like a no-brainer, but all too often, students come to us for help with their research and the underlying issue is that they don’t fully understand what a dissertation (or thesis) actually is.

So, what is a dissertation?

At its simplest, a dissertation or thesis is a formal piece of research , reflecting the standard research process . But what is the standard research process, you ask? The research process involves 4 key steps:

• Ask a very specific, well-articulated question (s) (your research topic)
• See what other researchers have said about it (if they’ve already answered it)
• If they haven’t answered it adequately, undertake your own data collection and analysis in a scientifically rigorous fashion
• Answer your original question(s), based on your analysis findings

In short, the research process is simply about asking and answering questions in a systematic fashion . This probably sounds pretty obvious, but people often think they’ve done “research”, when in fact what they have done is:

• Started with a vague, poorly articulated question
• Not taken the time to see what research has already been done regarding the question
• Collected data and opinions that support their gut and undertaken a flimsy analysis
• Drawn a shaky conclusion, based on that analysis

If you want to see the perfect example of this in action, look out for the next Facebook post where someone claims they’ve done “research”… All too often, people consider reading a few blog posts to constitute research. Its no surprise then that what they end up with is an opinion piece, not research. Okay, okay – I’ll climb off my soapbox now.

The key takeaway here is that a dissertation (or thesis) is a formal piece of research, reflecting the research process. It’s not an opinion piece , nor a place to push your agenda or try to convince someone of your position. Writing a good dissertation involves asking a question and taking a systematic, rigorous approach to answering it.

If you understand this and are comfortable leaving your opinions or preconceived ideas at the door, you’re already off to a good start!

Step 2: Find a unique, valuable research topic

As we saw, the first step of the research process is to ask a specific, well-articulated question. In other words, you need to find a research topic that asks a specific question or set of questions (these are called research questions ). Sounds easy enough, right? All you’ve got to do is identify a question or two and you’ve got a winning research topic. Well, not quite…

A good dissertation or thesis topic has a few important attributes. Specifically, a solid research topic should be:

Let’s take a closer look at these:

Attribute #1: Clear

Your research topic needs to be crystal clear about what you’re planning to research, what you want to know, and within what context. There shouldn’t be any ambiguity or vagueness about what you’ll research.

Here’s an example of a clearly articulated research topic:

An analysis of consumer-based factors influencing organisational trust in British low-cost online equity brokerage firms.

As you can see in the example, its crystal clear what will be analysed (factors impacting organisational trust), amongst who (consumers) and in what context (British low-cost equity brokerage firms, based online).

Need a helping hand?

Attribute #2:   Unique

Your research should be asking a question(s) that hasn’t been asked before, or that hasn’t been asked in a specific context (for example, in a specific country or industry).

For example, sticking organisational trust topic above, it’s quite likely that organisational trust factors in the UK have been investigated before, but the context (online low-cost equity brokerages) could make this research unique. Therefore, the context makes this research original.

One caveat when using context as the basis for originality – you need to have a good reason to suspect that your findings in this context might be different from the existing research – otherwise, there’s no reason to warrant researching it.

Attribute #3: Important

Simply asking a unique or original question is not enough – the question needs to create value. In other words, successfully answering your research questions should provide some value to the field of research or the industry. You can’t research something just to satisfy your curiosity. It needs to make some form of contribution either to research or industry.

For example, researching the factors influencing consumer trust would create value by enabling businesses to tailor their operations and marketing to leverage factors that promote trust. In other words, it would have a clear benefit to industry.

So, how do you go about finding a unique and valuable research topic? We explain that in detail in this video post – How To Find A Research Topic . Yeah, we’ve got you covered 😊

Step 3: Write a convincing research proposal

Once you’ve pinned down a high-quality research topic, the next step is to convince your university to let you research it. No matter how awesome you think your topic is, it still needs to get the rubber stamp before you can move forward with your research. The research proposal is the tool you’ll use for this job.

So, what’s in a research proposal?

The main “job” of a research proposal is to convince your university, advisor or committee that your research topic is worthy of approval. But convince them of what? Well, this varies from university to university, but generally, they want to see that:

• You have a clearly articulated, unique and important topic (this might sound familiar…)
• You’ve done some initial reading of the existing literature relevant to your topic (i.e. a literature review)
• You have a provisional plan in terms of how you will collect data and analyse it (i.e. a methodology)

At the proposal stage, it’s (generally) not expected that you’ve extensively reviewed the existing literature , but you will need to show that you’ve done enough reading to identify a clear gap for original (unique) research. Similarly, they generally don’t expect that you have a rock-solid research methodology mapped out, but you should have an idea of whether you’ll be undertaking qualitative or quantitative analysis , and how you’ll collect your data (we’ll discuss this in more detail later).

Long story short – don’t stress about having every detail of your research meticulously thought out at the proposal stage – this will develop as you progress through your research. However, you do need to show that you’ve “done your homework” and that your research is worthy of approval .

So, how do you go about crafting a high-quality, convincing proposal? We cover that in detail in this video post – How To Write A Top-Class Research Proposal . We’ve also got a video walkthrough of two proposal examples here .

Step 4: Craft a strong introduction chapter

Once your proposal’s been approved, its time to get writing your actual dissertation or thesis! The good news is that if you put the time into crafting a high-quality proposal, you’ve already got a head start on your first three chapters – introduction, literature review and methodology – as you can use your proposal as the basis for these.

Handy sidenote – our free dissertation & thesis template is a great way to speed up your dissertation writing journey.

What’s the introduction chapter all about?

The purpose of the introduction chapter is to set the scene for your research (dare I say, to introduce it…) so that the reader understands what you’ll be researching and why it’s important. In other words, it covers the same ground as the research proposal in that it justifies your research topic.

What goes into the introduction chapter?

This can vary slightly between universities and degrees, but generally, the introduction chapter will include the following:

• A brief background to the study, explaining the overall area of research
• A problem statement , explaining what the problem is with the current state of research (in other words, where the knowledge gap exists)
• Your research questions – in other words, the specific questions your study will seek to answer (based on the knowledge gap)
• The significance of your study – in other words, why it’s important and how its findings will be useful in the world

As you can see, this all about explaining the “what” and the “why” of your research (as opposed to the “how”). So, your introduction chapter is basically the salesman of your study, “selling” your research to the first-time reader and (hopefully) getting them interested to read more.

How do I write the introduction chapter, you ask? We cover that in detail in this post .

Step 5: Undertake an in-depth literature review

As I mentioned earlier, you’ll need to do some initial review of the literature in Steps 2 and 3 to find your research gap and craft a convincing research proposal – but that’s just scratching the surface. Once you reach the literature review stage of your dissertation or thesis, you need to dig a lot deeper into the existing research and write up a comprehensive literature review chapter.

What’s the literature review all about?

There are two main stages in the literature review process:

Literature Review Step 1: Reading up

The first stage is for you to deep dive into the existing literature (journal articles, textbook chapters, industry reports, etc) to gain an in-depth understanding of the current state of research regarding your topic. While you don’t need to read every single article, you do need to ensure that you cover all literature that is related to your core research questions, and create a comprehensive catalogue of that literature , which you’ll use in the next step.

Reading and digesting all the relevant literature is a time consuming and intellectually demanding process. Many students underestimate just how much work goes into this step, so make sure that you allocate a good amount of time for this when planning out your research. Thankfully, there are ways to fast track the process – be sure to check out this article covering how to read journal articles quickly .

Literature Review Step 2: Writing up

Once you’ve worked through the literature and digested it all, you’ll need to write up your literature review chapter. Many students make the mistake of thinking that the literature review chapter is simply a summary of what other researchers have said. While this is partly true, a literature review is much more than just a summary. To pull off a good literature review chapter, you’ll need to achieve at least 3 things:

• You need to synthesise the existing research , not just summarise it. In other words, you need to show how different pieces of theory fit together, what’s agreed on by researchers, what’s not.
• You need to highlight a research gap that your research is going to fill. In other words, you’ve got to outline the problem so that your research topic can provide a solution.
• You need to use the existing research to inform your methodology and approach to your own research design. For example, you might use questions or Likert scales from previous studies in your your own survey design .

As you can see, a good literature review is more than just a summary of the published research. It’s the foundation on which your own research is built, so it deserves a lot of love and attention. Take the time to craft a comprehensive literature review with a suitable structure .

But, how do I actually write the literature review chapter, you ask? We cover that in detail in this video post .

Step 6: Carry out your own research

Once you’ve completed your literature review and have a sound understanding of the existing research, its time to develop your own research (finally!). You’ll design this research specifically so that you can find the answers to your unique research question.

There are two steps here – designing your research strategy and executing on it:

1 – Design your research strategy

The first step is to design your research strategy and craft a methodology chapter . I won’t get into the technicalities of the methodology chapter here, but in simple terms, this chapter is about explaining the “how” of your research. If you recall, the introduction and literature review chapters discussed the “what” and the “why”, so it makes sense that the next point to cover is the “how” –that’s what the methodology chapter is all about.

In this section, you’ll need to make firm decisions about your research design. This includes things like:

• Your research philosophy (e.g. positivism or interpretivism )
• Your overall methodology (e.g. qualitative , quantitative or mixed methods)
• Your data collection strategy (e.g. interviews , focus groups, surveys)
• Your data analysis strategy (e.g. content analysis , correlation analysis, regression)

If these words have got your head spinning, don’t worry! We’ll explain these in plain language in other posts. It’s not essential that you understand the intricacies of research design (yet!). The key takeaway here is that you’ll need to make decisions about how you’ll design your own research, and you’ll need to describe (and justify) your decisions in your methodology chapter.

2 – Execute: Collect and analyse your data

Once you’ve worked out your research design, you’ll put it into action and start collecting your data. This might mean undertaking interviews, hosting an online survey or any other data collection method. Data collection can take quite a bit of time (especially if you host in-person interviews), so be sure to factor sufficient time into your project plan for this. Oftentimes, things don’t go 100% to plan (for example, you don’t get as many survey responses as you hoped for), so bake a little extra time into your budget here.

Once you’ve collected your data, you’ll need to do some data preparation before you can sink your teeth into the analysis. For example:

• If you carry out interviews or focus groups, you’ll need to transcribe your audio data to text (i.e. a Word document).
• If you collect quantitative survey data, you’ll need to clean up your data and get it into the right format for whichever analysis software you use (for example, SPSS, R or STATA).

Once you’ve completed your data prep, you’ll undertake your analysis, using the techniques that you described in your methodology. Depending on what you find in your analysis, you might also do some additional forms of analysis that you hadn’t planned for. For example, you might see something in the data that raises new questions or that requires clarification with further analysis.

The type(s) of analysis that you’ll use depend entirely on the nature of your research and your research questions. For example:

• If your research if exploratory in nature, you’ll often use qualitative analysis techniques .
• If your research is confirmatory in nature, you’ll often use quantitative analysis techniques
• If your research involves a mix of both, you might use a mixed methods approach

Again, if these words have got your head spinning, don’t worry! We’ll explain these concepts and techniques in other posts. The key takeaway is simply that there’s no “one size fits all” for research design and methodology – it all depends on your topic, your research questions and your data. So, don’t be surprised if your study colleagues take a completely different approach to yours.

Step 7: Present your findings

Once you’ve completed your analysis, it’s time to present your findings (finally!). In a dissertation or thesis, you’ll typically present your findings in two chapters – the results chapter and the discussion chapter .

What’s the difference between the results chapter and the discussion chapter?

While these two chapters are similar, the results chapter generally just presents the processed data neatly and clearly without interpretation, while the discussion chapter explains the story the data are telling  – in other words, it provides your interpretation of the results.

For example, if you were researching the factors that influence consumer trust, you might have used a quantitative approach to identify the relationship between potential factors (e.g. perceived integrity and competence of the organisation) and consumer trust. In this case:

• Your results chapter would just present the results of the statistical tests. For example, correlation results or differences between groups. In other words, the processed numbers.
• Your discussion chapter would explain what the numbers mean in relation to your research question(s). For example, Factor 1 has a weak relationship with consumer trust, while Factor 2 has a strong relationship.

Depending on the university and degree, these two chapters (results and discussion) are sometimes merged into one , so be sure to check with your institution what their preference is. Regardless of the chapter structure, this section is about presenting the findings of your research in a clear, easy to understand fashion.

Importantly, your discussion here needs to link back to your research questions (which you outlined in the introduction or literature review chapter). In other words, it needs to answer the key questions you asked (or at least attempt to answer them).

For example, if we look at the sample research topic:

In this case, the discussion section would clearly outline which factors seem to have a noteworthy influence on organisational trust. By doing so, they are answering the overarching question and fulfilling the purpose of the research .

For more information about the results chapter , check out this post for qualitative studies and this post for quantitative studies .

Step 8: The Final Step Draw a conclusion and discuss the implications

Last but not least, you’ll need to wrap up your research with the conclusion chapter . In this chapter, you’ll bring your research full circle by highlighting the key findings of your study and explaining what the implications of these findings are.

What exactly are key findings? The key findings are those findings which directly relate to your original research questions and overall research objectives (which you discussed in your introduction chapter). The implications, on the other hand, explain what your findings mean for industry, or for research in your area.

Sticking with the consumer trust topic example, the conclusion might look something like this:

Key findings

This study set out to identify which factors influence consumer-based trust in British low-cost online equity brokerage firms. The results suggest that the following factors have a large impact on consumer trust:

While the following factors have a very limited impact on consumer trust:

Notably, within the 25-30 age groups, Factors E had a noticeably larger impact, which may be explained by…

Implications

The findings having noteworthy implications for British low-cost online equity brokers. Specifically:

The large impact of Factors X and Y implies that brokers need to consider….

The limited impact of Factor E implies that brokers need to…

As you can see, the conclusion chapter is basically explaining the “what” (what your study found) and the “so what?” (what the findings mean for the industry or research). This brings the study full circle and closes off the document.

Let’s recap – how to write a dissertation or thesis

You’re still with me? Impressive! I know that this post was a long one, but hopefully you’ve learnt a thing or two about how to write a dissertation or thesis, and are now better equipped to start your own research.

To recap, the 8 steps to writing a quality dissertation (or thesis) are as follows:

• Understand what a dissertation (or thesis) is – a research project that follows the research process.
• Find a unique (original) and important research topic
• Craft a convincing dissertation or thesis research proposal
• Write a clear, compelling introduction chapter
• Undertake a thorough review of the existing research and write up a literature review
• Undertake your own research
• Present and interpret your findings

Once you’ve wrapped up the core chapters, all that’s typically left is the abstract , reference list and appendices. As always, be sure to check with your university if they have any additional requirements in terms of structure or content.  

Psst... there’s more!

This post was based on one of our popular Research Bootcamps . If you're working on a research project, you'll definitely want to check this out ...

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20 Comments

thankfull >>>this is very useful

Thank you, it was really helpful

unquestionably, this amazing simplified way of teaching. Really , I couldn’t find in the literature words that fully explicit my great thanks to you. However, I could only say thanks a-lot.

Great to hear that – thanks for the feedback. Good luck writing your dissertation/thesis.

This is the most comprehensive explanation of how to write a dissertation. Many thanks for sharing it free of charge.

Very rich presentation. Thank you

Thanks Derek Jansen|GRADCOACH, I find it very useful guide to arrange my activities and proceed to research!

Thank you so much for such a marvelous teaching .I am so convinced that am going to write a comprehensive and a distinct masters dissertation

It is an amazing comprehensive explanation

This was straightforward. Thank you!

I can say that your explanations are simple and enlightening – understanding what you have done here is easy for me. Could you write more about the different types of research methods specific to the three methodologies: quan, qual and MM. I look forward to interacting with this website more in the future.

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions 🙂

Hello, your write ups is quite educative. However, l have challenges in going about my research questions which is below; *Building the enablers of organisational growth through effective governance and purposeful leadership.*

Very educating.

Just listening to the name of the dissertation makes the student nervous. As writing a top-quality dissertation is a difficult task as it is a lengthy topic, requires a lot of research and understanding and is usually around 10,000 to 15000 words. Sometimes due to studies, unbalanced workload or lack of research and writing skill students look for dissertation submission from professional writers.

Thank you 💕😊 very much. I was confused but your comprehensive explanation has cleared my doubts of ever presenting a good thesis. Thank you.

thank you so much, that was so useful

Hi. Where is the excel spread sheet ark?

could you please help me look at your thesis paper to enable me to do the portion that has to do with the specification

my topic is “the impact of domestic revenue mobilization.

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Completing Your Doctoral Degree

This webpage describes steps to completing a PhD degree at UW–Madison, which include:

• Meet the degree requirements
• Complete your preliminary examinations
• Defend and deposit your dissertation

See all doctoral degree completion deadlines >>

Looking for master's degree requirements?

Click here for guidelines for completing your master's degree.

Want to track your academic progress?

Check your academic progress using the Graduate Student Tracking System (GSTS).

Need support completing your dissertation?

We can help. Campus offers dissertator support groups, dissertation writing camps, writing guides, and other resources.

Steps to Completing the Degree

You must meet both the program and the Graduate School requirements for graduation. You should be aware that some programs may have more rigorous requirements than the Graduate School’s minimum requirements. You should visit your program’s website for specific requirements and contact your graduate program coordinator for further information.

Note: The Graduate School does not use honors titles (e.g., Magna Cum Laude, Dean’s List, etc.). Graduate students are not eligible to take courses designated for undergraduate honors students.

Minimum graduate degree credit requirement

51 credits (before or after dissertator status)

A student’s program may decide to accept graduate coursework completed at another institution (earned post-baccalaureate) toward fulfillment of degree credit requirements. To learn more, see Minimum Graduate Degree Credit Requirement and Prior Coursework .

Minimum graduate residence credit requirement

32 credits (completed prior to achieving dissertator status)

The doctoral degree minimum residence credit requirement can be satisfied only with courses numbered 300 and above taken as a graduate student at UW–Madison. To learn more about this requirement, see Minimum Graduate Residence Credit Requirement .

Minimum graduate coursework (50%) requirement

At least 50% of credits applied toward the program’s graduate degree credit requirement must be courses designed for graduate work, including but not limited to online, thesis/research, independent study, and practicum/internship credits. To learn more about this requirement, see Minimum Graduate Coursework (50%) Requirement .

Breadth requirement

Breadth is a required component of doctoral training at UW–Madison. Given there are multiple paths to breadth, the Graduate School leaves the choice of whether students achieve breadth through a doctoral minor, Graduate/Professional certificate, or other means up to the student’s doctoral major program.

To learn more about meeting this requirement, see  Policy on Breadth Requirement in Doctoral Training .

Grade point average (GPA) requirement

The Graduate School requires that students maintain a GPA of 3.00 (on a 4.00 scale) for all graduate courses (excluding research) to receive a degree (though many programs impose higher standards). All incomplete grades must be resolved before a degree is granted. To learn more, see Grade Point Average (GPA) Requirement and Probation .

Preliminary examinations assess knowledge of areas within the academic discipline. The student must obtain approval of the minor if the major program requires it and complete all the major courses.

Your program should arrange a preliminary committee and a dissertation committee with appropriate expertise to afford the breadth and depth needed in degree examinations. These committees may be composed of different members. The executive committee (or its equivalent) of a program/department is responsible for approving the composition of the preliminary exam and the dissertation committee. You should consult your advisor and your program’s student handbook for the specific function of degree committees (preliminary exam and dissertation) in your program.

To learn more about the functions and criteria of doctoral dissertation committees, see Committees . Use this online committee requirements tool to help you determine whether your proposed committee would meet the Graduate School’s minimum requirements for committee members.

Preliminary examinations

Your program determines your eligibility to take the prelim examination(s). The program must notifies the Graduate School of a student’s admission to candidacy and requests the preliminary warrant a minimum of three weeks prior to the exam date.

After passing the preliminary examination, students have 5 years to take the final examination (i.e. defend) and deposit their dissertation.  The 5 year clock starts on the first day of instruction of the term (Fall, Spring, or Summer) immediately following the completion of the preliminary examination.  Failure to complete their degree within this period may result in students having to retake the preliminary examination and be re-admitted to candidacy.

Time limit extension for dissertators impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic

To offer flexibility amidst the major disruption that COVID-19 may have had on doctoral candidates’ research and scholarship progress, students who achieved dissertator status by the end of the 2020 summer term have automatically had the 5-year time limit extended by 8 months. Dissertators given this 8-month extension who need more time due to continued COVID-related disruption to their progress may request a further extension from the Graduate School. Decisions to extend the deadline beyond the additional 8 months are made on a case-by-case basis upon request of the student and their advisor. Students requesting an extension need to submit the request, along with a letter of support from their advisor, to [email protected] .

Doctoral Student Experience Survey (DSES)

The Doctoral Student Experience Survey (DSES) collects information at the time students make the transition to dissertator status. The survey covers career aspirations, academic experiences, and academic challenges, among other topics. Complete the Doctoral Student Experience Survey online. The Graduate School will use survey data to help identify strategies to improve student services.

After your program requests the preliminary exam warrant, you will receive an email with the link to the survey. All research doctoral students should complete the survey prior to submitting their signed preliminary examination warrant to the Graduate School.

Dissertator status

Dissertator status is a unique fee status and is effective at the start of the semester following completion of all dissertator requirements for the doctoral degree except for the dissertation. The Graduate School requires all dissertators to maintain continuous enrollment of exactly three credits (exceptions may apply during the summer). In rare circumstances where this is not possible, a degree completion fee is assessed to recognize the inevitable use of university facilities up to and including the successful defense and submission of the dissertation. To learn more, see Dissertator Status and the Degree Completion Fee .

Step 0: Pre-checks (optional)

Pre-checks are used to answer formatting questions (e.g., use of tables, graphs, and charts), embargo/delayed release questions, or questions related to the degree granting process.

To request a pre-check, you may email a PDF of your entire dissertation to degree coordinator [email protected] . If you would prefer to meet in person, email [email protected] to arrange a time.

Step 1: Request your final warrant and defend your dissertation

Notify your graduate program coordinator to have them request your doctoral degree warrant from the Graduate School at least three weeks before the anticipated date of your final dissertation defense. You must be enrolled during the semester that you defend and deposit; if you want to defend and/or submit your dissertation to the Graduate School in the summer term, you must register for three credits of research for the eight-week summer session.  Be very aware of two deadline options for depositing your dissertation.  Depositing before the first deadline will result in the degree being awarded at the end of that term.  The second deadline, often called the “window period” deadline, provides a little extra time to deposit after a term ends.  Dissertations deposited during the window period will result in the degree being awarded at the end of the following term, but will not require enrollment in that term.  The deadlines for both are very strict and occur at midnight Central Time.  Be aware that failure to submit by the end of the “window” period at the end of each term will require enrollment in the following term in order for a degree to be awarded.

After your graduate program coordinator submits the doctoral degree warrant request, the Graduate School will review this request. The approved warrant will be available in the Grad Portal. If you pass the defense, your program will let you know how and when to collect electronic signatures on the warrant. When signing your warrant electronically, your committee members thereby approve the dissertation.  (Note: Advisors no longer have to sign the abstract separately.)

Once the final warrant has been signed, you must upload an electronic copy in the administrative documents section of the ProQuest/UMI ETD Administrator website.  Your graduate coordinator will also submit the warrant to the Graduate School in the Graduate Portal.

Step 2: Pay the dissertation deposit fee

Go to Grad Portal to pay the required $90 dissertation deposit fee, which covers the cost of processing the dissertation and publishing the abstract by ProQuest. The fee must be paid before submitting your dissertation electronically. The fee payment site provides an email confirmation with your fee payment receipt. Save this payment receipt as a PDF for the electronic dissertation deposit process. You also have the option to log in to the fee payment site and download a PDF of the receipt once you have paid. The receipt will be uploaded in the administrative documents section of the ProQuest/UMI ETD Administrator website.

Step 3: Complete the doctoral exit surveys

You must complete the following doctoral exit surveys before submitting your dissertation electronically. Each individual survey will provide a certificate of completion once you have submitted the survey. Save the individual certificates of completion as PDF documents to upload in the administrative documents section of the ProQuest/UMI ETD Administrator website.

• Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) : To complete the online Survey of Earned Doctorates you will first provide basic information including your email address. You will then receive an e-mail with a unique PIN and password. Access the SED survey site using the URL, PIN, and password sent to you in this email, and complete the survey. You must advance past the certificate of completion screen in order to submit the survey.
• Graduate School’s Doctoral Exit Survey (DES) : The DES obtains information on your academic experience (e.g., program quality, support, advising) in your doctoral program and information about your postdoctoral plans. To complete the Doctoral Exit Survey online , enter your name as it appears in university records and your student ID number (10 digits). At the end of the survey, there is a survey completion screen. If you have problems accessing the survey, contact [email protected] and include your name and student ID number.

Step 4: Electronic deposit of your dissertation

After you complete Steps 1 to 3, you can submit your dissertation electronically to the ProQuest/UMI ETD Administrator website.

ATTENTION: Your submission of the dissertation is final and you are not allowed to make changes once it has been approved by the Graduate School Degree Coordinator. Your submission is not completed until you receive the confirmation email from the Graduate School Degree Coordinator.

Submitting your dissertation electronically has four steps:

• Prepare for submission
• Submit dissertation on ProQuest/UMI ETD
• Submit administrative documents
• Complete the final submit step

Read this section for detailed instructions for each step.

Before you begin the submission steps, decide whether or not you want to delay release of your dissertation. See the Guide to Preparing your Doctoral Dissertation, below, for more information on embargo/delayed release.

Then, be sure you have the following:

• Full text of your dissertation in PDF format. This must be one file. Fonts must be embedded. Security settings must be set to “no security.” Encrypted files cannot be processed for publishing. The maximum file size that can be uploaded is 1000 MB. The PDF file name cannot contain periods (except for the .pdf extension). Instructions for PDF conversion are available at the ProQuest/UMI ETD Administrator site under the “Resources and Guidelines” tab.
• UMI abstract text. This abstract, preferably not more than 350 words, must be in English. You will be asked to copy and paste this text during the electronic submission steps.
• Optional supplementary files. These images, data, etc. are an integral part of the dissertation, but not part of the full text.
• Advisor’s and other committee members’ names. These usually are listed as they appear on your approved warrant.
• Subject category. Choose one to three subject categories from the Subject Category list that best describe your dissertation subject area.
• Receipt confirming payment of the dissertation deposit fee. After you have paid the required $90 dissertation deposit fee, you will receive an e-mail receipt confirming payment.
• An electronic copy of the signed final warrant.

Go to the ProQuest/UMI ETD Administrator site and choose “Submitting Your Dissertation/Thesis.” Select University of Wisconsin-Madison from the list provided. Create an account or login using an existing account.

The ProQuest/UMI ETD Administrator website will walk you through a simple process of accepting the publishing agreement and uploading the files and information about your submission. If you need to finish your submission later, you can save your information and come back to finish.

At the submission step called Dissertation/Thesis Details, you will need to enter the following important information about your dissertation. Accuracy is essential.

• Title: Enter the full title of your dissertation, as it appears on the title page. Only some special characters can be used in this field. The title field does not accept subscript, superscript, or Greek letters; instead, you will need to spell these out. Select the year in which you completed your manuscript.
• Degree/Department Information: Select the year in which your degree will be conferred. If you are depositing during the window period and are uncertain, contact the Graduate School. Select the degree you will receive and your program.
• Advisor/Supervisor/Committee Chair: Enter your primary advisor’s name exactly as it appears on your warrant. Do not repeat your advisor in the list of committee members.
• Committee Members: Enter your committee members’ names exactly as they appear on your warrant.
• Description of Dissertation/Thesis: Select categories and keywords that identify your work.
• Abstract: Enter the text of your UMI abstract exactly as it was approved by your faculty advisor, preferably no more than 350 words.

At the submission step called Administrative Documents, you will need to upload the following items:

• Dissertation deposit confirmation receipt: Upload a PDF of the email receipt you received from the UW–Madison Graduate School fee payment website.
• The Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) certificate of completion: Upload the survey receipt as a PDF.
• The Graduate School’s Doctoral Exit Survey (DES) certificate of completion: Upload the survey receipt as a PDF.
• Signed PhD warrant: Upload your final signed PhD warrant as a PDF.

At the submission step called Notes to Administrator, indicate if you plan to attend the optional Graduate School final review.

You may choose to order additional copies of your dissertation and register the copyright of your dissertation – both of these items are optional. To learn more, see Copyright Resources .

Be certain to complete the final submit step at the ProQuest/UMI ETD Administrator website. You MUST submit your dissertation to the ProQuest/UMI ETD Administrator website by 11:59 pm CST on the degree deadline date in order to receive your degree in a given term. Keep in mind that submissions are reviewed by the Graduate School Degree Coordinator in the order they were received. After you complete the final submit step, you will receive an email confirming the submission. When you submit your dissertation, it will be reviewed by a Graduate School Degree Coordinator to ensure that you have followed all formatting requirements.

The Graduate School Degree Coordinator will approve and deliver your dissertation to ProQuest/UMI Dissertation Publishing for microfilming and binding. The UW–Madison Library will receive a bound copy and an electronic version of your dissertation shortly thereafter. You will receive an official email notification when the Graduate School has approved your dissertation for publication.

Step 4.0 Graduate School email confirmation

After you have successfully completed steps 1 – 4, please check your email at the address that you entered when you created an account on the ProQuest website. Look for a message from the ETD administrator. If formatting changes are requested, please complete them and re-upload your dissertation as soon as possible, as instructed in the email. If your dissertation has been accepted, the email will confirm this fact. Next please make sure that your instructor has or will submit a final grade, which should be S for satisfactory if you are enrolled for 990. Please be aware that no degrees are posted before the degree deadline and it may take 4-6 weeks for your degree to be posted after the degree deadline.

Commencement – December and May

If you want your name to be printed in the commencement program, you must submit an Apply to Graduate application through your MyUW Student Center. This is in addition to contacting your program to request your degree warrant from the Graduate School. You may attend the ceremony even if your name is not included in the commencement program. August does not have a commencement ceremony. If you plan to graduate in August, you may attend either the May or December ceremony by submitting the Apply to Graduate application through MyUW Student Center. Cap and gown rentals are at University Bookstore. Guests can attend without tickets.

Degree completion letter

The Registrar’s Office handles degree completion letters . If you have completed all degree requirements and deposited your thesis or dissertation and are waiting until the next degree conferral date to receive your degree, you may request and receive a letter indicating that all requirements have been completed. All grades from the semester in which you are depositing your dissertation (and all other outstanding grades) must be reported to the Graduate School before you can receive a completion letter.  Allow five business days for the processing of your degree completion letter request.

The Registrar’s Office will send your diploma to your diploma address approximately 12 to 14 weeks after degree conferral. Update your diploma address via the MyUW Student Center prior to the end of the semester in which you are graduating. Students with holds will not receive their diploma until those holds are cleared.

A student’s name will be printed on the diploma as it appears on the student’s official university record. Changes to legal personal information  including names can be requested online. For a student’s name change to appear on the diploma, the change must be made before the degree deadline in the semester the student will graduate.

Students who graduated after December 2015 may also access a Certified Electronic Diploma at no cost. A Certified Electronic Diploma is an official, portable, secure PDF version of the diploma that can be shared with anyone.

Transcripts

The Registrar’s Office posts degrees on official transcripts approximately four to six weeks after the end of the semester. You can order your official transcripts online .

Students may also request a campus copy of transcripts of their student record from MyUW Student Center. A campus copy student record is not an official transcript but it does indicate all internal university memoranda. The Registrar’s Office also provides more details on how to request a campus copy student record .

Guide to Preparing your Doctoral Dissertation

Formatting requirements.

We encourage you to read through these requirements before you start writing.  These guidelines will help you prepare your dissertation to ensure that it constitutes a permanent document of quality appropriate for a major graduate institution. Your dissertation is required to conform to these standards. It will be fully corrected, complete, and submitted electronically as a single PDF file.

Keep in mind that the formatting must be consistent throughout the dissertation with the exception of the Appendix.  Previously published articles can be placed in the Appendix in their published format.  If previously published work is included in a chapter, its format must conform to the formatting guidelines.

Dissertations must acknowledge contributions from other individuals, including co-authors of published material that appears in the document, such as designing the research, executing the research, analyzing the data, interpreting the research/data, or writing, proofing, copyediting the manuscript.  Contributions can be recognized in an acknowledgements section or at the beginning of a chapter where the contributed material is used.

Electronic and paper copies of approved dissertations are sent to the UW–Madison Memorial Library. They can be found electronically on MadCat and the ProQuest database. ProQuest/UMI Dissertation Publishing archives all accepted dissertations.

View the Formatting Requirements for your Doctoral Dissertation as a PDF checklist.

Dissertation help

In addition to support and feedback that your faculty advisor, mentor, and committee members will provide, be sure to take full advantage of the dissertation support opportunities at UW–Madison.

For more information

Alexandra Walter Doctoral Degree Coordinator [email protected] 608-262-2433

This is an accordion element with a series of buttons that open and close related content panels.

You may put unusual or supplementary materials (such as questionnaires or photos) into appendices. Number the appendices consecutively with the text of the dissertation. The formatting of the appendices must meet the standards for the rest of the dissertation. However, the text in the appendices can be single-spaced.

Bibliography

The bibliography should meet your major program’s style requirements, which often conform to the leading journals or book series of the field. They may be single-spaced with an additional space between entries.

Equations, superscripts, and subscripts

Equations, superscripts, and subscripts are acceptable in your dissertation provided they are legible when microfilmed. Generally, superscripts and subscripts may be one size smaller than the text. To identify each equation clearly, please isolate it with double spacing.

Footnotes and endnotes

Footnotes and endnotes may be single-spaced with an extra space between notes. The font size can be one size smaller but must be legible. Please follow the preference of your major program when deciding where footnotes or endnotes should be placed in your text.

Figures and graphs must meet the same standards as the rest of the dissertation. Headings, keys, and all other identifying information must be of the same quality and format as the text. The font size can be one size smaller but must be legible. If graphics, tables, or figures are in landscape mode, orient the top of the printed page at the dissertation binding edge (left side of the paper) with the page number in the upper right-hand corner in the portrait page setup. Images may be submitted in black and white or color.

Language use

You may include quotations in languages other than English in your dissertation. However, the dissertation itself must be in English unless your program certifies that one or both of the following conditions have been met: the foreign language is that of the readers to whom the work is addressed; or translation into English would make the study obscure and imprecise. Dissertations submitted by students from a language program are acceptable in the language of that program.

Minimum required

• Use a minimum of 1″ margin on all four sides.
• Page numbers must be in the  upper right-hand corner at least a half inch from the top and one inch from the side of the page.
• Page headers:  Do NOT use page headers (except for page numbers) or decorative borders.

Page numbering

The title page and copyright page (if you are retaining and registering copyright) are not counted in the numbering of pages. The other pages are counted in the numbering of pages.

• Number the preliminary pages (for example, dedication page, acknowledgments page, table of contents, and abstract) that precede the main text with  lower case Roman numerals beginning with i . Put page numbers in the right-hand corner one inch from both top and side of the page. Page numbers half an inch from the top of the page are also acceptable.
• Number the main text consecutively beginning with  Arabic numeral 1  in the upper right-hand corner one inch from both top and side of the page. Check your dissertation to ensure that  all pages are present and in numerical order.
• If you are using Microsoft Word, find directions about how to start page numbering later in your document .
• Number appendices consecutively with the text, continuing the Arabic numeral sequence.
• Landscaped pages must have page numbers in portrait position and the top of the page must be on the left-hand, binding side of the page when it is rotated. If the page is *not* rotated, then the page numbers must be on the bottom, right-hand side of the page and sideways, so that when the pages are rotated, the page numbers are in portrait position. There are a number of ways to do this. For methods using Microsoft Word, such as text boxes, see instructions and examples of rotating page numbers . Note that if you do not rotate the landscaped pages, you want page numbers to appear in the same position as the highlighted number 3 in the second row of examples.

Production of document

• Use 10 to 12 point type.
• Double-space the main text of the dissertation.
• Lengthy quotations, footnotes, and bibliographies may be single-spaced with a double space between entries or paragraphs.
• Maps, charts, etc. are acceptable.

The title page is the very first page of your dissertation. Do not number the title page. At the bottom of the title page, you must indicate the date you passed your final defense (final oral examination) and list your committee members’ names, titles, and programs. Follow this  sample title page  format exactly.

If you are depositing your thesis in the window period then your title page should reflect the year in which your degree will be granted.

Additional guidelines

UMI abstract When you deposit your dissertation electronically, ProQuest/UMI will require you to provide the text of your UMI abstract. Please have this text ready when you begin the online submission process. The abstract must be in English and should preferably be no more than 350 words. When your advisor signs the warrant, they approve the dissertation and the abstract.

Abstract within dissertation Your program may require an abstract to be part of the dissertation. Please follow your program’s style requirements, and number all of these pages as part of the preliminary material (use lower case Roman numerals). This abstract must be included in the table of contents.

Copyright page (optional) You may include a copyright page; if you do, insert it directly after the title page. Do not number the copyright page. View a sample copyright page . Center the text in the bottom third of the page within the dissertation margins.

Registration of copyright (optional) You are automatically protected by copyright law, and you do not have to pay in order to retain copyright.

There is an additional fee of $75 for registering your copyright, which is a public record, and is payable to ProQuest/UMI at the time of electronic submission.  If you register your copyright, ProQuest/UMI will send a digital copy of your dissertation to the Library of Congress. You are not required to register your copyright through ProQuest/UMI; you may choose to do it on your own. More information is available online at www.copyright.gov and from UW Libraries .

Corrections After you submit the PDF of your dissertation electronically, you will not be permitted to make any additional corrections. Therefore, make sure the PDF is completely accurate before you submit.

Reprints and use of copyrighted material You are responsible for appropriate use of copyrighted materials in your thesis. Some material may be available for use without restriction while other material may require written permission from the rights holder. Other material may be appropriately used without written permission under the “fair use” provisions of the copyright law. General guidance regarding use of copyrighted materials is available from ProQuest/ UMI or from the UW–Madison Libraries .

• Fair Use: Read general information regarding how to determine if your use of copyrighted materials constitutes fair use.  Additionally, your own professional or disciplinary societies may have fair use statements to help you negotiate disciplinary specialties.
• Written Permission: If written permission is required, you are responsible for obtaining such permission and maintaining records of the written permission to use the copyrighted material in your thesis. You can usually get permission by sending a letter of request to the copyright holder. Normally, your letter will be returned with an approval stamp or signature. Some copyright holders require a specific form of acknowledgment. A sample permission request letter is offered by ProQuest/UMI .  Note that obtaining written permission can be a lengthy process. Plan ahead and budget ample time to obtain all required permissions.

Producing copies of your dissertation (optional) There are many options available in terms of producing copies of your dissertation. You do NOT have to order copies through the UMI/ProQuest ETD Administrator site but that option is available. Some other ways to produce copies of your dissertation include:

• UMI/ProQuest ETD Administrator site: order copies
• Printing shop (FedEx Office, Bob’s Copy Shop, etc.)
• Local book bindery (Grimm Book Bindery, Mc Ginn Bindery, etc.)

Embargo/delayed release

As a public research university, the University of Wisconsin–Madison considers the commitment to research a central part of its mission. As such, there is an expectation that research conducted by graduate students is made available to the public. Therefore, dissertations are normally open and searchable online shortly after they are deposited with ProQuest.

However, if a publication or a patent is pending, an embargo, or delayed release, may be requested during the submission process, in which case the citation and abstract will be available in ProQuest while the full text is under an embargo.

Please decide whether or not to delay release before you submit your dissertation. All decisions are final. Once your dissertation has been delivered to ProQuest, it is too late to delay release.

The only way to delay release is to make the appropriate selection during the submission process. You will have the option to select “No” to the Publishing Options question: “I want my work to be available in ProQuest as soon as it is published.” Next you will choose a time period of 6 months, 1 year, or 2 years for embargo. If you would like to select 3 years, select “other” and then write a note to the administrator in the text box below your selection, explaining that you would like 3 years. These options do not require special permission, but you should have discussed this with your advisor in advance.

Any request for more than a 3-year embargo or an extension of the original embargo request will be reviewed by the Graduate School Associate Dean. Such a request requires a letter to be signed by the student and the advisor in advance.

In order to qualify for an embargo extension, you are required to contact the degree coordinator prior to the expiration date of your embargo. Again, it is your responsibility to contact the Graduate School before your dissertation is released. Once a dissertation embargo has been lifted, it will not be reinstated.

Steps to prepare for commencement

Once you have met your degree requirements, you may choose to attend a commencement ceremony. Commencement occurs in May and December each year and is coordinated by the Office of the Chancellor. There is no summer commencement ceremony. If you plan to graduate in August, you may attend either the May or the December ceremony. If you want your name to be printed in the commencement program, you must apply to graduate through your MyUW Student Center by the deadline each semester in addition to contacting your major program to request a degree warrant from the Graduate School. The deadline to request your warrant can be found in the Degree Deadlines, below. You may attend the commencement ceremony even if your name is not included in the commencement program. Academic attire is required to participate in the commencement ceremony. Attire can be purchase or rented from the University Book Store . Your school/college or program may also have its own commencement activities.

Doctoral degree deadlines

• June 14 Graduate School Summer 2024: Dissertator eligibility for summer 4:00 PM
• June 16 Graduate School Summer 2024: Summer degree window period deadline for doctoral students 11:55 PM
• August 2 Graduate School Summer 2024: Request for all Master's and Doctoral Degree Warrants 4:30 PM
• August 25 Graduate School Summer 2024: Doctoral degree deadline 11:55 PM
• August 26 Graduate School Fall 2024: Fall Degree Window Period begins 12:00 AM

View all Graduate School 2023-24 degree deadlines as a printable PDF >>

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How to Write Excellent Graduate-Level Papers

“How to Write Excellent Graduate-Level Papers” brought to you by the Student Academic Success Center (SASC) at UNE.

Becoming a better writer – the process

Breaking a writing project down into phases helps with motivation as well as managing your time and workload effectively. The phases of the process – prewriting, drafting, revision, and editing – are described below. Each step allows you to focus your energy in a particular way, with it all adding up to a more thoughtful, clear piece of writing.

The phases don’t have to be done in a set, linear order, if that’s not effective for you. If you like to write some rough draft paragraphs first, then go back and do a post-draft outline or revise those paragraphs before continuing, that’s fine. The key is to make sure each part of the process is done thoroughly before you consider your paper finished.

Let’s start with using prewriting to get the process rolling:

Using various prewriting strategies can help you avoid procrastinating and start a draft on the right track. You aren’t under pressure to develop a paper yet – this is about unlocking the flow of ideas. Play around with some of these strategies to find ones that work best for you:

• Tap into your curiosity

When you’re faced with an assignment, spend some time simply wondering about the topic. What intrigues you? Why should you and others in your profession care about it? Come up with a couple of relevant questions that you want to explore. Then consider which questions are most meaningful to you personally and professionally—and why? This can be done on paper, in conversation with someone else, or internally.

• Relate the assignment to your profession

Think about why the assignment is important to your field of study and work as a health professional, a social worker, an educator, etc. Making your assignment as personally and professionally relevant as possible helps with generating the motivation to start writing and keeping the momentum through the process. View this as an opportunity to learn useful information.

• Use the assignment itself as an outline

Copy the assignment and paste it into a new document. Break it apart visually by adding line spaces and/or tabs. This will help you more easily identify key concepts which need to be explained and verbs that indicate critical thinking is required (e.g., analyze, compare, evaluate). Create a rough outline using parts of the assignment as headings for different sections of the paper.

Similarly, you could annotate the assignment by marking up the key words and concepts and making little notes in the margins about what to add or how sections or ideas might tie together.

• Leverage what you already know, and then research with a purpose

Another very helpful strategy is to identify key concepts in the assignment description, then brainstorm what you already know about them based on the class readings or videos. Next, make a list of questions you still have about the concepts and overall topic. These will help drive the additional research needed to fill in your gaps of knowledge and locate credible evidence to support your explanations.

Having those questions makes researching more efficient because you have a purpose for reading: you’re looking for pieces of information rather than simply reading articles.

Read more: Faculty Spotlight: Lori Rand, Writing Specialist at SASC

The drafting phase involves determining your focus and starting to develop paragraph ideas within a structure. Keep a copy of the assignment on your draft as you write. Clarify the point of your paper – what is the main question that the assignment asking you to answer?

Think of a draft as packaging ideas into paragraphs that all relate to the paper’s main focus, as summed up in the thesis statement. For clarity, try to keep each paragraph focused on one idea at a time. However, because this phase is about getting thoughts down, and thoughts often jump around, drafting tends to be messy. That’s okay! The next step, revision, is where you really improve the writing.

In this phase, you can work on improving how you are guiding your reader through your thinking. Your reader will understand your ideas more easily if they are clearly focused, well-developed with specific evidence (correctly cited), and nicely organized.

Two strategies to guide you through revision include SASC’s Revision Checklist and Post-draft Outline, found here under Writing Resources. A writing appointment is also a great way to learn about and practice revision skills.

Editing is the final, polishing phase; it involves correcting sentence-level issues and technical aspects, such as word choice and grammar. Readers pick up these issues quickly because they can be the most obvious. Carelessness with grammar or word choice can lead to misunderstandings and make your writing seem unprofessional.

Trust the process

As mentioned earlier, the writing process is not necessarily a linear, step-by-step approach; it’s recursive, so it’s highly likely you’ll move back and forth between phases as you figure out your focus and organization of ideas.

Using this process gets easier with practice, and it works well in any writing situations, not just for graduate school assignments and scholarly papers.

Once you develop the most efficient method for your learning style, not only will you get faster, you will produce better academic papers.

Book an appointment

The SASC can help with all phases of the writing process via an Online Writing Support Appointment.  Visit the Online Student page for more details about writing support and resources.

For more online education insider tips and guides, subscribe today!

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Open Access Theses and Dissertations

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Recent Additions

See all of this week’s new additions.

About OATD.org

OATD.org aims to be the best possible resource for finding open access graduate theses and dissertations published around the world. Metadata (information about the theses) comes from over 1100 colleges, universities, and research institutions . OATD currently indexes 7,241,108 theses and dissertations.

About OATD (our FAQ) .

Visual OATD.org

We’re happy to present several data visualizations to give an overall sense of the OATD.org collection by county of publication, language, and field of study.

You may also want to consult these sites to search for other theses:

• Google Scholar
• NDLTD , the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations. NDLTD provides information and a search engine for electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs), whether they are open access or not.
• Proquest Theses and Dissertations (PQDT), a database of dissertations and theses, whether they were published electronically or in print, and mostly available for purchase. Access to PQDT may be limited; consult your local library for access information.

Harvard University Theses, Dissertations, and Prize Papers

The Harvard University Archives ’ collection of theses, dissertations, and prize papers document the wide range of academic research undertaken by Harvard students over the course of the University’s history.

Beyond their value as pieces of original research, these collections document the history of American higher education, chronicling both the growth of Harvard as a major research institution as well as the development of numerous academic fields. They are also an important source of biographical information, offering insight into the academic careers of the authors.

Spanning from the ‘theses and quaestiones’ of the 17th and 18th centuries to the current yearly output of student research, they include both the first Harvard Ph.D. dissertation (by William Byerly, Ph.D . 1873) and the dissertation of the first woman to earn a doctorate from Harvard ( Lorna Myrtle Hodgkinson , Ed.D. 1922).

Other highlights include:

• The collection of Mathematical theses, 1782-1839
• The 1895 Ph.D. dissertation of W.E.B. Du Bois, The suppression of the African slave trade in the United States, 1638-1871
• Ph.D. dissertations of astronomer Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (Ph.D. 1925) and physicist John Hasbrouck Van Vleck (Ph.D. 1922)
• Undergraduate honors theses of novelist John Updike (A.B. 1954), filmmaker Terrence Malick (A.B. 1966),  and U.S. poet laureate Tracy Smith (A.B. 1994)
• Undergraduate prize papers and dissertations of philosophers Ralph Waldo Emerson (A.B. 1821), George Santayana (Ph.D. 1889), and W.V. Quine (Ph.D. 1932)
• Undergraduate honors theses of U.S. President John F. Kennedy (A.B. 1940) and Chief Justice John Roberts (A.B. 1976)

What does a prize-winning thesis look like?

If you're a Harvard undergraduate writing your own thesis, it can be helpful to review recent prize-winning theses. The Harvard University Archives has made available for digital lending all of the Thomas Hoopes Prize winners from the 2019-2021 academic years.

Accessing These Materials

How to access materials at the Harvard University Archives

How to find and request dissertations, in person or virtually

How to find and request undergraduate honors theses

How to find and request Thomas Temple Hoopes Prize papers

How to find and request Bowdoin Prize papers

• email: Email
• Phone number 617-495-2461

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APA Writing Guide: Formatting for Graduate Students

• Formatting for Undergraduates
• Formatting for Graduate Students
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Writing Center

The Liberty University Writing Center is available to provide writing coaching to students. Residential students should contact the  On-Campus Writing Center  for assistance. Online students should contact the  Online Writing Center  for assistance.

General Rules

Liberty University has determined that graduate students will use APA 7’s formatting guidelines for professional papers. To assist you, Liberty University's Writing Center provides a template paper and a  sample paper .

For professional papers, the following four sections are required: 

• Title Page with Running Head
• Abstract with Keywords
• Reference List

Here are a few things to keep in mind as you format your paper:

• Fonts  - LU recommends that papers be typed in 12-point Times New Roman or 11-point Calibri fonts.  
• Use only one space at the end of each sentence in the body of your paper.
• In general, APA papers should be double spaced throughout. A list of exceptions can be found here.
• To make sure that your paper is double spaced throughout,  select the text ,  right click , select ' Paragraph ,' and look under the section ' Line Spacing ' as shown below:

• Margins/Alignment  - Your paper should use 1-inch margins on standard-sized paper (8.5' X 11'). Make sure that you use  Align Left  (CTRL + L) on the paper, except for the title page.  
•   Indentation – The first sentence in each new paragraph in the body of the paper should be indented a half inch. The abstract, however, should not be indented. References use hanging indentation .  
• Headings:   Please note that all headings are in title case. Level 1 headings should be centered (and in bold), and Level 2 and 3 headings should be left-aligned (and in bold or bold italic, respectively). Level 4 and 5 headings are indented like regular paragraphs. An example of formatting headings in a paper is available here

Title Page: When setting up the professional title page, please note the following elements should be present on the page:

• There is no limit to the number of words in the title.
• Add an extra blank double-spaced line between the title and author’s name.
• Name of each author (centered)
• Name of department and institution/affiliation (centered)
• Place the author note in the bottom half of the title page. Center and bold the label “Author Note.” Align the paragraphs of the author note to the left. For an example, see the LU Writing Center template for graduate students here .
• Page number in top right corner of the header, starting with page 1 on the title page
• The running head is an abbreviated version of the title of your paper (or the full title if the title is already short).
• Type the running head in all-capital letters.
• Ensure the running head is no more than 50 characters, including spaces and punctuation.
• The running head appears in the same format on every page, including the first page.
• Do not use the label “Running head:” before the running head.
• Align the running head to the left margin of the page header, across from the right-aligned page number.

Abstract Page: The abstract page includes the abstract and related keywords.

The abstract is a brief but comprehensive summary of your paper. Here are guidelines for formatting the abstract:

• It should be the second page of a professional (graduate level) paper.
• The first line should say “Abstract” centered and in bold.
• The abstract should start one line below the section label.
• It should be a single paragraph and should not be indented.
• It should not exceed 250 words.

Keywords are used for indexing in databases and as search terms. Your keywords should capture the most important aspects of your paper in three to five words, phrases, or acronyms. Here are formatting guidelines:

• Label “ Keywords ” one line below the abstract, indented and in italics (not bolded).
• The keywords should be written on the same line as and one space after the label “ Keywords ”.
• The keywords should be lowercase (but capitalize proper nouns) and not italic or bold.
• Each keyword should be separated by a comma and a space and followed by a colon.
• There should be no ending punctuation.
• << Previous: Formatting for Undergraduates
• Next: In-text Citations >>
• Last Updated: Aug 29, 2023 11:29 AM
• URL: https://libguides.liberty.edu/APAguide

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UCI Theses & Dissertations

Format, Submit, Discover

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The UCI Libraries provides formatting and submission support for graduate theses and dissertations. Theses and dissertations may be submitted electronically (via ProQuest), or on paper. Electronic submission best serves the majority of our graduate students and is highly encouraged.

If you have questions about formatting or the submission process, read through the FAQs or email [email protected] . If you have questions or concerns that do not relate to the formatting of your manuscript, please contact Graduate Division . 

The filing deadline for a Spring 2024 degree is 5:00 pm on  Friday, June 7, 2024.

The formatting manual.

Please consult the  UCI Thesis and Dissertation Formatting Manual  when writing your manuscript. In addition to providing detailed information about proper formatting, the manual details the submission process and provides sample pages and templates.

Pre-Submission (Formatting) Critiques

Pre-submission critiques are available to all graduate students who would like the formatting of their manuscript looked at before final submission. You may request a pre-submission critique on a working draft of your thesis. 

Pre-Submission Critiques are no longer available for Winter Quarter 2023.

As you approach the filing deadline, the availability of formatting critiques changes as follows :

It may take up to 2 business days (M-F, excluding holidays) to receive a response to your question, critique, or ProQuest submission - especially during high-volume times in the quarter.  

Please plan accordingly; we respond to questions as they come in and cannot rush or expedite any reviews. 

Video Tutorials/Workshop Recordings

Thesis formatting overview (5 min video).

Topics covered: Pre-submission critiques, Overview of the Formatting Manual, Resources for further assistance

ProQuest submission process (7 min video)

Overview of what the thesis/dissertation submission process looks like in Proquest, addressing commonly asked questions about specific fields.

Workshop Recording  (May 2024 workshop)

1 hour workshop video

• Answered questions from Zoom chat transcripts
• Slide deck of Library presentation 
• Slide deck of Grad Division presentation

If you have any questions, please email  [email protected] .

Reference management. Clean and simple.

How to prepare an excellent thesis defense

What is a thesis defense?

How long is a thesis defense, what happens at a thesis defense, your presentation, questions from the committee, 6 tips to help you prepare for your thesis defense, 1. anticipate questions and prepare for them, 2. dress for success, 3. ask for help, as needed, 4. have a backup plan, 5. prepare for the possibility that you might not know an answer, 6. de-stress before, during, and after, frequently asked questions about preparing an excellent thesis defense, related articles.

If you're about to complete, or have ever completed a graduate degree, you have most likely come across the term "thesis defense." In many countries, to finish a graduate degree, you have to write a thesis .

A thesis is a large paper, or multi-chapter work, based on a topic relating to your field of study.

Once you hand in your thesis, you will be assigned a date to defend your work. Your thesis defense meeting usually consists of you and a committee of two or more professors working in your program. It may also include other people, like professionals from other colleges or those who are working in your field.

During your thesis defense, you will be asked questions about your work. The main purpose of your thesis defense is for the committee to make sure that you actually understand your field and focus area.

The questions are usually open-ended and require the student to think critically about their work. By the time of your thesis defense, your paper has already been evaluated. The questions asked are not designed so that you actually have to aggressively "defend" your work; often, your thesis defense is more of a formality required so that you can get your degree.

• Check with your department about requirements and timing.
• Re-read your thesis.
• Anticipate questions and prepare for them.
• Create a back-up plan to deal with technology hiccups.
• Plan de-stressing activities both before, and after, your defense.

How long your oral thesis defense is depends largely on the institution and requirements of your degree. It is best to consult your department or institution about this. In general, a thesis defense may take only 20 minutes, but it may also take two hours or more. The length also depends on how much time is allocated to the presentation and questioning part.

Tip: Check with your department or institution as soon as possible to determine the approved length for a thesis defense.

First of all, be aware that a thesis defense varies from country to country. This is just a general overview, but a thesis defense can take many different formats. Some are closed, others are public defenses. Some take place with two committee members, some with more examiners.

The same goes for the length of your thesis defense, as mentioned above. The most important first step for you is to clarify with your department what the structure of your thesis defense will look like. In general, your thesis defense will include:

• your presentation of around 20-30 minutes
• questions from the committee
• questions from the audience (if the defense is public and the department allows it)

You might have to give a presentation, often with Powerpoint, Google slides, or Keynote slides. Make sure to prepare an appropriate amount of slides. A general rule is to use about 10 slides for a 20-minute presentation.

But that also depends on your specific topic and the way you present. The good news is that there will be plenty of time ahead of your thesis defense to prepare your slides and practice your presentation alone and in front of friends or family.

Tip: Practice delivering your thesis presentation in front of family, friends, or colleagues.

You can prepare your slides by using information from your thesis' first chapter (the overview of your thesis) as a framework or outline. Substantive information in your thesis should correspond with your slides.

Make sure your slides are of good quality— both in terms of the integrity of the information and the appearance. If you need more help with how to prepare your presentation slides, both the ASQ Higher Education Brief and James Hayton have good guidelines on the topic.

The committee will ask questions about your work after you finish your presentation. The questions will most likely be about the core content of your thesis, such as what you learned from the study you conducted. They may also ask you to summarize certain findings and to discuss how your work will contribute to the existing body of knowledge.

Tip: Read your entire thesis in preparation of the questions, so you have a refreshed perspective on your work.

While you are preparing, you can create a list of possible questions and try to answer them. You can foresee many of the questions you will get by simply spending some time rereading your thesis.

Here are a few tips on how to prepare for your thesis defense:

You can absolutely prepare for most of the questions you will be asked. Read through your thesis and while you're reading it, create a list of possible questions. In addition, since you will know who will be on the committee, look at the academic expertise of the committee members. In what areas would they most likely be focused?

If possible, sit at other thesis defenses with these committee members to get a feel for how they ask and what they ask. As a graduate student, you should generally be adept at anticipating test questions, so use this advantage to gather as much information as possible before your thesis defense meeting.

Your thesis defense is a formal event, often the entire department or university is invited to participate. It signals a critical rite of passage for graduate students and faculty who have supported them throughout a long and challenging process.

While most universities don't have specific rules on how to dress for that event, do regard it with dignity and respect. This one might be a no-brainer, but know that you should dress as if you were on a job interview or delivering a paper at a conference.

It might help you deal with your stress before your thesis defense to entrust someone with the smaller but important responsibilities of your defense well ahead of schedule. This trusted person could be responsible for:

• preparing the room of the day of defense
• setting up equipment for the presentation
• preparing and distributing handouts

Technology is unpredictable. Life is too. There are no guarantees that your Powerpoint presentation will work at all or look the way it is supposed to on the big screen. We've all been there. Make sure to have a plan B for these situations. Handouts can help when technology fails, and an additional clean shirt can save the day if you have a spill.

One of the scariest aspects of the defense is the possibility of being asked a question you can't answer. While you can prepare for some questions, you can never know exactly what the committee will ask.

There will always be gaps in your knowledge. But your thesis defense is not about being perfect and knowing everything, it's about how you deal with challenging situations. You are not expected to know everything.

James Hayton writes on his blog that examiners will sometimes even ask questions they don't know the answer to, out of curiosity, or because they want to see how you think. While it is ok sometimes to just say "I don't know", he advises to try something like "I don't know, but I would think [...] because of x and y, but you would need to do [...] in order to find out.” This shows that you have the ability to think as an academic.

You will be nervous. But your examiners will expect you to be nervous. Being well prepared can help minimize your stress, but do know that your examiners have seen this many times before and are willing to help, by repeating questions, for example. Dora Farkas at finishyourthesis.com notes that it’s a myth that thesis committees are out to get you.

Two common symptoms of being nervous are talking really fast and nervous laughs. Try to slow yourself down and take a deep breath. Remember what feels like hours to you are just a few seconds in real life.

• Try meditational breathing right before your defense.
• Get plenty of exercise and sleep in the weeks prior to your defense.
• Have your clothes or other items you need ready to go the night before.
• During your defense, allow yourself to process each question before answering.
• Go to dinner with friends and family, or to a fun activity like mini-golf, after your defense.

Allow yourself to process each question, respond to it, and stop talking once you have responded. While a smile can often help dissolve a difficult situation, remember that nervous laughs can be irritating for your audience.

We all make mistakes and your thesis defense will not be perfect. However, careful preparation, mindfulness, and confidence can help you feel less stressful both before, and during, your defense.

Finally, consider planning something fun that you can look forward to after your defense.

It is completely normal to be nervous. Being well prepared can help minimize your stress, but do know that your examiners have seen this many times before and are willing to help, by repeating questions for example if needed. Slow yourself down, and take a deep breath.

Your thesis defense is not about being perfect and knowing everything, it's about how you deal with challenging situations. James Hayton writes on his blog that it is ok sometimes to just say "I don't know", but he advises to try something like "I don't know, but I would think [...] because of x and y, you would need to do [...] in order to find out".

Your Powerpoint presentation can get stuck or not look the way it is supposed to do on the big screen. It can happen and your supervisors know it. In general, handouts can always save the day when technology fails.

• Dress for success.
• Ask for help setting up.
• Have a backup plan (in case technology fails you).
• Deal with your nerves.

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Theses & Dissertations

How Do I Find a Thesis or Dissertation?

Northeastern master’s theses and doctoral dissertations:.

Most Northeastern theses and dissertations published in 2008 or later are available online through the library’s Digital Repository Service. In addition to finding them in in Scholar OneSearch, y ou can also search the DRS directly which allows you to easily filter your search to a college, department, advisor, and more.

Prior to 2008, print copies are located in the Archives and Special Collections .

Theses and dissertations published at other universities

• Proquest Theses and Dissertations Global includes theses and dissertations from all major United States institutions of higher education and some international ones as well.
• Theses and dissertations may also be found in these research databases .

What Is an ETD program?

ETD stands for Electronic Theses and Dissertations. ETD programs replace the traditional practice of depositing print copies of theses and dissertations in the library. Northeastern University requires that you deposit your doctoral dissertation or master’s thesis electronically via ProQuest’s Dissertation Publishing service.

As part of this service, ProQuest will deliver an electronic copy of your dissertation or thesis to the library. The library will deposit this copy into its Digital Repository Service (DRS) . The DRS provides free online access to users worldwide, so your research will be widely accessible. You will hold the copyright to your work just as you would if it were made available in print. The electronic format allows you to include supplemental materials such as video, data sets, and presentation slides.

This program collects all of Northeastern’s dissertations and theses in an online archive and provides an excellent overview of the important research being conducted at the university. More information about the university’s ETD program is available in the university’s ETD Proquest agreement .

More FAQs about theses and dissertations are available in the University Library FAQ.

How Do I Submit My NU Thesis or Dissertation?

Congratulations, you’ve finally finished!

Each college at Northeastern University maintains its own individual requirements for the preparation and submission of theses and dissertations. Before submitting, students should contact their department or graduate school for those requirements.

Each college also has a unique link to submit theses and dissertations via ProQuest. Once you are ready to submit your thesis or dissertation, please choose the correct “ProQuest submission” link for your school or college:

• ProQuest submission
• Thesis guidelines

What Is an Embargo?

An embargo prevents readers from accessing the full text of a work for a designated period of time. Authors may choose to use an embargo to protect sensitive information, or because they have applied for a patent based on their work.

At Northeastern University, the maximum embargo permitted for a thesis or dissertation is two years. You may find that other institutions have embargoes of different lengths, or other restrictions. Embargos may be renewed with permission from your program administrator.

Generally, the citation and abstract are still available to readers during the embargo period.

How Does Copyright Apply to Theses & Dissertations?

At Northeastern University, copyright for your thesis or dissertation copyright belongs to you. Although it is not necessary to include a copyright statement, we recommend that you do so.

You may also choose to register your thesis or dissertation with the U.S. Copyright Office. This is not necessary as you already have copyright over your own dissertation, but registering it can protect you in legal situations where you may wish to collect statutory damages.  You can register your copyright during the ProQuest submission process for a fee of $75, or you may file yourself directly with the U.S. Copyright office (starting fee is $45 for single author).

Publishing your thesis or dissertation online through Northeastern’s DRS does not void or cancel your copyright. It allows your work to reach a wider audience and others must still ask your permission before reproducing or otherwise using your work beyond fair use .

Read more about copyright and theses/dissertations:

• “ Copyright and Publishing Your Dissertation ” by Rachael Samberg, University of California Berkeley Library
• “ Copyright Law & Graduate Research: New Media, New Rights, and Your New Dissertation ” by Kenneth D. Crews for ProQuest (PDF)
• “ So You Want People to Read Your Thesis? ” by Danny Kingsley, Australian Open Access Support Group

For help with specific questions related to copyright, please contact the Library’s Digital Production Services department .

How Do I Update My Thesis or Dissertation?

Updates to your thesis or dissertation must be made in two places: the Digital Repository Service (DRS) and ProQuest’s Dissertation Publishing . Most changes to a thesis or dissertation in the DRS require approval from your program administrator, for example:

• requests for replacing your paper with an updated or corrected copy
• applying a new embargo
• requesting an embargo extension.

To make the change, first get permission from your program, then contact DRS staff to implement the approved change. Changes to the information about your paper, like an update to your name or correcting a typo in the abstract, do not require program approval.

For help with theses and dissertations stored in ProQuest, contact ProQuest support: [email protected]

How Do I Get a Print Copy of My Thesis or Dissertation?

Although not required by the university, you may want one or more bound copies of your thesis or dissertation. You can order bound copies from ProQuest during the submission process. Locally, we recommend HF Group (formerly Acme Binding) in Charlestown. Many local photocopying businesses also provide this service with various types of binding.

Ask a Librarian

Launch a 24/7 Chat to ask questions and get information from your office, home, or dorm room.

Librarians from Northeastern and other libraries are standing by now to help you.

• Chat with a librarian 24/7.
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Home / Guides / Citation Guides / APA Format / How to Cite a Thesis or Dissertation in APA

How to Cite a Thesis or Dissertation in APA

In this citation guide, you will learn how to reference and cite an undergraduate thesis, master’s thesis, or doctoral dissertation. This guide will also review the differences between a thesis or dissertation that is published and one that has remained unpublished. The guidelines below come from the 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2020a), pages 333 and 334. Please note that the association is not affiliated with this guide.

Alternatively, you can visit EasyBib.com for helpful citation tools to cite your thesis or dissertation .

Guide Overview

Citing an unpublished thesis or dissertation, citing a published dissertation or thesis from a database, citing a thesis or dissertation published online but not from a database, citing a thesis or dissertation: reference overview, what you need.

Since unpublished theses can usually only be sourced in print form from a university library, the correct citation structure includes the university name where the publisher element usually goes.

Author’s last name, F. M. (Year published). Title in sentence case [Unpublished degree type thesis or dissertation]. Name of institution.

Ames, J. H., & Doughty, L. H. (1911). The proposed plans for the Iowa State College athletic field including the design of a reinforced concrete grandstand and wall [Unpublished bachelor’s thesis]. Iowa State University.

In-text citation example:

• Parenthetical :  (Ames & Doughty, 1911)
• Narrative :  Ames & Doughty (1911)

If a thesis or dissertation has been published and is found on a database, then follow the structure below. It’s similar to the format for an unpublished dissertation/thesis, but with a few differences:

• The institution is presented in brackets after the title
• The archive or database name is included

Author’s last name, F. M. (Year published). Title in sentence case (Publication or Document No.) [Degree type thesis or dissertation, Name of institution]. Database name.

Examples 1:

Knight, K. A. (2011). Media epidemics: Viral structures in literature and new media (Accession No. 2013420395) [Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Santa Barbara]. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.

Trotman, J.B. (2018). New insights into the biochemistry and cell biology of RNA recapping (Document No. osu1523896565730483) [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses & Dissertations Center.

In the example given above, the dissertation is presented with a Document Number (Document No.). Sometimes called a database number or publication number, this is the identifier that is used by the database’s indexing system. If the database you are using provides you with such a number, then include it directly after the work’s title in parentheses.

If you are interested in learning more about how to handle works that were accessed via academic research databases, see Section 9.3 of the Publication Manual.

In-text citation examples :

• Parenthetical citation : (Trotman, 2018)
• Narrative citation : Trotman (2018)

Author’s last name, F. M. (Year Published). Title in sentence case [Degree type thesis or dissertation, Name of institution]. Name of archive or collection. URL

Kim, O. (2019). Soviet tableau: cinema and history under late socialism [Doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh]. Institutional Repository at the University of Pittsburgh. https://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/37669/7/Olga%20Kim%20Final%20ETD.pdf

Stiles, T. W. (2001). Doing science: Teachers’ authentic experiences at the Lone Star Dinosaur Field Institute [Master’s thesis, Texas A&M University]. OAKTrust. https://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2001-THESIS-S745

It is important to note that not every thesis or dissertation published online will be associated with a specific archive or collection. If the work is published on a private website, provide only the URL as the source element.

In-text citation examples:

• Parenthetical citation : (Kim, 2019)
• Narrative citation : Kim (2019)
• Parenthetical citation : (Stiles, 2001)
• Narrative citation : Stiles (2001)

We hope that the information provided here will serve as an effective guide for your research. If you’re looking for even more citation info, visit EasyBib.com for a comprehensive collection of educational materials covering multiple source types.

If you’re citing a variety of different sources, consider taking the EasyBib citation generator for a spin. It can help you cite easily and offers citation forms for several different kinds of sources.

To start things off, let’s take a look at the different types of literature that are classified under Chapter 10.6 of the Publication Manual :

• Undergraduate thesis
• Master’s thesis
• Doctoral dissertation

You will need to know which type you are citing. You’ll also need to know if it is published or unpublished .

When you decide to cite a dissertation or thesis, you’ll need to look for the following information to use in your citation:

• Author’s last name, and first and middle initials
• Year published
• Title of thesis or dissertation
• If it is unpublished
• Publication or document number (if applicable; for published work)
• Degree type (bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral)
• Thesis or dissertation
• Name of institution awarding degree
• DOI (https://doi.org/xxxxx) or URL (if applicable)

Since theses and dissertations are directly linked to educational degrees, it is necessary to list the name of the associated institution; i.e., the college, university, or school that is awarding the associated degree.

To get an idea of the proper form, take a look at the examples below. There are three outlined scenarios:

• Unpublished thesis or dissertation
• Published thesis or dissertation from a database
• Thesis or dissertation published online but not from a database

American Psychological Association. (2020a). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

American Psychological Association. (2020b). Style-Grammar-Guidelines. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/basic-principles/parenthetical-versus-narrative

Published August 10, 2012. Updated March 24, 2020.

Written and edited by Michele Kirschenbaum and Elise Barbeau. Michele Kirschenbaum is a school library media specialist and the in-house librarian at EasyBib.com. Elise Barbeau is the Citation Specialist at Chegg. She has worked in digital marketing, libraries, and publishing.

APA Formatting Guide

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• Reference Page
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To cite a published thesis in APA style, it is important that you know some basic information such as the author, publication year, title of the thesis, institute name, archive name, and URL (uniform resource locator). The templates for an in-text citation and reference list entry of a thesis, along with examples, are given below:

In-text citation template and example:

Use the author surname and the publication year in the in-text citation.

Author Surname (Publication Year)

Cartmel (2007)

Parenthetical:

(Author Surname, Publication Year)

(Cartmel, 2007)

Reference list entry template and example:

The title of the thesis is set in sentence case and italicized. Enclose the thesis and the institute awarding the degree inside brackets following the publication year. Then add the name of the database followed by the URL.

Author Surname, F. M. (Publication Year). Title of the thesis [Master’s thesis, Institute Name]. Name of the Database. URL

Cartmel, J. (2007). Outside school hours care and schools [Master’s thesis, Queensland University of Technology]. EPrints. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/17810/1/Jennifer_Cartmel_Thesis.pdf

To cite an unpublished dissertation in APA style, it is important that you know some basic information such as the author, year, title of the dissertation, and institute name. The templates for in-text citation and reference list entry of an online thesis, along with examples, are given below:

Author Surname (Year)

Averill (2009)

(Author Surname, Year)

(Averill, 2009)

The title of the dissertation is set in sentence case and italicized. Enclose “Unpublished doctoral dissertation” inside brackets following the year. Then add the name of the institution awarding the degree.

Author Surname, F. M. (Publication Year). Title of the dissertation [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Name of the Institute.

Averill, R. (2009). Teacher–student relationships in diverse New Zealand year 10 mathematics classrooms: Teacher care [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Victoria University of Wellington.

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• Acknowledgements for PhD Thesis and Dissertations – Explained
• Doing a PhD

The Purpose of Acknowledgements

The acknowledgement section of a thesis or dissertation is where you recognise and thank those who supported you during your PhD. This can be but is not limited to individuals, institutions or organisations.

Although your acknowledgements will not be used to evaluate your work, it is still an important section of your thesis. This is because it can have a positive (or negative for that matter) influence the perception of your reader before they even reach the main body of your work.

Who Should I Acknowledge?

Acknowledgements for a PhD thesis will typically fall into one of two categories – professional or personal.

Within these categories, who you thank will ultimately be your decision. However, it’s imperative that you pay special attention to the ‘professional’ group. This is because not thanking someone who has played an important role in your studies, whether it be intentional or accidental, will more often than not be seen as a dismissal of their efforts. Not only would this be unfair if they genuinely helped you, but from a certain political aspect, it could also jeopardise any opportunities for future collaborations .

Professional Acknowledgements

This may include, but is not limited to:

• Funding bodies/sponsorship providers
• Supervisors
• Research group and lab assistants
• Research participants
• Proofreaders

Personal Acknowledgements

• Key family members and friends
• Individuals who inspired you or directly influenced your academic journey
• Anyone else who has provided personal support that you would like to mention

It should be noted that certain universities have policies which state only those who have directly supported your work, such as supervisors and professors, should be included in your acknowledgements. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you read your university guidelines before writing this section of your thesis.

How to Write Acknowledgements for PhD Thesis

When producing this section, your writing style can be more informal compared to the rest of your thesis. This includes writing in first person and using more emotive language. Although in most cases you will have complete freedom in how you write this section of your thesis, it is still highly advisable to keep it professional. As mentioned earlier, this is largely because it will be one of the first things your assessors will read, and so it will help set the tone for the rest of your work.

In terms of its structure, acknowledgements are expected to be ordered in a manner that first recognises the most formal support before moving onto the less formal support. In most cases, this follows the same order that we have outlined in the ‘Who Should I Thank’ section.

When thanking professionals, always write out their full name and provide their title. This is because although you may be on a first-name basis with them, those who read your thesis will not. By providing full names and titles, not only do you help ensure clarity, but it could also indirectly contribute to the credibility of your thesis should the individual you’re thanking be well known within your field.

If you intend to include a list of people from one institution or organisation, it is best to list their names in alphabetical order. The exception to this is when a particular individual has been of significant assistance; here, it would be advisable to list them.

How Long Should My Acknowledgements Be?

Acknowledgements vary considerably in length. Some are a single paragraph whilst some continue for up to three pages. The length of your acknowledgement page will mostly depend on the number of individuals you want to recognise.

As a general rule, try to keep your acknowledgements section to a single page. Although there are no word limits, creating a lengthy acknowledgements section dilutes the gratitude you’re trying to express, especially to those who have supported you the most.

Where Should My Acknowledgements Go?

In the vast majority of cases, your acknowledgements should appear directly after your abstract and before your table of contents.

However, we highly advise you to check your university guidelines as a few universities set out their own specific order which they will expect you to follow.

Phrases to Help You Get Started

We appreciate how difficult it can be to truly show how grateful you are to those who have supported you over the years, especially in words.

To help you get started, we’ve provided you with a few examples of sentences that you can complete or draw ideas from.

• I am deeply grateful to XXX…
• I would like to express my sincere gratitude to XXX…
• I would like to offer my special thanks to XXX…
• I would like to extend my sincere thanks to XXX…
• …for their assistance at every stage of the research project.
• …for their insightful comments and suggestions.
• …for their contribution to XXX.
• …for their unwavering support and belief in me.

Thesis Acknowledgement Examples

Below are three PhD thesis acknowledgment samples from which you can draw inspiration. It should be noted that the following have been extracted from theses which are freely available in the public domain. Irrespective of this, references to any individual, department or university have been removed for the sake of privacy.

First and foremost I am extremely grateful to my supervisors, Prof. XXX and Dr. XXX for their invaluable advice, continuous support, and patience during my PhD study. Their immense knowledge and plentiful experience have encouraged me in all the time of my academic research and daily life. I would also like to thank Dr. XXX and Dr. XXX for their technical support on my study. I would like to thank all the members in the XXX. It is their kind help and support that have made my study and life in the UK a wonderful time. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to my parents, my wife and my children. Without their tremendous understanding and encouragement in the past few years, it would be impossible for me to complete my study.

I would like to thank my supervisors Dr. XXX and Dr. XXX for all their help and advice with this PhD. I would also like to thank my sisters, whom without this would have not been possible. I also appreciate all the support I received from the rest of my family. Lastly, I would like to thank the XXX for the studentship that allowed me to conduct this thesis.

I would like to thank my esteemed supervisor – Dr. XXX for his invaluable supervision, support and tutelage during the course of my PhD degree. My gratitude extends to the Faculty of XXX for the funding opportunity to undertake my studies at the Department of XXX, University of XXX. Additionally, I would like to express gratitude to Dr. XXX for her treasured support which was really influential in shaping my experiment methods and critiquing my results. I also thank Dr. XXX, Dr. XXX, Dr. XXX for their mentorship. I would like to thank my friends, lab mates, colleagues and research team – XXX, XXX, XXX, XXX for a cherished time spent together in the lab, and in social settings. My appreciation also goes out to my family and friends for their encouragement and support all through my studies.

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Thesis & dissertation.

  Understanding Deadlines and Requirements

The final requirement in earning a graduate degree is the completion and defense of the master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation. Understanding the steps and associated deadlines in the thesis/dissertation submission and degree conferral process is necessary to establish a successful plan and realistic timeframe.

2024 Thesis/Dissertation Submission to the Graduate School Deadlines:

• For May 26, 2024 conferral, deadline is May 1.
• For August 31, 2024 conferral, deadline is August 1.
• December 31, 2024 conferral, deadline is December 1.

See our  Planning Timeline  for more detailed information.

  Writing Your Thesis/Dissertation

The Graduate School offers several writing resources to help you get started, meet your goals, and complete your thesis/dissertation on time. 

Before You Begin:

• Guide to Writing Your Thesis/Dissertation
• Fields Permitting the Use of Papers Option
• Required Sections, Guidelines, and Suggestions
• Formatting Requirements
• Fair Use, Copyright, Patent, and Publishing Options

Resources for Writing:

• Thesis & Dissertation Templates
• Writing from A to B

  Scheduling and Taking Your Final Exam

Once you have submitted your draft thesis/dissertation to your committee you are ready to defend. This involves scheduling and taking your final exam (“B” exam), an oral exam/dissertation defense for Ph.D. candidates, or (“M” exam), an oral exam/thesis defense for Master’s candidates.

• About Exams
• Defending Your Thesis or Dissertation
• Taking Exams

 Submitting Your Thesis/Dissertation

Policy requires the thesis/dissertation be submitted within 60 days of the final exam. The Graduate School uses a service called ProQuest to administer the electronic thesis/dissertation (ETD) submission and committee approval process. Once you have made any necessary revisions and the thesis/dissertation is final, you are ready to begin the approval and submission process.

Before initiating the submission process, students are required to complete an ORCID iD and complete the Survey of Earned Doctorates.

• Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID iD)
• Survey of Earned Doctorates 
• Thesis & Dissertation Submission Process
• Submission Fees
• Graduation Requirements 

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Social sciences menu, social sciences.

PhD Degree Requirements

Phd overview.

PhD students receive training in qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, sociological theory, and major substantive fields within sociology such as gender, sexuality, environment, race and ethnicity, culture, social networks, labor, immigration, and political economy. The department places a strong emphasis on research, and many students will find opportunities to participate in projects conducted by faculty members.

MA or MS and PhD in Sociology

Students are required to complete 55 credit hours of graduate-level work for the master’s degree, and an additional 20 credits, plus 18 dissertation credits, for the PhD. Students who have earned a master’s degree from another program must still complete the master’s paper requirement from the department as one of the steps toward earning the PhD. 

Students having completed graduate-level work in sociology prior to admission to the department may transfer credits to fulfill department requirements if a formal request is submitted to and approved by the Curriculum Committee. Most graduate courses are five (5) credit hours. All required courses must be taken on a graded basis. Students who are Graduate Employees (almost all students their first few years) usually take two or three (2-3)courses per term. The minimum number of credits required for students to enroll in is nine (9) if they have a contract, and three (3) if they do not.

Required Courses

Sociology 607 (Introduction to Graduate Sociology) All incoming students must take this seminar for three (3) credits. The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the department and the university community and should be taken their first term.

• Sociology 512 and 513 (Sociological Research Methods): These courses cover quantitative methods, including hypothesis testing, confidence intervals, multiple regression, regression methods with dichotomous and limited dependent variables, and an overview of other advanced quantitative methods. 
• Sociology 612 (Research Design): This course provides hands-on coverage of research design issues, including problem/question formulation, literature review, hypothesis construction, sampling decisions, choice of method for data collection, and strategies for data analysis. The final assignment is a comprehensive proposal for research suitable for the master’s paper requirement. To assist their progress toward the proposal, students work through exercises resulting in draft components of the proposal. Enrollment is normally restricted to sociology graduate students. 
• Two (2) advanced methods courses (Sociology 613), one (1) of which can be taken post-master’s. Advanced methods classes taken must include two (2) separate methods, as determined by the judgment of the student’s advisor.
• One (1) advanced theory course (Sociology 615): These courses focus on specialized traditions of social theory or the works of a major theorist. A second advanced theory course can be substituted for one of the substantive graduate seminars (see G below), as long as the content differs substantially from the first 615 course, as determined by the student’s advisor. The second course may be taken post-master’s. 
• Sociology 617 and Sociology 618 (Sociological Theory I and II): These courses cover major 19th, 20th, and 21st century social theorists, especially Marx, Weber, and Durkheim, and major themes in contemporary sociological theory.

Substantive Seminars

Students must take four (4) substantive graduate seminars or three (3) substantive seminars and a second advanced theory course. In either case, at least two (2)substantive seminars must be taken pre-master’s. 

The substantive seminars are: 

• Sociology 616 (Environment and Resources)
• Sociology 644 (Race and Ethnicity)
• Sociology 646 (Work and Organizations)
• Sociology 656 (Issues in the Sociology of Gender)
• Sociology 664 (Political and Economic Sociology)

Any of the above seminars may be taken more than once, so long as the class content differs substantially each time. Both syllabi must be submitted to the Curriculum Committee to confirm the difference.

Master’s Paper and Electives

To meet the master’s requirement, students take two (2) classes (10 credits) of electives in sociology at the 500- or 600-level. Only one (1) independent study course (SOC 601 - Research or SOC 605 - Reading), taken for a grade, can  be used to meet elective requirements.

Students register for five (5) credits of SOC 608 - Master’s Paper in the term they complete their master’s paper.

Master’s Paper

• All students must complete a master’s paper. Students should be able to complete the course requirements for a master’s degree and the master’s paper requirement in their first six (6) terms of enrollment. Students can be granted an extension to a seventh term without consequence if they make a formal request in writing before the end of their sixth term providing a brief explanation of the reason the extension is required, and so long as this request is approved by both committee members and the director of graduate studies. Students who have not completed the requirements within the first six (6) terms will not be in good standing and will not be assured of a GE position until they complete the requirements (they may receive one if a position is available). Students who do not complete the requirements by the end of nine (9) quarters of enrollment will need to appeal for an extension. This extension will only be granted if both committee members, the director of graduate studies, and the department head agree that it is warranted. 
• The paper is to report original empirical research with an appropriate theoretical context. The paper should be of a style, length, and content appropriate for submission to a peer-reviewed journal in the social sciences. The standard of assessment is whether the paper is worthy of submission to the selected journal. 
• The student may base the paper on research conducted for an academic degree at another institution or in another program at the University of Oregon. With the approval of the committee, the student may also submit for this requirement an article already published or accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed social science journal. A student who has completed an empirically based master’s thesis that is sociological in content in another program may revise it so that it fits with the department’s expectations and format and submit it for the master’s paper requirement. 
• For the master’s paper, the student will need to select a committee of two faculty members, one of whom is the chair. The thesis committee does not require an outside member or an oral defense. The Master’s Paper requirement is met when both committee members approve the paper.

Comprehensive Examination 

The Comprehensive Examination (c-exam) will determine the degree to which a student has gained a mastery over the substantive knowledge, theory and methodology of one area of sociological inquiry distinct from the area to which the master’s paper contributes as determined by the c-exam committee. 

• The area of the examination is selected by the student in consultation with a special committee consisting of at least three (3) faculty members, two (2) of whom must be sociology faculty; the chair of the committee must also be a sociology faculty member. The committee will be responsible for preparing and evaluating the examination. The examination is a three-day (3-day) written examination of the student’s mastery of a reading list approved by the committee. Although the student may suggest a list of questions for the examination, the committee decides on the questions. The committee poses the questions to the student at the start of the exam, and the student has three (3) days to submit their answers.
• In defining the areas of examination, the committee has the responsibility of guarding against both narrow specialization and unrealistically broad aspirations on the part of the student. The current list of sections within the American Sociological Association should serve as models for balancing breadth and depth.
• Students who fail to pass an examination on the first attempt will be permitted to take the examination a second time. Students failing an examination twice will be terminated from the program. 
• To remain in good standing, a requirement for assurance of departmental funding, students must complete the c-exam by the end of their ninth term of enrollment (excluding summers) in the department based on the regular academic calendar.
• Students should negotiate in advance with the c-exam committee for when they can commit to completing the evaluation. The committee should be given at least three (3) weeks to complete its evaluation.
• Students are advanced to candidacy after completing coursework and passing the c-exam. Students will be promoted to GE 3 the term after advancement.  

Doctoral Dissertation 

Once the c-exam and coursework are complete, students are advanced to candidacy and begin work on their dissertation proposal.

• The doctoral dissertation committee will be composed of at least three (3) sociology faculty members and an additional outside member of the UO graduate faculty not affiliated with the Department of Sociology who serves as a representative of the Dean of the Graduate School. This committee should be proposed to the Dean of the Graduate School by the fall of the student’s fifth year of enrollment and no later than six (6) months before the date of completion of the Ph.D. degree.
• The dissertation committee will be formed at the student’s initiative after passing the Comprehensive Examination (c-exam). All PhD candidates must prepare a dissertation proposal and formally defend it before their committee no later than the fall of their fifth year of enrollment, or they will not be in good academic standing, potentially making them ineligible for departmental funding. Students are encouraged to defend before the end of their fourth year in the program.
• The student should refer to the Style Manual for Theses and Dissertations published by the graduate school. This manual includes regulations for the dissertation and a checklist of timing for completion of certain administrative procedures.
• Students are required to enroll in at least three (3) credits of SOC 603 both the term before they defend AND the term they defend.

Apply to Our Graduate Program

Ready to apply? Start your application on Slate, the centralized application portal for graduate admissions at the University of Oregon.

Graduate Program Director

Kari Marie Norgaard Email: [email protected] Phone number: 541-346-8615 Office hours: By appointment

Graduate Coordinators

Sharon Kaplan Email: [email protected]

Rachel Claric Email: [email protected]

2024 Ph.D. Hooding Ceremonies: Photos and Videos

On May 11, the Graduate School held two Ph.D. Hooding Ceremonies at Duke Chapel to celebrate its 2023-2024 doctoral graduates. In total, 285 Ph.D. graduates participated in the ceremonies, with over 1,000 guests, staff, and faculty in attendance.

During the morning hooding ceremony for Ph.D. graduates in the biomedical sciences, physical sciences, and engineering, The Graduate School also honored Jill Tiefenthaler (Ph.D.'91 Economics), the 2024  recipient of the school's Distinguished Alumni Award .

Peruse this online photo gallery for individual hooding photos and candid shots from before, during, and after each ceremony. 

If you wish or need to include a photo credit, please use “Photo Credit: HuthPhoto” and tag @HuthPhoto on social media whenever possible. You are welcome to also tag The Graduate School at @dukegradschool if posting on Twitter or Instagram. 

Note: All who attended the ceremonies should have received an email with a link to the online photo gallery and other details. 

EVENT RECORDINGS

Ph.d. ceremony for humanities and social sciences, ph.d. ceremony for biological and biomedical sciences, physical sciences, and engineering, 2023-2024 dissertations.

A total of 414 doctoral degrees were awarded in the 2023-2024 academic year, issued in either September, December, or May.

View the full list of Ph.D. dissertations, departments, and advisors for 2023–2024 graduates. 

Congratulations, again, to all our graduates!

Related News

9 Graduate Students Receive Forever Duke Awards

Ph.D. Fellowship Snapshots 2023-2024

Dean's Research Award for Master's Students 2023–2024

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Graduate route: rapid review

The Migration Advisory Committee's report on the Graduate route, with a letter to the Home Secretary.

Graduate route: rapid review (accessible)

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Letter to the home secretary on the rapid review of the graduate route.

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In March 2024, the Home Secretary commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee to carry out a rapid review of the Graduate route.

The committee recommends that the route stays in place in its current form.

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New Population Studies Working Paper

Researchers study how households have changed over time and the effect this has on our daily lives.

Authors:  Effrosyni Adamopoulou , Jeremy Greenwood , and Nezih Guner

A brief historical overview of the household equipment revolution and the women who transformed the home in Germany and the United States.

Citation: Adamopoulou, Effrosyni, Jeremy Greenwood and Nezih Guner. 2024. “ The Household Equipment Revolution .” University of Pennsylvania Population Center Working Paper (PSC/PARC).

Department of Sociology

2024 spring award graduate recipients.

Posted by shaferm on Wednesday, May 15, 2024 in Uncategorized .

Sociology Grad Student Paper Awards

Zhe Zhang 1 st Place Paper Award: Table for One: “Does Being Single and Living Alone Protect or Hurt Health?

Rachel Underwood 2 nd Place Paper Award: “The Process and Significance of Identity Reclamation Among Sheltered Women Experiencing Homelessness”

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UCL LLM graduate, Dheemanth Vangimalla, wins an international research essay prize

22 May 2024

UCL Laws LLM graduate, Dheemanth Vangimalla, wins the top award in the 4iP Council Research Awards 2023 for a paper based on his LLM research dissertation. Dheemanth will be speaking about his research topic at a webinar organised by 4iP Council, on 30th May.

We are delighted to announce that Dheemanth Vangimalla, a recent UCL Laws graduate of the LLM in Intellectual Property Law has received the top award in the prestigious 4iP Council Research Awards for 2023 for his paper entitled ‘Plausibility and the flotilla: have the English courts drifted from the commodore’s approach to the evidential requirement for patent validity, and if so, is this divergence justified?’

The 4iP Council Research Award is an international research competition for European University students studying at Masters and PhD levels. It seeks to promote new ideas on topics pertinent to the interplay between intellectual property rights and innovation. Submissions, based on a student’s Masters or PhD research, are assessed by 4iP Council’s Research Award Jury made up of intellectual property experts from academia, government and industry. The papers are evaluated based on criteria including:

• Original thinking that broadens the debate on the chosen topic;
• High quality written expression; and
• Relevance to current IP problems and debate

and up to three prizes are awarded (winner and two runners-up).

In his winning paper, Dheemanth considered the origins of ‘plausibility’ and explored the evidential requirement that the term represents. His research revealed that there is divergence between the EPO and English courts in the evidential standard applied by the two decision-making bodies when assessing patent validity. He argues that the English courts adopting a higher standard lacks cogent justification as the standard neither reflects a balance between the competing objectives of the patent system nor limits a plausibility assessment to its targeted mischief. 

This paper was based on Dheemanth’s dissertation for his LLM in Intellectual Property Law, which was also recently awarded the IBIL Prize for Top Performance in an IP-related Research Essay on the LLM . During his LLM, Dheemanth was supervised by our IBIL scholarship PhD researcher, Joshua Bradley .

As part of the prize, the winning essay has been published on 4iP Council’s website , and Dheemanth will be speaking at a webinar about plausibility - orgainised by 4iP - along with IBIL's Professor Jacob, on 30 May. More details of the event can be found here . 

Having completed his LLM in the summer of 2023, Dheemanth has been working as a Research Assistant at the UCL Institute of Brand and Innovation Law  (IBIL), while also completing his bar exams. He will join Three New Square Chambers in the autumn as a pupil barrister.

• Read Dheemanth’s paper here .
• Find out more about the 4iP Council Research Awards
• Register to attend:  Plausibility: from herbicides to insecticides and beyond .