Final steps

You have written all five chapters, your dissertation is probably between 100-200 pages, you have put in many hours of work, thought, and sweat into this document. So what is next? First, your chair must approve it, and then it goes to your committee member. Expect changes, these are just part of the process. Once both of your committee members are happy with it, it goes to the University Research Reviewer (URR) who will read through the entire paper and probably want more changes. I strongly urge patience at this point. Again, as I have mentioned many times, each person is responsible for their small piece of this paper and will be held accountable for the quality of the final product. Rest assured that everyone wants you to be done with the best quality paper possible.

These final steps often are very stressful for students; they are often nearly at the end of a quarter and feel a great deal of pressure. Keep reminding yourself, it will happen… the end is in sight. Patience will keep you from sleepless nights.

Once the URR signs off on your paper, the research center sends it on for Form and Style review. In this review, an editor goes through your paper indicating what will need to be done to be compliant with the dissertation publishing company. The editor has 14 days for this, and in my experience, they generally take the full time. Meanwhile, you will be told that you can set the date for your defense to be after the 14 days for Form and Style review. Contact your committee members and come up two or three times that will work for everyone. Your chair will submit the necessary form to reserve the conference call line. Use this time to prepare your PowerPoint for your defense.

As soon as you get the Form and Style review back begin working on the changes. In advance of the defense call, you will want to prepare a PowerPoint for your committee. You will be given 20 minutes to talk about your project, so keep the slides to less than 25. It is better to have just an outline on the slides, you can always write out everything you want to say and read it during your presentation. Concentrate on the analyses and results with just enough from your proposal to put it into context. Check with your chair how they like it done. Send your committee the PowerPoint prior to the defense call.

On the day of the defense, have your computer on with your paper open for reference. Have any other papers available that you might need, as well as your PowerPoint. It is also a good idea to have some water available and make sure you have an environment where you won’t be distracted or disturbed. Once you call in, your committee will greet you and try to put you at ease. Your chair will leave the conference briefly to turn on the recorder; there will be announcement when it starts. Your chair will probably indicate the date and who is on the call for the recorder and then it will be your turn to go through the presentation.

A few reminders, this is not a confrontational situation. I know it is called a defense, but it is really just a chance for the committee to hear about the project one more time and celebrate with you have completed it. It is typically very collegial, with everyone trying to make it the best project possible. After your 20-minute talk, your committee will ask you questions. They are just trying to clarify any remaining issues, there may be some minor changes needed in your paper. Some very common questions that you may be asked at the end of the call: what are your plans now? Are you planning to follow up on your results in the future? Will you attend graduation?

After the defense, finish all of your Form and Style changes. Any final changes that came out of your defense should be highlighted for the URR. It is a good idea to also have a cleaned copy – with all highlighting, comments, and track changes removed. Your chair will do a double check of the paper and send it on to the URR who will confirm that the Form and Style changes were done. When the URR approves it, just the abstract is sent to the Chief Academic Officer (CAO), who double-checks it. Often minor changes will need to be made (this step tends to be very short – a couple of days). And then… you are done!

We have done an overview of the entire dissertation process over the last few weeks. Next time I will look at some alternative sources for articles. Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Send me an email with your ideas. leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu