Dissertations are required in all doctoral programs. College of Education candidates will follow the current APA (American Psychological Association) guidelines and the UCF Dissertation and Thesis Handbook.
Selecting a Dissertation Advisor
Your dissertation advisor should be a College of Education faculty member who is qualified to direct dissertations and with whom you share a common research interest. (Check the list of “Graduate Faculty” in the current Graduate Catalog for a list of faculty eligible to serve as dissertation advisors.) Your dissertation advisor may or may not be the same person as your program advisor. There are several reasons why your dissertation advisor and program advisor may not be the same person:
- Your program advisor is not yet qualified to direct dissertations.
- You and your program advisor do not have the same research interests.
- You and your program advisor have personality differences, which would make working together on a dissertation a difficult task for both of you.
- Your program advisor may not be approved by the department chair or the Program Coordinator to direct a dissertation because of current load and responsibilities.
When you are ready to find a dissertation advisor, you should first discuss your need with your program advisor and with the Coordinator of the Doctoral Program. You may have a particular faculty member in mind with whom you would like to work or a faculty member might request that you work with him or her.
Prospectus
The Ed.D. program requires students to write a “prospectus” prior to selecting the dissertation committee. The prospectus should not be confused with the “dissertation proposal,” which will be written during the first semester of registration for dissertation hours. The prospectus is a brief outline (typically around 5 pages long) of the general topic you intend to study for your dissertation. As such, it will briefly situate your study in the literature, suggest possible research questions, and suggest the research methods that may be used. The main purpose of the prospectus is to provide potential committee members with a description of your intended project so they can assess their interest and willingness to serve on the committee. It also helps the dissertation advisor and Program Coordinator assess that the dissertation committee is adequate to support and assess the doctoral candidate’s work.
Selecting a Dissertation Committee
Once you have a dissertation advisor, you will work with your dissertation chair to select a dissertation committee. Your dissertation committee will include a minimum of four faculty members, one of whom must be a faculty member from outside your area of specialization. The typical committee, however, is a five-member committee. Such a configuration serves as a precautionary measure in the event that a committee member leaves the university, becomes ill, or for some other reason cannot continue on the dissertation committee.
The selection of your committee members is a joint decision made by you and your dissertation advisor. Committee members are generally selected because of their research interests and expertise. Once you and your dissertation advisor have discussed your options, you are responsible for contacting the individual faculty members to see if they are willing to serve on your committee. After you have their consent, you should file the Dissertation Committee Appointments Form with the Doctoral Studies Office. This form requires that you list the names of your committee members and get approval (initials indicating approval) of the department chair (s) for the faculty serving on your committee. The committee must also be approved by the Ed.D Program Coordinator.
Your topic choice drives the selection of potential committee members, but so does your ability to work with people. Who have you worked with well in the past? To you, what are the most important characteristics of an advisor/committee? Who do you know that fits some or all of those characteristics?
You may have limited choices available for your committee. Flexibility is important in these scenarios. Interdisciplinary topics may require more committee members from more than one department or college.
Committee Member & Student Responsibilities
Once a faculty member agrees to serve on a dissertation committee, they are to provide appropriate feedback to the student on the proposal and on the dissertation. Committee members will be expected to attend a minimum of two committee meetings: the proposal presentation and the dissertation defense. The committee members may provide their feedback about your progress either directly to you or through the dissertation advisor. Such procedural functions should be agreed upon at the proposal presentation.
Responsibilities of the dissertation adviser and committee members:
- Provide guidance on the selection of topic and focus
- Respond to drafts of the dissertation within a reasonable time
- Be reasonably consistent in advice
- Protect the student from unreasonable demands
- Assist the candidate at those times when a faculty member advocate is necessary
- Your committee members may serve as experts in specific areas, such as methodology, the topic itself or a part of it, etc.
- The doctoral candidate is the author of the dissertation, but the candidate’s committee should guide the candidate in shaping the argument and content. In this sense, a dissertation is a collaborative work that evolves through discussion over time.
The candidate’s responsibilities to the committee:
- Maintain regular communication with the dissertation committee chair and, when appropriate, committee members
- Complete tasks according to timeline or explain why it cannot be done
- Maintain appropriate academic ethics throughout the research and writing
- Prepare drafts and materials effectively
- Clearly communicate your needs to advisor and committee members
- Make reasonable demands on the time of the adviser and the committee members
- Be open to suggestions and to advice, but also show initiative
Dissertation Proposal
Your dissertation proposal is a detailed plan and justification for your doctoral dissertation which explains to your committee the purpose of your study, why it is important, what your research will add to the existing literature on your topic, and how you will complete the study. The proposal is not the first three chapters of your dissertation and should not be written as though it were. The specific form of the proposal will vary at the discretion of the student and advisor. Typically the proposal will address the rationale for the study, including a brief review of the literature and the significance of your study, a statement of the general problem and the specific research questions, and your methodology, including procedures for data collection, sample, and data analysis. It is important to work closely with your dissertation advisor on the details of your proposal.
When you and your advisor decide that you are ready to present your proposal to your committee, you can work with your committee to find a time and place for your proposal presentation. Schedule a two-hour block of time for presentation.
Once your committee has approved your proposal and has signed the Dissertation Proposal Approval Form, you should deliver the Dissertation Approval Form and a copy of your proposal to the Program Coordinator.
Institutional Review Board Proposal (IRB)
All dissertations that use research involving human subjects, including surveys, must obtain approval from an independent board, the Institutional Review Board (IRB), prior to starting the research. Graduate students and the faculty who supervise dissertations must complete an approved IRB training course before their study can be approved, so this needs to start well in advance of the research start date. It is imperative that proper procedures are followed when using human subjects in research projects. In addition, should the nature of the research or the faculty supervision change since the IRB approval was obtained, then either an “addendum” must be approved for minor changes or a new IRB approval must be sought for significant changes. Failure to obtain this prior approval could jeopardize receipt of the student's degree.
Dissertation Registration
After you have completed your comprehensive exams and are admitted to candidacy, you must continue to enroll for at least three semester hours of dissertation credit. Students cannot register themselves for dissertation hours so the Advanced Graduate Coordinator will register students for dissertation hours.
Timelines
It may seem that there is a great deal of emphasis here on meeting deadlines, but completing the doctoral program involves many people and processes. As a result, the deadlines are often fairly early in the semester to allow these very busy people enough time do their jobs at a reasonable pace. Everyone wants the dissertation to reflect well on our collective academic efforts.
Managing the project
A doctoral dissertation is a very large project and at times the size of the project and its complexity can be over-whelming. There are a number of good books and websites that provide suggestions for research methods, managing the dissertation project, managing your time, and improving your writing. You should read a few to get suggestions that may help you with the project.
That said, a few suggestions will help all doctoral candidates:
- Know the expectations of your dissertation committee chair and committee members. If you are unclear about the expectations, ask questions.
- Know what the final product should look like. Ask your dissertation committee chair and committee members for suggestions about good examples of dissertations that you can read to know what you are aiming for.
- Know your own weaknesses and develop a plan to improve your weaknesses:
- If you have a lot of commitments outside of the doctoral program with family, friends, or work, you may need to talk to the people in your life about your need to focus on the dissertation for the next several semesters. You may also need to get out of some commitments and you probably need to avoid taking on any new commitments or making any major life changes that you can avoid.
- If you have a hard time managing your time or completing big projects, you need to learn to manage your time and projects:
- Determine how many hours per day/week and the times of the day you are available to work on your thesis/dissertation.
- Determine where you will work and organize you work area(s).
- Decide how you will keep your records. Documentation/references are not an afterthought. Reliable citations = credibility. You may wish to consider downloading EndNote from the UCF Library website.
- Prepare an overview schedule for the dissertation. Try to plan for continuous progress, based on the hours/times you are available to work on your thesis/dissertation.
- Prepare a more detailed schedule for each major part of the dissertation.
- Decide whether to delegate any of the tasks (for example: editing, proofreading, word processing, copying, research, preparation of figures).
- Remember that each step in the process will probably take longer than you think it will, without even considering possible problems (lost work, unforeseen data, delays of reviews, faculty)
- Ask your adviser to review your plan and provide suggestions.
- If you struggle with writing, plan to make early and frequent use of outside resources to improve your writing – the spell-checker and grammar-checker on your word processor; friends, family, and colleagues in the program; the UCF Writing Center; paid copy-editor. But remember that you are the authors of this dissertation so your focus should be identifying the mistakes that you are making and trying to improve your writing. While is always possible that you may miss a few problems in the drafts you submit to your dissertation committee chair and members, they are not responsible for fixing your writing.
Dissertation Defense
The Dean of the college or his/her designee will normally attend all dissertation defenses. Dissertations will be approved by a majority vote of the advisory committee. Further approval is required from the Dean or Dean designee and the Office of Graduate Studies before final acceptance of the dissertation in fulfilling degree requirements.
There are several steps within the defense procedure and each one takes time. The defense is usually scheduled during the semester you intend to graduate. It is critical to plan each step so you will meet all deadlines, including filing the Intent To Graduate Form prior to the deadline.
Once you have completed the writing of your dissertation, submit copies of it to each of the members of your committee and to the dissertation examiner. In practice, many dissertation committee members prefer to read drafts of chapters as they are completed to provide feedback and provide more time to make revisions. Be sure to understand the preferences of your dissertation committee chair and members.
Remember, faculty members who serve on your committee are very busy people. You must give them adequate time to read and react to your dissertation. Turn around time of 10- 14 days is minimal. Plan accordingly.
Once it has been determined that you are ready to defend your dissertation to your committee, you must take the responsibility for organizing the time of your defense. You will secure a room through the Dean’s Office (ED 305). The defense should be scheduled for a two-hour block of time and must be scheduled according to University deadlines. Usually the Executive Conference Room ED 306 will be scheduled for your defense. Notice of your defense should be sent out 30 days prior to the meeting. This is done by the Office of Student Services. Please see Leah Mitchell. You are responsible for knowing and honoring all deadlines. Deadlines cannot be waived.
The day of your defense make sure you have the signature form in the approved format.
Warning Note: If sufficient time is not allowed for defense, revisions and format review of the thesis, the student may not officially graduate until the following term.
Dissertation Preparation
The Graduate Studies Thesis and Dissertation Manual describes UCF's formatting requirements for dissertations and outlines the steps graduate students must follow to submit their dissertations to UCF Graduate Studies for binding.
Additionally, the Thesis/Dissertation Editor maintains online workshops to inform graduate students about procedures, deadlines, and requirements associated with preparing a dissertation. Those students who have just passed Candidacy are strongly encouraged to visit the online workshop.
UCF requires you to bind three copies of your final dissertation. Two copies for the UCF
Library- these two copies must be in acceptable format and printed on acceptable paper. These two copies must be identical and must both have an original signature page (on acceptable paper, with signatures in black). You must pay $9.75 to bind each copy (at UCF Cashier).
The third copy is for microfilming (see the UMI booklet). This copy will not be bound, must be a clean, sharp impression, and does not have to be on “thesis” paper. You must pay $55.00 in the form of a cashier’s check or money order, payable to UMI. Optional: You can also pay an additional $45.00 to have UMI apply for copyright as your agent.
The UCF Library also allows you to bind additional, personal copies of your
thesis/dissertation for the $9.75 price. The number of personal copies allowed is 10. It is customary to provide a bound copy for the dissertation advisor. You may also wish to provide a copy for committee members.
Helpful dissertation writing websites:
http://www.graduate.ucf.edu/sitemap/index.cfm?RsrcID=55&SubCatID=144
http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/dissertation.html
http://www.uwc.ucf.edu/Grad Gateway/gg_home.htm
For IRB information, please see links below:
http://www.research.ucf.edu/New_IRB_System_Goes_Live_caption.html
http://www.research.ucf.edu/compliance/irb.html
