The Dissertation

When do you know you’re finished?

A question that probably comes up now and then in the minds of students and faculty as well is, what qualifies as sufficient work for the Ph.D. (and thus for the student to be given by the thesis committee the go-ahead to write the dissertation)? Or in other words, is there a minimal requirement for the Ph.D.? A Ph.D. should represent an original scholarly contribution to one’s field, which in Cell Biology and other experimental sciences means that the student has successfully carried out a series of experiments to test a hypothesis and in the process has gained new knowledge that advances a field. Such an accomplishment usually culminates in at least one first-author paper (several papers in many cases) published in a peer-reviewed journal, and in fact some departments require the submission of a paper as a minimal requirement for the Ph.D. While not having such a requirement, the Cell Biology Department does expect that at least one first-author paper published in a peer-reviewed journal will result from a student’s Ph.D. research. This expectation is usually not difficult to meet, but it underscores the importance of regularly scheduled thesis committee meetings to ensure adequate and timely progress toward finishing the Ph.D.

Preparing and submitting the dissertation

Before beginning to write the dissertation, please read “Preparation and Submission of the Doctoral Dissertation” (see “Where to get forms” below), and obtain a dissertation packet from the Graduate School. The dissertation packet contains several forms, including the “Notification of Readers Form” that must be signed by the DGS and submitted with the dissertation to the Graduate School.

It may take a couple of months to write the dissertation, or less time for students who have already published papers that will form the core of the dissertation.

Published papers can be simply reformatted to form the core of the dissertation (including changing all the “we’s” to “I’s”). If another person obtained a result shown in the dissertation, then the contribution of this person must be explicitly acknowledged in the text and figure legend.

Copies of the dissertation are distributed to the committee members for their comments, which should be addressed in the final version before its submission to the Graduate School. Committee members should be given adequate time, at least 2 weeks, to read and evaluate the dissertation.

Deadlines

There are 2 deadlines for submission of the dissertation, one in October for a December degree and the other in March for a May degree. The Graduate School does not make any exception to these deadlines, which have been picked to give readers adequate time to evaluate the dissertation.

Readers

Upon receipt, the Graduate School will send the dissertation out for evaluation by 3 readers, with at least 2 having tenure or a tenure track position at Yale. As Cell Biology does not require an outside reader (i.e., outside Yale), unlike some departments, 3 members of the thesis committee, except the thesis adviser, would be appropriate as readers. After all reader evaluation forms have been returned to the Graduate School and all requested changes to the dissertation have been made, the DGS acting on behalf of the entire Cell Biology faculty will sign the form recommending award of the Ph.D. degree. Then the Graduate School Degree Committee and finally the Yale Corporation will vote to approve conferral of the degree.

Thesis seminar

Students are required to present a seminar on their thesis work. This seminar is usually scheduled just prior to submission of the dissertation. Like all other Cell Biology seminars, the thesis seminar will be open to the university community. The thesis seminar is conducted like a defense, so the thesis committee will meet with the student after the seminar. At this time, the thesis committee may ask questions beyond those asked at the end of the seminar. Then the student may be asked to leave the room while the committee decides whether the thesis work presented in the seminar and in the dissertation is acceptable for award of the Ph.D. degree. After making any changes to the dissertation requested by the committee, the dissertation is submitted to the Graduate School. Occasionally, it may be necessary to submit the dissertation before the thesis seminar (e.g., if it is not possible to schedule the seminar before the submission deadline). However, in this case, the student still has to give the thesis committee plenty of time to read the dissertation and must make all requested changes to the dissertation before submitting it to the Graduate School.