Dissertation and Final Defense

With concurrence of the advisory committee, the student proceeds with the doctoral research, during which time the student must be continuously enrolled in IT 999 Doctoral Dissertation. The student must complete a minimum of 24 credits from among IT 990, 998, and 999, with a minimum of 12 credits of IT 999. When the central portions of the research have been completed to the point that the student is able to describe the original contributions of the dissertation effort, a candidate submits the written dissertation to the supervisory committee and schedules an oral predefense to the committee. The predefense is to be held no sooner than one month after the members of the committee have copies of the dissertation. Once the committee believes the student is ready, a final public oral defense may be scheduled no sooner than one month after the conclusion of the predefense in order to have an announcement posted for at least two weeks.

The entire dissertation committee must be present at the defense, unless an exception is approved by the Associate Dean in advance of the defense.

Following a satisfactory evaluation of the oral defense of dissertation by the supervisory committee, the student must prepare, with supervision from the dissertation director, a final publishable dissertation that represents a definitive contribution to knowledge in information technology. This document must meet format guidelines specified by the Guide for Preparing Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Projects. This guide can be accessed through the web at:

http://thesis.gmu.edu

If the candidate successfully defends the dissertation, the dissertation defense committee recommends that the final form of the dissertation be completed, and that the faculty of IT&E and the graduate faculty of George Mason University accept the candidate for the Ph.D. degree.

If the student fails to successfully defend the dissertation, the student may request a second defense, following the same procedures as for the initial defense. There is no time limit for this request, other than the general time limits for the doctoral degree. An additional predefense is not required, but the student is strongly advised to consult with the committee before scheduling a second defense. If the student fails on the second attempt to defend the dissertation, the student will be dismissed from the Ph.D. program.