Preparing your Dissertation for Success

Graduate students pursuing Doctor of Philosophy degrees must submit and defend dissertations for approval prior to graduating. This process can take years to complete and must be formatted to fit requirements set by The University. It is recommended that students consult the Statement on Thesis Preparation, as well as the Instructions for Thesis Defense, available from the Graduate School Office in order to confirm proper submittal of their work.

According to Al Gerheim, Ph.D., formatter of the Graduate School, there is general confusion regarding numbering dissertation pages, especially the pre-pages. He advises students look at recent submitted and approved work from other students since it will be a better guideline than a blank template at what is approved by the current formatter. He said this is particularly true for the Math and Chemistry disciplines where special formatting exists.

A new requirement in the Manuscript Structure, said Gerheim, is that every manuscript must be preceded by a page indicating its publication status. The introduction page describes the format used in that manuscript. The new requirement, although not commonly known, is listed on the website along with two samples of publication status pages.

Another major issue that seems to stump students is the Approval Page. Other pages are corrected easily, whereas the Approval Page is much harder to fix.

"If I get a bad Approval Page, it's an emergency," Gerheim said. "Some of the professors are on leave, or on travel, and they're very hard to track down. The same page has to be routed by snail mail to each committee member."

There is an easy fix. Gerheim said to use the proper template and make sure the number of lines match the number of signatures. It is also important that if students want more than one signed Approval Page as extra copies, the pages must be kept together. Gerheim said he will put the original and the copies where they belong.

Every semester the Graduate School holds a formatting workshop on campus. The formatter presents pertinent information and instructions on how to format dissertations properly for approval. The formatter will also answer any questions students have about formatting requirements. Details about the coming Fall 2010 formatting workshop will be available on the Graduate School website during early Fall semester.

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