Dissertation Proposal Defense

 

After successfully passing the General Exam, students’ academic course work shifts to working fully on the dissertation.

INSC 800

While pursuing dissertation work, Candidates enroll in INSC 800 and must complete a minimum 27 credits of this course to satisfy the degree requirements. To register for the class, students need your Supervisory Committee Chair’s faculty number.  You can get this by contacting Student Services.  (Please note:  Students are limited to 99 credits of INSC 800.  If you reach 99 credits of INSC 800 before you complete your degree, you should meet with the PhD Program Advisor to review your options.)

Dissertation Proposal Defense

The purpose of the dissertation proposal defense is to assure that your plan of researching your proposed research question is complete and holds academic merit. Students work closely with their Supervisory Committees in determining the composition of the dissertation proposal and in writing the proposal.
  • Prior to the dissertation proposal defense, the Candidate contacts Student Services to confirm the members of their Supervisory Committee.
  • The Candidate, assisted by their Chair as necessary, schedules a date, a time, and a room for the dissertation proposal defense.
  • The Candidate submits details regarding the dissertation proposal defense to the iSchool web calendar, the PhD program Chair and Student Services.

At least two weeks before the scheduled proposal defense date, the final written proposal must be submitted to all members of the Supervisory Committee. At this time, the voting members of the Committee, in consultation with the student, determine the length and outline the structure of the defense.

The proposal defense is a public event. Any person may attend. However, the deliberations of the Supervisory Committee are private. The Supervisory Committee records an official decision using the Dissertation Proposal Defense Form

Once the proposal has been defended and accepted, the Candidate is cleared to finish writing the dissertation. The Candidate submits one paper copy and one PDF version of the dissertation proposal to STUDENT SERVICES.

Helpful links for the Dissertation Proposal Defense:

Reading Committee

The Graduate School requires that a Reading Committee be appointed to read and approve the dissertation At the Information School, the composition of the Reading Committee is the same as the Supervisory Committee (excluding the GSR) and includes the Internal Reviewer. The reading committee should be established at the time of the Dissertation Proposal Defense. There are more details on the reading committee at http://www.grad.washington.edu/acad/gsmemos/gsmemo13.htm.