East Carolina University
Department of Psychology

The Thesis/Dissertation End-Game

          Probably the most important tip I can give you is to finish your thesis/dissertation, including defending it, before you leave campus. Once a student has left campus, taken a job out-of-town, gotten married, procreated, started a doctoral program, etc., completing the thesis/dissertation becomes more and more difficult to accomplish -- due not only to declining motivation, but also to the many difficulties involved with accomplishing such a task remote from various university resources, most importantly from the director of the thesis/dissertation and other thesis/dissertation committee members.

         Before they graduate, but during the semester of their graduation, graduate students are requested to complete an exit survey.  This is an important source of information that is used by departments for graduate program review and accreditation purposes.  Graduate students who are due to graduate will be contacted by email and asked to log into OneStop and complete the survey.  Please do so.  The questions posed are about your evaluation of various services and resources here at ECU.

          You should keep in mind that the end of the semester is an exceptionally busy time for professors. One of my graduate students successfully completed the defense of her thesis the afternoon of the day before the deadline for delivering the thesis/dissertation to the Graduate School for graduation this semester. Because the Graduate School requires that students be registered the semester they graduate, this student, who pays out-of-state tuition, could pay a substantial monetary penalty if she does not get the thesis in on time or if the Graduate School does not give her special consideration. Unfortunately, there were dozens of changes needed in the draft of the thesis that she brought to the defense, and these changes were not made in time to meet the deadline. Another student on whose committee I served also defended her thesis the afternoon before the deadline. Because of some change in licensing regulations for her specialty, were she not to get her thesis/dissertation in by the deadline to graduate this semester, she would be required to take about an additional semester of coursework. Since you do not want to get in a bind like these students did, I recommend that you schedule your defense at least two weeks prior to the deadline for delivering the thesis/dissertation to the Graduate School. It really is not reasonable for students to expect thesis/dissertation committee members to be able to free up enough time at semester's end to help them get the thesis/dissertation completed by the deadline. If at all possible, avoid having the thesis/dissertation "end game" happen at the end of a semester. Also, don't count on professors being around all summer long, some of us like to take a week or two off, and we don't all take our vacations at the same time.

         The chairperson of your thesis/dissertation committee is not likely to schedule your defense until she or he feels that your thesis/dissertation is in good shape. Some chairpersons will not even ask other committee members to read a draft of your thesis/dissertation until that point. If the committee members find no major problems with your thesis/dissertation, your defense will be scheduled. Bring to your defense a signature page.

         At the defense you can expect to be asked to give a ten minute summary of your thesis/dissertation. Then the committee members will ask you questions and advise you regarding what changes (generally minor) need to be made in the thesis/dissertation. You will then be asked to step out of the room while the committee discusses your defense. After a few minutes you will be invited back into the room and congratulated on passing the defense.

    There is a form,  Th-Orals.doc, that once was used to notify the Graduate School and the Registrar that the student has passed the defense.  In April of 2011 I was notified by both the Graduate School and the Registrar that they no longer desire to be notified when a student has passed the defense, and there seems to be little if any desire to use this form within the Department of Psychology.

         In the past the Department of Psychology required that you purchase a bound copy of your thesis or dissertation and give it to the department.  Susan McCammon advised me, in May of 2015, that this is no longer the case.  While you may wish to purchase a bound copy for yourself, you are not required to do so.

          It is important that you realize that even after the final draft of the thesis/dissertation is accepted by your committee and the chair of the committee has signed the signature page, there are some time consuming activities involved in getting the thesis/dissertation really finished. You must get the signature of the chair of your department and the approval of the Dean of the Graduate School. You should allow the chair at least a week to review your thesis/dissertation before signing it.

          Once the chair of your thesis/dissertation committee has signed your thesis/dissertation, deliver the thesis/dissertation to the chair of the Department of Psychology for her approval.  Warning:  If she finds five errors of grammar/spelling/format, she will stop reading the document and return it to the student unsigned. After the chair has signed it, you deliver it electronically to the Graduate School for review. They will contact you when the review has been completed. If they have not gotten back to you within 5 working days, you should call the Graduate School and ask about the status of your thesis/dissertation.

          You may need to meet with staff of the Graduate School to review any changes they suggest. If you disagree with them on the requested changes, involve the chair of your thesis/dissertation committee. Do inform the chair of your thesis/dissertation committee regarding any changes that were requested, so that she or he is informed about what the Graduate School is expecting these days. Also, I (Karl Wuensch) would appreciate being informed of any changes not consistent with the information in my web pages (that way I can update the information in my web pages).

         When the Graduate School has decided that your thesis/dissertation is in perfect or nearly perfect form, you will receive an acknowledgment from them. You will make the required corrections and resubmit the corrected copy to the Graduate School for final approval.  After final approval you will receive an email like this:

• Electronic Submission of the Thesis or Dissertation

  • Preparing the Document

  • Submitting the Thesis or Dissertation

• Wuensch's thesis/dissertation Links Page

Contact Information for the Webmaster,
Dr. Karl L. Wuensch


This page most recently revised on 16-October-2015.