Dissertation requirement

Ph.D. degree, Interdisciplinary track

• Ph.D. students must demonstrate an ability to conduct independent research by completing an original dissertation. Acceptance of the dissertation is based primarily on its scholarly merit, however, it must also have creditable literary workmanship.
• The format of the dissertation must meet the guidelines of the Office of Graduate Studies and the Thesis Office as stated in the Thesis Manual. In the same website, one finds Templates for both MS-Word and LaTeX users.
• After successful defense and approval by the student's advisory committee and the head of the student's major department, students must submit their dissertation to the Thesis Office in electronic format as a single PDF file. The PDF file must be uploaded via the Thesis Office electronic submittal process.
• Additionally, a Written Dissertation Approval Form (available online at the Graduate School website) must be completed in DocuSign by posted deadlines.
• Both the PDF file and the signed approval page are required by deadline day. There are no exceptions. Visit the Graduate & Professional School for deadlines.