Prospectus
The prospectus should provide a good sense for the proposed dissertation project and reflect the work the student has done to establish the foundation for a large project of this kind.
A prospectus consists of three elements:
- 10-12 pages of prose, laying out the project – central topic, goals, arguments you hope to advance, framework, research plan and methodologies, not to mention what you believe is important about the project.
- A list of proposed titled chapters with 2-3 sentences of description for each.
- A bibliography of 3-4 pages, with some annotations.
Timeline for Prospectus Work
As part of the process of drafting a prospectus students will have consult broadly with department faculty during the G-3 summer.
Students are free to choose their primary adviser.
Ultimately, students will form a three-person dissertation committee that will actively support their dissertation project, although they will work most closely with their primary adviser.
Students will submit a first draft of their prospectus to their emerging dissertation committee at the end of September of the G-4 year.
Students will use the the rest of the fall semester of the G-4 year to continue developing and revising their prospectus, and are expected to submit a complete and revised prospectus for review by the entire Slavic department faculty by early December. Students will also include a brief letter to request their choice of first, second and third readers. Department faculty may well make some adjustments for the second and third readers to balance workload across the faculty. Normally all committee members are from the Slavic Department, but with the approval of the DGS and in cases where the dissertation topic warrants a broader range of perspectives, a student may request that one committee member come from outside the Department.
Dissertation
A dissertation must give evidence of original research or of original treatment of the subject and must be in good literary form. It should be completed within three years after the general examinations. Each year, the department will set the due dates for submitting a final, polished draft of the dissertation to all committee members – one for students wishing to finish their degree in the fall, one in the spring, and one in the summer.
During the spring semester of their G-4 year, students are expected to begin work on a first dissertation chapter. To qualify for a dissertation completion fellowship as a G-6 student, students will need to have two chapters drafted by February of the G-5 year.
Students should keep in close touch with the entire dissertation committee throughout the process of drafting the first two chapters. When a student produces a draft chapter, they send it to the full committee, and receive written feedback from each member, shared with the group. The full committee then meets with the student (“chapter meeting”) to talk about further development and revisions.
Students must submit a full draft of their dissertation to the entire dissertation committee a full month before the deadline for submitting the prospectus online for the June, November, or March degree, so that the committee can provide feedback.
We do not hold formal dissertation defenses. Instead, the student will have a final meeting with their committee to talk about the future of the project.