Dissertation

After passing the Dissertation Prospectus Defense Examination (Literature/English Education) or the Doctoral Readings Examination (Creative Writing), the student should begin working on the dissertation in earnest by enrolling in at least 15 hours, and up to 24 hours, of ENGL 7300 Doctoral Dissertation. 

To enroll, a student must fill out the Permission to Elect a Doctoral Dissertation Form, which can be downloaded at www.wmich.edu/grad/forms/permission.to.elect.pdf.  This form requires the signatures of the Advisor, the Chairperson, and a representative of the Graduate College.  Once a student has enrolled in ENGL 7300 for the first time, he/she must continue to take at least one hour of ENGL 7300 for each Fall and Spring semester/session continuously until graduation.

Advisors must assist those students conducting field research to make sure that their project is first approved by the Human Subjects Institutional Review Board (HSIRB).  Information on this process can be obtained going to the HSIRB website, which can be accessed at http://www.wmich.edu/research/compliance/hsirb/.

Once the dissertation is complete, the student needs to work with his/her committee to set up a dissertation defense date and to fill out the Dissertation Defense Scheduling Form, which can be downloaded at http://www.wmich.edu/grad/forms/defense.scheduling.pdf.
This form must be given to the GD for submission to the Graduate College at least THREE WEEKS prior to the dissertation defense date – this is a very strict deadline – there are no exceptions.  The student should also find out the deadline for scheduling a defense – these dates change each semester and can be obtained by consulting the Graduate College website at www.mich.edu/grad.  Finally, the student should consult with the Administrative Assistant to reserve a conference room and should be sure that all four committee members have the final draft of the dissertation at least THREE WEEKS prior to the defense date.

At the dissertation defense, the student should bring with him/her THREE COPIES of the Dissertation Submission Form to be signed by all the committee members; copies can be downloaded at http://www.wmich.edu/grad/forms/approval_forms.htm.  The forms should be typed up in advance by the student.  Once the forms are signed, they should be handed back to the student for inclusion in the submitted dissertation.

Graduate students should go to http://www.wmich.edu/grad/forms/ to download the Dissertation Checklist, which includes up-to-date information on the fees that must be paid and forms that must be obtained from the Graduate College in order submit the dissertation.  Each semester, there is a deadline for submission of dissertations – graduate students who are planning to defend should obtain the Dissertation Checklist and the deadline information in order to plan out the defense within the time limits set by the Graduate College.