St. John’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences dissertation
regulations and forms are available through the Graduate School of
Arts and Sciences home page. The link to “Graduate School
Forms” provides detailed information about dissertation procedures
and deadlines as well as the necessary approval forms for each
stage of the dissertation. See especially “Doctoral
Dissertation Procedures” for an overview of Graduate School
expectations.
The dissertation process begins after the student completes the
comprehensive exams. Students should register for English
975: Doctor of Arts Research each semester after they have taken
their comprehensive exams, until they have defended the
dissertation. All D.A. students are required to register for
at least two semesters (6 credits) of English 975. Within one
year after completing the comprehensive exams, students should
define their dissertation committee and complete a prospectus of
their dissertation to submit to the English Department Chair and
Associate Dean of the Graduate School for approval.
Students begin the dissertation process by defining their research
topic and asking a St. John’s English faculty member to serve as
the mentor for the dissertation. The mentor is usually a
faculty member with whom the student has already studied, but the
most important consideration is the mentor’s scholarly expertise,
as he or she guides the student in his or her dissertation
research. The student then asks two additional faculty
members to serve on his or her dissertation committee. Again,
scholarly expertise is important in the selection of prospective
readers, but so is the student’s working relationship with the
faculty members. The dissertation committee may be comprised
of the same faculty who served on the student’s comprehensive exam
committee, but this is not necessary.
While the dissertation is a critical, research-based project, it
may include discursive approaches beyond traditional scholarly
writing, subject to the approval of the student’s dissertation
committee.
The Dissertation Prospectus
The first stage of writing the dissertation is the completion of a
5-10 page
prospectus, with a bibliography of research materials.
While the prospectus should reflect the research that the student
has begun for the dissertation, its primary purpose is to describe
the plan for the dissertation. In writing the prospectus,
students should:
- Introduce the topic to non-specialists
- Explain why the project is important
- Sketch the specific argument, or the questions that the
research will ask
- Describe the research accomplished so far, and research yet to
do
- Give a brief sketch of what each chapter seeks to
accomplish
The bibliography should list as comprehensively as possible the
primary and secondary sources that the student has studied and
plans to study for the dissertation. When the prospectus is
approved by the student’s dissertation committee, the student needs
to fill out Form 1 (“Approval Form for Doctoral Dissertation
Research”) and request signatures from each committee member and
the English Department chair. The student can then
proceed to complete his or her research and write the
dissertation.
Completing the Dissertation
Because the dissertation is a lengthy project (usually 150 pages or
longer), the overall time of completion depends on how much time
the student can commit to research and writing. While working
on the dissertation, the student should consult with his or her
mentor on a regular basis and with the entire dissertation
committee at least once a year. The purpose for regular
consultation with the mentor is to ensure that the student is
making sufficient progress on the dissertation.
When the dissertation mentor agrees that the draft is ready for
readers, the student sends copies to the readers and gets their
signatures for Form 2 (“Reader's Copies Receipt”). Students
should submit this form at least four months before they would like
to graduate. This allows time for the readers to respond to
the draft, revisions to be made, and the appropriate papers to be
processed.
Students also need to give their readers copies of Form 3
(“Professor's Report to the Dean on Reader's Copy") with the
drafts. When the readers approve of the draft, and think the
student is ready to defend, they sign Form 3, which states that
they have read the draft and approve it for the dissertation
defense.
The Dissertation Defense
The dissertation defense consists of the student’s brief overview
of the dissertation, followed by a question-and-answer session
about the dissertation with the student’s committee. These
questions usually cover the philosophy, structure, execution, and
implications of the dissertation. The defense, which lasts
one to two hours, is open to guests of the student and to the
entire university community.
When everyone is ready for the defense, students need to contact
their readers and mentor to find a two-hour period when everyone
can meet for the defense. Once the day and time have been
agreed upon, the mentor submits Form 4 (“Formal Notice of Final
Doctoral Defense”) with the signatures from the readers, to
schedule the defense.
After receiving Form 4, the Associate Dean of the Graduate School
sends Form 5 (“Ballot—Formal Doctoral Defense”) and Form 6 (“Report
of Oral Doctoral Defense to the Dean”) directly to the mentor.
These forms are filled out after the defense.
There are three outcomes for the defense: 1) approved as presented,
2) approved with revision, 3) failed. If readers require
revisions, they must certify that these revisions have been made by
signing Form 7 (“Submission of Editorial Copy of Doctoral
Dissertation”).
Depositing the Dissertation
After the dissertation is successfully defended and readers are
satisfied with the text, the student submits Form 7 (“Submission of
Editorial Copy of Doctoral Dissertation”) with one copy of the
dissertation to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
office. It is then sent to an editor for copyediting.
Once the edited copy is returned, the student finalizes the changes
and submits two copies of the edited version with Form 8 (“Receipt
of Final Copies of Doctoral Dissertation”) to the Graduate School
of Arts and Sciences for binding. The school keeps one of
these copies, and the student gets the other.
Detailed Graduate School procedures for the final stages of the
dissertation, including formatting requirements and required forms
and fees, can be found in the St. John’s College Graduate School of
Arts and Sciences “Doctoral Dissertation Procedures.”
The English D.A. dissertation (or “research essay”) is an extensive
research project that demonstrates the student’s expertise in a
specific area of inquiry within cultural studies, literary studies,
pedagogy, theory, and/or writing studies. As the final
project within the doctoral program, the dissertation represents
not only the student’s most accomplished work, but also his or her
chosen field(s) of scholarly expertise.