What makes a good introduction for a dissertation? Graduate students practice critiquing one another’s thesis chapters, but they rarely read the introductions — usually because those are written to ...

The dissertation proposal and the specialty exam serve different purposes and should be viewed as separate activities, even though often executed concurrently. The dissertation proposal marks the ...

My last column centered on the new difficulties that graduate students face in turning their dissertations into books. Some readers responded that plenty of dissertations shouldn’t be revised into ...

This guide outlines the required thesis/dissertation format, technical specifications, and submission procedure to be followed by master's and doctoral candidates at the University of Massachusetts ...

We understand that completing your final research project is both an exciting and a demanding process. In order to make this process as smooth as possible, please review this Plan I Student Checklist ...

At the conclusion of the study and research program, each master of science and doctoral candidate must successfully defend the thesis or dissertation. The objectives of the defense examination are (1 ...

I was hoping to finish my dissertation last year and graduate in May. But it’s August, I’m heading back for another year on campus and I’m nowhere near finishing the dissertation. The sad part is that ...

Santa Clara University requires that all theses and dissertations that are submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a graduate degree be published in electronic form. Doing so serves ...

*Updated as of Jan. 6, 2026: Since the Spring 2026 dissertation deadline to hold the defense lands during Spring Break, we modified the dissertation deadlines for Spring 2026 in an effort to make the ...