Dissertation

Advisors have primary responsibility for approval of the dissertation, and the advisory committee members also must read, approve, and sign the manuscript. Such approval includes all academic and professional evaluations and judgments as to originality, adequacy, accuracy, significance, methodology, conclusions, and correctness of style.

What Students Should Know Before Beginning Research
Inclusion of Publications in the Dissertation
Dissertation Prospectus
Dissertation Advisory Committee
Dissertation Approval Procedures
Final Defense
Publishing and Copyrighting the Dissertation
Additional Forms Required for Degree Certification

What Students Should Know Before Beginning Research

To be awarded the Ph.D. degree, a student must conduct a piece of original research that is proposed to a committee of faculty members and described in a document that is defended before this same committee. Before students begin research, Graduate Directors and advisors should assure that students are aware of the regulations governing research that uses human or animal subject.

Research is regulated by Federal, State and local agencies. Wayne State University is committed to providing a user friendly and informed research environment for its students that is based upon the highest research standards.

Federal Regulations require that before beginning any Human Participant or Animal research, researchers must obtain approval from the appropriate university review committee, Human Investigation Committee (HIC) or Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). Students may not be able to use their research data if they fail to obtain permission from the HIC or IACUC prior to beginning their research. Other disciplinary actions may also apply to cases of noncompliance with this requirement.

The Human Investigation Committee is the Institutional Review Board for Wayne State University and its affiliated medical institutions.  The HIC has the responsibility to review all research involving human subjects that is performed by students and faculty, or others who are employees of the University.  All student research involving human subjects must be reviewed before initiation of the project.

Research on human subjects is defined as a systematic investigation, including research development, testing and evaluation designed to develop or contribute to generalized knowledge. Human subjects are defined as living individual(s) about whom an investigator conducting research obtains: (1) data through intervention or interaction with the individual; or (2) identifiable private information.

The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, in cooperation with research scientists and veterinarians, ensures that all research and teaching protocols using live vertebrate animals are designed and carried out in a humane manner that complies with all applicable laws, policies, and guidelines.  All student projects using animal subjects need prior review.

Research using animals is defined as a systematic investigation, including research development, testing and evaluation designed to develop or contribute to generalized knowledge, research training, experimentation or biologic testing for related purposes. Animal subjects are any live vertebrate animal used in or intended for research, research training, or experimentation or biologic testing or for related purposes.

For more information, visit the Office for Research Compliance.

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Inclusion of Publications in the Dissertation

Permissible instances

In such instances where doctoral students have published work in discipline-appropriate refereed journals, and when the doctoral committee approves, these published materials may be incorporated into the dissertation. For papers so included, the student must be the principal author and/or have made the major contribution to the published work.

Co-authors

In cases of co-authored material, the text of the dissertation must make clear (e.g., in the summary and conclusion) to the reader the original contribution of the author. When a co-author is someone other than the candidate and the advisor, it is recommended that permission to include the publication in the dissertation be secured from the other author(s).

Copyrighted material

Students should be advised that incorporation of materials published elsewhere requires permission of the copyright holder.

Format

Published articles must be formatted to conform in appearance to the rest of the dissertation (font, line spacing, justification). All remaining sections of the dissertation (e.g., abstract, introduction, conclusion) must conform to Graduate School structure requirements for a dissertation. If published materials are included, references to them in the other dissertation sections may not need to be as detailed as is required in dissertations which do not incorporate published materials.

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Dissertation Prospectus

After passing the final Qualifying Examination(s), the student must prepare a prospectus of the proposed dissertation research and present the dissertation proposal to his/her dissertation advisory committee.

Procedures

• The student completes the Doctoral Dissertation: Prospectus and Record of Approval form, briefly outlining the dissertation problem, scope, and methods that will be employed in the study. The student prepares the dissertation proposal and submits it with the Prospectus form to the dissertation advisory committee named on the form.
   
• The Prospectus form and proposal/prospectus are approved by all members of the committee and the Graduate Director, and are then forwarded to the Graduate School for final approval.
   
• The faculty signing the Prospectus form become the student’s official dissertation advisory committee; any change in its membership requires approval by the Graduate School.

Prospectus Meeting as Oral Examination

• If the prospectus meeting fulfills the Oral Examination requirement of the department, the Prospectus form should be used to transmit the Examination outcome to the Graduate School.
   
• At least one week prior to the meeting, the student must submit the Prospectus form, with the Dissertation Advisory Committee names, to the Graduate Director for verification of the Graduate Faculty appointments of the Committee members.
   
• During the Examination the Dissertation Advisory Committee serves as the Examining committee, and the outside member of the Committee serves as the moderator of the Examination. The moderator is responsible for chairing the Examination and ensuring that the Committee determines whether the student passes or fails the Examination. The moderator gathers the Committee’s signatures and submits the Prospectus form to the Graduate School immediately following the Examination.

Examining Committee Responsibilities

• The Examining Committee is responsible for Examining and certifying that the student has an adequate command of knowledge in the field of study, and can organize, apply, and convey that knowledge.
   
• A student may be passed in the Examination if there is not more than one negative vote. Abstentions shall be considered negative votes.
   
• If the Examining Committee determines that the student has not successfully completed the Oral Examination at its first administration, the Examining committee may recommend that the student repeat the Examination. If it recommends a second Examination, it should specify any additional work the student should complete prior to the Examination.
   
• A second Examination may not be held until at least four months have elapsed, but must be held within one calendar year following the first Examination. The second Examination shall be considered final.

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Dissertation Advisory Committee

Committee responsibilities

The advisor has primary responsibility for direction and approval of the dissertation, but the whole advisory committee should meet with the student periodically to provide feedback and guidance. All committee members must read, approve, and sign the final manuscript.

Faculty serving as advisors

PhD program faculty are responsible for offering guidance and instruction in those research areas in which they have expertise; however, faculty are responsible for deciding whether or not to serve as a dissertation director for any given student. This responsibility rests solely with the faculty, who are expected to make decisions based on reasonable academic criteria. For more information, see the full description of Graduate Faculty and Ph.D. Student Responsibilities.

Committee composition

• The Dissertation Advisory Committee consists minimally of four members. If there are co-chairs, the committee consists of five members.
   
• At least two committee members must be from the student’s home unit.

Regular Graduate Faculty Requirement

• The committee chair must hold a Regular Graduate Faculty appointment in the home unit. If there are co-chairs, at least the one from the home unit must hold a Regular Graduate Faculty appointment.
   
• At least one additional member must hold a Regular Graduate Faculty appointment.

External Member Requirement

• The committee must have an external member whose expertise is appropriate to the student’s dissertation work.
   
• The external member broadens the dissertation committee beyond the home program to represent a different perspective by virtue of his/her field, location or knowledge application.
   
• The external member attends all meetings of the Dissertation Advisory Committee, including the oral defense.

Changes in Committee

After Graduate School approval of the Committee (via     signing of the Doctoral Dissertation: Prospectus and Record of Approval     form) any change in the committee requires written approval from the Graduate School.

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Dissertation Approval Procedures

Ph.D. Completion Deadlines.  Each semester, the Graduate School establishes deadlines by which students must complete degree requirements to graduate that semester.  Students should be advised of these deadlines.

Dissertation format

• It is official policy that acceptance of the dissertation as well as certification of the degree shall not take place unless a manuscript is technically correct in style and in a form suitable for publication.
   
• Students should be referred to the Graduate School Ph.D. Student Information section of the webstie for information regarding dissertation preparation.
   
• Guidelines for formatting the dissertation and sample pages are available on the Dissertation/Thesis Format Guidelines page.
   
• The Ph.D. Office staff is available to assist advisors and students with format questions or problems.

Format check

• Students should be informed that the dissertation format and appearance must be acceptable to the Graduate School before it can be accepted or the degree certified.
   
• When the dissertation has been tentatively approved by the advisory committee, students should submit a copy of the dissertation electronically to the Graduate School for format approval, at least two weeks in advance of the Defense date. Manuscripts should be submitted as PDF files to the Electronic Thesis/Dissertation (ETD) Administrator web site of ProQuest/UMI.

Content Approval

The dissertation director and advisory committee members must certify they have read and tentatively approve the dissertation content and that it is ready for the public Defense by signing Part 1 of the Final Report form.

• Dissertation committee members must be mindful that signing Part 1 of the Defense form indicates their assessment that the dissertation is ready for the Defense. Under no circumstances should a committee member sign Part 1 of the Defense form if s/he has not read the dissertation. A pre-Defense meeting of the student and whole committee is recommended, allowing committee members to indicate their concerns regarding the dissertation and the student to make needed revisions. Consequently, no requests for major revisions of the dissertation should arise at the Defense.
   
• Any dissertation revisions stemming from the Defense must be finished by the completion deadline established for the semester.
   
• To communicate to the Graduate School that revisions to the dissertation were requested at the Defense, a box will be added to the Defense form that indicates “Changes Required.” The dissertation advisor should not sign the dissertation cover page until the student has made all required revisions. Submission of the cover page to the Graduate School will indicate that the student has made the revisions satisfactorily.

Preparation for the Defense

• The Graduate Director must also sign the Final Report form, verifying the arrangements for the Defense.
   
• The Final Report form and a publicity flyer announcing the Defense are submitted to the Graduate School by the student for final authorization of the Defense at least two weeks prior to the defense.
   
• The Graduate School will verify the appropriateness of the committee and send the Final Report form, along with the Graduate Examiner’s Report form, to the dissertation advisor.

Change in Defense

If arrangements for the Defense must be changed, the advisor should notify the Graduate School, the candidate and the committee members.

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The Final Defense

The final Defense is conducted by the candidate's advisory committee and is open to the general University community. The Defense must be publicized to the entire academic community in advance by the major department.

Policy on Presence of the PhD Dissertation Committee at the Defense

Attendance Requirements at the Defense

The Graduate School expectation is that the student and all members of the dissertation committee be physically present at the student’s Final Defense of the dissertation. At the very least, the student and the dissertation committee chair(s) must be physically present. For committee members who cannot attend in person, synchronous audio-visual access, such as Skype, is required. The Defense will be held during business hours, Eastern Standard Time. Electronic signatures on the Defense form will be accepted, but each committee member must sign the title page of the dissertation.

Graduate Examiner

The Graduate Examiner presides over the Defense proceedings and reports the results to the Graduate School. The dissertation advisor serves as the Graduate Examiner. However, the student or any committee member may request the Graduate School to appoint a Graduate Examiner outside the committee.

Three Phases of the Final Defense

1. Public lecture presentation ‐ defense, in which the candidate formally presents the methodology, research, and results of the investigation to the committee and the audience and responds to their questions.
    
2. The meeting with the Committee occurs when the public lecture portion is completed and the audience has been excused. The committee meets with the candidate and poses further questions about the research or manuscript. The Graduate Examiner presides.
    
3. The Evaluation where the candidate is excused and the committee discusses the candidate’s performance and determines whether or not he/she passed.
    

Final Defense Process:

• The Graduate Examiner presides over the discussion and enters the committee decision on the Final Report form, which all members must sign. The student must submit this signature page to the Graduate School.
   
• The Graduate Examiner completes the Graduate Examiner’s Report Form and returns it with the Final Report form to the Graduate School.
   
• The candidate must make any required corrections to the dissertation and receive final approval of the manuscript appearance from the Graduate School by the completion deadline established for the semester.

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Publishing and Copyrighting the Dissertation

Upon completion of a dissertation, the Graduate School requires that the manuscript be published by UMI Dissertation Publishing and recommends that a dissertation be copyrighted.

Dissertation Publication

The final copy of the dissertation must be submitted electronically to UMI/Proquest. The student is required to publish the dissertation. A publishing fee is required.

Dissertation Copyright

Copyright service, provided by Proquest, is available and requires payment of a copyrighting fee.

Bound copies

Students wishing to obtain bound dissertation copies must select a bindery and pay the binding charges for these.

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Additional Forms Required before Degree Certification

The candidate also must complete and submit the following on line forms before the Graduate School will certify his/her degree:

• Dissertation Title and Previous Degrees
• Ph.D. Exit Survey
• Survey of Earned Doctorates

Degree Certification

The Graduate School will verify the candidate has completed all requirements and certify the degree. For purposes of employment, a candidate who completes all requirements may request a letter from the Graduate School certifying completion of     degree requirements and the date of formal awarding of the degree.

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