Dissertation

Dissertation

All students are responsible for original research and study on a topic that has been approved by their dissertation committee and reviewed by the Graduate Studies Committee. A completed Dissertation should be between 200-400 pages in length, exclusive of works cited/bibliography. The dissertation should be defended in the student's fourth year.

For details on the integrated dissertation format, consult the department guidelines.

The dissertation proceeds in two stages:

  1. The student submits a dissertation proposal, and defends it as part of the comprehensive exam process.
  2. The student writes, defends, and submits the dissertation.

Details of these stages are below.

Dissertation Proposal

Students must arrange for a supervisor and a dissertation committee, from members of the faculty, and under their guidance prepare a proposal. The final draft of the proposal must be submitted (in digital form) with the signed proposal form (PDF)  to the Support Services Coordinator by by the date announced in that year's exam schedule.

Students must arrange for a supervisor and a dissertation committee, from members of the faculty, and under their guidance prepare a proposal. A draft of the proposal must be submitted to the committee by the date indicated in that year’s comprehensive exam schedule, normally during the Fall term (term 4 in the program). The final draft of the proposal must be submitted to the Support Services Coordinator two weeks after the written exam (normally in May), at which point a proposal defence will be scheduled.

Guidelines

A dissertation proposal should contain an overview of the entire project of approximately 1000 words, a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of approximately another 1500 words, and a bibliography (of no fixed word count) of both primary and secondary texts. It should include first-page headings with your name, your supervisor’s name, your committee members’ names, and a title. Sections should be clearly signaled with subheads and blank space. Pages should be numbered.

The total word count should not exceed 3000 words, exclusive of bibliography.

The purpose of the document is to illustrate to the candidate's supervisory committee, and to the Graduate Studies Committee, preparedness to begin writing the dissertation. The supervisory committee and the Graduate Studies Committee will provide the candidate with feedback about the project’s feasibility and the coherence of its research goals. Students should submit a complete draft to their supervisory committee by the date announced in that year's exam schedule, and set a date for the review meeting, allowing time for revision (if necessary). 

A dissertation proposal should outline the project's major research goals and the corpus of texts or objects to be considered. The proposal should thoroughly contextualize the project within its scholarly domain(s). It is not, however, primarily a literature review. 

After Submission

When the proposal is complete, the student submits it to the graduate office for review by the Graduate Studies Committee, by the date indicated in the comprehensive exam schedule. The second half of the comprehensive oral exam is dedicated to the dissertation proposal. This consists of a discussion, and questions, about the proposal and the student’s plans for the dissertation. At the defence, the proposal is assigned one of three outcomes:

  • Pass
  • Conditional pass (with conditions and resubmission deadline indicated)
  • Fail

Once the proposal has been successfully defended, approved proposals and the signed proposal form (PDF) are submitted to the graduate office and the student begins drafting the dissertation.

Failure to submit a proposal results in the loss of satisfactory standing and may result in the termination of internal funding. If the student fails the proposal portion of the comprehensive exam process, the committee will determine the next steps, in consultation with the Graduate Officer. Usually, this means that the “proposal defence” portion of the oral exam will needs to be attempted a second time. Exam components can be attempted at most twice.

Sample Dissertation Proposals

Dissertation Proposal Example 1 (PDF)

Dissertation Proposal Example 2 (PDF)

Dissertation

The dissertation should be defended in the student's fourth year. When the student has completed a defensible draft, (s)he submits the abstract (in digital form) to the English Graduate Officer with the notification that (s)he is ready to defend, and sends an electronic copy of the dissertation and abstract to the English Graduate Office. Simultaneously, the supervisor submits a list of five candidates each for the External and Internal-External members of the committee. Once these committee members are secured and approved by the Associate Dean of Arts, Graduate Studies, a defense is scheduled.

Defence Guidelines

  • The supervisory committee must approve a final version of the dissertation.

  • The supervisor must contact the Graduate Officer in order to set up the defence committee.  The supervisor must provide the Graduate Officer with the following:

    • a list of 5 candidates for the role of internal/external examiner (including department, email address, a line or two on suitability, and a statement concerning any professional or personal connection)

    • a list of 5 candidates for the role of external examiner (including institutional affiliation, email address, a line or two on suitability, and a statement concerning any professional or personal connection)

    • the dissertation abstract

  • The candidate must provide an electronic copy of the dissertation to the Graduate Studies Coordinator.  

  • Once the Associate Dean approves the committee, a date and time will be set for the defence, no earlier than five weeks after the dissertation goes on public display.

    • Please note that the five-week display period means 25 business days—not including University holidays, black-out periods, or weekends; the blackout periods generally consist of the Christmas break, the last week of August, and university reading breaks. 

    • Things to note during the black-out periods: 

      •  Dissertation defences are not scheduled during this time.
      • The mandatory five-week display period will not be affected by the black-out periods.
      • All administration and paperwork will continue to be processed during this time.
  • For more details, consult the PhD Regulations and Information.

Publishing Instructions

Once completed and approved, the dissertation must be submitted to UWSpace for publishing.

Submission Information

  • Review the instructions for submitting your dissertation to UWSpace.
  • Dissertations submitted to UWSpace will be reviewed within 3 to 5 business days of the GSO receiving your 'Thesis Acceptance' form from your Faculty/department.

Submission Process

  • Submit 1 copy of your dissertation (.pdf format only) and any supplementary files to UWSpace for review by the GSO.
  • You will be contacted by email after a review has taken place to advise you of any revisions that must be made prior to final approval.
  • If revisions are required, your dissertation must be resubmitted to UWSpace.
  • You will be contacted by email once your dissertation submission is approved.
  • Retain a copy of the GSO/UWSpace approval email to submit to wPrint if paper copies of your dissertation are required. An alternate printing service is pageforpage.com.
  • The department does not require hard copies of your dissertation. 

Other Resources

Graduate Studies offers many electronic dissertation resources, including a word template and formatting requirements which are helpful for both students and supervisors.