Dissertations are expected to conform to the Dissertation Guidelines (available on-line) and the style described in the most recent edition of the American Psychological Association (APA) Publication Manual. The requirements of the guidelines prepared by the Doctoral Program shall take precedence over those of the APA Manual in cases where the two manuals are not in agreement.
Doctoral students have seven years to complete all degree requirements, beginning with coursework and ending with the completion of the dissertation. Students receive grades of "In Progress" (IP) each semester they are registered for dissertation hours (EDL 7999); "IP" is changed to "Satisfactory" (S) upon successful completion of the dissertation.
Students may meet with their committee any number of times before a final copy of the dissertation is ready to be delivered to committee members at least three weeks prior to the dissertation defense. The public defense is a formal occasion. The student is introduced by the director to the audience and will present an overview of dissertation. After the committee has finished discussing the dissertation with the student, the audience may join in the discussion.
At the conclusion of the public presentation, the candidate (and visitors) may be asked to leave the room while the committee discusses whether additional work is necessary. If there are no new suggestions from the committee, the candidate is congratulated on completing the degree and is referred to as Dr. … A minimum of three signature pages, printed on Appalachian thesis paper, are signed by the committee members. If additional changes are requested, the student should complete revisions within two weeks. After receiving approval from the dissertation committee, the student will submit the dissertation to the Director of the Doctoral Program who will also read the document and make editing suggestions if necessary.
Following the dissertation defense and completion of all requested changes, the student delivers one copy of the dissertation, printed on plain paper, to the Graduate School. The Dean of the Graduate School, or a reader, will read the dissertation and return it to the student with format and editing suggestions. These are the final changes that will be required. Once all revisions have been completed, the corrected dissertation, along with the returned copy, is sent to the Graduate School for one final review. After this review, the student will be given clearance to make three official copies for binding.
The required three copies should be on official Appalachian thesis paper which contains the Appalachian seal as watermark, and is available at the campus bookstore,. Print should appear on one side of each sheet. Each copy should be in a large brown envelope with a fastener. Every envelope must have a label stating the
The student pays a binding fee at the Cashier's Office prior to submitting the final copies. The blue receipt is then given to the Graduate School along with the official.
