The culmination of the Ph.D. program is the writing of the dissertation, which is required of all doctoral students. The dissertation must be an original contribution to knowledge and of high scholarly merit. The candidate’s research must reveal critical ability and powers of imagination and synthesis. The dis­sertation is written under the supervision of a research director and a research committee, as described in the section "Research Committee."

Although work published by the student may be incorporated into the dis­sertation, a collection of unrelated published papers, alone, is not acceptable. There must be a logical connection between all components of the dissertation, and these must be integrated in a rational and coherent fashion. It is the responsibility of the student’s research committee to determine the kind and amount of published materials which may be included in a dis­sertation.

Composition Guidelines

Dissertations must be typed with the body of the text double-spaced. Dissertations must be written in English unless you and your department/committee have decided otherwise.

For dissertations that will be bound in paper form, margins must be at least one-and-a-half inches on the left and one inch on the top, right, and bottom. Students who submit their publications in electronic form only may choose to have one-inch margins on all sides.

Page numbers must be consecutive throughout, with Arabic numerals used for the body of the work and small or lowercase Roman numerals for the front matter. Script fonts (ex. Monotype Corsica) and itali­cizing large sections of text are not allowed for the main body of your text, although italics may be used appropriately.

The paper used for any bound copies must be watermarked, 100-percent cotton bond paper of 20 or 24 lbs., measuring 8 1/2 by 11 inches. If photographs or detailed graphics are part of the work, make certain they are crisp and clear when printed. It is acceptable to use special laser or photo paper for the pages(s) in the disser­tation containing images in order to achieve the best possible quality.