Graduate Student Resources

Doctoral Dissertation Process

Once a doctoral student reaches candidacy, they are ready to begin the process of writing and defending their doctoral dissertation. Please see below to learn more about each step of the dissertation process.

Enrollment Requirements for Dissertation Hours

Students may not register for dissertation hours until the semester immediately following the semester of formal admission to candidacy. This requirement is strictly enforced at USF. Students who obtain an override and register for dissertation hours will be dis-enrolled by the Office of Graduate Studies. Faculty and staff who override this restriction may have their permitting privileges revoked by the university.

  • Students should have already completed all of their program's coursework, or should be finishing any remaining courses in the semester they take the Doctoral Qualifying Exam and apply for candidacy. If students have incomplete (I) or missing (M) grades on their transcript after they take and pass the Qualifying Exam, their admission to doctoral candidacy will be delayed until any incomplete and/or missing grades are cleared. Once students have filed their candidacy application, they may choose to enroll in Directed Research while they wait for official admission to candidacy. Upon written request by the Major Professor to the Graduate Support Office, these Directed Research hours may be applied to reduce the total number of dissertation hours required in your program. Any requests should be sent during the semester in which the Directed Research hours will be taken. No more than 50% of the total number of dissertation hours required may be used in this way.
  • Directed Research hours taken during the Qualifying Exam semester, and the semester during which admission to candidacy is awaited, may be applied towards the dissertation as long as they are not being used to fulfill course requirements. You must have already completed all of your program's required coursework; if you take Directed Research as an elective for your program, it cannot be used towards the dissertation.

Students should meet with their Major Professor to determine which course prefix and section of the Directed Research course (xxx 7910) they should register for, as every instructor will have their own specific section. Once formally admitted to candidacy, students must begin to enroll in dissertation hours (xxx 7980) while they conduct research and complete their dissertation. For the specific course prefix and section of dissertation hours to register for, students will need to contact their Major Professor or Department.

  • In cases where a student has Co-Major Professors on their committee, or is enrolled in a concurrent major or concentration, the department should establish a section of dissertation hours co-listing both Major Professors as instructors. The dissertation hours should be listed under the major code for the student’s primary concentration/the major they were initially admitted to.

Continuous Enrollment Requirement:

Beginning with the semester immediately following the semester of formal admission to candidacy, all doctoral students must be enrolled for a minimum of two (2) hours of dissertation coursework each semester, including summer semester(s), until the dissertation has been defended successfully. This includes the semester during which the dissertation is defended, the semester in which the dissertation is fully cleared for publication by ETD, and the semester the student applies for graduation.

If students go inactive after being admitted to candidacy due to non-continuous enrollment, they must reapply to both their graduate program and to doctoral candidacy. See the Reinstatement and Readmission page for more information about readmission procedures. Admission for students who reapply/reinstate is at the discretion of the program and is not guaranteed. Students who are admitted after non-continuous enrollment must adhere to the Catalog policies at the time of their new admission and will be required to file a timeline for completion of degree requirements. 

Important Deadlines & Defense Announcements

Important Deadlines

Proposal Defenses

Requests for Proposal Defense should be submitted at least ten (10) calendar days prior to the actual defense date. Proposal defense sessions can be scheduled any time during the academic semester as long as the entire supervisory committee is present. When planning and scheduling a proposal defense session, please note that a student MAY NOT defend their final dissertation in the same semester or within 90 calendar days of the date in which they successfully defended their proposal.

Final Dissertation Defenses

Requests for the Final Dissertation Defense should be submitted at least ten (10) calendar days prior to the actual defense date. All doctoral students are required to follow the dissertation deadlines established by the Electronic Thesis & Dissertation office for the current semester. The "Current Dissertation Deadlines" link below provides the dissertation deadlines for the College of Education as they fit with the university-wide ETD Deadlines. When planning and scheduling a final defense session, please note that a student MAY NOT defend their final dissertation in the same semester or within 90 calendar days of the date in which they successfully defended their proposal.

Current Dissertation Deadlines

Defense Announcements

As students submit their Requests for Defense, the formal defense announcements are posted to GSO's Defense Announcements webpage and the COEDU Advanced Graduate Student Canvas page. Proposal and Final Defense session announcements for students in the College of Education are posted for the current semester. The list of announcements is updated throughout the semester as the Graduate Support Office receives new requests for defense. Check back regularly to see new announcements added.

Defense Announcements

Proposal Defense

The College of Education requires that doctoral candidates make a formal presentation of their dissertation proposal to their supervisory committee. Candidates will present the first three chapters of their dissertation research to the committee and receive feedback from all committee members. The proposal defense is open to the public, and will be posted on both the COEDU Advanced Graduate Student Canvas page and the GSO Dissertation Announcements webpage. Proposal defense sessions may be held virtually or face-to-face; virtual defenses should be hosted through Microsoft Teams if possible. 

Request for Proposal Defense Forms

Title Page Formats

Ph.D. Students
Ed.D. Students

Request for Proposal Defense Checklist

The following information should be included on the Request for Ph.D./Ed.D. Proposal Defense form linked above: 

  • The name of the student's Outside Chair Person - The Outside (or Defense) Chair is a committee member outside of the student's primary area of study, who will lead the proceedings of both the proposal and final defense sessions.
  • Date of the proposal defense
  • Time of the proposal defense
  • Location of the proposal defense - Defenses may be held face-to-face or virtually. 
    • For Face-to-face defenses, please include the building and room number. 
    • For virtual defenses, please include the link for the Microsoft Teams meeting for the defense.

IMPORTANT: Microsoft Teams is the only university-supported platform for conducting virtual defenses.

This form should be signed by the full supervisory committee and the student's Department Chair. The following should also be submitted with the request: 

  • The Dissertation Proposal Defense Guidelines Questionnaire (also linked above), completed by the student while preparing for the defense.
  • A copy of the proposal manuscript with the correct title page for their program. 

Requests for Proposal Defense should be routed through the department Academic Program Specialist for necessary signatures. The Academic Program Specialist will send the signed Request for Proposal Defense and all required documentation to the Graduate Support Office for review. Completed requests for proposal defense should be submitted with all signatures mentioned above to the Graduate Support Office at least ten (10) calendar days prior to the defense date for the COEDU Associate Dean's approval. Once approved by the COEDU Associate Dean, the formal announcement will be sent out via email to College faculty and posted to the website and student Canvas group.

After the Proposal Defense

Once the student has successfully completed their Proposal Defense, their Outside Chairperson will submit the following paperwork to the Graduate Support Office:

  • Signed Proposal Title Page
  • Signed Outside Chairperson’s Report (including a list of any necessary changes for the student to make)

Final Defense 

Doctoral candidates are required to present their final dissertation research at a public defense session. The final dissertation defense is announced to faculty and staff via email, to COEDU students via the Advanced Graduate Student Canvas group, and to the wider university community via the GSO Dissertation Announcements webpage.

REQUEST FOR Final DEFENSE FORMS

Title Page Formats: 

Ph.D. Students

Ed.D. Students

Request for Final Dissertation Defense Checklist

The following information should be included on the Request for Final Dissertation Defense form linked above:

  • The name of the student's Outside Chair Person
  • Date of the final dissertation defense
  • Time of the final dissertation defense
  • Location of the proposal defense - Defenses may be held face-to-face or virtually.
    • For Face-to-face defenses, please include the building and room number.
    • For virtual defenses, please include the link for the Microsoft Teams meeting for the defense.

IMPORTANT: Microsoft Teams is the only university-supported platform for conducting virtual defenses.

This form should be signed by the full supervisory committee and the student's Department Chair. The following should also be submitted with the request:

  • The Dissertation Final Defense Guidelines Questionnaire (linked above), completed by the student while preparing for the defense.
  • A copy of the final dissertation manuscript with the correct title page for their chosen program.
  • The Successful Defense Form, filled out but not signed
  • The ETD Certificate of Approval form, filled out but not signed

Students are required to submit their final dissertation to the Office of Graduate Studies in an electronic format (ETD). Registration for electronic dissertation submission on the USF ETD website opens on the first day of each semester. GSO recommends that students complete ETD registration as soon as possible to avoid delays when submitting the final dissertation and Certificate of Approval (COA) packet.

Requests for Final Dissertation Defense should be routed through the department Academic Program Specialist for necessary signatures. The Academic Program Specialist will send the signed Request for Final Defense and all required documentation to the Graduate Support Office for review. Completed requests for final defense should be submitted with all signatures mentioned above to the Graduate Support Office at least ten (10) calendar days prior to the defense date for the COEDU Associate Dean's approval. Once approved by the COEDU Associate Dean, the formal announcement will be sent out via email to College faculty, and posted to the website and student Canvas group.

A minimum of three committee members, including the student's Major Professor and Outside Chair, must be present for the entire final defense session. The final defense should be conducted within a timeline that allows the student to make any necessary corrections following the defense and still meet the final deadline for turning in their dissertation to the Office of Graduate Studies. For specific details about final defense procedures, please see the COEDU Doctoral Student Handbook or the Graduate Catalog.

After the Final Dissertation Defense:

Once the student has successfully completed their Final Dissertation Defense, they will need to submit the following paperwork to the Graduate Support Office:

  • Fully signed Successful Defense Form (This is internal to COEDU and does not need to be submitted to ETD)
  • Fully signed ETD Certificate of Approval Form
  • Page 1 of the Plagiarism Check (Conducted by the Major Professor through Turn-it-in or similar software. Shows the citation match percentages.)
  • Certificate of Completion of the Survey of Earned Doctorates

The Office of Graduate Studies requires all doctoral students to submit a Certificate of Approval packet to the Electronic Thesis & Dissertation (ETD) office containing the documents listed above. Students must fill out the ETD Certificate of Approval Form before sending it to their Major Professor and committee members for signatures. Your Major Professor will also complete the Successful Defense Form and the Turn-it-in Plagiarism Check. Once all forms have been signed, the department Academic Program Specialist will send all of the ETD paperwork to the Graduate Support Office for review.

After reviewing and approving the paperwork, the Graduate Support Office will combine the Certificate of Approval form, Plagiarism Check, and the completed Survey of Earned Doctorates into one PDF. Students will receive their paperwork back as one combined Certificate of Approval packet, along with instructions on how to upload their dissertation to ETD. The COA packet must be submitted to the Microsoft Form link on the ETD website (see "Submit COA Packet" section) by the semester deadline, along with submitting the dissertation manuscript to ProQuest. Students who do not clear ETD requirements and fail to submit the final dissertation by the semester deadline will be denied graduation.

  • Note: Students should check their email regularly for messages from the ETD office about the status of their dissertation. You will receive emails from USF ETD administrators about any revisions that need to be made, and a final email when the dissertation is fully approved for publication. GSO recommends that students submit their dissertation manuscript to ETD as early as possible (after successfully defending) to allow time for revisions before the final submission deadline.