Dissertation for Doctoral Degree Download to print

A dissertation is required of each doctoral candidate in any department offering the doctoral degree. The dissertation topic must be approved by the department and filed with the college dean no later than one semester preceding that in which the candidate expects to receive the degree. Each graduate unit has adopted a procedure for the preparation of a dissertation prospectus. This document will normally include an outline of the parameters of the projected dissertation topic with a statement of the problem to be undertaken, the procedure or methodology to be used in the research, a preliminary review of the literature substantiating the need for the study, and the principle sources of information for the dissertation. The prospectus must be in writing, but an oral presentation may also be required.

Each doctoral candidate, upon admission to candidacy, must register for Dissertation (8xx99) for a total of 30 hours. It is expected that a doctoral candidate will continuously register for Dissertation I, and thereafter Dissertation II, each semester, including summer, until all requirements for the degree have been met. The In-Progress (IP) grade is used until the student completes the dissertation at which time all IP grades in dissertation are changed to Satisfactory (S) grades. The dissertation must demonstrate that the student has acquired the ability to conduct research in a discriminating and original manner. The dissertation should make a significant enough contribution to the field in which it is written that at least one scholarly article suitable for publication in a professional journal may be derived from it or that the findings of the dissertation would be otherwise publishable.

After the dissertation, typed in legible form, is accepted by the dissertation advisor, it will be read by the student’s dissertation committee, and any recommended revisions will be communicated to the student. Upon completion of the revisions, if any, the student will be required to defend the findings before a committee of graduate faculty members, including the dissertation committee and others chosen by the department and college dean. The responsibility for conducting the examination itself will be that of an impartial moderator selected from a department other than that of the student’s major or minor. The defense of the dissertation is open to the university community. Questioning is restricted to members of the graduate faculty, and the vote of the examining committee will be conducted in private.

After the candidate has passed the oral examination, the doctoral candidates will submit their dissertation in electronic form. The dissertation will also include an abstract of no more than 350 words. Information on the process may be found on the University Libraries’ Guidelines for the Preparation of Electronic Theses and Dissertations website. Theses and dissertations must be prepared according to established guidelines. Guidelines for preparation and typing of theses and dissertations are available in the college office.

Dissertations submitted electronically are available through the OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. Individual units may still require submission of a paper copy for their archives. It is the responsibility of the doctoral student to fulfill this requirement.

All dissertations must be published according to a plan provided by ProQuest Information and Learning, Ann Arbor, Michigan, for the purposes of archiving, indexing, and dissemination. All communications and relations between faculty or students and ProQuest shall be carried out only through the Kent State University librarian. Publication of the complete dissertation or significant parts of it through other avenues is expected, but this is not to be used in lieu of the requirement stated herein.