The dissertation may be the capstone task for PhD students. It’s possibly the most crucial and-reaching undertaking within the entire doctorate program, getting an effect that extends well past graduate studies.

Needs and Deadlines

Every PhD candidate is needed to effectively complete and submit a dissertation to be eligible for a degree conferral. Since each department maintains specific needs for that content and look at the dissertation, you need to take a look at department’s guidelines just before beginning the procedure. The type of the PhD Dissertation provides general info on formatting, submission, and publishing and distribution options. Students who don’t stick to the formatting specifications noted within this publication won’t be qualified for conferral of the degree and will have to apply for the following available degree period after corrections are created.

Levels are awarded in November, March, and could. Dissertation submission deadlines are noted within the Degree Calendar portion of the GSAS Student Guide .

Students submit their dissertations through ETDs @ Harvard. Harvard’s electronic thesis and dissertation submission system.

Publishing Options, Costs, and Embargoes

Students receive complete control of the ease of access of the work. Upon final approval, the dissertation becomes a part of multiple Harvard and non-Harvard downstream systems in line with the permissions and publishing options selected throughout the ETDs @ Harvard submission process. Consult “Your Publishing Options” by means of the PhD Dissertation to learn more.

Once posted, a bound copy from the dissertation is instantly delivered to the Harvard College Archives and, if needed, to students’ department or program students don’t need to do something of these copies to become sent.

After trying to get the amount through my.harvard.edu. students will discover a $37 charge per copy put into their term bill. Students who make an application for the amount but don’t meet all needs for that degree period won’t be billed when submitting future applications.

A digital copy from the dissertation is put into Digital Use of Scholarship at Harvard (DASH), outdoors-access repository of scholarship created by people from the Harvard community. Dissertations will also be deposited with ProQuest’s databases and be available to subscribers of ProQuest Dissertation Theses Global .

If required, students may request to obstruct the discharge of (“embargo”) the work they do when submitting their dissertation to ETDs @ Harvard. Embargo demands more than 2 yrs are reviewed through the relevant director of graduate studies by the College Librarian students are notified by e-mail if their request continues to be approved. Embargo demands affect both DASH and ProQuest.

Assist with the Dissertation

Students will find support with planning and getting ready to write the dissertation using their academic advisors and programs. Additional sources can be found with the GSAS Center for Writing and Communicating Ideas and also the Bureau of Study Counsel. GSAS offers help students seeking dissertation completion fellowships through the Fellowships Office .

Dissertation: Basics

On March seventh, 2014, the GSAS Office of Student Matters located a 2-part “Nuts Bolts” session concentrating on the electronic dissertation both philosophically and practically, detailing preparation, publishing decisions and actual online submission from the work.

We’re very happy to make audio of the session and presentation slides available on the web below.

• Introduction (2:47)
  Garth McCavana, Dean for Student Matters
• Office of Scholarly Communication (OSC) (28:53)
  Colin Lukens, Repository Manager, Harvard Libraries
  Kyle Courtney, Consultant
• and Fair Use (24:50) *
  Jonathan Hulbert, Office from the General Counsel
• Submitting Your Electronic Dissertation (24:42)
  Maggie Welsh, Affiliate Registrar
  Kathy Hanley, Enrollment Coordinator
• Recent Alumni Panel (16:21) *
  Jing Yang, PhD (’14), Applied Physics
  Gina Rivera, PhD (’13), Music
  Moderated by Garth McCavana

Presentation Materials