At DePaul University, to facilitate registration and other
requirements, dissertation refers to the research and document required
for the completion of a PhD. All forms referenced in these
requirements can be found in the Forms Library. This page contains information you will need about dissertation requirements from the inception to the completion of your project.
1. The graduate student must have a preliminary conference with
his/her departmental faculty advisor or program director to decide on a
research topic and faculty director of the projected dissertation.
2. Once the research topic and dissertation director have been
chosen, the student must submit a dissertation proposal: a written
formal statement of the topic and plan of execution for the research.
Your advisor/director will let you know what form the proposal should
take.
3. The composition of the committee that will supervise your
dissertation should be worked out between you and your dissertation
director. The number of members needed on a dissertation committee may
vary; check with your advisor. Once the proposal has been approved, a
copy of the completed Approval of Proposal for Final Project Form must be emailed to the graduate student services administrator at CSHGraduation@depaul.edu in the College of Science and Health's Office of Advising and Student Services. Please keep a copy of the completed form and of the proposal as approved for your own records.
4. The dissertation must be produced in accord with the approved
proposal. Each member of your dissertation committee must approve and
sign the Final Requirements Report form, which also must be emailed to the graduate student services administrator at CSHGraduation@depaul.edu.
5. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations by
Kate L. Turabian, is the handbook which indicates the format,
technicalities of form, and mechanics of typing/printing required for
dissertations, theses, and research papers. The only exception we make
to Turabian's guidelines is the format for the title page. However, if
your dissertation advisor determines that your dissertation (excepting
the title page) would be more appropriately done in another format,
follow the advisor's advice.
6. There are certain other requirements you will need to follow at
various stages of your project, about which your director/advisor will
inform you, such as how to register for dissertation credit hours,
insuring candidacy continuation, taking qualifying exams, arranging a
dissertation defense (if necessary), and meeting various deadlines. Make
sure everyone on your committee is aware of what needs to be done and
when. Please consult the graduate student services administrator if you
have any questions.
Required Dissertation Material
Once the dissertation document is in its final form fully approved
and purged of all errors - and in the correct format - you must email the following documents to the associate director of graduate student services at CSHGraduation@depaul.edu by the last day of finals of the conferral term. This is a requirement for graduation.
- a PDF copy of the dissertation
- author submission form (Please note: unless you choose to embargo your dissertation, it will be widely available through internet searches.)
- approval of proposal for final project form
- abstract & keywords form
- final requirements report
The associate director of graduate student services in the Office of Advising and Student Services will arrange for the electronic archival of your dissertation with the DePaul University Libraries. All required forms can be downloaded from the Forms Library.
If your department requires a bound dissertation, please contact the department for the binding requirements and options.
Survey of Earned Doctorates
Doctoral students are expected to complete the Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED). The SED is a federal agency survey conducted by the
National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago for the
National Science Foundation and five other federal agencies (National
Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Education, National Endowment
for the Humanities, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration).
The SED gathers
information annually from approximately 48,000 new U.S. research
doctorate graduates about their educational histories, funding sources,
and post-doctoral plans. Each year the SED data are added to a larger
historical record of doctorate-degree graduates, the Doctorate Records
File (DRF). Begun in 1920, the DRF contains annual information used to
track the number of graduates in various fields; the educational paths
of scientists, engineers, and humanists; movement of graduates into the
labor market; and similar information.
The associate director of graduate student services in the Office of Advising and Student Services will email the SED link to graduating doctoral students for them to complete.