the Dissertation proposal Keep moving toward your goal. CIS 720: April 4, 2016 Source: http://www.hawaii.edu/cis/documents/CIS_Policies_June_2014.pdf CIS policies: Section 5.0: Preparation and Defense of Dissertation Proposal

What’s in a dissertation proposal? Most proposals contain: Introduction to problem being studied Review of relevant literature Description of methodology to be used This usually corresponds to first three chapters of the dissertation If a pilot study or other preliminary investigations have been conducted, these should also be reported Know your style Grad Division Style Policy – required info CIS style policy? Image source: https://writepass.com/img/image/dissertations-text-image.jpg

Who should be on your committee? At least five members, including: Committee chair: regular CIS faculty member (can’t be from cooperating or affiliate CIS faculty) University Representative: member of UHM graduate faculty who’s not regular/cooperating/affiliate CIS faculty At least one inside member from outside chair’s program/department Remaining inside members can be regular/ cooperating/affiliate CIS faculty Also possible to include emeritus, non-graduate and outside faculty members on committee. See Office of Graduate Education site for details.

Who should be on your committee? Need help finding members? To find out who’s actually on the CIS faculty and who’s not, search online: http://www.manoa.hawaii.edu/graduate/co ntent/select-committee-member

When do you defend your proposal? Proposal defense must be completed by the end of four years. BUT … This period can be extended by petition to CIS Executive Board, subject to a seven-year limit. So you’re ready to start thinking about your dissertation proposal defense. Now what?! Image source: http://sociologicalimagination.org/archives/9721/dissertation-devil-001

What’s required before you schedule? Finish CIS 701, 702, 703 and research methods or data analysis course Pass all area exams Finish research paper Complete Form I: Doctorate – Pre-Candidacy Progress and send to CIS Program Office to document that these requirements have been met Image source: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2011/10/adventures-in-depression.html

What’s required before you schedule? Find your dissertation committee chair, then assemble your committee Seek approval of proposed committee from CIS chair, who will clear with CIS executive board At least three weeks before you plan to defend, send proposal title, abstract and draft to CIS chair, including: References Proposed committee Justification of the appropriateness of each committee member Schedule defense meeting at a time that the dissertation committee and the CIS chair can attend and arrange a room

(At least) Two weeks before defense Complete Form II: Doctorate – Advance to Candidacy and give to dissertation committee chair Send email announcement of time and place of your proposal defense to all CIS faculty members and students, and invite them to attend. Include proposal title and abstract. Send a copy of your proposal to each member of your committee and CIS chair

Day of your proposal defense You’re ready to present and defend your proposal in a public meeting! Each committee member will assess the proposal document via this form At this point, you should have received at least one round of feedback from all committee members and revised the proposal accordingly.

Day of your proposal defense Your dissertation committee will decide whether your proposal is: Accepted as written: committee signs Form II Accepted with modifications: committee signs Form II and you make changes Not accepted: Committee may require additional courses or readings, or may not allow you to proceed with the proposed dissertation topic.  You can submit another proposal.  At this point, you should have received at least one round of feedback from all committee members and revised the proposal accordingly. Congratulations, Chamil! March 30, 2016

But let’s just assume your proposal was accepted. Congratulations!

What are the next steps? If your research includes human subjects, you need approval from UHM’s Committee on Human Studies (aka IRB: Institutional Review Board). Learn how to create an IRB research protocol This can take some time, and you may have to complete some online training courses (do them now to be ready!) Forward signed Form II and a copy of human subjects authorization to the Office of Graduate Education This indicates you’ve successfully completed the OGE requirement for a comprehensive examination and have advanced to all but dissertation stage (ABD). Yay you! You’re ABD! Now for the “D” …