Dissertation
Dissertation Proposal
Proposals for the dissertation will be accepted following the completion of the second module. Under the guidance of the Program Director and the student’s dissertation advisor, the student will write a proposal. The final proposal must be approved by the student’s advisors, the proposal committee and the DIS Program Committee.
The proposal must contain a basic survey of pertinent literature, a clear statement of the problem, a succinct purpose statement, a description of the methodology to be employed, a list of tentative chapters and subsection titles, and a preliminary bibliography. This will be submitted with the completed form found at: www.andrews.edu/sem/dis/dissertationmanual
Following the fourth module and the proposal approval, the student registers for MSSN 899 DIS Dissertation for 2 credits for each of the following three semesters. If the dissertation is not completed after one year, the candidate must register for MSSN 888 (DIS Dissertation Continuation) every semester, and pay a continuation fee until the dissertation is completed and the defense is held, or until the time limit has expired.
Dissertation Preparation
The dissertation prepared by the DIS candidate must:
- Demonstrate the candidate’s competence to do independent research.
- Reveal the candidate’s familiarity with and proficiency in handling the pertinent literature.
- Present a logically organized, methodologically sound, and readable account of the investigation, findings, conclusions, and implications of the study.
Oral Defense of the DIS Dissertation
The date is set and advertised by the director of the DIS program. The oral defense is conducted by the dissertation defense committee and is held no later than four weeks before the degree is conferred. To pass the oral defense, candidates must receive a vote of approval from at least three of the four examiners. The committee votes in one of the following ways:
- Acceptance of the dissertation as presented.
- Acceptance of the dissertation subject to minor revisions.
- Acceptance of the dissertation subject to major revisions.
- Rejection of the dissertation.
Normally, rejection of a dissertation terminates the student’s doctoral candidacy, but the DIS Program Committee may consider whether to allow him/her to prepare and submit another dissertation and what specific requirements would apply, including possible further course work.
After Defense
- The student makes all corrections
- The deadline for dissertations to be submitted to the Dissertation Secretary with the signed approval page is no later than Wednesday, 10 days before graduation. Strict adherence to this deadline is essential or graduation is postponed. For more detailed guidelines and schedules see the DIS Handbook (www.andrews.edu/sem/dis/handbook).
