Uwf Ed.D. 12-Step Dissertation Submission Process
UWF ED.D. 12-STEP DISSERTATION SUBMISSION PROCESS
Introduction
The University of West Florida Ed.D. 12-Step Dissertation Submission Process provides a road map for students beginning and moving through the dissertation process. Although there is no single format for a dissertation, the Ed.D. Program Office at UWF, in consultation with the Graduate School, has adopted structural guidelines for the different types of dissertations undertaken by our students. Students can find these Structural Guidelines for Traditional Proposals and Dissertations in the UWF Ed.D. Dissertation Toolbox (http://uwf.edu/ceps/support-resources/doctoral-digital-platform/resources /dissertation-toolbox/), which is a private platform that hosts information relevant to students’ doctoral journeys.
In addition to the Structural Guidelines, the Ed.D. Program Office has also adopted an interactive template using Microsoft Word. Students can find this Dissertation Template in the Dissertation Toolbox. All students must use this template; no other template is permissible. This template incorporates all of the writing style and formatting guidelines and specifications required by the Ed.D. Program and the UWF Graduate School. Together, the Structural Guidelines and the Dissertation Template can be immensely helpful to students in the timely and successful completion of their dissertations.
The steps outlined in this 12-Step Dissertation Submission Process apply to all UWF Ed.D. students. All dissertation manuscripts will undergo multiple stages of administrative review before the Graduate School will approve a student for graduation. Therefore, all students must adhere strictly to the steps outlined in this document.
While the steps in the process apply to every student, be aware that the deadlines outlined in this process apply only to those students who desire to participate in commencement ceremonies in the same semester they defend their dissertations. The University contracts with an outside vendor to organize and implement the commencement ceremonies; thus, the deadlines for inclusion in commencement ceremonies are very strict. In situations where dissertation manuscripts do not meet University standards for quality and rigor, thereby requiring extensive revisions, students will move automatically into the next semester’s commencement timeline. Without exception, no student will be included in commencement ceremonies for a particular semester if the student is not cleared by the Ed.D. Program Office to submit his or her dissertation to the Graduate School by Monday of the 8th week of the semester and if the Graduate School does not approve the dissertation by Wednesday of the tenth week of the semester. Be aware that UWF does not hold commencement ceremonies in the summer semester.
Alternatively, students who do not meet the commencement deadlines may still be eligible to graduate in the same semester they defend their dissertations. In this case, the postdefense deadlines for this 12-step process are more flexible. Ultimately, a student can graduate in the same semester in which he or she defends a dissertation as long as the Graduate School approves the dissertation prior to the beginning of the next semester. However, for students to graduate in the same semester in which they defend their dissertations, they still must defend their dissertations by the Monday of the 5th week of the semester.
The dissertation review process before graduation is a multi-tiered review. As outlined in the UWF Graduate Catalog, for degree conferment, all students must “be recommended for graduation by the doctoral committee, departmental chairperson, and the Ed.D. Program Office” (http://catalog.uwf.edu/graduate/academicpolicies/graduation/). The Graduate School will perform the final review and must approve all dissertations before a student can graduate. Thus, be aware that a successful dissertation defense before one’s dissertation committee is only one step in the multi-step review process.
As part of this multi-tiered, administrative review process, all students must submit their dissertations to the UWF Doctoral Support and Quality Assurance Center (DSQAC) both before and after defending their dissertations. No students will be allowed to defend their dissertations or to submit their postdefense dissertations to the Graduate School until the Director of Doctoral Studies determines that each dissertation meets University standards for quality and rigor. The DSQAC will perform comprehensive reviews on all dissertations and provide feedback to the Director for his or her evaluation. To facilitate a timely review process, students should make every effort to submit manuscripts in pristine written condition (i.e., of publishable quality) with few grammatical, punctuation, formatting, and/or referencing errors. Failure to do so will delay the progression through the 12-step process outlined below.
As part of the review process, the DSQAC and the Graduate School will screen all manuscripts for plagiarism and academic dishonesty. Violations of the UWF Academic Misconduct Code will not be tolerated. To avoid violations of the code of conduct, students should obtain an iThenticate account through the UWF Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment by following the directions on the CUTLA website: http://uwf.edu/offices/cutla/services-for/ithenticate/ and learn to use the program, to interpret the results, and to make needed revisions.
All manuscripts (chapters, pre-proposals, proposals, and dissertations) submitted to the Doctoral Support and Quality Assurance Center must be accompanied by a current iThenticate report. While in the iThenticate program, download a PDF copy of the report for submission to the DSQAC. At its discretion, the DSQAC may run its own iThenticate report on any manuscript submitted for review. If the DSQAC finds reasonable suspicion of plagiarism or academic misconduct, the Director of Doctoral Studies will review the evidence and determine one of three courses of action:
1. Allow the student to revise the manuscript to correct the identified issue(s),
2. Convene a department-level committee to review the evidence, or
3. Refer the matter to the UWF Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities (http://uwf.edu/offices/dean-of-students/office-of-student-rights-and-responsibilities/student-code-of-conduct/). As indicated in the UWF Academic Misconduct Code and in the UWF Student Handbook (http://uwf.edu/offices/dean-of-students/office-of-student-rights-and-responsibilities/academic-misconduct-code-and-forms/), sanctions after a finding of academic misconduct may range from a reprimand and remediation to expulsion from the University with prejudice.
The following are the 12 steps required for graduation:
Step 1. Degree Audit Verification - By Friday of the second week of the semester preceding anticipated graduation, students must submit a Degree Audit Verification Form (Appendix A). For example, if a student plans to graduate in the spring semester, the student must submit the form by the end of the second week of the fall semester.
Before submitting this form (Appendix A), students must have met the following requirements:
ü Completed 48 semester hours of coursework that satisfy the core and specialization requirements for an Ed.D. degree.
ü Completed at least 12 semester hours of dissertation credit.
ü Obtained a grade of B or better in the required 48 coursework credit hours and a grade of S (Satisfactory) for at least 12 dissertation credit hours.
ü Earned an overall grade point average of 3.25 or higher.
ü Enrolled in the remaining hours of dissertation credit for the upcoming semester in which the student plans to defend my dissertation.
ü Used the appropriate UWF Ed.D. Proposal/Dissertation Assessment Rubric for the chosen methodology to ensure that the manuscript contains all of the necessary components for each chapter/section.
ü Proofread and edited the dissertation manuscript to eliminate all grammar, punctuation, formatting, and referencing errors.
ü Run the iThenticate originality checking software on the latest version of the manuscript and made all needed revisions based on the iThenticate report.
ü Submitted the predefense draft of the manuscript to all of the Doctoral and Dissertation Committee members and made revisions based on their feedback, as evidenced by a signed copy of the Dissertation Committee Review Verification Form—Parts I & II (Appendix B).
Submit the Degree Audit Verification Form (Appendix A) to the following address:
Ed. D. Program Office
Attention: Ms. Lucrecia Burnette McCorvey
University of West Florida (Building 86/Room 124)
11000 University Parkway, Pensacola, FL 32514
For questions, contact Ms. Burnette McCorvey by phone: (850) 474-2768 or email: .
This application will allow the Ed.D. Program Office and the CEPS Advising Center to undertake an audit of all courses and dissertation hours to ensure that the student has met all of the degree requirements for graduation. This will also allow the Ed.D. Program Office to forecast the workload for the Advising Center and the Doctoral Support and Quality Assurance Center to ensure that human resources are available to meet the needs of the students intending to graduate. The Ed.D. Program Office will send the letter of clearance regarding the degree audit to the student and to the Ed.D./Ed.S. Academic Advisor, who will make a notation in the student’s record in Grades First. Failure of the student to submit the Degree Audit Verification Form in a timely manner may delay review of a student’s dissertation, as priority may be given to those students who met the deadline.
**Note: Submission of the Degree Audit Verification Form will prompt automatic enrollment of the student into a Predefense Capacity Building Workshop, which will be held on Saturday of the sixth week of the semester preceding the semester of anticipated graduation. Each student is expected to attend in person or remotely and to give a conference-style presentation on his/her research study.
Step 2. Committee review of final draft – At least three weeks before the beginning of the semester in which the student intends to graduate, but after the student’s participation in the Predefense Capacity Building Workshop, the student must submit the final draft of his or her dissertation to each member of his/her Doctoral and Dissertation Committee (DDC).
Before submitting the manuscript to the DDC, students must obtain the services of a professional editor of their choosing to edit their dissertations. A letter from the editor must accompany the dissertation when submitting the dissertation to the DDC. This letter must be on letterhead and must include the editor’s credentials to act in that capacity.
An iThenticate report (PDF file) based on the latest version of the manuscript must also accompany the dissertation when submitting the dissertation to the DDC.
Each committee member must assess the student’s manuscript using the appropriate UWF Ed.D. Proposal/Dissertation Assessment Rubric based on the chosen research methodology. The committee must then come to consensus as to any needed revisions and supply the student with an aggregated copy of the Rubric.
The student must then collaborate with his or her committee members to make all necessary revisions noted by the committee. To verify the incorporation of all revisions, students must complete the table included in the Dissertation Committee Review Verification Form (Part II of Appendix B) and submit both parts of the form to his/her committee chair for signature.
The student may not proceed to Step 3 until the Chair of the DDC signs the Dissertation Committee Review Verification Form—Parts I & II (Appendix B).
Step 3. Predefense review by the DSQAC - By the first day of the first week of the semester of intended graduation, students must submit the following documents to the Doctoral Support and Quality Assurance Center ():
1. The dissertation in two digital formats (PDF and Microsoft Word).
2. A signed copy of the most recent Dissertation Committee Review Verification Form—Parts I & II (Appendix B).
3. A reference table (Appendix C).
4. A signed, official letter verifying review by a professional editor.
5. A current iThenticate report from the latest revised version of the dissertation.
6. A signed copy of the Dissertation Originality Review Verification Form (Appendix D).
**Note: The DSQAC review process will not begin until the student submits all six of the required materials.
Within a minimum of two weeks from the submission of all of the required documents, the DSQAC will perform the following reviews:
1. The DSQAC will review the iThenticate report for potential issues of plagiarism and/or academic misconduct. Specifically, the DSQAC will review the document for improper referencing, a lack of referencing, and the failure to obtain authorization to use and/or reprint photos, documents, tables, figures, and instrumentation, whether original or adapted, that are protected by copyrights. If the DSQAC finds reasonable suspicion of plagiarism or academic misconduct, the DSQAC staff will not perform a comprehensive review and will submit immediately to the Director of Doctoral Studies a completed Plagiarism Review Form—Part I (Appendix E). The Director of Doctoral Studies will review the evidence of plagiarism and/or academic misconduct and determine the appropriate action as indicated in the Introduction section of this document.
2. The DSQAC will review the dissertation manuscript for grammar, punctuation, formatting, and referencing errors. If a manuscript contains more than 50 errors in grammar, punctuation, formatting, and/or referencing, the DSQAC will return the manuscript without a comprehensive review, accompanied by a DSQAC Manuscript Review Short Form (Appendix F).
3. If no reasonable suspicion of plagiarism or academic misconduct appears in the iThenticate report and if the manuscript does not appear to contain more than 50 errors in grammar, punctuation, formatting, and/or referencing, the DSQAC will perform a comprehensive review, using the appropriate DSQAC Manuscript Review Long Form (Appendix G1, G2, or G3) to provide feedback.
**Note: If the manuscript does not contain all of the necessary discussions as outlined in the Structural Guidelines and is not virtually free of grammar, punctuation, formatting, and referencing errors at the first review, a student’s participation in commencement that semester will not be possible because of the strict timeline discussed in the Introduction to this document.
Upon completion of the comprehensive review, the DSQAC will forward the DSQAC Manuscript Review Long Form, Part I of the Plagiarism Review Form (indicating no reasonable suspicion of plagiarism), and the iThenticate report to the Director of Doctoral Studies for review. The Director will sign Part I of the Plagiarism Review Form and provide a copy to the Ed.D. Program Office for inclusion in the student’s file. The Director will then review the dissertation and the DSQAC Manuscript Review Long Form before disseminating the review form to the student’s committee members and department chair.
Once the student receives the DSQAC Manuscript Review Long Form from his or her committee, the student must collaborate with his or her committee members to make all necessary revisions noted in the review form. Once the revisions are made, the student must resubmit the dissertation to the DSQAC for another comprehensive review, accompanied by the Dissertation Committee Review Verification Form—Parts I & II (Appendix B), which has been signed by both the student and the Committee Chair, verifying that the recommended revisions have been made. Students will be allowed no more than three submissions to the DSQAC. If after the third predefense review the Director of Doctoral Studies determines that the quality and rigor of the dissertation does not meet the University’s requirements for defense, the Director of Doctoral Studies will refer the matter to the Ed.D. Committee: Policy Group for a decision regarding the steps forward.