Dissertation

As the capstone experience of the Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership, Policy and Law, each student is required to complete a dissertation. The dissertation process is designed so that the student may demonstrate that he/she can complete an independent, original research project that contributes to the improvement of educational practice. The student will conceive, design, execute, interpret and disseminate the dissertation under the direction of the dissertation committee. The project may be designed using a variety of research designs (experimental, causal- comparative, etc. as well as approaches (qualitative or quantitative). Further information on the dissertation process may be found in the program’s dissertation handbook.

For the Doctor of Philosophy in microbiology, graduate students can follow one of the two formats to write their dissertations. Format I should include abstract, introduction, materials and methods, results and discussion and conclusion. The second format will apply to graduate students who have already published three or more manuscripts. The dissertation will contain the same order as Form 1 but must consist of chapters. Each chapter should include the contents of one manuscript. For specific policies and guidelines pertinent to the Ph.D. in microbiology program, refer to The Graduate Student Handbook, Biological Sciences.