The dissertation research project is the major focus of effort in the PhD program. The results of the research must be an original contribution to the scientific literature.
A. Dissertation Progress Reporting and Committee Involvement
Dissertators are expected to regularly update their dissertation committee on progress. The updates must occur every semester. More frequent and timely updates should be made if changes are needed or warranted in the research, or if additional insight from the committee members is desired. For the dissertation committee to function appropriately, the committee must be informed (and allowed input) if changes are planned. Students should also summarize notices to the committee and corresponding feedback as part of their self-assessment in the annual review process document.
B. Dissertation
The dissertation is a detailed written report of the research proposed in the oral preliminary exam and approved by the dissertation committee. The dissertation must be prepared in accordance with Graduate School regulations. Dissertations can be structured in the traditional thesis/dissertation monograph format or a manuscript format. The manuscript format requires three or more manuscripts of publishable quality that could be altered slightly for submission to refereed journals.
Traditional Monograph Option
Dissertations in this format option have chapters including an introduction, literature review, objectives, research questions and hypotheses, methods, results, discussion, and conclusion. The dissertation should describe all aspects of the research in detail. Appendices are included to provide additional details and supplemental materials (e.g., data collection instruments, research protocols, administrative procedure descriptions, etc.)
Multiple-paper Dissertation Option (Manuscript Format)
Students have the option of writing the dissertation in the form of multiple papers. The multiple-paper dissertation option has the benefit of directing the student’s effort towards the ultimate goal of publishing. Notably, the multiple-paper option is not appropriate for all students, and the choice of whether or not to use this option should not detract from the quality of the dissertation.
The multiple-paper dissertation option must be approved by the dissertation committee. As the research proceeds, the committee may decide that the multiple-paper dissertation option is not practical. Under such conditions, students may, with the approval of their committee, return to the traditional dissertation. Similarly, students who initially chose a traditional dissertation may change to the multiple-paper option with permission of their dissertation committee.
Under the multiple-paper option, the final dissertation will include introduction, objectives, research questions and hypotheses, manuscript, and discussion chapters.
- The introduction chapter(s) should describe the problem that the student proposes to study and include the theoretical framework and literature review. The literature review component of the dissertation introduction may take the form of a manuscript and be an additional manuscript chapter.
- The objectives, research questions, and hypotheses chapter should describe the study objectives, with describing specific research questions and hypotheses corresponding to each objective.
- The manuscript chapters describing the original research must be of publishable quality.
- The discussion chapter should encompass all of the research. It should include limitations of the study and future directions. Conclusions can be incorporated into the discussion chapter or included as a separate chapter.
- Details and supplemental information to provide a more complete documentation of the research should be included as appendices, when needed or desired.
As part of the dissertation defense under the multiple-paper option, the student will indicate the targeted, peer-reviewed journal for each manuscript. A successful defense requires that all committee members believe that each paper will be ready to submit to the identified journal after the suggestions made by the committee are incorporated.
C. Final PhD Oral Exam (Dissertation Defense)
The PhD defense is the final oral examination and is conducted after completing the PhD dissertation project. It is the culmination of the PhD program. The examination consists of two parts. The first part is a public seminar on the dissertation, followed by discussion or questions by the public audience. The public seminar is publicized two weeks before to allow non-committee members to attend (contact the SAS Administrative Assistant to arrange this announcement). The second part of the examination consists of only the candidate and dissertation committee and is therefore closed to outsiders. In the HSRP program, both the public and committee-specific parts are required. The PhD defense date must be scheduled at least two weeks before the Graduate School Doctoral Degree deadline to allow for revisions.
The dissertation must be in final form prior to the defense. Please consult Graduate School requirements. Only after the advisor has reviewed and provided feedback on a complete draft of the dissertation, can the dissertation defense dates be set and the student allowed to begin contacting committee members to schedule the defense. Dissertation committee members must be allowed at least two weeks in advance of the defense date for reviewing the final, completed dissertation draft. If an iterative process of review and feedback among the committee members is desired, additional time should be allotted and the defense date only tentatively scheduled, to be finalized after the advisor and all committee members have confirmed that a defense date can be scheduled. Expectations for level of participation and responsiveness in providing feedback when reviewing drafts by committee members are negotiated by the student, committee chair, and other committee members.
A formal “warrant” is needed from the Graduate School for the PhD defense. Four weeks prior to the event, the warrant request should be submitted via the Warrant Details form. Provide as much detail as possible. Upon receipt, the GPM will submit the warrant to the Graduate School for processing and approval. The signed warrant is uploaded electronically as part of completing the student’s exit steps from the Graduate School and university.
After the final oral examination and approval of the dissertation, as a final step to completing your degree, a copy of your dissertation is required to be deposited into the UW-Madison Memorial Library. Copies of the final, approved dissertation are provided to the members of the dissertation committee, either as electronic or paper versions, depending on individual preference. A traditional courtesy is to provide a bound copy of the dissertation to the Ebling Library for Health Sciences for archiving.