Doctoral Degree Requirements and Dissertation Information

Final Oral Defense Examinations

Passing a final (at least partly oral) examination conducted by the Dissertation Committee on the Amherst campus is required for the doctoral degree. This examination time and date shall be submitted to the Graduate Dean for announcement to the Graduate Faculty.

Deadline to submit Final Oral Defense announcements:
All requests to schedule Doctoral Oral Examinations must be received by the Graduate School at 534 Goodell Building one month prior to the exam date.
A detailed checklist of requirements is provided for your personal use in the Doctoral Oral Examination Checklist.

Submission Deadlines for Doctoral Degrees

The University confers degrees three times a year: February, May and September. Submission deadlines are published in the Graduate School's Academic Calendar. In general, they are: mid-December for a February 1 degree, mid-April for a May degree, and the end of August for a September 1 degree.

The following items must be completed and delivered directly to the Graduate Student Service Center in Goodell Room 534A by the deadline:

Microfilming Fee: $65.00. The Microfilming Fee is required of all students submitting a dissertation. The fee covers the microfilm publication of the dissertation by University Microfilms Dissertation Services and the publication of the abstract in dissertation Abstracts International.

Optional Copyright Fee: $65.00. Although the University of Massachusetts Amherst requires that all dissertations be copyrighted by placing a copyright notice in all copies of the work, the registration of the copyright and payment of the registration fee is optional.

Accepted Methods of Payment: 
Fees may be combined and paid either by credit card (Master/Visa only), personal check or money order. Please make payable to University of Massachusetts Amherst. Under no circumstance will the Graduate School accept cash in payment of any fees.

Dissertation Information

The Graduate School requires doctoral students to deliver electronic copies of their dissertation manuscripts to us. We review the manuscript for formatting, and contact the student for any revisions we deem necessary.

UMI Dissertation Publishing/ProQuest

All of our electronic submissions are processed through the UMass Amherst dissertation submission site. Follow the link above.

The Electronic Dissertation Submission Process

Follow this link for a description of the submission process.

Guidelines for Master’s Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This manual, created by the Graduate School, is designed to aid you in the process of submitting your manuscript. The guidelines provide you with a quick reference as you prepare your manuscript. The manual also contains further explanations of form and style as well as a wide range of suggestions and advice that should clarify the rules and explain possible options in areas where decisions about form and layout are at your discretion. It is important that you read the entire manual before you begin preparing your manuscript so that you understand the format and the purposes behind the rules.

OIT Workshops and Advice

Each semester, OIT offers graduate student workshops on formatting theses and dissertations so they comply with the graduate school's Thesis and Dissertation Guidelines. You can also view OIT's Thesis and Dissertation Formatting General Advice for some helpful tips on how to format and edit your manuscript.

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Deadlines are absolute. No exceptions will be made. All online submissions, forms and fees are required to be submitted before the deadline date to be included in a degree period.

• • Doctoral Degree Eligibility Form
    Please fill in the blank fields on the Eligibility Form, make a double-sided copy of the form, then have it signed as indicated. A paper form must be submitted with original signatures by the deadlines indicated. Please select either the Doctoral Degree Eligibility Form for PhD and EdD degrees or the Professional Doctoral Degree Eligibility Form for DNP and AuD degrees.

  • Survey of Earned Doctorates Questionnaire
    The Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) is a federal agency survey conducted by the National Opinion Research Center for the National Science Foundation and five other federal agencies. The SED gathers information annually from 45,000 new U.S. research doctorate graduates about their educational histories, funding sources, and post-doctoral plans.
     
  • Signature Page
    One paper signature page with original signatures must be delivered to the Graduate Student Service Center. The paper signature page should be on acid-free, 20 lb. weight, white, 8 1/2" x 11" paper. An unsigned blank signature page should be included after the copyright page in the electronic copy of your dissertation.
     
  • Fee Payment
    Fees to be Paid at Degree Completion by Doctoral Graduates:
  • The above information is provided as a detailed checklist for your personal use in the Doctoral Degree Checklist.

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