Ph.D. Dissertation

Timetable for Dissertation Defense


Approximately 6 months before the defense

  1. See Grad. Page for details about what is required for written document and timetables for submission which is available @ http://www.utexas.edu/ogs/pdn/.
  2. Prepare an outline of the dissertation. Do NOT begin to prepare the document before the outline. Share with D. Kovar and get his approval BEFORE the next step (writing the document).
  3. Begin preparing written document.
    1. he document should consist mostly of the papers you have written about your research. Do not attempt to write the dissertation until the papers are complete as you WILL find that this is MUCH, MUCH more difficult
    2. The body chapters of your dissertation will consist mostly of the papers that you have written. Thus, to write the dissertation, you will first remove any experimental procedures that are common to many or most chapters, move them to a separate Experimental Procedures chapter, and modify accordingly. You will have to also write, Introduction, Background, Conclusions, and Future Work chapters. The editing and writing of these sections typically should take about a month, ASSUMING the papers are COMPLETE before you start writing your dissertation.


Approximately 3 months before exam

    1. Complete draft of the written document and submit to D. Kovar. It will take several iterations of review before it is ready to be submitted to your committee. Expect a week for D. Kovar to read and correct EACH iteration of the document under normal circumstances (e.g. assuming he is teaching and performing his other regular duties, but not on vacation or at a conference). D. Kovar will sometimes turn it around faster, but do not count on that. Normally it is easier to read several chapters at once rather than iterating chapter-by-chapter and this will speed the process.


2 months before exam

    1. Final written document should be complete or nearly so.
    2. Contact committee members about availability; schedule dissertation date and location (book room).
    3. Begin preparing oral presentation by preparing an outline of the talk and sharing with D. Kovar.


1 month before exam

    1. Send the final version of the written document to the committee. At that time ask if they would prefer a written copy.
    2. Submit your Pink Form to the graduate school. (see the graduate coordinator for information on this).
    3. Give your dissertation abstract, time, date, and location of the defense to the graduate coordinator so that they can prepare a poster and for public display (a requirement for the program)


2 weeks before exam

    1. Schedule a time and place to practice your oral presentation in front of D. Kovar and the students in the group. Expect that this will take 2 hours.
    2. Begin practicing your presentation


1 Day before exam

    1. Send email reminder to your committee members about the time and location of the PEO
    2. Purchase or plan to purchase some light refreshments (drinks, cookies, etc.). D. Kovar will reimburse you for the cost. Expect that about 10-15 people will be in attendance, unless you have invited more.
    3. Double check with Dr. Kovar that he received the Gold Form from the graduate school and remind him to bring it to the dissertation.


Day of exam

    1. Print out:
    2. Copies of the signature page of your dissertation. You are required to have one but you may want more


After the Exam

    1. If you followed the steps above, you likely will be able to congratulate yourself on a job well-done!
    2. Make any corrections to the written document that are required by the committee.
    3. Get D. Kovar’s signature
    4. Before I will sign you must
      1. Clean out all chemicals, samples, etc. from the lab and dispose of them appropriately. Discuss with D. Kovar which samples we may want to keep
      2. Make available to Dr. Kovar via UT Box all pertinent raw data, images, graphs, presentation, papers, etc. related to your research, organized and named in a manner that he should be able to find what he needs
      3. Give D. Kovar your lab notebooks
      4. Talk to the graduate coordinator about how to obtain the GSC Chair’s signature.
      5. Take the dissertation and signed gold form to the graduate school for submission. Follow the other instructions for submitting the dissertation and uploading the dissertation to their website.
      6. Complete the Exit Worksheet available at http://tmi.utexas.edu/forms-student-handbook